PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. ]83 



Loo Choo as far back as the reis^n of Chun-tien, about chap. 



the year 1817, when characters were introduced into v , 



the country, and the inhabitants began to read and May, 

 WTite. These characters were said to be the same as 

 those of the Japanese alphabet yrofa*. In the year 

 1372, other schools were established, and the Chinese 

 character was substituted for that of the Japanese ; 

 and about the middle of the seventeenth century, when 

 the Mantchur dynasty became fixed upon the throne 

 of China, the Emperor Kang-hi built a college in 

 Loo Choo for the instruction of youth, and for making 

 them familiar with the Chinese character. An-yah 

 intimated that schoolmasters had recently been sent 

 there from China ; and one day while I was making 

 some observations, several boys who were noticed 

 among the crowd with books, and who seemed proud 

 of being able to read the Chinese characters, were 

 pointed out by An-yah as being the scholars of those 

 people. 



I am of opinion that the inhabitants of Loo Choo 

 have no written character in use which can properly 

 be called their own, but that they express themselves 

 in that which is strictly Chinese. We certainly 

 never saw any except that of China during our resi- 

 dence in the country. The manuscripts which I 

 brought away with me were all of the same character 

 precisely, and some wxre written by persons who did 

 not know that I was more familiar with the Chinese 

 character than with anv other. 



It is very probable that the Japanese character was 

 in use formerly ; but it is now so long" since schools 

 have been established in Loo Choo for teaching the 



* Recueil de Pere Gaubil. 



