312 KXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



never in such excess as to produce any of the ill effects of flooding or surface washing. The land, 

 generally, is divided into small allotments appropriated to single individuals, so that the surface 

 of the country has rather the appearance of heing divided into highly cultivated gardens than 

 overspread with fertile fields. In preparing the land for the cultivation of rice it is first 

 overflowed, and then the laborer, who goes to work knee deep into the mud and water, hoes it 

 into furrows. The plough is used subsequently for further loosening the soil, and is followed by 

 the application of the harrow. All this process is carried on while the land is overflowed, and 

 although this is considered by our agriculturists as the very worst kind of farming, it seems 

 very well adapted to Lew Chewan husbandry with its inferior implements. The rice is not 

 sown broad-cast over the fields, but first grown in plots and then transplanted by hand. The 

 water was observed always covering the fields, but it was not ascertained whether it was ever drawn 

 off, probably, however, not until the harvest, which takes place before the rice is "dead ripe." 

 When this occurs the plants are cut, gathered into bundles, and then spread out to dry in the 

 air and sun. The product gives something like twenty bushels to the acre, and the head of the 

 grain is remarkably large and full, in consequence, probably, of the mode of growth by 

 transplantation. The rice fields probably yield two crops annually, with an alternation of a 

 supply of taro or sweet potatoes, both of which are extensively cultivated. Sugar cane, wheat, 

 cotton, barley in small quantities, tobacco, several varieties of millet, sago, beans, peanuts, 

 turnips, peas, radishes of very large size, some being three feet in length and twelve inches in 

 circumference, egg-plants, onions, and cucumbers, are all found growing in the island. Of 

 fruits there are the peach, the water melon, the banana, the wild raspberry, and the fig. Grass 

 is not cultivated, but some wild and coarse varieties are occasionally seen. It might be supposed 

 by the casual observer, from the beautiful aspect presented by the rich growth of the island, 

 that the variety of the vegetable kingdom is very great. Close investigation, however, proves 

 the reverse, for there is a remarkable sameness pervading nearly the whole country from north 

 to south. The flora in some respects presents a tropical appearance, but not so much so as 

 mio-ht be expected from the position of the island as compared with some others having a 

 higher latitude. The trees that are most abundant, are the pine and the banyan, (ficus indica,) 

 but as these are found growing in regular lines along the highways, forming beautiful avenues, 

 leadinc to the tombs and villages, it is reasonable to suppose that they have been planted. The 

 banyan is particularly abundant and is much used for hedges, being planted on the tops of the 

 coral walls which surround the houses, and pruned and cut into symmetrical forms. The 

 vegetable ivory tree, the ebony, the mulberry, several varieties of the palm, the orange, the 

 lemon, and the banana, are all found, but many of them are evidently not indigenous. Of 

 flowers there is the caraelia, which grows wild and bears a beautiful pink blossom, the dahlia, 

 the morning glory, the marsh mallow, the hibiscus, and some few others. 



The bamboo, which grows abundantly, is of the greatest use to the inhabitants, supplying 

 them with food, with material for clothing and for building, and, when in its natural stateli- 

 ness of growth, with a beautiful shade for their houses and villages. The ferns are exceedingly 

 fine upon the island, and some of them are of the large and spreading tree variety. The agri- 

 culture of the island, though of the simplest character, as we have seen, yet seems to answer its 

 purpose admirably. Of the five hundred thousand acres, embraced by the whole area of Great 

 Lew Chew, one-eighth at least is under cultivation, producing, it is supposed, about two hundred 

 thousand bushels of rice, fifty thousand bushels of wheat, with the additional product of thirty- 



