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The National Geographic Magazine 



being the most progressive people of 

 which history gives any account, and 

 the most singular fact in connection with 

 this progress is that its genesis was spon- 

 taneous, no outside influence or pressuie 

 being brought to bear to effect the tre- 

 mendous changes in the governmental 

 system and methods. 



The change was a true evolution, and 

 was carried out with practical unanimit}^ 

 b}' governors and governed alike. 



A point seldom or never noted by 

 travelers or writers on ethnological sub- 

 jects is the odor possessed by the various 

 tribes of men, and for want of a better 

 phrase I will call it the " race smell." 



The race smells of geveral members of 

 the human family are distinct enough to 

 influence not only their neighbors, but 

 the domesticated animals of other races. 

 Witness the race smell of the North 

 American Indian, sufficiently marked to 

 be disagreeable to white nostrils, and to 

 be a source of alarm to our horses and 

 dogs. 



From observation I am led to conclude 

 that the accidents of clothing, habits, 

 and environments are operative upon the 

 race smell only as modifiers, increasing 

 or decreasing that smell according to 

 circumstances. Witness the strong race 

 smell of the Negro, persisting in spite of 

 the environments of ages of civilization. 



The application of the foregoing to the 

 question under discussion lies in the fact 

 that the race smell of the Japanese is 

 so slight as to be scarcely recognizable, 

 while the Chinaman has the race smell so 

 well developed as to be distinctly notice- 

 able in an}^ considerable assemblage. Its 

 markec\ feature is that it produces a dis- 

 tinct tingling in the end of the nose of 

 the European, and once experienced will 

 never afterward be mistaken. The Chin- 

 aman says we smell like sheep, and our 

 race smell is as disagreeable to him as 

 his is to us, another and novel applica- 

 tion of the old adage of '^ de gustibus non 

 est dispiita7idum." 



In Japan one looks in vain for exam- 



ples of bygone architectural ability, for 

 the remains of bridges or monuments, 

 roads or temples, and the idea impresses 

 itself upon the mind of the observer that 

 'Japan is a new country, that its past is 

 but of 5'esterday in comparison with 

 China, Korea, or India; but this impres- 

 sion is speedily forgotten when an ex- 

 amination of the literature, laws, lan- 

 guage, and art discloses the fact that 

 Japan counts her history by thousands 

 of years, and that her literature contains 

 examples written before the day of the 

 Roman Empire. We are shown pieces 

 of bronze-work two thousand years old. 

 We look upon an emperor who is the 

 one hundred and twenty-first of an un- 

 broken dvnasty which was founded 660 

 B. C. ! 



We are impressed with the national 

 virility which can, after so many cen- 

 turies of existence, voluntarily modify 

 its system of government into sympathy 

 with the ideas of today, and follow up 

 that tremendous change by adopting the 

 best the modern world has to offer in' 

 every branch of human thought, and 

 adapting itself as a people to the use of 

 all those ideas which form the difference 

 between the universe of yesterdaj^ and 

 the world of today. Whether their at- 

 tempts are successful is not pertinent to 

 the subject, for, looking at the intent of 

 the Japanese nation as exploited by her 

 leading men, we see that, modified, it is 

 true, by the environments of their tradi- 

 tions and historj^, Japan is well in the 

 forefront of the family of modern na- 

 tions. 



In China, on the other hand, but little 

 of interest presents itself which is not 

 a monument of a long-departed glory. 

 Splendid bridges, huge gateways fash- 

 ioned in stone, canals, bronzes, remain 

 unequaled elsewhere for beauty and fit- 

 ness of design, a literature stretching 

 back beyond the limits of any written 

 history outside of this huge empire. 

 China is of the past ; her dreams are all 

 reminiscent ; her efforts are expended in 



