258 APPENDIX I. 



and owing to the caste system which prevails, his children are born to an 

 inheritance of little else but toil, for there is but slight chance of ever rising 

 to a higher class. From his point of view then the system probably appears 

 a wrong one, as indeed it undoubtedly is, but, agriculturally considered, it 

 may be questioned whether better results could be produced under other 

 conditions. Under the metayer system obtaining in Madeira — an island 

 closely resembling Liu-kiu in its dense population, its need for terracing and 

 irrigation, and its similar crops — it is to be doubted whether the Madeirense 

 is any the less absolutely the slave of the landlord than is the Liu-kiuan 

 peasant. Yet it is equally a matter of question whether the conversion of 

 the caseiro into an owTier would in any way improve his condition. In 

 few countries in the world is such high cultivation seen as in these two 

 islands. The most elaborate system of irrigation and the most careful 

 terracing are practised, and it is probable that the best results that the land 

 is capable of affording are obtained. Much of Liu-kiu apparently still 

 remains uncultivated, and there is no doubt that the island is well 

 able to support an even larger jDopulation than it does at the present 

 time. 



One of the chief beauties that strikes a stranger's eye upon his first 

 arrival in the country is the varying shade of green or yellow in the waving 

 fields of cereals that carpet the valleys or clothe the hills of the island. It 

 is at once evident that there is no strict division of the seasons into seed-time 

 and harvest, as in our o^vn and other less favoured lands. Here the ear is 

 ripe and ready for harvesting, while the next patch, perhaps, has barely 

 commenced to sprout. The three most important crops are undoubtedly 

 rice, wheat, and sweet-potatoes. The former is planted for the most part on 

 the lower ground, or where the supply of water is sufficient for its growth, 

 and its mode of cultivation appears to be similar to that practised in China. 

 We noticed but little wheat upon the western side, but on the northern 

 part of the island, near Deep Bay, vast fields of it were seen by the American 

 Expedition, apparently extending uninterruptedly for miles. Owing to the 

 smallness in size, both of the head and of the grain itself, the yield is said to 

 be poor, and not to average more than about eight bushels to the acre. 

 Barley we did not see, but it is mentioned by Perry as hailing been met with 

 upon the island. By far the most important croj?, however, as far as regards 

 he support of the vast majority of the inhabitants, is the sweet-potato, which 

 appears to be grown in every part of the island hitherto visited, and in 

 almost every soil. Its usual mode of cultivation is not in ridge and furrow, 

 as is most commonly seen elsewhere, but in a succession of large beds, slightly 

 raised, or, in other words, separated by shallow ditches. Peas or beans are 

 very commonly seen planted together with it ; the latter especially being a 



