508
JAPAN.
The Navetsu line will establish communication between the West coast and the trunk line from Tokyo. Besides these and other lines under construction by the Govern- ment, private enterprise is at present engaged in the construction of 1,574 miles of railway with a capital aggregating $48,000,000.
The ports of Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Nagasaki, and Hakodate are connected with each other, and with Europe, by lines of telegraph, and the telegraph system extends to all the important towns of the Empire. Japan has joined the Universal Postal Union, and for the past seven years has conducted the international as well as
domestic postal service.
NAGASAKI.
Nagasaki is a city of great antiquity, and in the early days of European inter- course with the Far East was the most important seat of the foreign trade with Japan. It is admirably situated on the south-western coast of the island of Kiushin. A melancholy interest attaches to the neighbourhood as the scene of the extinction of Christianity in the empire and the extermination of the professors of that religion in 1637. At the entrance to the harbour lies the celebrated island of Pappenberg, where thousands of Christian martyrs were thrown over the high cliff rather than go through the form of trampling on the cross. Not far from Nagasaki is also the village of Mogibay, where 37,000 Christians suffered death in defending themselves against the forces sent to subdue them. When the Christian religion was crushed and the foreigners expelled, to the Dutch alone was extended the privilege of trading with Japan, and they were confined to a small plot of ground at Nagasaki called Desima. By the treaty of 1858, Nagasaki was one of the ports opened to British trade on the 1st July in the following year. On entering the harbour of Nagasaki no stranger can fail to be struck with the admirable situation of the town and the beautiful panorama of hilly scenery opened to his view. The harbour is a landlocked inlet deeply indented with small bays, about three miles long with a width varying from half a-mile to a mile. The native town is on the eastern side of the harbour, and is about two miles long by about three-quarters of a mile in extreme width. The foreign settlement adjoins the native town on the south side. The chief mercantile houses are situated on the bund facing the harbour, behird which are a few streets running parallel with it, and there are a number of private residences on the hill side. There are English Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and a commodious club. The Nagasaki dock is capable of docking the largest steamers. Its dimensions are:-Length (inside caisson at top), 438 feet; length on blocks, 375 feet; breadth of entrance at top 89, and at bottom, 77 feet; depth of water on blocks at spring tides, 27 feet 6 inches, and at neap tides 22 feet. The climate of Nagasaki is mild and salubrious, but in summer it is hot during the day by reason of the position of the town, being in a hollow surrounded by hills.
After the opening of the port the trade for several years steadily developed, but it subsequently declined, owing to various causes, but chiefly perhaps on account of its gradual attraction to Yokohama. Latterly there has been a slight improvement in the export trade. The chief articles of import are cotton and woollen manufactures. The principal exports are coal, tea, camphor, rice, vegetable wax, tobacco, and dried fish. There are several very productive coal mines on the islands near Nagasaki, of which the Takashima mine is the most important. The net output of the Takashima mines in 1887 was 334,187 tons.
The value of the foreign import trade of Nagasaki during the year 1887 was £238,939 as compared with £196,914 in 1886, and that of the foreign export trade, £645,904 as against £798,241 in 1886. Coal is the staple article of export, accounting for nearly half of the total export trade.
:
!