380 E^SUM^. 



disappointment, and I do not think will again be tried. 

 There is a small export in copper, which in the year 

 named amounted to, roundly, £45,000. A good deal is 

 now coined ; but I have seen this useful article heaped 

 up into small hillocks, and left for years just as it was 

 flung into these heaps from pits or holes, long since 

 abandoned. 



A few remarks on the direct trade between Japan 

 and England will best show how our interest compares 

 with that of other countries in this far-away land. In 

 1878 the total imports amounted to 26,000,000 dollars, 

 out of which 21,000,000 were from Great Britain alone. 

 The exports from Japan to Great Britain were 4,000,000, 

 and to British colonies 3,000,000. 



Japan may be rich in mineral wealth for all that 

 foreigners yet know : I doubt its being so. Goal is 

 fairly plentiful ; out of the six or eight different kinds I 

 tried for steaming purposes, that from Taka Shima, near 

 Nagasaki, was incomparably the best. In the year I 

 have previously quoted (1878), 141,772 tons were raised 

 from this mine alone, averaging in price about seven- 

 teen shillings a ton. Good iron is found in Yesso, but 

 so far only in small quantities. We know there is 

 silver and gold, but in what quantities the Japanese 

 alone can say. Up to the present day, all knowledge 



