1845.] THE JAPANESE. 27 



ships, though built on the plan of the Chinese junks, 

 boldly defied the fury of tempests. Their merchants 

 were scattered over the principal countries of India ; they 

 were not deficient either in expert mariners or adven- 

 turous traders. In a country where the lower classes 

 cannot gain a subsistence but by assiduous labour, 

 thousands of Japanese were disposed to seek their fortune 

 abroad, not so much by the prospect of gain, as by the 

 certainty of being enabled to gratify their curiosity with 

 the sight of numberless objects that were wholly un- 

 known to them. 



" This state of things formed bold and experienced 

 sailors, and at the same time soldiers, not surpassed in 

 bravery by those of the most warlike nations of India. 



" The Japanese, accustomed from their infancy to hear 

 the accounts of the heroic achievements of their ancestors, 

 to receive at that early age their first instruction in those 

 books which record their exploits, and to imbibe, as it 

 were, with their mother's milk the intoxicating love of 

 glory, made the art of war their favourite study. Such 

 an education has, in all ages, trained up heroes ; it ex- 

 cited in the Japanese that pride which is noticed by all 

 the writers who have treated of them, as the distinguish- 

 ing characteristic of the whole nation. 



" Having a keen sense of the slightest insult, which 

 cannot be washed away but with blood, they are the 

 more disposed to treat one another in their mutual inter- 

 course with the highest respect. Among them suicide, 

 when they have incurred disgrace or humiliation, is a 

 general practice, which spares them the ignominy of 

 being punished by others, and confers on a son a right 



