-44 J A P A N. 



coin arc ftamped with the image of Daikof, the Plutus or god of 

 riches of the country ; he is rci:)rerentecl feated on two barrels 

 of rice, wiih a fiick in his left hand and a hammer in his right, 

 by a ftroke of which he is fuppofed to produce, on any fpot, 

 money, food, cloatldng, or whatever is ufeful to man '■■. 

 GoiDAMD The Japancfe fpcak of two iflandsi one named Ginfima ox 



\.\\Qfiher, the other Ktnfima or the golden. Their fituation is 

 kept very fecret ; but Philip III. having heard of them, and in- 

 ftigated by avarice, font a fliip with a fkilful pilot to find them 

 out. The Dutch^ urged by the fame paffion as the Spaniards^ 

 made two attempts to difcover them, one in 1639, the other in 

 1643, but both were fruitlefs. They are fuid to lie to the E. N. E. 

 of the coafts of Japaiif a hundred and fifty miles diftant. All 

 that I can find is, that they are both put dowa^ in Mr. ArroW" 

 fmitb''?, map; one in about Lat. 30" north, under the name of 

 Rica di oro or \.h.Q gold ifland, and the other Rica di plata or the 

 Jilver, flill farther north. Mr. Arro'wfmitb fuppofes it to be that 

 ftupendous rock called Lot's Wife, a pyramid three hundred and 

 fifty feet high, admirably defcribed and depi6ted by Mr. MeareSy 

 in p. 97 of his voyage. "The Lat. fays he, was 29° 50' north, 

 " the Longitude 142° 23' eafl: of Greenwich. The waves broke 

 " againft its rugged front with a fury proportioned to the im- 

 *' menfe diftance they had to roll before they were interrupted 

 " by it. It rofe almoft perpendicular to the height, according 

 " to the tables, of near three hundred and fifty feet. * A fmall 

 *' black rock appeared juft above the water, at about forty or 

 " fifty yards from the weftern edge. There was a cavern on 



♦ Thunberg, iv. 116. E. -j- Kaempfer, i. 68. 



" its 



