Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 246

1950.

Notice of Japan in the Hai-kook Tú Chí.

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side of the way, are soldiers standing with drawn swords. Persons trading with the country are obliged to enter [the city] by the way of the crucifix (i. e. treading upon it); if they turn back, or to the right or left, they are immediately decapitated. There is also an image of Jesus (Yé-sú) fashioned of stone, fixed in the threshold of the gate of the city, that it may be trampled upon. The barbarian ships of the Portuguese (or westerns) consequently do not venture to this country to trade.

Extract from the Wán Kwoh Tí-lí Tsiuen-tú Tših, or Synopsis of Universal Geography, illustrated with maps.

[This extract was not in the earlier edition, nor is it certain when the au- thor wrote. The writer of the work from which the last portion of the chap- ter is selected lived in the reign Kánghi.]

Japan (says the above) consists of three hilly islands, whereof the largest is Chungshán. In this too, is the royal residence. Its shores are indented with bays, into which run numerous streams, and there are ports of trade all along them. The country within is full of moun- tains, which produce silver and copper; but the soil is not fertile, the natives are not used to eat meat, and do not keep pigs or poultry ; agriculture is their only occupation (as farmers): they put up sheds on the hills to work the mines and are very expert in the excavation of ways and passages.

The Japanese are not the same as the men of Hán, and there is also a difference in their personal appearance and their oral language; and although they are beholden to China for their written character, and study the ceremonial forms of the Chinese, their ideas do not corres- pond with those of the latter.

They are short of stature, their eyes are deep set, and their noses flat. They shave the head only in front, allowing the hair to grow long behind, and binding it up in a short queue, which they lay on the top of the head. Their garb is a long robe, they never put on trowsers, and wear slipshod sandals on their feet. They eat nothing but rice, vegetables, fish, and tortoises, but they swallow a large quantity of wine, even to a drunken excess; and are greatly addicted to women; the whole country being filled with courtesans.

All classes, whether rich or poor, inherit the station of their fathers from generation to generation. Those on whom hereditary principa lities are bestowed, carry a sword and dagger, and govern each one his own territory; but they are obliged either to reside at the Capital, or to send a son or grandson thither as a hostage. From the sovereign to the plebeian, all are amenable to established law. The sovereign

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VOL. XIX. NO. IV.