JAPAN. 261 



« the ChinefeJ, yet the defcendants of the eldeft and nobleft 

 " families, of the princes and lords of the empire, have fome- 

 " what more majeftick in their fhape and countenance, being 

 " more like the Europeans. The inhabitants of the provinces 

 *' Satzuma, Oofj^na, and Fiuga^ are of a middle fize, ftrong, 

 " courageous, and manly, otherwife civil and polite. The fame 

 " is obferved of the inhabitants of fome of the northern pro- 

 " vinces in the great ifland Nipoji^ excepting thofe of the great 

 " province Osju, wha are faid to be beyond others cruel and un- 

 *' merciful. The inhabitants of fome provinces oi Saikokf, par- 

 " ticularly of Fifen^ are fliort, flender, but well-fhaped, of a 

 " good handfome appearance, and extremely polite. The inha- 

 " bitants of the great ifland Nipon, particularly of its eaftern. 

 <« provinces, are known from others by their big heads, fiat 

 «< nofes, and mufculous flefhy complexion." 



Kaempfer'^ relates, that fome centuries ago the Japanefe dif- Isle of Blacks 

 covered the ifland of Genkaijimai fituate to the north of Nipon, 

 and inhabited by Owi, or black devils ; and that after extirpating 

 them, they peoi^led the ifle with a colony of their own. Thefe 

 blacks are defcribed in the antient chronicles of Japan to have 

 worn long hair fpread over their flioulders, and to have had 

 ftrange houfehold goods and high-crowned hats. Kaempfer 

 juftly imagines them to have been Malayes wrecked on that 

 ifland. Thofe people are remarkable for wearing their hair of a 

 great length ; and as to the hats, they moft probably were Eu- 

 ropean, and among the articles imported into xhtMalaye iflands, 

 which in old times were brought over land to Ormuz, and from 



* Hift. of Japan, i. 93. 



thence 



