Japan. Yesso, and in Sagallen, and some of them are active volcanoes. Besides the outbursts of frequent volcanic eruptions, no country is more frequently visited by destructive earthquakes. Kaempfer enumerates six active volcanic mountains. "Earthquakes," says he, "are so frequent that the natives regard them no more than Europeans do ordinary storms." In 1586 a succession of earthquakes took place and lasted for forty days, causing the destruction of the best part of the city of Yeddo, and the death, it is alleged, of 200,000 of its inhabitants. In 1788 the eruption of a volcano in the island of Kin-siu, accompanied by violent earthquakes, destroyed in a single province twenty-seven villages. Another volcanic eruption took place in the same island in 1793, accompanied by earthquakes which continued from March to June, and caused, according to official returns, the death of 53,000 persons, with a proportional destruction of property. On 23rd December 1854, an earthquake occurred which was felt on the whole coast. Of the town of Simoda only a few temples and private edifices, that stood on elevated spots, escaped destruction. The fine city of Osaca, on the south-eastern side of Nipon, was completely destroyed, and the capital Yeddo did not escape without injury. On 10th November 1855, an earthquake at Yeddo is said to have caused the destruction of 100,000 dwellings and 54 temples, and the death of 30,000 persons.

The rivers are numerous, but short, shallow, and rapid. They are not navigable for vessels of burden, but some of them may be ascended by small boats for some miles from the sea. The principal lake of Japan is that of Oitz, in the southern part of the island of Nipon. It is about 60 miles in length, but of inconsiderable breadth.

Little is at present known of the geological formation of the Japanese islands. The volcanic formation appears to prevail, but by no means to the exclusion of the plutonic and sedimentary. The useful mineral products, so far as yet known, are gold, silver, copper, quicksilver, tin, lead, iron, coal, sulphur, and salt. With the exception of tin and iron, these seem to be all very abundant. The gold is found in many parts of the empire, sometimes as ore, and sometimes from the washings of the earth or sand. Silver is equally plentiful with gold, and it is probable that the quantity of these metals annually exported from the country, when the trade was open, amounted in value to a million and a half sterling. Copper abounds through the whole group, and sometimes of a quality not to be surpassed by any in the world. The natives refine it, and cast it into cylinders about a foot long and an inch thick. A specimen analyzed by Dr Percy gave 0·13 per cent. of nickel, 0·03 per cent. of iron, and extremely minute traces of tin and gold. The coarser kinds they cast into round lumps or cakes. Iron ore rich enough for the purpose of smelting appears to be confined to three provinces, and the metal is consequently dear. "Iron," says Kaempfer, "is much of a price with copper, iron tools being full as dear, or rather dearer, than those of copper or brass." The same is stated with respect to the proportional value of iron and copper by Golowinin. Lead and quicksilver are said to be abundant, but they have never been articles of export. Tin has been discovered in small quantities, and of a quality so fine and white that it almost equals silver; but of the extent to which it may be procured little is known, as the Japanese do not attach much value to it. Zinc, according to Kaempfer, is not produced in Japan, and in his time calamine used to be imported from Tonquin for the manufacture of brass wares. Zinc, however, is expressly stated by the governor-general Baron Van Imhoff to be an article of export as well as brass. This was fifty years after Kaempfer's time. Sulphur, as might be expected in a region so volcanic, is very abundant. In some places it lies in broad deep beds, and may be dug up and removed with as much ease as sand. A considerable revenue is derived by the government from this source. Coal appears to be found in many parts of the country, and is used for fuel. Siebold speaks of it as being in common use throughout the country, and on visiting one of the mines he saw enough to convince him that it was skilfully worked. Being bituminous, it is for domestic purposes generally converted into coke. Rock-salt seems to exist in some parts of the country, but does not appear to be much used, the culinary salt in use being made from sea water by an unskilful and expensive process. By saturating masses of sand with sea water in the sun a strong lye is obtained, which is afterwards boiled in earthen vessels, and yields an expensive and impure muriate of soda. No diamonds have been found, but agates, carnelians, and jaspers are met with, some of them of great beauty. Pearls, frequently of great size and beauty, are fished up on nearly all parts of the coast.

The vegetable productions of Japan are, for the most part, those common to temperate regions. Timber is, however, so scarce that no one is permitted to cut down a tree without permission from the magistrate, and only on condition of planting a young one in its stead. The most common forest trees are the fir and cedar—the latter growing to an immense size, being sometimes more than 18 feet in diameter. In the northern parts of the empire two species of oak are found which differ from those of Europe. The acorns of one kind are boiled and eaten for food and are said to be both palatable and nutritious. The mulberry grows wild in great abundance, and the varnish tree (rhus vernicifera) abounds in many districts. In the S. the bamboo cane, though a tropical plant, is found either in the wild or cultivated state, and is largely used in the manufactories. The camphor tree is of great value here, and lives to a great age. Siebold visited one which Kaempfer had described as having been seen by him 135 years before. It was healthy, and covered with foliage, and had a circumference of 50 feet. The country people make the camphor from a decoction of the root and stems cut into small pieces. Chestnut and walnut trees are both found. Among the fruit trees are the orange, lemon, fig, plum, cherry, and apricot.

Extensive cultivation leaves no room for wild animals; animals and tame animals not being used for food, are not multiplied beyond the felt necessity for their use. The horses are small, but hardy, active, and of good bottom. William Adams, an English mariner of the time of James I., describes them as "not tall, but of the size of our middling nags, short and well trust, small headed, and very full of metal, in my opinion far excelling the Spanish jennet in pride and stomach." Oxen and cows are only used in ploughing and carriage, milk or butter not being used as articles of food. Buffaloes of an extraordinary size, with hunches on their backs, like camels, are used to draw carts, and carry heavy goods on their backs. Sheep and goats were formerly kept at Firando by the Dutch and Portuguese, and might be bred in the country to great advantage if the natives were permitted to eat their flesh, or knew how to manufacture their wool. They have a few swine, kept chiefly for trading with the Chinese, among whom they are in great demand. Dogs are to be found in large numbers in the half-domesticated state in which they generally exist in the East. This is not true, however, of one species, resembling somewhat an English spaniel, which is considered so valuable as to form part of every royal Japanese present. It is conjectured that the English variety may have sprung from some presented by the emperor to the king of England. The wild animals are bears, wild boars, foxes, monkeys, deer, and hares. Rats and mice are very common, as well as two small species of weasel or ichneumon, which live, half tame, under the eaves of houses. Wild fowl are very abundant, consisting chiefly of geese and ducks, which migrate in great numbers to the shores. of Japan in winter. Numerous species of pigeons are to be found, and woodcocks, pheasants, snipes, larks, &c., are common. There are two species of pheasant, and one of peacock, peculiar to Japan. Domestic poultry are kept by the natives almost solely for ornament or amusement. Some of the reptilia are of large size, and, along with the insect tribes, are dreaded for their deadly and destructive powers.

The shallow bays and creeks around the islands swarm with shoals of fish, which, indeed, constitute nearly the whole animal food of the Japanese, and furnish them plentifully with oil for domestic purposes. In their coarse taste the intestines of the whale, and even the refuse of blubber, are considered good enough for food. The Japanese are the boldest and most expert of all Asiatic fishermen. Their fishing voyages extend to the rigorous seas of Sagalileen and the Kuriles in pursuit of herring, with which they manure their cotton fields. They are the only Asiatic people that pursue the whale. The women are said to be expert divers for shell-fish, with which the shores of Japan abound.

The Japanese are described as an active, vigorous people, of the middling size, and in their bodily and mental powers more closely assimilated to Europeans than Asiatics. The common people, according to Thunberg, are of a yellow colour, which sometimes borders on brown, and sometimes on white. The labouring classes, from the exposure of the upper parts of their bodies in summer, have their naturally fair complexion deepened into brown. Their dark brown eyes are oblong, small, and sunk deep in the head. The eye-lids forming a deep furrow gives them the appearance of being keen-sighted. Their heads are large, and their necks short, their hair black and glossy with oil. Their noses, without being flat, are yet rather thick and short. Dr Ainblie gives a somewhat different account of their complection. He represents them as perfectly fair, and indeed blooming, though this seems to apply chiefly to the women. Thunberg also mentions that the descendants of the oldest and noblest families of the princes and lords of the empire are somewhat majestic in their shape and countenance, being more like Europeans; and that ladies of distinction, who seldom go out in the open air without being covered, are perfectly white. Siebold, speaking of the inhabitants of Kiu-siu, corroborates this view, and says that "the women who protected themselves from the influence of the atmosphere have generally a fine and white skin, and the cheeks of the young girls display a blooming carnation." The married women of Japan dye their teeth black, by means of a corrosive composition, so powerful that by mere touch it burns the flesh into a purple gangrenous spot, and in spite of the utmost care in its application, invariably taints the gums, destroying their ruddy colour and vitality. "The Japanese women, always excepting the disgusting black teeth of those who are married, are not ill-looking. The young girls are well formed, and rather pretty, and have much of that vivacity and self-reliance in manners which come from a consciousness of dignity, derived from the comparatively high regard in which they are held. In the ordinary mutual intercourse of friends and families the women have their share, and rounds of visiting and tea-parties are kept up as briskly in Japan as in the United States" (American Expedition).

Superficial observation led to the belief that Japan was colonized by the Chinese; but a more accurate knowledge of the physical characteristics and language of the people has rendered this opinion untenable. Indeed, the Japanese themselves consider it a high disgrace to be compared with the Chinese. Dr Ainblie states that the only occasion on which he saw a Japanese surprised into a passion, and, forgetting his habitual politeness, lay his hand on his sword, was on a comparison being made between the two nations.

The structure of the languages of the two countries is essentially different, that of Japan being polysyllabic, while all the dialects of the Chinese are monosyllabic. It is true that, like the Latin in Europe during the middle ages, the Mandarin dialect of the Chinese is in use among the learned here, as in Corea, Tonquin, and elsewhere; and hence many Chinese words have been introduced into the Japanese; but the introduction of these only makes the structural difference the more strikingly apparent. The Yowii, or primitive language of Japan, is used in poetry and works of light literature. The Rove, or Chinese language, slightly varied in pronunciation, is employed by the bonzes or priests in their religious books. The vulgar language of the country is a mixture of the two. Close affinities have not been traced between the Yowii of Japan and any other Asiatic language. By some, at least, it is thought to be most analogous to the languages of the Tartar race, to which, in spite of diversity in physical characteristics, it is now most commonly believed that the Japanese belong.

In regard to the population of Japan, all our information rests merely on conjecture. Some authorities estimate it at not more than 10,000,000, while others make it more than four or five times that amount. All travellers who have visited the country bear testimony to the populousness of the parts visited by them. Thus, Kampfer, who passed four times over that part of the country between Nagasaki and Yeddo, says—"The country is populous beyond expression, and one would scarce think it possible that, being not greater than it is, it should nevertheless maintain and support such a vast number of inhabitants. The highways are an almost continued row of villages and burghs. You scarce come out of one but you enter another; and you may travel many miles, as it were, in one street without knowing it to be composed of different villages but by the different names that were formerly given them, and which they afterwards retain though joined to one another. It has many towns, the chief whereof may vie with the most considerable in the world for largeness, magnificence, and the number of inhabitants." William Adams, writing eighty years before Kampfer, speaks in the same strain in reference to the same district. These accounts, however, refer chiefly to the island of Kiu-siu and the southern part of Nipon, and even of these only to the highway from Nagasaki to Yeddo, doubtless the most thickly peopled part of the empire. Of the island of Sitkoki, the northern part of Nipon, and of Yesso, we know little or nothing; but, as the two last are in many parts composed of rugged mountains, and have a less genial climate, we may conclude that they are less densely populated than Kiu-siu or the S. of Nipon. Sagalileen and the Kuriles, with their rugged mountains and bleak climate, cannot be other than thinly peopled. Taking the average between the populations of Bengal and Madras—countries which, in nearly the same latitudes, when taken together combine the principal features of the Japanese territory—we obtain the datum of 225 persons to the square mile as an exceedingly probable basis for calculating the population of Japan. This, in round numbers, would give the population of the four principal Japanese islands as 39,900,000. Taking the average all over China, according to the last census of 1812, as the basis of calculation, which gives 268 to the square mile, we would have a Japanese population of 42,000,000. The checks to this exuberant population are infanticide (which, although prohibited by law, is openly practised), and public prostitution, which is legalized. Pestilences and occasional famines have periodically thinned a country wholly dependent on its own soil, which was populous two centuries and a half ago, and having enjoyed an uninterrupted peace for more than 200 years, cannot well be less populous now.

The Japanese are divided into classes, which are all classes hereditary; a state of society that bears a close resemblance society. These classes, exclusive of the imperial families, are—1st, The hereditary vassal princes of the empire; 2nd, The hereditary nobility, who hold their lands as fiefs subject to render knight or military service to some one of the hereditary princes; 3rd, The priests; 4th, The military or soldiers of the nobility; 5th, The professional class, including inferior officials, medical practitioners, and the like; 6th, The mercantile class, comprising all merchants and traders; 7th, The artisan class, including all crafts; and, 8th, Unskilled labourers, including peasants, fishermen, and sailors. To this last class belongs the great mass of the people, who are, in fact, in a condition of villeinage, and in so far as they are rural labourers, mere occupants, or at best metayers. To these may be added a pariah class, consisting of all persons dealing in leather, skins, and peltry, and who, from their constant contact with dead animal matter, are deemed in a state of perpetual pollution. They are not permitted to dwell among the rest of the people, but must live in villages by themselves. They dare not even enter an inn, teahouse, or any place of public entertainment; and no Japanese not of their own class would ever touch or use a vessel out of which they had taken food. From them are taken the jailors and executioners. The first four classes have the privilege of wearing two swords, the fifth of wearing one, and all the five of wearing a particular kind of trousers forbidden to the rest. Although the ranks of each are closed against the others, it does not appear that the line of class-separation is always impassable. The most illustrious of all the secular emperors who reigned towards the end of the sixteenth century, rose to the throne from being a hewer and carrier of wood, by mere force of superior endowment.

The form of government in Japan resembles, in no small degree, the feudal system of mediæval Europe. The sovereign power is lodged in a supreme ruler, but the greater part of the country is subject to vassal princes, who pay tribute or render military service to the lord paramount. Not only every institution, but nearly every office is hereditary, descending from father to son. According to Japanese history, a single race of sovereigns, reputed to be descended from the gods, governed the empire for eighteen hundred years to A.D. 1195, when the then commander of the army, while engaged in suppressing a rebellion, usurped the greater part of the secular power, leaving to the lawful sovereign little more than the spiritual. Hence arose the singular government which still exists, consisting of two sovereigns, the one invested with the whole secular power, the other only with the ecclesiastical. The spiritual sovereign is known by the name of the Mikado, and his court by that of Dairi. The actual sovereign goes usually by the name of Siogun, but is also called the Kubo Sama, i.e., Lord Kubo, the name or title of the original usurper. Both princes have their separate courts and capitals, the spiritual chief residing in Miako, the temporal in Yeddo. The Mikado, though nominally supreme, has not a particle of temporal power, being literally, from birth to death, shut up at Miako, in his little principality of Kioto, with the revenues of which, and the presents sent him by the Siogun, he must be content. Even the government in his own principality is in the hands of some grandee of his court, so that there never lived a sovereign having less of the attributes of sovereignty. He is visited with great pomp, once in seven years, by the Siogun. Whatever may have, at one time, been the power of the Siogun, it is certain that it is now very much circumscribed; indeed he is as much subject to laws as the meanest of his subjects. The real power of the empire is chiefly vested in the grand council of thirteen members, five belonging to the first class of society, the hereditary vassal princes, and the remaining eight to the second class, or the nobility below the rank of princes. The chief or president of this council has the title of "Governor of the Empire," and in him is vested the supreme power. He decides upon all affairs of moment, appoints to the various offices, and receives returns from all the authorities of the empire. His office appears to be hereditary. The grand council has even the power of dethroning the emperor. Important resolutions of the council are always laid before him, and he generally assents without investigation or delay; but, should he not at once grant his assent, or disapprove of a measure, it is immediately referred to the arbitration of the three princes of royal blood most nearly related to the Siogun, and their decision is final. If they differ in opinion from the monarch, he must instantly relinquish the throne to his son, or some other heir, without even the power to retract. If, on the contrary, they agree with him, the member of council who proposed the rejected measure must die, and not unfrequently all who supported him. It has thus sometimes happened that the whole council, with the governor of the empire at their head, have been obliged to atone by suicide for a mistake in national policy. The vassal princes still exercise a kind of sovereign power within their own territories. Formerly the kingdom was subdivided into sixty-six or sixty-eight principalities, which had previously formed independent kingdoms, and continued as principalities, under the rule of their respective princes, subject however to forfeiture in the case of rebellion or treason. This penalty of forfeiture having been incurred by many of the reigning princes, advantage was taken of the circumstance to split the forfeited principalities into fragments; so that, instead of the original number, there are now no less than six hundred and four distinct administrations, including principalities, lordships, imperial provinces, and imperial towns, of which last the Siogun himself is the ruling head. The chief danger to the empire lies in these princes, and, accordingly, strange and harassing means are employed to restrain their power. Their families are kept at court as hostages, and they themselves are obliged to pass half the year, or every alternate year there, while they are kept poor by the large contingents of troops which they are compelled to furnish. They are allowed to exercise scarcely any function of administration, that is not merely ceremonial, the real administration being conducted by deputies appointed by the imperial council, two for each province. To secure the fidelity even of these, their families must constantly reside at Yeddo the capital, while they themselves reside alternately at the capital and in the province. Besides these, the princes are continually surrounded by numerous private spies, who, unknown to them, watch their domestic as well as their public proceedings. In fact, the emperors, the governor of the empire, grand councillors, vassal princes, down even to the humblest citizens, all are under the eye of a secret police. Every city or town is divided into groups of five families, and every member is held personally responsible for the conduct of the whole. Everything, therefore, that occurs in one of these families, out of the usual course, is instantly reported to the authorities by the other four to save themselves from censure. Such are the means by which an extensive but essentially feeble empire is held together, and hence arises the unalterable character of the laws and customs. A governor, a lord, or prince knows that if he attempt any alteration whatever, he will be instantly denounced by his colleague or secretary as a violator of the established usages of the empire, and the punishment of his crime is death. The same fear of the same inevitable doom deters the common people from mooting the slightest degree of change.

Thus a people, naturally frank, and possessed of a high character sense of honour, have become in public life cunning, treacherous, and mean. "The men of all classes were exceedingly courteous, and although inquisitive about strangers, never became offensively intrusive. The lower people were evidently in great dread of their superiors, and were more reserved in their presence than they would have been if they had been left to their natural instincts. The rigid exclusiveness in regard to foreigners is a law merely enacted by the government from motives of policy, and not a sentiment of the Japanese people. Their habits are social among themselves, and they frequently intermingle in friendly intercourse."

"The Japanese," says Kempfer, "are very industrious and inured to hardships. Very little will satisfy them. They generally live on plants and roots, tortoises, shell-fish, seaweeds, and the like. Water is their common drink. They go bare-headed and bare-legged. They wear no shirts; they have no soft pillows to lay their heads on, but sleep on the ground, laying their heads instead of a pillow, on a piece of wood or on a wooden box somewhat depressed in the middle. They can pass whole nights without sleeping, and suffer all manner of hardships." The following apparently very correct picture of this people is given by an anonymous writer of the reign of Elizabeth. "The inhabitants show a notable wit and an incredible patience in suffering, labour, and sorrows. They take great and diligent care lest either in word or deed they should show their fear or dulness of mind, and lest they should make any man (whoever he be) partaker of their troubles and wants. They covet exceedingly honour and praise; and poverty with them bringeth no damage to nobility of birth. They suffer not the least injury in the world to pass unavenged. For gravity and courtesy they give not place to the Spaniards. They are generally affable and full of compliments. They are very punctual in the entertainment of strangers, of whom they will curiously inquire even trifles of foreign people, as of their manners, and such like things. They will as soon lose a limb as omit one ceremony in welcoming a friend. They use to give and receive the cup at one and the other's hands, and before the master of the house begins to drink, he will proffer the cup to every one of his guests, making show to have them begin. Fish, roots, and rice are their common junkets; and if they chance to kill a hen, duck, or pig, which is but seldom, they will not like charity eat it alone, but their friends will be partakers of it. Although essentially an abstemious and sober people, they are not averse occasionally to strong potations." "The common people," says Golownin, "are fond of them, and frequently drink to excess on holidays, but the vice of drunkenness is far less common than in Europe." Woman here occupies a higher position than in any other Asiatic country. "There is one feature in the society of Japan by which the superiority of the people to all other oriental nations is clearly manifest. Woman is recognised as a companion, and not merely treated as a slave. Her position is certainly not as elevated as in those countries under the influence of the Christian dispensation; but the mother, wife, and daughter of Japan are neither the chattels and household drudges of China, nor the purchased objects of the capricious lust of the harems of Turkey. The fact of the non-existence of polygamy is a distinctive feature which pre-eminently characterizes the Japanese as the most moral and refined of all eastern nations. The absence of this degrading practice shows itself not only in the superior character of the women, but in the natural consequence of the greater prevalence of the domestic virtues." Concubinage, however, is common; and prostitution prevails to a very great extent. "Public bagnios," says Golownin, "are licenced and open from sun-set to sun-rise; their keepers ranking with merchants (entitled to wear one sword and the distinguishing trousers). One of the temples of Venus at Yeddo is as magnificent as a prince's palace, and contains six hundred priestesses." It would appear, however, that there is something like moral revenge on the keepers of these establish-

ments at their death. "Although," continues Golownin, "the keepers of bagnios are publicly licensed, they are held infamous, and when they die, denied any other funeral than a dunghill, to be devoured by dogs. A bridle of straw is put in their mouths, and their bodies dragged thus through the streets to be left on the dung-heaps." Capt. Saris had given the very same account two hundred years before. The women of the lower orders are frequently seen engaged in field labour, and employments which in other countries are considered to belong specially to the stronger sex, showing the general industry, and the necessity of keeping every hand employed in this populous empire. "All along this coast," says old Adams, "and up to Ozaka, we found women divers that lived with their household and family in boats, as in Holland they do the like. These women would catch fish by diving, which by net and lines they missed, and that in eight fathoms depth. Their eyes, by continual diving, do grow as red as blood, whereby you may know a diving woman from all other women."

The Japanese are distinguished for their neat, clean, and orderly habits. "They are," says Kempfer, "very nice in keeping themselves, their cloths, and houses, clean and neat." The bath is in frequent use, their inns and houses of consideration being furnished with cold, hot, and vapour baths. Their highways are good, and swept with as much nicety as the street of a well-regulated European town. The distances are marked by posts, and where practicable the rivers crossed by bridges. Along the roads are numerous inns for the accommodation of travellers. Adams, on one occasion, accompanied the prince of Firando to the capital, who had with him a train of 3000 persons, and he thus describes the hospitalities of their march. "Such good order was taken for the passing and providing for of these 3000 soldiers, that no man either travelling or inhabiting upon the way where they lodged was any way injured by them, but chiefly entertained them as their other guests, because they paid for what they took, as all other men did. Every town and village upon the way being well fitted with cooks and victualling houses where they might at an instant have what they needed, and diet themselves from a penny English a meal to two shillings a meal."

The Japanese at one time enjoyed a high reputation among eastern nations for courage and military prowess. This, however, is no longer the case, and we suspect they will be found an essentially feeble and pusillanimous people. According to Golownin, they are deficient in courage, and in the art of war mere children. This can scarcely fail to be the case with a people who, by all accounts, have enjoyed peace external and internal for more than two centuries. A courageous and patient endurance of pain and suffering, and even a contempt of death, we know to be quite consistent with a lack of active aggressive courage.

Of the Japanese army little is known, except that it is very numerous, and that the military, like every other class, is hereditary. The officers and commanders, however, do not belong to the military order, but are princes and nobles, from which we may infer that the spirit and discipline of the Japanese army are not of a high order. The army consists of two classes, the soldiery of the emperor, and that of the vassal princes, the former being considered the better organized. Both consist of infantry and cavalry, armed with swords, lances, and the bow and arrow, and occasionally with the matchlock.

The Japanese laws are very short and intelligible, and the proceedings under them are as simple as the laws themselves. There are no professional lawyers, every man being deemed competent to plead his own cause. If a party is aggrieved, he appeals to the magistrate, who summons the other party before him. The case is then stated by the complainant in his own way, and the accused is heard in reply. The magistrate examines witnesses, and is said frequently to display great acuteness in the detection of falsehood. He passes sentence, from which there is no appeal, and it is carried into execution instantly. If the matter in dispute be of great importance, the magistrate may refer it to the emperor in council. Sometimes in trifling cases he orders the parties to go and settle the matter privately with the aid of their friends, and it is well understood that the matter must be so settled, or unpleasant consequences will result.

There is no country in which human life seems to be less valued than in Japan, whether by the government or the people themselves. Capital punishments extend even to the slightest offences, and suicide is not only frequent, but is considered meritorious. When an official has committed an offence, or even when there has been in his department a violation of law, although beyond his power of prevention, so sure is he of the punishment of death, that he anticipates it by disembowelling himself. By this act of self-destruction he saves his property from forfeiture, and his family from death. With many of the high officials it is a point of honour thus to kill themselves on any failure in their departments, and their sons are often promoted to high rank as a reward for the father's compliance with the established usage. Disembowelling is the usual manner of committing suicide, and is performed by making two incisions in the form of a cross over the abdomen, while a trusty follower stands behind to complete the work by decapitation. Public executions are usually performed by beheading, and crucifixion is also a mode in use. After execution, the bystanders amuse themselves by trying their own skill and the temper of their swords upon the corpse.

The great source of revenue in Japan is the rent of land, with an impost on houses, in the manner of a ground rent. There appears to be no tax on articles of consumption, no capitation tax, and no transit duties. The cultivators of the soil appear to be mere villeins, simply occupants cultivating as metayers. In lands belonging to the crown, the proportion of the crop considered rent is four parts in ten, and in the rest six in ten, most commonly the latter. These proportions apply to every kind of crop—corn, pulses, and cotton. The land, in order to determine the rent, is surveyed by sworn appraisers twice a year, once before the seed is sown, and again immediately before harvest. Those that cultivate untilled ground have the whole crop for two or three years. Among their many excellent laws relating to agriculture, one is, that whosoever does not cultivate his ground for the term of one year forfeits his possession. It would appear from the proportion of crop taken as rent that the impost on the land does not materially differ from that assumed as land-tax under the Mohammedan government of Hindustan, and continued in some places by ourselves. This will enable us to make an approximate estimate of the rental of Japan,—that is, of the principal source of its public income. This, of course, will suppose a similar condition of society and rate of population in Japan and the country with which it is compared. Let us take, therefore, the same Indian territories by which we have attempted to estimate the population. These have, in round numbers, a population of 46,000,000, and yield a land-tax of L10,000,000. This proportion would give to Japan with its estimated population of 40,000,000, a rental of nearly L8,700,000 to be divided between the imperial governments, feudatory princes, hereditary nobles, and the soldiery.

To the rent of land is to be added the ground rent of the houses, which is said to be at the rate of 1s. 8d. for each fathom of frontage, without regard to depth; unless it exceed fifteen fathoms, when the rate is doubled. Whether the impost applies to all houses, wherever situated, or only to those in towns, is not stated; but if the former be the case, estimating each house to have an average of five inhabitants, and also five fathoms of frontage, would give the income from this source at more than L3,300,000, or, adding this to the land rent, would make the annual revenue of the empire about L12,000,000.

The Japanese being chiefly dependent on the soil for subsistence, have arrived at a high state of perfection in the arts of agriculture. Though a great part of the country is hilly or mountainous, and the soil in general rather poor, yet almost every available foot of land is cultivated, and very abundant crops are raised. Where the land is inaccessible to the plough it is cultivated by manual labour. Like the Chinese, they pay great attention to manuring and irrigation. As animal food constitutes hardly any part of their subsistence, no pastures or meadows are to be seen. Rice constitutes the main object of agriculture, as it forms the bread corn of the people from one end of the empire to the other. Its cultivation extends to the island of Yesso, and as far N., as 45 degrees of Lat. The rice of Japan is known to excel every other in Asia, and this may not be owing exclusively to its skilful cultivation, but partly to the climate and the distance of Japan from the tropics. From it the inhabitants distil a drink called saké (a kind of rice beer), in very general use. Wheat and barley are grown, but the former is not in much use, and the latter is the chief provender of cattle. Rye, maize, panic, millet, and the Cynoglossus corocanus are also raised. Beans and peas of different kinds are cultivated in great abundance, particularly the bean Dolichos soja, from which soy, a kind of sauce, prepared by boiling and fermentation, is made. Among esculent roots and pot-herbs the following are successfully cultivated—the batata, potato, carrot, turnip, cabbage, radish, lettuce, gourd, melon, and cucumber. The fruits are generally those of Europe, as the orange, lemon, peach, fig, pear, chestnut, walnut, and cherry.

The tea-plant in Japan, as in China, takes the place of the vine in the temperate regions of the west, and of the coffee in tropical countries. "The tea shrub," says Kämpfer, "is one of the most useful plants growing in Japan, and yet it is allowed no other room but round the borders of rice and corn fields, and in other barren places unfit for the culture of other things." In a few places the plant, according to Siebold, receives more attention; generally, however, hardly as much as our hawthorn hedges, and thus the leaves are unfit for the consumption of strangers. Its use, however, is universal among the natives. It was introduced into this country from China in the ninth century. Tobacco was first introduced by the Portuguese in the early part of the sixteenth century, about the same time that it was introduced into England, and it is remarkable that the Japanese emperor instituted a persecution against its growers and smokers at the same time that King James issued his Counter-Blast, and with as little effect in arresting its use.

The plants cultivated in Japan for textile purposes are cotton and hemp in the northern islands. The mulberry is grown for the silk-worm. In husbandry cotton ranks next in importance to rice, and furnishes materials for clothing the great mass of the people.

In the manufacture of cotton fabrics the Japanese display considerable skill, but in this respect they do not equal the Hindus. Their best silk is said to be superior to that of China. In the manufacture of porcelain, too, they are said by some to excel the Chinese. Specimens of great beauty and delicacy, at least, have been produced, though some assert that, owing to the exhaustion of the best clay, such articles can no longer be manufactured. Like the Chinese the Japanese have long practised the manufacture of paper and glass. Formerly they did not know how to make the flat pane for window glass, and probably what they do make is of an inferior quality, as they still purchase thick mirror glass from the Dutch, to grind into lenses. Paper they manufacture in great abundance, as well for writing and printing as for tapestry, handkerchiefs, &c. It is made of very various qualities, and some of it is as soft and flexible as cotton cloth. Indeed, that used for handkerchiefs might be mistaken for cloth, so far as toughness and flexibility are concerned. This paper is made of the bark of the mulberry (Morus papaya) by means of the following process:

—In December, after the tree has shed its leaves, they cut off the young shoots, about 3 feet in length, and tie them up in bundles. They are then boiled in a lye of ashes in a covered kettle, till the bark is so shrunk that half an inch of the wood may be seen projecting at either end of the branch. When cool, the bark is stripped off, and soaked in water for three or four hours until it becomes soft, when the exterior black cuticle is scraped off with a knife. The coarse bark, which is full a year old, is then separated from the fine, which covered the younger branches, and which makes the best paper. The bark is then boiled again in clear lye, continually stirred with a stick, and fresh lye from time to time added, to make up for the evaporation. It is then carefully washed at a running stream, by means of a sieve, and incessantly stirred until it becomes a fine pulp.

For the finer kinds of paper this process is repeated, a piece of linen being substituted for the sieve. After being washed it is beaten with sticks of hard wood on a wooden table, till it is brought to a pulp, which is put into water and dissolved and dispersed like meal. This is put into a small vessel with a decoction of rice and a species of Hibiscus, and stirred until it has attained a tolerable consistence. It is then poured into a larger vessel, whence it is taken out, and put in the form of sheets in mats or layers of grass straw. These sheets are laid one upon another, with straw between, and pressure is applied to force the water out. After this they are spread upon boards in the sun, dried, cut, and gathered into bundles for sale and use. The well-known lacquer ware to which Japan has given name, is unequalled for beauty and durability by that of any other nation. We have ourselves of late years imitated, but certainly not equalled it. They display considerable skill in working the metals. In wood work, caskets, cabinets, and the like, they are unsurpassed. Some of their swords are said to be equal to the finest Damascus blades; and Golownin states that their carpenters' and cabinetmakers' tools are equal in temper to those of a similar kind in England. They are exceedingly quick in observing any improvement brought in among them by foreigners, and copy it with great skill and exactness. Clocks, watches, and astronomical instruments are made by them, copied from European models.

In certain branches of the fine arts the Japanese have attained no small skill. They are ignorant of anatomy and perspective, and therefore barbarous in their sculptures and landscapes; but in the representation of a single object they manifest great accuracy of detail, and a truthful adherence to nature. Architecture, as an art, can hardly be said to have any existence—their temples, palaces, and private houses being all low and temporary structures, generally of wood; and the frequency of earthquakes leads them to bestow less care on their buildings than in other circumstances they might do.

The medical knowledge of the Japanese must necessarily be very imperfect, as their dread of pollution from contact with dead bodies prevents them from scientifically investigating the dead subject. The native physicians display great eagerness to acquire information on professional points from Europeans; and Dr Siebold speaks with high praise of the zeal with which they thronged around him from all parts of the empire, seeking to enlarge their stores of knowledge. He also bears testimony to their intelligence, as evinced by the questions they asked. Original medical works are constantly appearing, as well as translations of such Dutch medical works as they can best understand. Their drugs are mostly animal and vegetable; they are too little acquainted with chemistry to venture upon mineral remedies. They study medical botany with great attention, and display considerable knowledge of the virtues of plants. Acupuncture and moxa burning are both in use in Japan, and are native inventions. In the science of astronomy they have made considerable proficiency. They understand the use of European instruments, and many of them are successfully made by native workmen. Meylan says that he saw good telescopes, chronometers, thermometers, and barometers made by Japanese mechanics. They calculate eclipses accurately; and yearly almanacs are prepared in the Yeldo and Daii colleges. Lalande's Treatises and other astronomical works have been translated from the Dutch, and are studied with great ardour. Their year consists of twelve lunar months, but is converted into sidereal time by the introduction every third year of an intercalary month of the requisite length. The natural day of twenty-four hours is divided into twelve watches—six for the day, from sun-rise to sun-set, and six for the night, from sun-set to sun-rise. As this division is absolute, it follows that the watches are never of the same length, except at the equinoxes. Their length is regulated only four times in the year, the intervening watches being consequently left in uncertainty. The twelve watches go by the names of the signs of the zodiac. These signs are the same as ours, differing only in their names. The chronology of the Japanese, like that of the Chinese, is usually reckoned by the reigns of their monarchs, beginning with the first Mikado, the supposed founder of their empire, and who commenced his reign A.D. 660. They have also a cycle of sixty years, formed by multiplying the signs of the zodiac by the number of the elements, which they reckon to be five.

There are three religions, and numerous religious sects in Japan. The ancient religion of the country is called Shinto, i.e., the gods' worship, and its followers are called Shintoists. In this worship the chief deity is the sun-goddess Ten-sio-dai-zin. She is considered too exalted to be herself addressed in prayer, and is therefore invoked through inferior deities called Kami, of whom there are reckoned 492 gods and 2640 deified men, making in all 3132 gods who have their temples, priests, and priestesses, the last being the wives of the priests, for celibacy forms no part of this worship. "The more immediate end," says Kaempfer, "which its followers proposed is happiness in this world, and they have but an obscure notion of the immortality of the soul and of a future state of rewards and punishments. The temples," he continues, "are generally in a grove of trees or on the side of a green hill, and have avenues of cypresses leading to them, the buildings themselves, however, being small and mean. The five great duties enjoined in the Shinto religion are,—1st, Preservation of pure fire as an emblem of purity and an instrument of purification; 2d, Purity of soul and body, the former by obeying the dictates of reason and the laws, the latter by abstaining from whatever defiles; 3d, Observance of festival days, which are numerous; 4th, Pilgrimages; and 5th, The worship of the Kami, both in the temples and in private dwellings. For pilgrimages there are twenty-two chief holy places, besides many smaller ones. Pre-eminent among these is the temple of Isye, in the island of Nipon, which is to the Japanese what Mecca is to the Mohammedans. One pilgrimage at least to this shrine is incumbent upon every professor of the Shinto faith, and the very pious go annually. But the most remarkable feature in this religion is the doctrine of purity and pollution in regard to acts harmless or indifferent in themselves, in which respect it agrees with that of the Hindus, and differs entirely from any form of belief among the Chinese." "External purity," says Kämpfer, "is one of the most stringent parts of the Sinto religion. This consists in abstaining from blood, from the eating of flesh, and from communication with dead bodies. Those who have rendered themselves impure by any of these things, are thereby disabled from going to the temples, from visiting the holy places, and in general, from appearing in the presence of the gods. Whoever is stained with his own or any other blood is impure for seven days. Whoever eats the flesh of any four-footed beast, deer only excepted, is impure for thirty days. On the contrary, whoever eats the flesh of a fowl, wild or tame—waterfowl, pheasants, and cranes excepted—is impure only for a Japanese hour, which is two of ours. Whoever kills a beast, or is present at a public execution, or attends a dying person, or comes into a house where a dead body lies, is impure for that day. But of all the things which are impure, none are reckoned so very contagious as the death of parents and near relations. The nearer you are related to the dead person, so much the greater the impurity. All ceremonies which are to be observed on this occasion, the time of mourning and the like, are determined by this rule." They have no idols in their temples; there are indeed images of their Kami, but these, it is alleged, are not for purposes of worship. The only decorations in their older temples were a mirror, the emblem of purity of soul, with several strips of white paper formed into what is called a gohei, also an emblem of purity. The festivals all begin with a visit to the temple. There the votary performs his ablutions at a reservoir provided for the purpose; he then kneels down in the verandah opposite to a grated window, through which he gazes at the mirror, and offers up his prayers, with a sacrifice of rice, fruit, tea, or the like. This done, he drops his coin in the money-box and retires. The money thus contributed is applied to the support of the Kaminoi or priests of the temple.

The religion of Buddha is said to have been first introduced into Japan A.D. 69, but to have made very little progress until the sixth century. It is now by far the most prevalent religion in the country, but is much mixed up with the ancient worship, and the ancient worship with it. The philosophy of Confucius was early introduced into Japan, but is confined to the higher and more educated classes. It is rather a system of philosophy than a religion; it inculcates no particular faith and can accommodate itself to any. It is compounded of most of the moral precepts of Confucius and some high mystic Buddhist notions. In some of its features it borders closely on Pantheism. It has no religious rites or ceremonies of its own. Of the two principal religions it would appear that there are many sects. Liberty of conscience, so far as it does not interfere with the interests of the government or affect the peace and tranquillity of the empire, has been at all times allowed. It was on political, and not on religious grounds, that Christianity was driven out. A curious illustration of this toleration is given in an account of the shipwreck on the coast of Japan of a governor-general of the Philippines in 1608 on his return to Spain, and of which an abstract was published in the Asiatic Journal for 1830. It is as follows:—

There are no less than thirty-five different sects or religions in Japan. Some deny the immortality of the soul, others acknowledge divers gods, and others adore the elements. All are tolerated. The bonzes of all the sects having concurred in a request to the emperor that he would expel our monks from Japan; the prince, troubled with their importunities, inquired how many different religions there were in Japan. Thirty-five, was the reply. 'Well,' said he, 'where thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily bear with thirty-six; leave the strangers in peace.' The testimony of Golownin is to the same effect in reference to religious toleration. "The difference of religion and sect," says he, "in Japan does not cause the smallest embarrassment to the government or to private persons. Every citizen has a right to profess what faith he pleases, and to change it as often as he thinks fit. No one cares whether he does so from conviction, or from regard to interest. It frequently happens that the members of one family follow different sects, yet this difference of faith never occasions ill-will or disputes. The making of proselytes, however, is prohibited by law." According to the same writer, not only is any belief tolerated, but even the absence of all belief; in short, every mood of mind that does not vex the political peace of the empire.

Education, in so far as this consists in reading and writing, is universal even among the lowest ranks in Japan. There are colleges and academies throughout the empire in all the principal towns. There would seem also to be something like a national system of education, for Meylan states that the children of both sexes, and of all ranks, are invariably sent to rudimentary schools; but whether or not these are supported by the State he does not say. Here the pupils are all taught to read and write, and are initiated into some knowledge of the history of their own country. There are immense numbers of cheap easy books continually issuing from the Japan press, designed for the instruction of children or poor people. Books of a higher order are produced for the rich and better educated—reading being a favourite occupation with both sexes. The city of Mikado appears to be the great literary metropolis of Japan, and the residence of the literati. Printing from blocks after the Chinese fashion was introduced in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Books are profusely illustrated with wood-cuts engraved on the same block with the types, and the Japanese are not ignorant of the art of printing in colours.

The Japanese carry on a large internal traffic, which, from the peculiar characteristics of their country, is in a great measure by coasting. The numerous straits and creeks, with their shallow waters, though generally unfit for ships of burden, are sufficiently commodious for the small craft of the Japanese, which rarely exceed 60 tons burden. The inland transport is by horses, oxen, and porters, there being very little river or canal navigation. Kämpfer, who, however, refers to the busiest parts of the country, that between the chief port Osaca and the two capitals, speaks of its commercial activity as follows:—"How much is carried on between the several provinces of the empire! How busy and industrious the merchants are everywhere! How full their ports of ships! How many rich and mercantile towns up and down the country! There are such multitudes of people along the coasts and near the seaports; such a noise of ears and sails and numbers of ships and boats, both for use and pleasure, that one would be apt to imagine the whole nation had settled there, and all the inland parts were left quite desert and empty." This was said 160 years ago, and it may be safely assumed that the uninterrupted peace which the country has since enjoyed has not impaired its commercial prosperity. That the Japanese are a commercial people may be inferred from the order, neatness, and propriety with which everything connected with their trade is conducted. They have gold, silver, and copper money, as well as bills of exchange. Their shops have signs, and their goods are packed and labelled with a truly mercantile care and neatness.

The foreign intercourse of Japan was, more than two centuries, and till within the last two years, solely confined to the Dutch and Chinese. Even with these the trade was limited, being with the Dutch for a considerable time restricted to a single ship annually, and with the Chinese to ten junks. The exports and imports were even limited as to value, and the sales and purchases fixed by a tariff of the Japanese government. The Dutch were confined to the small island of Dezima, in the harbour of Nagasaki, which is only about 640 feet in length by 240 in extreme breadth. A small stone bridge connects the island with the town of Nagasaki, and a strong Japanese guard was always stationed here, no one being allowed to pass either to or from the island without license. The whole island is surrounded with a high fence on the top of which are placed iron spikes. On the N. side are two water-gates which were kept always shut, except to admit or let out the Dutch vessels. When a ship arrived her guns and ammunition were first taken out, and she was afterwards searched in every part, and an exact list made of everything on board. The crew were then permitted to land on the island, where they were kept, as long as the ship remained, under the inspection of guards. Every Japanese official at the Dutch factory was bound twice or thrice a year to take a solemn oath of renunciation and hatred of the Christian religion, and was made to trample crosses and crucifixes under his feet. The Dutch were at all times surrounded by Japanese spies, whom they were obliged to employ as interpreters, clerks, servants, &c.

As the empire is again in some measure thrown open to foreign intercourse, it may not be unprofitable to speculate on the nature and value of a trade with it. The commodities which have been chiefly in demand in Japan, are iron, steel, lead, tin, quicksilver, cinnamon, sugar-wood, black pepper, cloves, nutmegs, sugar, patchouli, deer-skins, ivory, Chinese and Tonquin raw silk, Indian cotton goods, cotton yarn, mirrors and other glass ware, and English woollens. At one time or another all these articles found a market in Japan, and most of them are imported by the Dutch or Chinese at the present time. In a free trade, or any approach to it, with Japan, we may suppose that iron and steel, high-priced commodities there, would become staple imports. The climate would give rise to a consumption of woollens; and although the Japanese are clothed in their own cottons, judging from what has taken place in India where both the raw and wrought articles are cheaper than in Japan, we may infer that cotton fabrics might be imported with advantage. Cotton yarn or twist has long been one of the regular articles of import, although it was long the high-priced manufacture of Java spun with the distaff that was imported. Mirrors and glass ware would, no doubt, find a ready mart. Sugar would certainly be in demand as Japan produces none; and the same may be said of nearly all kinds of spiceries and dyewoos. Even cotton wool and rice might be occasionally imported, as they are regularly into China. According to M. Caron, whose information refers to 1636, or the period preceding the last persecution, the European nations imported annually into Japan from 540,000 to 675,000 lbs. of Chinese raw silk, 200,000 deerskins, and 100,000 other kinds of peltry.

With respect to the exchangeable products from Japan, gold, silver, and copper were largely exported when the trade was open. While the Dutch were carrying on their trade at Firando, and still unrestricted, they exported annually gold to the value of L470,000, and silver to from L330,000 to L385,000. But the Spanish and Portuguese trade was free at the same time, and these nations are stated to have exported more largely, so that we may conclude that a million and a half of the precious metals were, from near the beginning to near the middle of the seventeenth century, exported from Japan. Of copper, the Dutch exported in some years as much as 1800 tons. Most important, however, in this part of the world will be the supply of coal which the islands are said to furnish abundantly. It will also be seen from what we have already said of the productions of the country, that there are many things among them that may become valuable as exports, while a demand for other articles will no doubt lead to their introduction as subjects of trade.

After the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1639, and before the restrictions were so stringent as they afterwards became, the entire value of the foreign trade was estimated by the Dutch governor-general, the Baron Van Imhoff, at L833,000; while in his own time (1744) it had declined to L264,583, of which one-third only was Dutch, the rest being Chinese. In 1805 the cargoes of two ships laid in at Batavia, were sold in Japan for L35,416; with which, or rather with the balance after deducting heavy local charges, copper and camphor were purchased, which in Batavia sold for L195,773. The adventure of next year was neither so large nor so prosperous, for the outward cargo brought in Japan only L24,325, and the return cargo of copper and camphor produced when sold in Batavia only L101,644. These favourable speculations, however, arose entirely from the enormous war prices for copper and camphor. Since then the trade has become still smaller, and as already stated, is confined to a single ship. In the earlier period of its trade Japan was not only free to all the world, but was not even burdened with imposts on either ship or cargo: presents, however, required to be made to the emperor, the provincial governors, and one or two other parties.

The ordinary modern gold coin of Japan is an oblong Money, and thin piece rounded at the ends, and impressed with some symbolical Chinese characters. It is of no more than 16 carats, and contains 37.5 per cent. of copper. It weighs 180 grains, and is of the value of 21s. 3d. or nearly that of our guinea. It goes, among Europeans at least, under the name of a kupang. Previous to 1700, the gold money which had been coined was a piece weighing 275 English grains of 22 carats fine, and of the value of L2, 4s. 7d.; but in that year, and continued to 1730, the government, perhaps actuated by a rise in the price of gold from the large quantities of it which had been exported, began to tamper with the coin, and insisted on the new coin, reduced in weight and standard, being received at the same value as the old, although of less than half its value. Besides the ordinary gold coin, there is another of three times its value, and a small coin of the value of about 3s. 6d. The principal silver coin, called by the Dutch a schuet, or boat, from its shape, is of the value of 16s. 3d. Notwithstanding the existence of these coins, mercantile transactions are conducted by silver ingots as in China, and these are usually of the fineness of ⅓. The small change of Japan consists, like that of China, of small pieces of copper or brass with a hole in the middle, and of these 600 are reckoned to the tael weight of silver, itself of the value of about 5s. 6d. Accounts are kept in tails, divided into ten parts called mas, and these into 100 parts.

In history, the Japanese do not make the same pretence to extravagant antiquity as the Hindus and Chinese. They are content with going back to the commencement of the reign of their first spiritual monarch, whose name was Sinno, or at full length Sinno Tenu, meaning "the supreme of all men," and the "divine conqueror," a descendant of the gods. He was the first emperor, the supposed civilizer of the Japanese, and ascended the throne 660 B.C. From him to A.D. 71, there reigned only ten emperors, which gives an average of 73 years to each reign! The first of these emperors is reported to have lived 167 years, and to have reigned 79, and the last of them to have lived 139 years and to have reigned 98. From A.D. 71 to 1690, there reigned 104 emperors, which makes the average duration of a reign in this period only 15 years and 7 months, its shortness being in a good measure ascribable to the very frequent practice of abdication, sometimes voluntary, and sometimes compulsory. Borrowing from Kaempfer, we may notice a few of the most remarkable events of this long period. In 693 the art of brewing saki was discovered. In 749, gold, which had heretofore been imported from China, was first discovered in Japan. In 788 a strange people, not Chinese, invaded Japan, and their final expul- JAPAN.

Japan involved a war of eighteen years. In 1147 was born Yoritomo, the first secular emperor. Placed in command of an army to suppress a rebellion, this personage used the power thus entrusted to him for his own aggrandizement, by usurping nearly the whole temporal power of his sovereign, leaving him little more than the spiritual, and thus establishing the form of government which has existed down to our times. In 1284 the Mogul Tartar conquerors of China invaded Japan with an armada of 4000 ships, carrying a force, according to the Japanese, of 240,000 men. This was the celebrated expedition of Kublai Khan (grandson of the renowned Jenghis), the patron of Marco Polo. This great armada, like the Spanish against our own country, was nearly destroyed by a storm. Had it effected a landing in sufficient force, it is probable that it would have made a conquest of Japan, as the people who fitted it out had just made of China.

Japan was first made known to Europe by Marco Polo, who was in China at the time of the Mogul expedition. This, however, did not lead to its discovery. A Chinese junk, manned by Portuguese, was driven upon its coasts by a storm in 1542, forty-four years after the arrival of the Portuguese in India. In 1549, seven years after the discovery, the Jesuits, headed by Francis Xavier, the famous apostle of the Indies, made their appearance in Japan, and forthwith the labour of converting the inhabitants went on prosperously until 1587, or for thirty-eight years, when it was partially arrested by the first persecution, which was of no great severity. That took place under the Emperor Taico Sama, the most illustrious of all the secular emperors of Japan—a man who, by mere force of character, had, from the condition of a hewer of wood, raised himself to the throne. "The heathen priesthood," says Kaempfer, "took alarm at the rapid spread of Christianity; and, in 1587, the emperor issued a proclamation prohibiting his subjects, under pain of death, from embracing the new religion; and several persons were executed for disobedience." It does not appear, however, that more than six or seven and twenty suffered on this occasion. The son of Taico, himself an usurper, was dethroned by another usurper; and under him the persecution of Christianity became terrible, for, in 1590, it is stated that no fewer than 20,570 Christians were put to death. Another persecution followed in 1597, when among others that suffered were some European priests, who were crucified. After this, however, a lull of forty years took place, when the persecution was renewed in 1637; and in a single day of the ensuing year, the 12th of April, 37,000 Christians were put to death. The persecutions of Roman emperors were trifles to such wholesale butcheries. For the two following years the Spaniards and Portuguese were finally expelled the empire. The Romish priesthood boast that before the first persecution they had made 1,800,000 converts, and that in the year that followed it they had made 12,000; so that in all they had probably converted not fewer than two millions of the Japanese, reckoning among their proselytes several of the vassal princes.

The decree which isolated Japan from the rest of the world is as follows:—"No Japanese ship or boat whatsoever, nor any native of Japan, shall presume to go out of the country. Whoso acts contrary to this shall die, and the ship, with the crew and goods aboard, shall be sequestered, till further orders. All Japanese who return from abroad shall be put to death. Whoever discovers a Christian priest shall have a reward of from 400 to 500 scuets (from L.305 to L.381), and for every Christian in proportion. All persons who propagate the doctrine of the Christians (the worship of the fathers), or bear this scandalous name, shall be imprisoned in the Omhra or common jail of the town. The whole race of the Portuguese, with their mothers, nurses, and whoever belongs to them, shall be banished to Macao. Whoever presumes to bring a letter from abroad, or to return after he has been banished, shall die, with all his family; also whoever presumes to intercede for him shall be put to death. No nobleman nor any soldier shall be suffered to purchase anything of a foreigner."

The Japanese government acted fully up to the letter of its bloody decree of prescription. In 1640, three years after its publication, and the year which immediately followed the practical expulsion of the Portuguese and Spaniards, the Portuguese government of Macao sent a mission to Japan, which, with its retinue, amounted in all to seventy-three persons. On their arrival at Nagasaki, the parties were arrested, and an order came in due time from the capital directing them to be beheaded, and it was carried into effect on all but twelve of the meanest persons, reserved for the purpose of carrying back a threatening message, to the effect that, "Should the king of Portugal, nay, the very God of the Christians, presume to enter his dominions, he would serve them in the very same manner."

The ceremony of trampling on the cross was instituted on the expulsion of the Christians, and seems still to be persevered in. It seems, however, always to have been confined to those parts in which the Christian religion had obtained the chief footing,—namely, the town of Nagasaki, and the provinces of Omura and Bungo, in the island of Kiu-siu. This is Kaempfer's account of it:—"Another solemn and important act, in their opinion, is performed in the beginning of the year. This is the Jejume, that is, in the strictest sense, 'the figure-treading,' because they trample over the image of our blessed Saviour extended on the cross, and that of his holy mother, or some other saint, as a convincing and unquestionable proof that they for ever renounce Christ and his religion. This detestable solemnity begins in the second day of the first month."

The proscription of one particular form of worship, while so many other religions or sects were tolerated, or viewed with indifference, is easily explained. The new religion was propagated by an energetic race of men, and its votaries inspired with an active zeal unknown to all the old forms of worship. Christianity, in a word, was proscribed, not on account of its tenets, but on account of the danger apprehended from those who taught it. The persecution was not a religious, but a political one. Its ministers and followers threatened the subversion of the native government and institutions, and the substitution of a foreign yoke. They were deemed guilty of high treason, and punished according to the bloody code of Japan. According to Japanese notions, a dangerous insurrection was suppressed by the extermination of the insurgents. In this matter the Japanese acted with foresight; for there can be little doubt but that the Portuguese and Spaniards would, in due course, and through the instrumentality of the Catholic religion, have effected the conquest of Japan, unless we suppose them, which is highly improbable, to have acted with a forbearance which neither Spaniards, Dutch, nor English have exhibited in other parts of the East. The Japanese not only saw this, but very plainly expressed it. Thus, when the Spanish governor of the Philippines, in the year 1597, sent an envoy to the Emperor Taico Sama to remonstrate with him respecting his persecution of the Christians, he thus addressed the Spanish official:—"Conceive yourselves in my position, the ruler of a great empire, and suppose certain of my subjects should find their way into your possessions, on the pretence of teaching the doctrine of Sinto. If you should discover their assumed zeal in the cause of religion to be a mere mask for ambitious projects; that their real object was to make themselves masters of your dominions, would you not treat them as traitors to the state? I hold the Fathers to be traitors to my state, and as such I treat them."

The priests of the various ancient forms of worship, a numerous body,—for in the ecclesiastical capital alone they amounted to 52,169, with 6020 temples,—were equally interested with the government in the suppression of the rival, and to them dangerous religion. The violence, insolence, and indiscretion of the Fathers, provoked the native priesthood beyond bearing. The Jesuits eulogise one of the converted tributary chiefs for his zeal, alleging that he had destroyed heathen temples and monasteries reckoned by some at no fewer than 3000. Some of these tributary princes even went the length of sending an embassy to the Pope, and king of Spain, which the emperor would not fail to consider as an act of high treason. About the time that the first edict against Christianity was published, the emperor, who was the celebrated Taico Sama, despatched two imperial commissioners to Father Cuello, the vice-provincial, demanding an answer and explanation to the following questions:— Why he and his associates forced their creed on the subjects of the empire? Why they incited their disciples to destroy the national temples? Why they persecuted the Bonzes? Why they and the rest of their nation used for food animals useful to man, such as oxen and cows? And finally, why they permitted the merchants of their nation to traffic in his subjects, and carry them away as slaves to the Indies? Evasive answers only were given to these demands, but the destruction of the temples and the traffic in slaves were not denied. With such provocations as these, we cannot wonder at persecution, although shocked at the ferocity and vindictiveness of its excesses. "Now," says Kämpfer, "as to the fall of the Portuguese, I heard it often affirmed by people of great credit among Japanese themselves, that pride and covetousness in the first place,—pride amongst the great, and covetousness in the people of less note,—contributed very much to render the whole nation odious." In our time the persecution, with the murder of ambassadors, would certainly be avenged by an invasion, very probably ending in a conquest of Japan. Even in the seventeenth century, Spain would probably have engaged in such an enterprise from the Philippines, had she not about this time been separated from Portugal; and the naval superiority of the Dutch, in alliance with the Japanese, proved an insuperable obstacle.

The Dutch made their first appearance in Japan in 1600, fifty-eight years after its discovery by the Portuguese, and about half-a-century after the latter nation had been carrying on trade with it. In commerce with the Portuguese, and eventually with the Spaniards, they carried on with it an active and profitable intercourse, down to the time of the exclusion of these two nations. The seat of this commerce was Firando, in the island of Kiu-siu. When the last persecution of Catholic Christianity was in progress, the Dutch furnished information of the political intrigues of their commercial rivals to the Japanese. They were called upon to assist in destroying the last refuge of the Japanese Christians in Simabarra, in Kiu-siu, and effected with the cannon of their ships what had baffled the skill of the imperial forces. This last event happened in 1639, and two years after, imperial commissioners arrived in Firando to remonstrate with them respecting what appeared to be very venial proceedings. They were thus addressed: "In former times, it was well known to us, that you both served Christ, but on account of the bitter enmity you ever bore each other, we imagined there were two Christs. Now, however, the emperor is assured to the contrary. Now, he knows, you both serve one and the same Christ. From any indication of serving him, you must for the future forbear." Moreover, on certain buildings which you have newly erected, there is a date carved, which is reckoned from the birth of Christ. These buildings you must raze to the ground forthwith." The order was incontinently complied with, but their prompt obedience did not save the Dutch from being removed in 1641 from Firando and its comparative liberty to the virtual imprisonment on the island of Dezima in the harbour of Nagasaki.

In 1613 we have the first authentic information of the English having attempted an intercourse with Japan, but it is certain, from the accurate information concerning it given by the Elizabethan writer whom we have more than once quoted, that they must have frequented it much earlier. William Adams, an Englishman, who acted as pilot to the first Dutch vessel that arrived at Japan, and had settled there, induced his countrymen to attempt to establish a trade. Accordingly, a ship called the Clove, commanded by Capt. John Saris, whose name we have had occasion to mention more than once already, was despatched for Japan, and reached Firando on the 11th of June 1613.

Adams, who stood high in favour, obtained for his countrymen a most favourable reception, and, in a letter to the King of England, the emperor desires "the continuance of friendship with your Highness—and that it may stand with your good liking to send your subjects to any part or port of our dominions, where they shall be most heartily welcome; applauding much their worthiness in the admirable knowledge of navigation, having with much facility discovered a country so remote, being no whit amazed with the distance of so mighty a gulf, nor greatness of such infinite clouds and storms, from prosecuting honourable enterprises of discoveries and merchandizing—wherein they shall find me to further them according to their desires." The English, however, did not succeed, and, after a ten year's trial, in which they expended L40,000, they withdrew from the country.

In 1658 a fruitless attempt was made to renew our intercourse with Japan, said to have been defeated by the Dutch informing the Japanese that the Queen of England was a daughter of the King of Portugal. The failure is not to be regretted, since it is certain that under the blighting influence of a monopoly, trade could not have prospered in Japan, or anywhere else.

It is not necessary to advert to any of the subsequent small and futile attempts made to open an intercourse with the long-locked empire of Japan, since they are all superseded by the more successful attempts recently made.

To America undoubtedly belongs the credit of having been the first to re-establish commercial relations with Japan. The increased traffic in this part of the world, particularly between Eastern Asia and North-Western America, and the importance of the whale-fishery in the Japanese seas, had rendered it very desirable to have free access to at least some of the ports of Japan. Repeated attempts had been made by England, Russia, and the United States, but without success, when at length the United States government resolved to make an effort worthy of the object, and accordingly fitted out an expedition under the command of Commodore M. C. Perry. The commodore sailed from Norfolk in the Mississippi war-steamer, on 24th November 1852, to be followed as soon as possible by the other vessels of the expedition. He arrived in the Bay of Yeddo on 8th July 1853, with four vessels, two war-steamers and two sloops of war, and after some negotiations he delivered the letter of the President, promising to return for an answer in the spring. The rest of the year was spent at Loo Choo and China; and on 12th February 1854, the squadron reappeared in the Bay of Yeddo, having by this time been increased to nine vessels, three steam-frigates, four sloops of war, and two store-ships. A treaty was concluded on the 31st of March, in terms of which the ports of Simoda in the island of Nipon, and Hakodadi in Yesso, are opened for the reception of American ships, where they will be supplied with wood, water, provisions, coal, and other articles, so far as the Japanese possess them. Ships in distress, or from stress of weather, may enter other ports; and seamen shipwrecked on any part of the coast are to be aided and carried to either Simoda or Hakodadi. Shipwrecked seamen and others temporarily residing at these ports are, at Simoda, free to go anywhere