n6 Natural History Notes on Japan. [Sess. 



sea, leads a lonely life, and is naturally quiet and reserved. He 

 is fearless of danger, self-reliant, and self-sufficing. The men 

 live together in their boats, the women together on shore, so 

 that men and women do not spend their time so much 

 together as they do among agricultural or pastoral races. The 

 women are quite unlike those of an agricultural race. Every- 

 thing is in their province except the boat. As a fighting man, 

 a fisherman in many ways excels the other four types. He is 

 often a smaller man than they are ; but he has acquired the 

 habit of acting together, which they have not got until they 

 enlist as soldiers. In a battle an army composed of fishermen 

 may be inferior to a trained army drawn from an agricultural 

 or pastoral nation ; but in a long war they are superior to 

 either. As the Eoman poet said of his people — 



" Ut populus Eomanus victus vi et superatus praeliis 

 Ssepe est multis, bello vero nunquam in quo sunt omnia." 



It must be remembered, however, that the Japanese are 

 not pure fishermen like the Shetlanders. They are mixed 

 agriculturists and fishermen ; but, as I said before, the pastoral 

 and hunter type is not represented in Japan. 



The plants of Japan have been arranged in five zones, 

 beginning at the level of the sea and going up to the tops 

 of the mountains, each zone having a characteristic plant : — 



1. The lowest is the zone of Ficus Wightiana. 



2. The zone of Pinus Massoniana and densiflora, which 



grow together. The Japanese call the one " wo 

 matsu " or male pine, and the other " me matsu " 

 or female pine. 



3. The zone of Fagus sylvatica. 



4. The zone of Picea Veitchii, the small-coned silver fir. 



5. Pinus parvifolia, the five-leaved pine, called by the 



Japanese " gojo no matsu." 

 There are fine forests of chestnut, oak, and maple trees, 

 but the most common trees in Japan belong to the Coniferse. 

 Among them may be mentioned Salisburia adiantifolia, the 

 silver-nut tree, with broad leaves ; Eetinospora obtusa, the 

 tree of the sun ; Cryptomeria japonica, with sickle-shaped 

 leaves, called the evergreen tree ; and Cryptomeria elegans, 

 which changes in winter to brown. The most remarkable 



