THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 107 



given in Thunberg's ' Flora Japonica/ the principal appear 

 to be two kinds of Wheat (Triticum salivum and T. hyler- 

 num), Oats (Avena saliva), Eleusine coracana, the plant 

 we call Rough Panick Grass (Panicum verlicillatum) , a 

 kind of Soft Grass (Holcus Sorghum), the Water Chestnut 

 (Trapa natans), common Beet (Beta vulgaris), the wild 

 Carrot (Daucus Carota), Eice (Oryza saliva), some species 

 of Convolvulus and Dioscorea, Buckwheat (Polygonum Fa- 

 gopyrum), the eatable Chestnut (Castanea vesca), the Pome- 

 granate (Punica Granatum), Sesame (Sesame orientate), 

 Arum esculentum, Cycas revoluta, and Nelumbium specio- 

 sum. Some of bur European fruit-trees, Walnuts for in- 

 stance, and one species of Pear, are native here also, as 

 well as Tigs, and Oranges and Lemons of different sorts, 

 which are exceedingly productive. 



The large proportion of tilled land to pasture land, before 

 mentioned, is accounted for when we remember that animal 

 food is a thing forbidden by the Japanese religion, as well 

 as unnecessary in that climate ; the law which makes it 

 illegal to taste animal food one would suppose to be the 

 natural result of a belief in the transmigration of souls, 

 which forms an important article in the creed of every de- 

 vout Japanese. 



