318 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



constructed of wood, roofed with earthen tiles, surrounded with verandahs of bamhoo, and 

 enclosed within high walls of coral. The cottages in the country are generally thatched with 

 rice straw, and surrounded hy either stone walls or bamhoo picket fences, within which there is 

 not only the house, hut the usual farmer's concomitants of stable, pig pen, and poultry 

 hutch. The furniture is of the simplest kind, consisting of thick mats spread upon the plank 

 floor, upon which the natives sit cross legged, a few stools, a table, and a teapot with a supply 

 of cups. The food of the people is simple, being mostly rice and sweet potatoes. Animal 

 food is but rarely used hy the lowest classes, and consists, when enjoyed, chiefly of pork. The 

 higher ranks have a more elaborate cookery, and succeed in spreading occasional banquets, 

 which were found quite appetising. A great variety of soups, with various sweetened confec- 

 tions, and vegetable concoctions of different kinds, are the chief elements of the recherche Lew 

 Chewan cuisine of the best tables. 



The Lew Chewans are a hard working people, and enjoy but little relaxation from labor. 

 They have certain festivals, but of not frequent recurrence, for the celebration of religious and 

 national holidays. Of their amusements little could be observed, although it was inferred from 

 the existence of large level spaces, handsomely bordered with spreading pines, in the neighbor- 

 hood of the towns and villages, apparently adapted for racing, wrestling and other athletic 

 sports, that the Lew Chewans occasionally indulged in such exercises and amusements. In the 

 markets there are frequently found for sale certain large balls, adorned with bright colored 

 threads, supposed to be used in a game like that of our football. 



Captain Basil Hall, in his interesting but not very authentic account of the Lew Chewans, 

 states that they were unacquainted with war; and in relating, during an interview with 

 Napoleon, at St. Helena, his experiences of travel, startled that great soldier with this unique 

 characteristic of the Lew Chewans, which drew from him, as he shrugged his shoulders, the 

 remark, "No wars; it is impossible ! " Hall's statement would seem to be confirmed by the 

 apparent absence of all arms or ammunition, or even of the rudest weapons of attack and 

 defence, such as bows and arrows. The ruins of fortresses and the walled defences of Shui, 

 however, seem to indicate that the island has not always enjoyed this blessed condition of peace, 

 and the Japanese histories record the fact of ancient intestine and foreign wars.* 



The government of Lew Chew seems to be an absolute despotism, with a system of adminis- 

 tration like that of Japan, to which the island is tributary. The present king is said to be a 

 youth of some eleven years of age, under the immediate personal guardianship of a queen 

 mother, while his government, during the minority, is delegated to a regency, comjjosed of a 

 regent and three chief ofiicers, entitled pe-chlngs or treasurers. As the policy of the govern- 

 ment is to keep all foreigners in an absolute ignorance of its character, and as every kind of 

 deception is resorted to for the purpose, it is difficult to acquire a full knowledge of its nature. 

 The very existence of a young king is doubted, since from the time of the visit of Basil Hall, 

 nearly forty years ago, to that of Commodore Perry, the same story has been told about the 



* Our well known and deservedly distinguished countryman, Doctor John W. Francis, of New York, knew Captain Basil 

 Hall personally, while he was in the United States, and has furnished the compiler with the following memorandum : " On the 

 occasion of an assemblage of literary men, at some entertainment given to Captain Hall, inquiries were put by several of the 

 gentlemen as to the literal accuraci/ of various circumstances related by the Captain in his book on Lew Chew. They wished 

 to know whether they were to understand his statements literally. In my hearing, he made this general remark, by way of 

 answer to all these interrogatories : ' If I were to rewrite the book, I should make of it a different story.' " 



