60 INTRODUCTION 



SECTION VIII. 



NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 



Mineral luealth. — Kajmpfer, whom we believe to be as accurate as any writer on Japan, remarks 

 that, "the greatest riches of the Japanese soil, and those in which this Empire exceeds most 

 known countries, consist in all sorts of minerals and metals, jDarticularly in gold, silver, and 

 copper." The gold is found in many parts of the Empire. Sometimes it is obtained from its 

 own ore, sometimes from the washings of the earth or sand, and sometimes it is mixed witl%the 

 copper. The quantity in the country is undoubtedly great. An old S2)anish writer of the 

 seventeenth century tells us that, in his day, the jjalace of the Empei'or at Jeddo, as well as 

 many houses of the nobility, were literally covered with plates of gold. In the beginning 

 of the Dutch trade, the annual export was £840,000 sterling ; and in the course of sixty years 

 the amount sent out of the Kingdom, through the Dutch alone, was from twenty-five to fifty 

 millions sterling. 



Silver mines are quite as numerous as those of gold. In one year, the Portuguese, while they 

 had the trade, exported in silver, £58*7,500 sterling. 



Copper abounds through the whole Jai)anese group, and some of it is said to be not surj^assed 

 by any in the world. The natives refine it and cast it into cylinders about a foot long and an 

 inch thick. The coarser kinds they cast into round lumps or cakes. 



Quicksilver is said to be abundant, but this, so far as we know, has neyer been an article of 

 export. 



Lead, also, is found to be plentiful, but, like quicksilver, it has not been sent out of the 

 Kingdom. 



Tm has also been discovered in small quantities, and of a quality so fine and white that it 

 almost equals silver ; but of the extent of this mineral little is known, as the Japanese do not 

 attach much value to it, and therefore have not sought for it. 



Iron is found in three of the provinces, and probably exists in others. The Japanese know 

 how to reduce the ore, and the metal they obtain is of superior quality, of which they make 

 steel imsurpassed in excellency. 



Coal. — "They have no want of coals in Japan," says Kaempfer, "they being dug up in great 

 quantities in the province of Sikusen and in most of the northern provinces." Dr. Siebold also 

 speaks of coal as being in common use throughout the country ; and on visiting one of the mines 

 he saw enough to convince him that it was skillfully worked. For domestic purposes they 

 convert the coal into coke. Viewed in the light of commercial intercourse between the two 

 hemispheres, this coal is worth more than all the metallic deposits we have enumerated. 



Native sulphur. — In a region so volcanic, this is, as might be expected, an abundant mineral. 

 In some places it lies in broad deep beds, and may be dug up and removed with as much ease as 

 sand. A considerable revenue is derived by the government from sulphur. 



Fr-ecious stones. — No diamonds have been found, but agates, carnelians, and jaspers are met with, 

 some of them of great beauty. But the wealth of "the kingdom in precious stones is imperfectly 

 known, as the Japanese are not lapidaries. 



