THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JANUARY, 1879. 



TRACES OF AN EAELT EACE IN JAPAN. 



By EDWAKD S. MOKSE. 



THERE is no race of people in whose origin we are more interested 

 than in that of the Japanese. Their history going so completely 

 back for nearly two thousand years, their civilization, which in so 

 many respects parallels our own — the various epochs in oar history 

 being typified again and again by similar ages in Japan — all excite 

 our deepest interest. The difficulty of tracing out ethnical affinities 

 either through their personal peculiarities or their language presents a 

 problem yet unsolved. That they are a composite race we cannot 

 doubt. All their traditions point to their coming from the south, and 

 equally sure are we that when they landed they found a hairy race of 

 men to contest their occupation. Later history shows that a number 

 of Chinese invasions took place, and these unwelcome visits were re- 

 turned by the Japanese. Corea was invaded by the Japanese long ago. 

 With these facts in mind, we are no longer surprised at the great va- 

 riety of faces to be met with in Japan — faces purely Chinese ; others 

 with the coarser features of the northern tribes ; and again the deli- 

 cate and pleasant features of what is supposed to represent the typical 

 Japanese. 



The conjectures and opinions that have been advanced regarding 

 the origin of the Japanese would form a curious and bulky collection. 

 It is worth noting that both pagan and Christian writers have held al- 

 most equally preposterous notions regarding the origin of the Japanese. 

 The people themselves have a tradition that they owe their origin to 

 the sun. Kilmpfer holds the absurd idea that "they are descended 

 from the first inhabitants of Babylon." From these vagaries we 

 pass in turn to other ideas based on some foundation of fact. In a 

 paper read before the Asiatic Society of Japan by Mr. Aston, an affinity is 



VOL. XIT. — 17 



