378 E^SUM^. 



to four and a half million pounds from all the ports, 

 and the imports to five and a quarter million pounds 

 sterling. Tea and silk are the two chief articles that 

 are exported ; cotton, grey shirting, and muslins, the 

 principal imports. 



My own impression is, Japan was pretty well 

 worked out before any foreigners came on the scene. 

 Every inch of the country that is capable of being 

 utilised is so, and probably has been for centuries. I 

 have over and over again remarked, when coming upon 

 some cultivated spot, so situated that it appeared 

 utterly worthless on account of the labour necessary 

 even in reaching it, that only Japanese would utilise 

 such extraordinary patches of ground. As to substitut- 

 ing one crop for another, changing a home consumption 

 article into an export one, this, of course, could be 

 done. Tea, for instance, might be substituted for sweet 

 potatos, both flourishing best in similar latitudes and 

 situations. A limited trade may be done in rice ; but 

 as, frequently, Japan cannot supply its own wants in 

 this article, but has to depend on foreign supply, it 

 must be considered uncertain as an export. 



I remember one year (1870) when this great article 

 of food failed in crop. China merchants made a good 

 haul ; but the supply sent from Rangoon and the south 



