220 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



toil from morning till nigHt, know not the relaxation of a Sabbath, nor the rest of an occasional 

 holiday, generally granted by even the most cruel taskmasters. The wages of a field laborer is 

 from three to eight cents per diem ; the mechanic may receive ten. Out of this, he has to 

 provide food, clothing, and shelter for a family, witli which most of the common people are 

 burdened, and it is surprising to see how soon the boys, for we see but little of the girls, are 

 made to labor. In looking into a blacksmith's shop at Napha, I observed a father and two sons 

 making nails ; the elder son, probably ten j'ears old, was using the hammer, while the younger, 

 not more than five, was blowing the bellows, or rather moving the piston of a sort of air jiump, 

 which required some amount of physical exertion. When we entered the shop, neither of the 

 three took the slightest notice of us, but went on with their labor ; even the little boy scarcely 

 lifted his eyes ; and this seeming indifierence, it may be remarked, was the case with laborers 

 and all others whom we met, when they supposed that the eye of a spy was upon them." 

 "Whatever progress we may make in conciliating the higher classes, and we have made 

 considerable, the lower orders of the people dare not, even by a look, evince the slightest emotion ; 

 their stolid and impassive features express nothing but toil and care, and are a sufficient index of 

 their abject condition." " I can conceive of no greater act of humanity than it would be to 

 rescue, if ijossible, these miserable beings from the oppression of their tyrannical rulers." 

 "These poor creatures are the people who have been represented by Captain Basil Hall as so 

 innocent and so happy ! ' ' Well disposed, peaceful^ and naturally amiable, our gentlemen generally 

 believed them to be ; but they were ignorant, and had been long obliged to resort to the weapons of 

 the weak ; they were, therefore, cunning and insincere. Under proper treatment, something might 

 be made of them, but at present, they want the essential element of self-respect. Another 

 obstacle in the way of their improvement is the impossibility of their ever procuring a vested 

 right of ownership in the land. As far as the Commodore could gather information on the 

 subject, it would appear that the soil is held by the government, and its agents are employed to 

 collect and consume its produce. According to the best accounts that could be obtained, the 

 actual cultivator receives not more than two-tenths of the produce. Of the remainder, six- 

 tenths go to the lord of the soil, or ruler, and two-tenths for the expense of supervision of the 

 land, costs of collection, &c. The peasant has thus no stimulus to exertion. Wretched, 

 however, as this system is, and degraded as is the condition of the operative, it is astonishing to 

 see the large returns from agricultural labor. Nowhere do the people better understand the art 

 of producing the largest crops of which the land cultivated is capable ; no matter what may be 

 the character and condition of the soil, or the relative position of the field cultivated. The same 

 is said to be true of all the cultivated portions of the neighboring groups of islands. Every 

 advantage is taken of circumstances, and irrigation is both understood and practised with skill 

 and success. With such a soil and climate as Lew Chew possesses, if all parts of it that might 

 be cultivated were made fields of agricultural labor, it would support a very large population. 



One of the subjects to which the attention of the Commodore was drawn, was the origin of 

 the population of Lew Chew. Want of sufficient material has not enabled ethnology as yet 

 conclusively to settle this question ; and, of course, the gentlemen of the expedition who attended 

 to this particular had to find their way as best they might. Many speculations have been 

 hazarded on the subject, founded on the very limited observations of the few Europeans who 

 have visited the islands. Of Captain Hall we have already spoken. " The description of 

 Captain Basil Hall," says the Commodore, " is a mere romance ; the production of the inventive 



