482 The National Geographic Magazine 



like 75,000 will go to Singapore and the 

 Straits Settlements and between 5,000 

 and 6,000 to the Philippines. Ten thou- 

 sand will probably go to Hongkong, 

 Saigon, and other ports. The money 

 sent home by these emigrants is by far 

 the largest financial resource of the peo- 

 ple of this district. 



POLAR EXPLORATION 



THE year 1905- 1906 will be the 

 quietest, as far as polar work is 

 concerned, known for some time. Only 

 two expeditions, those of Commander 

 Peary and the Amundsen Magnetic Ex- 

 pedition, are now in the Arctics, none 

 are in the Antarctics, and no others are 

 planned against either Pole. 



The latest word from Commander 

 Peary comes by Dr Frederick Sohon of 

 Washington, D. C, who left Etah, 

 Greenland, the last week in August. 

 He reports that the Roosevelt, Peary's 

 ship, left Etah steaming north on Au- 

 gust 20. Nothing but open water could 

 then be seen toward the north, or when 

 Dr Sohon left several days later. Ap- 

 parently conditions were very favorable 

 for Commander Peary and it is generally 

 believed that he succeeded in taking his 

 ship at least as far as the entrance of 

 Kennedy Channel. This point is con- 

 siderably farther north than he has suc- 

 ceeded in getting his supply ship before, 

 which means that his base will be so 

 much nearer the Pole . The Roosevelt car- 

 ried from Etah 68 Eskimo men, women, 

 and children and 250 dogs. Commander 

 Peary will distribute them in stations 

 along the coast. 



THE POPULATION OF JAPAN 



ACCORDING to the last official Jap- 

 anese census, the population of 

 Japan had grown from 41,388,313 in 

 1893 to 46,732,841 in 1903, an increase 

 of 5,344,528 in ten years. This is ex- 

 clusive of Taiwan (Formosa), which in 

 1902 had a population of 3,000, 111. In 

 round figures the population of the Em- 

 pireof Japan maybe stated at 50,000,000. 



Except in the acquirement of Formosa 

 in 1895, there has not been any sudden 

 increase in Japan's population, but a 

 steady increase year after year, begin- 

 ning with 423,902 in 1894 an d closing 

 (for this computation) with 710,332 in 

 1903, an average increase of 534,000 for 

 each of the ten years. 



The 1903 population of Japan proper, 

 namely, 46,732,841 consisted of 23,605,- 

 571 males and 23, 1 3 1, 2 70 females. This 

 equality of the sexes is noticeable, espe- 

 cially as it has continued through all of 

 the ten years. 



The population of Taiwan (Formosa) , 

 3,000, in, has grown at the rate of from 

 68,000 to 84,000 a year since 1898. In 

 1 902 it consisted of 2 , 953 , 034 natives and 

 47,077 Japanese. In 1898 the Japanese 

 in the island numbered 25,585. 



The number of deaths in Japan proper 

 was 937,644 in 1893 an d 952,252 in 

 1903, the figures for each of the ten 

 years being nearly the same. It was not 

 so with the yearly births. They were 

 1,178,428 in 1893 an d steadily increased 

 each year, reaching 1,493,599 in 1903. 

 Here we see the necessity for Japan's 

 expansion into Korea. Japan's area is 

 limited and only 12 per cent of it is ara- 

 ble land ; consequently providing for 

 534,000 increase in population each year- 

 was a most serious question. That point 

 is settled now, and the Japanese are 

 flocking into Korea. 



In the ten years the average marriages 

 per 1,000 of the population of Japan 

 have been 8.71. Divorces averaged 

 9,400 a year, or 2.13 per 1,000 mar- 

 riages. That is certainly a low divorce 

 rate for an oriental country. 



In 1903 the ratio of urban population 

 was 20 per cent, an increase of 7.5 per 

 cent since 1896, and of suburban 80 per 

 cent, a decrease of 7.5 per cent. 



In the seventeen years, 1886- 1903, the 

 urban population increased by 4, 448 ,656, 

 and the suburban by 3,215,494. Thus 

 Japan has the American problem to deal 

 with — the overcrowding of people into- 

 the cities. Walter J. Ballard. 



