NOTES OX LIU-KIU. 267 



the square cliaracter, wliile the Liu-kiuan was written in Japanese kataJcana. 

 According to Dr. Smith/ the spoken language is very rich, and owes much 

 to the great number of Chinese terms which have been introduced. These 

 occur especially in the conversation of the literati, as well as in technical 

 descriptions ; and it is evident that the immigration of the thirty-six Chinese 

 families which we read of as having occurred towards the end of the fourteenth 

 century, exerted no little influence upon the language, as well as upon the 

 customs and religious beliefs of the islanders. 



I have already spoken of the resemblance, both of their houses and dress, 

 to those of the Japanese. These, indeed, are practically identical, but, in some 

 instances, the architecture has been modified by Chinese influence. The gate 

 at the entrance of Shiuri (page 54) is a good example of this, and the peculiar 

 tombs that form so marked a feature in the landscape bear a great resem- 

 blance in general form to those of China. Some of the games are purely 

 Japanese, such, for instance, as go-ban ;- and the game of chess played on the 

 island is, according to Li, different to that known in China : — " The people 

 are very fond of the game, and never allow a move to be recalled ; they 

 have also a chess champion. They reckon that the player who shows the 

 most empty squares has won, unlike the Chinese who say he has beaten who 

 has the most men left." Unfoi'tunately, Li does not treat us to further 

 details, and I did not see the game while on the island. The tea ceremonies 

 are said to be the same as those in Japan, and the samisens I have described 

 only difl'er in having the body of the instrument covered with snake skin. 



On the whole, therefore, it seems not unjust that this most interesting 

 little people should fall under the dominion of the Mikado rather than into 

 the hands of the Chinese, with whom they have so much less racial affinitj'. 

 Not even the most casual observer would fail to notice their physical likeness 

 to the Japanese, but no one, I feel sure, would ever mistake a Liu-kiuan for 

 a Celestial. 



Few countries are furnished with traditions of origin of such wonderful 

 accuracy as those of Liu-kiu. In the year 16,615 B.C. we are informed, the 

 two ancestors of the race came into being, and were named Omo-mei-kiu. 

 Three sons and two daughters were the result of their union. The eldest 

 son, Tient-sun or the Grandson of Heaven, became the first king of the 

 islands ; from the second son were descended the tributary princes, and from the 

 third the rest of the people. The eldest daughter, Kun-kun, was called the 

 Spirit of Heaven, and the other, Tcho-tcho, had the title of the Spirit of the Sea. 



1 "Lew-chew and the Lew-chewaus," p. 80. 



- For the benefit of such of my readers as have not visited Jajian I may state that 

 this game is the one lately introduced into England under the misspelt name of Go Bang. 

 Its meaning is " Number five," and it is so called from the game consisting in trying to 

 get five men in a row. 



