132        THE  SOUTHERN   HOSPITALS.
the hotel, and I was hospitably entertained for three days by Miss Riddell in her pretty little house. She has given up her whole life to the care of the Leper Hospital, which she established about ten years ago. Many of these poor creatures flock to a temple some two or three miles distant from the town, hoping by their prayers to receive some relief, and also for the purpose of begging. There is a tradition that a famous noble named Kato Kiyomasa, in memory of whom the hospital was built, was himself a leper. He was a great warrior, and practically the ruler over all that district. It is said that on one occasion he was invited by another noble to a tea ceremony, but owing to the great breadth of his shoulders he stuck in the little doorway and could move neither backwards nor forwards.    The tea-room was constructed