BEVIEWS — AMEBICAN EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 527 



less advanced than western Europe in the chief elements of civiliza- 

 tion, we can scarcely evade the question : " What has arrested their 

 progress ?" nor avoid the suggestive answer which the contrasting 

 Christianity of the freest and most civilized states of the Old and 

 ]New "World present, when compared with the degraded worship of 

 this otherwise enlightened people. On this subject the following 

 brief compendium is suggestive : — 



<; Whatever may be the moral character of the inhabitants of Simoda, it might 

 be supposed, from the great number of places of worship, that they are a highly 

 devotional people. Though the peculiar religions of the Japanese seemed to be 

 sustained in a flourishing condition, the people are rather remarkable for their 

 toleration of all kinds of worship, except that of the Christian, for which, in con- 

 sequence of the political intrigues of the Roman Priesthood, centuries ago, they 

 have an intense hatred, carefully inculcated by those in authority, who keep alive 

 the traditional enmity engendered at an epoch when the Portugese were expelled 

 from the Empire. The Buddhist and Siutoo worships are those most prevalent 

 in Japan, and the lower classes are strict but formal devotees, while it is suspect- 

 ed that the higher and better educated, are indifferent to all religions, and enter 

 tain various speculative opinions, or seek refuge in a broad scepticism." 



The description of the Japanese "Praying Machine" may not 

 inappropriately complete this subject. 



•' There was a curious contrivauce found in one of the burial places at Simoda ) 

 consisting of a tall post, placed upright, and being square, it presented four surfaces 

 on each of which was one or two inscript ; ons or prayers. The post was nearly eight 

 feet in length, and near the centre, at a convenient height to be reached by the 

 hand, was affixed vertically a wheel, moved readily on an axle that passed through 

 the post Two small iron rings were strung upon each of the three spokes of the 

 large wheel. Every person who twisted this instrument in passing was supposed 

 to obtain credit in Heaven for oue or more prayers on the post, the number 

 being graduated according to the vigor of the performer's devotion, and the num- 

 ber of revolutions effected. The jingle of the small iron rings was believed to se- 

 cure the attention of the Deity to the invocation of the devotional, and the greater 

 t he noise, the more certain its being listened to. This praying by wheel and axle 

 would seem to be the very perfection of a ceremonious religiou, as it reduces it to 

 a system of mechanical laws, which, provided the apparatus is kept in order, — a 

 result easily obtained by a little oil, moderate use, and occasional repairs, — can be 

 readily executed with the least possible expenditure of human labor, and with all 

 that economy of time and thought which seems the great purpose of our material 

 and mechanical age. Hue, in his interesting account of his travels in Thibet, speaks 

 of an improvement on the machine, where the apparatus was turned by water- 

 power, and very appropriately styles it a Prayer Mill. In the course of the pro- 

 gress of the Japanese in the mechanical arte, this, with their usual readiness for 

 adopting new improvements, will no doubt be introduced, or perhaps the more ef 

 fective power of steam will be applied to their Praying Machines, and with the 

 introduction of Steam boats and Railroads, may commeuce an era of locomotive 

 devotion I" 



We have not attempted in this brief notice any comprehensh e an- 



