A GLIMPSE OF SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN 119 



colleagues made upon the receptive minds of the gentle 

 Japanese. For these good men had come to them well 

 provided with medicines, and were not unskilled in the 

 treatment of disease. Their untiring labours among the 

 sick and needy, their sympathy with the poor and destitute 

 won all hearts, and gratitude spread their praises throughout 

 the land. The wise Shogun, lyeyasu, was not unobservant 

 or unmindful of his people's interests. Fully alive to the 

 good work the strangers were doing he granted them per- 

 mission to go where they pleased throughout his dominions. 

 To the merchants also he granted similar privileges, allow- 

 ing them to carry on unrestricted trade with the inhabitants. 

 From the first the merchants had done well. As they un- 

 folded package after package of their wares for inspection 

 wonder waxed into childish delight, and the shredded leaves 

 of the tobacco-plant which the sailors smoked in pipes was to 

 these primitive people a revelation Fancy pictures the little 

 people taking to the new indulgence with an amused twinkle 

 in the eye like youngsters just come into possession of a new 

 toy. And here we come upon evidence, full and convincing, 

 that before the arrival of the Portuguese and Spaniards to- 

 bacco was unknown in Japan. Testimony to the foreign 

 origin of the plant is borne by the people themselves, who 

 knew no name for it and readily adopted the West Indian 

 word ' tabaco.' It is remarkable that this Carib name, with 

 slight variations in the spelling, should have spread to every 

 country. 



The story of Europe's early intercourse with Japan in 

 regard to the conduct of both the Spaniards and Portuguese 

 contains much that is painful and humiliating. For a few 

 years the priests in the propagation of the gospel, and the 

 merchants in their trade, prospered equally well. By-and- 

 by it became too glaringly apparent for even the simplest 



