Agrkulture is the chief occupation (4 the Japanese. They are very careful farmers. and their farms are models of order and neatness. They bestow great care upon manures, and thoroughly understand cropping and the rotation of crops. The culti vated land is chiefly a light friable loam of great fertility. It grows tea, cotton, rice (the staple production), wheat, maize, buckwheat, millet, potatoes, turnips, beans, and peas. The rice harvest commences in Oct. Wheat is sown in drills in Nov. and Dec., and reaped in May and June. Flails and winnowing-machines, similar to those used in England, are common.
Aninmis.—Wild animals scarcely exist in Japan, in consequence of the universal cul tivation of the soil. A few wolves, foxes, and wild boars still roam in the n. of Nipon. Wild deer are protected by law. The principal domesticated animals are horses, of which there is an indigenous race; oxen and cows, used only as beasts of bin-den; and dogs, held in superstitious veneration by the people. Birds are very numerous, and include two kinds of pheasants, wild-fowls, herons, cranes, and many species common both to Europe and Asia. There are few reptiles; and of insects, white ants, winged grass hoppers, and several beautiful varieties of moth are conspicuous.
is very rich in minerals. The gold mines of Matsumai and the n.'e. part of Nambu have long been celebrated: but the n. of Nipon is, according to the Japanese, one continuous bed of gold, silver, and copper. Silver also comes from the islands to the w. of Matsumai from the province of Shanday, and from the islands in the vicinity of Neagata. The iron mines of Yesso are sealed to Europeans. Both lead and copper mines are worked within a few miles of Hakodadi. The sulphur of Yesso and the adjacent isles is almost inexhaustible, and of wonderful purity. In its abun dant supply of coal, Japan resembles Great Britain; coal-beds extend Nagasaki and Fizen to tesso and Saghalien. Basalt, feldspar, green-stones., granit& red and gray, rock-crystal, agate, carnelian, amber, scoria and pumice-stone, talc, alum, and other minerals are found in greater or less quantities.
inhvbitants.—Ethnologists have refern d the Japanese to different types of mankind: Latham classifies them as Tu•anians, a tribe of the Asiatic peninsular stock; as Malays; Prichard, as belonging to the same type as the Chinese; and in the narrative of the United States expedition, they are ranked as a branch of the Tartar family.
Physically, the Japanese is distinguished by an oval head and face, rounded frontal bones, a high forehead, slightly oblique eyes—the irides of a brown-black color, the eyebrows heavy and arched. The complexion varies from a deep copper color to the fairness of western nations, but is more frequently of a light-olive tint., The expres sion of the face is mild and animated. The Japanese "are X people of great qualities and exaggerated defects. They arc honest, ingenious, courteous, clean, frugal, ani mated by a strong love of knowledge, endowed with a wonderful capacity of imitation. with deep self-respect, and with a sentiment of personal honor far beyond what any other race has ever reached. But they are proud, absolute, revengeful, profoundly snspicious, hesitating, and mistrustful, and, in the lower classes, openly and radically immoral. Their organization (until lately) was purely military; war was the only occu pation (with the exception of the priesthood) which was considered worthy of a man:. agriculture was left to serfs; while commerce was regarded as degrading. The fighting classes had the utmost contempt for trade, and the entire people were the' commercial aptitudes." The town costume of the Japanese gentleman consists of a loose silk robe extending from the neck to the ankles, but gathered in at the waist, round which is fastened a girdle of brocaded silk. Over this is worn a loose, wide sleeved jacket or spencer. decorated with the wearer's armorial device. A cylindrical cap made of bamboo and silk, white stockings, and neat straw sandals, complete the attire. Trousers are only worn by official persons on occasion of special ceremou. A head entirely shaven is the distinctive mark of priests and the higher class of medical practitioners; in others, the hair is shaved off about 3 in. in front, combed up from the beck and sides, and glued into a tuft at the top of the head, where it is confined by pins of gold or tortoise-sheli. The hair of the women is more abundant, but otherwise their dress very much resembles that of the men. In the country, a short cotton gown is often the only clothing, and the lower classes go almost in a state of nudity. The uteri are generally elaborately tattooed over the greater part of their bodies with figures of men and women, bright blue dragons, lions, tigers, etc. The women have a mania foi' painting and powdering their skins.