MANUFACTURES. — PAINTING, SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE. 



317 



commerce with China and Japan, to which they send annually a few jnnks, which carry such 

 articles of clothing and provisions as can be spared, and bring back in exchange the productions 

 of those countries. They have apparently no currency of their own, but in sj^ite of their pro- 

 testations to the contrary, they are evidently familiar with money, particularly with the Chinese 

 copper coin termed cash. Their manufactures are few, and consist of sugar of a coarse kind, 

 salt of inferior quality, large vats for making which are found extending along the bay of 

 Napha, Sakee, a sj)irit distilled from rice, cotton and grass cloth of rude texture, an inferior 

 style of lacquered ware, pottery, hair pins, junks, agricultural tools, and a limited variety of 

 other articles needed for their own simple life. 



Salt Flats— Napha. 



In the higher arts, the Lew Cliewans have not made much progress, although there are speci- 

 mens among them of rude paintings and sculpture, particularly of the latter, in the coarse 

 figures of their idols, with which they adorn their tombs and temples. In their architecture 

 there is more evidence of advance than in the other branches of the fine arts. The ruins of the 

 castles in the northern and southern parts of the island, and the structure of the palace of Shui, 

 with the various bridges, viaducts and roads throughout the country^ show considerable archi- 

 tectural skill. In the arches and massive masonry of the fortresses, and walls of stone, there 

 are marks, not only of artistic design, but of skilful workmanship. Their town houses are all 



