36 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



Bamboo (arundo bambos), the larger sort, so useful for carrying burdens, and other purposes, 

 is grown in plantations, which are very beautiful, with the long slender stems reaching aloft 

 into the air, and the green grass making a thick sward beneath. Two or three dense groves of 

 wood were seen, of four acres in extent or more, inclosed by three cords drawn around them a 

 few feet from the ground. Were they sacred or tabooed? 



A few general remarks may be made before concluding this subject. The present system of 

 agriculture could scarcely be improved for the Lew-Chewans, considering the circumstances in 

 which they are placed. The amount of meat and fish consumed seems to keep them healthy, 

 and, were additional laboring animals introduced, they would require more of the fruits of the 

 earth than their flesh would repay. Besides, the manual labor thus superseded could not find 

 employment in manufactures, as they have not the raw material to work on, nor foreign com- 

 merce to demand their goods. Animals, then, would diminish population, by taking the places 

 of men. A few plots of clover, lucern, tares, and even timothy, would be beneficial, as afford- 

 ing large supplies for soiling, and increasing animal food, and also by yielding additional 

 quantities of manure, and granting to the land timely rest. The people manage their few 

 implements very adroitly, and, perhaps, only a few could be added with advantage — such as 

 better sickles or scythes, to gather in their crops more rapidly; a large hand-rake, to cleanse their 

 mowed crops, as is done by our cultivators ; and, may be, spades, shovels, &c. A few sheep, 

 presented to them by Commodore Perry, may be useful in furnishing wool as well as meat ; and 

 they can be supported, in some numbers, on the existing grass-lands. Indian corn and Irish 

 potatoes might be beneficially introduced, and also apples, cherries, and the like. And we 

 might derive some advantage also, by transferring to our country their figs, the wild raspberry, 

 the green border-grass, and the many-headed millet ; and perhaps their dye-plant. 



That the island has been peopled for many ages, is evidenced by the graded roads and deep 

 cuts, the structure and manifest age of the bridges, the antiquity of the villages, the great 

 amount of stone-work in the towns and in the fortresses — some old and dilapidated, some modern 

 and in repair ; but, above all, by the incalculable amount of labor done in grading the land for 

 culture. That which is now so perfect, could only have been made so by degrees, like structures 

 reared by the ant or bee. The population must have been, and is now, very considerable ; prob- 

 ably 150,000 — possibly 200,000. This will not appear beyond credence, when we remember 

 there are nine towns in the north, and twenty-one (or twenty-seven) in the south — i. e., towns 

 with public houses (or kunquas) in them, besides numerous agricultural villages. These towns, 

 including Shui and Napha, probably average 5,000, or 4,000 at the least; and the villages 

 would increase the total to the above numbers of men, women, and children. Nor would these 

 numbers appear to be beyond the sustenance of the island, when we reflect that man alone con- 

 sumes almost all the produce of the land, which is further assisted by considerable supplies 

 from the surrounding seas. The surface of the island is 400,000 or 500,000 acres, of which 

 at least one-eighth, probably more, is in cultivation. There may be 4,000 or 5,000 acres of rice 

 land, which, at 20 bushels, and with two crops per annum, would reach about 160,000 or 

 200,000 bushels. There are 5,000 or 6,000 acres in wheat, which, at eight bushels, would be 

 40,000 or 50,000 bushels. There are some 2,000 acres in sugar-cane; and the remainder, 

 30,000 or 35,000 acres, in potatoes, beans, taro, &c, &c, with double or triple crops annually, 

 would yield very largely. 



During the absence of the squadron in Japan, an effort was made by the officer in charge of 

 the coal depot to raise Irish potatoes, Indian cornj and tomatoes. This trial unfortunately 



