58 



THE XATIOXAL GEOGRAPHIC M\GAZ T XE 



Photograph from j. R. Joy 



A TAPAXESE SAWMILL 



Although Japan has more than three times as much area in forests as in land that is 

 under cultivation, most of the lumber used in the island empire is sawn by hand. Water- 

 power is intermittent along the short rivers, and the use of modern machinery is largely 

 restricted to the coast cities. Even with rising wages, the sawmill does not largely compete 

 with the man-power mill. 



the evil his volcanic fires can work, or, in 

 the case of other stately peaks, for the 

 help he can bestow. Indeed, no descrip- 

 tion of the physical features of the chief 

 mountain systems of Japan would be 

 justly attempted which did not emphasize 

 the actual: psychological effects which re- 

 sult from the close contact of a lively and 

 impressionable people with the splendid 

 and varied peaks which overshadow their 

 homes. 



As in Greece, so in Japan, the most 

 characteristic feature of the land is its 

 mountains. They spread over the whole 

 country and form a chief part of every 



view. They have constantly modified the 

 course of historical events, and especially 

 of military operations. 



They have served, by limiting facility 

 of intercourse, to conserve the special and 

 peculiar features of the inhabitants of 

 each corner of the land which they shut 

 off from all the rest; for, in spite of the 

 increase of railway communication in the 

 plains, the strongly marked characteristics 

 of many of the different provinces or 

 districts are quite noticeable, even in the 

 present days of transformation, where 

 the mountain barriers hem them in. 



It is the hard conditions of life in 



