530 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



ceived it from tlie verbal conimu- 

 iiications of Dr. Ainslie. 



It may be satisfactory and gra- 

 tifying in the first place to ob- 

 serve, tiiat cveiy information 

 which has been obtained, tends to 

 confirm the accuracy, the ability, 

 and the impartiality of Kiempfer, 

 wliose account of Japan is per- 

 haps one of the best books of 

 the kind that ever was written, 

 considering tlie cii'cumstances 

 under which he was sent. I am 

 assured that there is not a mis- 

 representation throughout ; he 

 was a man of minute accuracy 

 and felicity of talent, who saw 

 every thing as it was, and not 

 through the mist or medium of 

 any preconception. Tlie Japa- 

 nese observe of him, that he is, 

 in Ills History " the very apostle 

 of tlieir faith," from whose works 

 alone they know even their own 

 country. Their first enquiry was 

 for a copy of Ksempfer ; and, en- 

 deavouring to evince tlie estima- 

 tion in which this author was 

 held by them, their observation 

 literally was, that " He had drawn 

 out their heart from them, and 

 laid it palpitating before us, with 

 all the movements of their go- 

 vernment, and the actions of their 

 men!" 



Referring you therefore, to the 

 works of Kaempfer for an account 

 of their history, institutions, and 

 acquirements, as the genuine data 

 on which this interesting people 

 may be appreciated, I need only 

 offer a few notices on the cha- 

 racter which they appeared to Dr. 

 Ainslie to display, during a resi- 

 dence of four months, and as far 

 as he had an opportunity of 

 judging. 



They ar? represented to be a 



ner\ous, vigorous people, whose 

 bodily and mental powers assimi- 

 late much nearer to those of Eu- 

 rope than what is attributed to 

 Asiatics in general. Their fea- 

 tures are masculine and perfectly 

 European, v.ith tlie exception of 

 the small lengthened Tartar eye, 

 which ahiiost uni\ ersally prevails, 

 and is the only feature of resem- 

 blance between them and tie 

 Chinese. The complexion is per- 

 fectly fair, and indeed blooming j 

 the women of the higher classes 

 beingequally fair with E\iropeans, 

 and having the bloom of liealth 

 more genej'ally prevalent among 

 them than usually found in Eu- 

 rope. 



For a people \\ho liave had very 

 few, if any exteinal aids, the Ja- 

 panese cannot but rank high in 

 the scale of civilization. The 

 traits of a vigorous mind are dis- 

 played in their proficiency in the 

 sciences, and particularly in meta- 

 physics and judicial astrology. 

 The arts they practise speak for 

 themselves, and are deservedly 

 acknowledged to be in a much 

 higher degree of perfection than 

 among the Chinese, with whom 

 they are by Europeans so fre- 

 quently confounded ; the latter 

 have been stationary at least as 

 long as we have known them, 

 Avhile the slightest impulse seems 

 sufficient to give a determination 

 to the Japanese character, which 

 would progressively improve until 

 it attained the same height of ci- 

 vilization with the European. 

 Nothing indeed is so offensive to 

 the feelings of a Japanese as to 

 be compared in any one respect 

 with the Chinese, and the only 

 occasion on which Dr. Ainsiie 

 saw the habitual politeness of a 



Japanese 



