NOTES ON LIU-KIU. 261 



considerably. They brought Chinese silks and other articles of Chinese 

 manufacture, as well as rice, corn, tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl, and other 

 produce of their own country, and, possibly, the beautiful red lacquer I have 

 already mentioned, the manufacture of which is apparently a lost art. From 

 China they obtained pottery, glass, silver and iron, nails, tea, and various 

 other articles, most of which are imports of the present day. The silks worn 

 by the upper classes are also of foreign make, but they have a Ja^^anese 

 rather than a Chinese appearance, and most probably come from the former 

 country. Their own manufactures are few and poor. Both textile fabrics 

 and pottery are coarse, and their lacquer very inferior. Smaller articles are 

 of rather better construction, such as pipes, hair-j^ins, fans, and such like, 

 and the basket-work is in many cases extremely good. But a great change is 

 on the eve of passing over the country. The Japanese are daily increasing in 

 niunbers, and will bring their industries with them. The Mitsu hishi line of 

 steamers from Yokohama now visit the islands every two months, and before 

 many years have gone by the country will, in all probability, have little to 

 distinguish it from an ordinary province of Japan. 



Up to quite recent times the Liu-kiuans are said to have had no money, 

 and an equal doubt at one time existed as to their possessing arms. Captain 

 Hall saw none,^ and was inclined to the belief that there were none. That 

 they were armed in some way in days gone by is evident from the history of 

 the country. From the beginning to the end of the fourteenth century ci^'il 

 wars appear to have prevailed in Okinawa-sima. The governors of the north 

 and south provinces revolted under the misrule of Yut-ching, and the island 

 was divided into three kingdoms, which were continuously at war with one 

 another until their reunion in 1430. In the war with Japan in the sixteenth 

 century Liu-kiu lent its aid to China against the great Japanese commander 

 Fashiba, and there are other instances in which the islanders ajjpear to have 

 been actuated by a more bellicose spirit than that they have exhibited during 

 the present century. Their castles are in themselves sufficient to show that, at 

 one time at least, the arts of war were not unknown. But it seems equally 

 probable that in later years they became completely forgotten, and that swords 

 and spears alike were, figuratively at least, and even perhaps literally, 

 converted into ploughshares and reaping-hooks. The use of gunpowder was 

 probably never familiar to them. We saw no cannon in the fortress of 

 Shiuri, and there was no jirovision for mounting them, but the greater part 

 of the building is, of course, of a period antecedent to their introduction. Had 

 arms been in general use in recent times, some examples ought easily to have 

 been obtainable. Such articles, for instance, have become a perfect drug in the 

 market in Japan, but in Liu-kiu we were unable to meet with a single specimen* 

 1 " Account of a Voyage of Discovery . . . to Great Lew-chew," p. 151. 



