194 REPORT — 1859. 



terior of this island the temperature is much cooler than in the low districts near the 

 ocean. 



The west coast of Madagascar is indented with bays forming some of the most 

 remarkable and secure harbours in the world, in which there is abundance of water 

 for the largest class of vessels, and nearly all of them very easy of access. 



The silk-worm is found in many parts of the island, and the cocoons may be seen 

 in hundreds hanging on the trees, there being no demand there for an article which 

 we go to China for. The natives have always been accustomed to its use in their 

 garments, some of which are very elegant. 



Mineral wealth is very abundant, and iron and coal are now found in close proxi- 

 mity. The discovery of coal in Madagascar must soon place that island in the posi- 

 tion which it ought unquestionably to hold in the Indian Ocean. 



Great Britain alone sends every year 700,000 tons of coal round the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and the Peninsular and Oriental Company expend £600,000 per annum on 

 coal. 



Notes on Japan. By Laurence Oliphant, F.Tt.G.S. 



The three ports of the empire visited by the Mission, and which fell more imme- 

 diately under our observation, were Nagasaki, situated in the Island of Kinsin ; 

 Sowinda, a port opened by Commodore Perry on the Promontory of Idsa ; and Yedo, 

 the capital city of the empire. Of these Nagasaki is the one with which we have 

 been for the longest period familiar. In former times it was a fishing village situated 

 in the Principality of Omura ; it is now an imperial demesne, and the most flourishing 

 port in the empire. It owes its origin to the establishment, at this advantageous point, 

 of a Portuguese settlement in the year 1569, and its prosperity to the enlightened 

 policy pursued by the Christian Prince of Omura, in whose territory it was situated ; 

 while its transference to the Crown was the result of political intrigues on the part of 

 the Portuguese settlers, in consequence of which the celebrated Tageo Sama included 

 it among the lands appertaining to the Crown. Situated almost at the westernmost 

 extremity of the empire, at the head of a deep land-locked harbour, and in convenient 

 proximity to some of the wealthiest and most productive principalities in the empire, 

 Nagasaki possesses great local advantages, and will doubtless continue an important 

 commercial emporium, even when the trade of the empire at large is more fully 

 developed, and has found an outlet through other ports. The town is pleasantly 

 situated on a belt of level ground which intervenes between the water and the swelling 

 hills, forming an amphitheatre of great scenic beauty. Their slopes terraced with 

 rice-fields ; their valleys heavily timbered, and watered by gushing mountain streams; 

 their projecting points crowned with temples or frowning with batteries; everywhere 

 cottages buried in foliage reveal their existence by curling wreaths of blue smoke ; in 

 the creeks and inlets picturesque boats lie moored ; sacred groves, approached by 

 rock-cut steps, or pleasure-gardens tastefully laid out, enchant the eye. The whole 

 aspect of Nature is such as cannot fail to produce a most favourable impression upon 

 the mind of the stranger visiting Japan for the first time. The city itself contains a 

 population of about .50,000, and consists of between eighty and ninety streets, running 

 at right angles to each other — broad enough to admit of the passage of wheeled 

 vehicles, were any to be seen in them — and kept scrupulously clean. A canal inter- 

 sects the city, spanned by thirty-five bridges, of which fifteen are handsomely con- 

 structed of stone. The Dutch factory is placed upon a small fan-shaped island about 

 200 yards in length, and connected with the mainland by a bridge. Until recently, 

 the members of the factory were confined exclusively to this limited area, and kept 

 under a strict and rigid surveillance. The old regime is now, however, rapidly passing 

 away ; and the history of their imprisonment, of the indignities to which they were 

 exposed, and the insults they suffered, has already become a matter of tradition. The 

 port of Hiogo is situated in the Bay of Ohosaka, opposite to the celebrated city of that 

 name, from which it is ten or twelve miles distant. The Japanese Government have 

 expended vast sums in their engineering efforts to improve its once dangerous anchor- 

 age. A breakwater, which was erected at a prodigious expense, and which cost the 

 lives of numbers of workmen, has proved sufficient for the object for which it was 

 designed. There is a tradition, that a superstition existed in connexion with this dyke, 

 to the effect that it would never be finished, unless an individual could be found suffi- 



