Japan abounds in rare and beautiful plants ; and as there is a great similarity in the vegetable productions of China and this kingdom, no doubt from the vicinity of the two countries, they are mutually indebted to each other for an interchange of useful vegetables. The ginger, soy bean, blaCk pepper, sugar, the cotton and indigo plant, though not indigenous, are cultivated with scccess, and in abun dance, in Japan. Two sorts of mulberry grow ; one which feeds the silk worm, and the other is manufactured into paper. It is said that the beautiful black varnish is pro duced from a gum which exudes from the bark of the rhos vernix. The citrus japonica, a species of orange peculiar to this country, is found in a wild state. But as the botany of Japan has been treated at length by lixmpfer and Thunberg, our botanical readers are referred to them for particulars on this subject.
Gold, silver, and especially copper, are found in abun dance in Japan, large quantities of which have been ex ported at various times by the Portuguese and Dutch. No mine can be opened without the permission of the emperor, who claims two-thirds of the produce, leaving only one-third to the proprietor for his expences. Iron is scarcer than other metals, and the Japanese will not allow it to be exported.
Sulphur is found in sufficient abundance, particularly in a certain island near Satsuma ; and pit-coal is not un common in the northern provinces. Red agate, asbestos, porcelain clay, flesh-coloured steatite, pumice stone and white marble are also found in Japan; and there are se• veral warm mineral waters, especially at Obamma and the mountain of Omfen, which are used by the natives in the cure of various diseases.
It is singular, that neither sheep nor goats are propa gated in the Japanese dominions. The latter, and swine, are deemed destructive of cultivation. Horses are rare, and cattle still more so, these last being reserved solely for agricultural purposes. Buffaloes with a bunch on their backs are sometimes seen employed in drawing carts. The cows are very small in size, and are used rather for draught than for their milk or their flesh. Dogs are com mon in the domestic state, and are said to be kept from superstitious motives. Cats of various colours are to be seen in every house, and are said to be the gene ral favourites of the ladies. The wolf is found in the northern parts, and foxes in different districts, hut are re garded with peculiar detestation, as demons incarnate. Hares of a grey colour, and rats as in other countries, have been seen by travellers in Japan ; and, in the least inhabited tracts, bears, monkeys, deer, &c. are reported
to be found. The common kinds of poultry are reared in considerable abundance ; and great numbers of wild geese frequent the waters between the islands, and other places at a distance from the towns or villages. Herons are seen following the ploughman in the fields; and the Chinese teal, the quail, the crow, pigeon, and bulfinch, were all observed by Thunberg. Serpents are said by the natives to be occasionally seen ; but few of the amphibia are met with in the country. Fish, which are an important object to the Japanese, and a principal part 'of their subsistence, are very numerous around the coasts, especially salmon, perch, eels, shrimps, oysters, crabs; and the flesh of the whales, which are killed by harpoons, is sold in the mar kets as an ordinary article of food among the poorer peo ple. Many curious shells, especially those that were of a small size and elegant shape, are collected by the Japa nese, fixed with rice-glue upon carded cotton, and sold to the Dutch traders.
The original population of Japan has been little illus trated. The present Japanese seem to be a kindred race with the Chinese, having at the same time, according to Kmrnpfer, a language radically distinct. Perhaps, in the earlier stages of society, as is observed by Pinkerton, the Japanese may have emigrated from China, and their com plete insular separation may have given birth to a language rendered peculiar by the progress of a distinct civilization. The people of this nation are described by Thunberg to be well made, active, free and easy in their motions, and stout limbed, though yielding in strength to the northern inhabi tants of Europe. The men are middle sized, and in gene ral not corpulent, all over of a yellowish colour ; in some brown, in others white predominates. The lower classes, from exposure to the sun, are brown, but ladies of distinc tion, who seldom go abroad uncovered, are perfectly white. The discriminating mark of the Japanese, as of the Chinese, is the eye. This organ wants its characteristic rotundity, being oblong, small, and sunk deep in the head, whence these people have the appearance of being pink•eyed. The colour of their eyes, however, is dark brown, or rattier black ; and the eyelid forming a deep furrow, makes the Japanese look sharpsighted. Their head is in general large, their neck short, and their hair black, thick, and shining from the use of oils.