534 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



to equal those earlier rises. The raw silk is exported in bales of 

 80 Catties or four-fifths Pikul (about 100 English pounds). The 

 largest quantity, 56,432 Pikul, was shipped in 1883 — but in this 

 figure the refuse is included. In 1882 the shipments of all the 

 products of silk culture reached the largest sum, 19,146,223 yen. 

 The highest price for the best Mayebashi silk was paid in 1868-69, 

 when the Pikul was worth 900-1070 yen. Since then prices have 

 much sunk ; and yet increased production has sufficed to cover not 

 only this fall in price, but also the decrease in sales of silkworm 

 eggs. The products of silk-culture were 4571 per cent, of the total 

 exports in the last five years, as opposed to 4646 per cent, in the 

 period 1 871-1875, although then 9-03 per cent, stood for silkworm 

 eggs. This branch of the business, w^hich in 1868 reached a value 

 for exports of 3,700,000 yen, is now nearly extinct. 



Some information as to tea, the second export article, which 

 reached its highest value in 1874, is to be found in the map at the 

 end of this book. The exportation of coal, given in Table III A, 

 embraces also the supplies to foreign ships. The exportation of 

 rice is, of course, subject to great fluctuations. Considerable 

 advance is shown in the exportation of industrial art products. 

 Under this title all art products are not included, but only lacquer- 

 wares, clay-wares, wall-screens, fans, bamboo-wares, bronze, and 

 enamelled articles. 



Especially interesting is the exportation of mushrooms and 

 marine products, 7-82 per cent, of the total export of objects that 

 go almost exclusively to China, forming nowhere else such a con- 

 siderable factor in trade. Moreover, this line of exports is con- 

 tinually increasing. The following may serve as supplementary 

 matter to what has been already said on pp. 77-82, and pp. 109, 1 10 

 and 532 : — 



Under the term Kai-san-rui, i.e. marine products, the Japanese 

 customs-register embraces algse and marine animals. The ship- 

 ments of Kanten — according to Table IV. averaging about 300,000 

 yen annually — take place mostly from Kobe and Osaka ; those of 

 dried algae largely from Hakodate. The cold waters of the coast 

 of Yezo are the home of the kelp-weeds, so much in request with 

 the Chinese, and among which Konbu (pronounced Kombu), the 

 sweet tangle {Laininaria saccharina), ranks highest. It is shipped 

 in two forms — as Ha-kombu in whole leaves, and as Kisami-kombu 

 or cut Kombu. The average export from Hakodate to China 

 during the last five years amounted to 375,401 yen of Ha-kombu 

 and 26,193 yen of Kisami-kombu, or both together 401,596 yen. 

 Besides this, considerable quantities of this article came directly 

 from Yezo, via Yokohama, Kobe, and Osaka, to the Chinese. The 

 average exportation of alga:; from Japan (not including Kanten) 

 had reached lately a value of 546,396 yen. 



The various sea animals which constitute valuable articles of 

 export to China deserve especial mention. The English consular 



