October i, iSgi,] 
227 
should Lavo been given to agriculture and industry 
Yet we find that iu the first oentnry of the Tokugawa 
rule the relative iGcrease of the rice crop was only 
40 "per cent., and the actual increase 7,300,000 / oAvi ; 
\¥hil9 in the period of fifty-six years from 1832 to 
1888, the relative increase wag 26 per cent., and the 
actual increase 8,088,666 leoku. It is iateresting also 
to note that these figure furnish an appare'itly 
trustworthy estimate ot the productiveness of Jiipanese 
soil for purposes of rice culture, the avprago yield 
over the whole country in 1598 and in 1888 alike 
baviug been 29 busheU per aore. Perhaps we may 
add that the figures show a'so how uniform have 
been the methods of the Ja-panesB farmer during 
the past three centuries. — Japan Weekly Mail, 
. . . <0 — . 
NOTES OF A TRIP TO THE LAND OF 
THE INCAS. 
Panama, 19th June, 1891. 
My df ar , — There is no doubt good Bishop 
Hiber unwittiDg;y libelled Ceylon,* but his lines — 
Where every prospect p'e ;ses, 
An1 only man is vile, 
might most appropriately be applied to Panama. 
I do not believe it would be possible to find on 
the face o£ th's earth a more repulsive lot of 
cutthroats than the people who at present inhabit 
this isthmus — a legacy 1; ft to it by Lesseps. Tea 
years ago the degenerate scum of ail nations aefmed 
to flock hpra to help to spend the Frenchmen's 
money. Never before was such gigantic corrurtioo; 
depravity, and swindling lieard of. The s. quel 
we now see iu palatial buildings abandoned, thousands 
of pondeiouj machines, tens of thousands of trucks 
and barrows, iron bridge?, and stupsndous dredges 
all rusting in the malarious jungle. Acres of iron 
cottages now tenanted on'y by vermin or the 
hungry-looking- ghosts of canal labourers. One spot 
I visited also told its sad tale— the cemeiery 
situated near Panama, an ample acreage, but 
crowded to overflowing. On the right as we drove 
along were the remains of the common herd, 
the little wooden crosses being simply nnmbored 
and dated, chiefly 1883-4 ; on the other side a 
smaller enclosure contained mould of an apparently 
more select kind, the marble and Aberdeen 
granite headstones testifying ' to the goodness, 
greatness, or prowess of the depattsd. 
But a considerable number of the old canal 
emplo}6) still remain, some of the Europeans 
being employed on the railway, the nondescripts — 
heaven knows how! though doubtie^s the robbing 
of passengers forms their most lucrative occupation. 
On the arrival of every boat down rush the 
motley crowd, and let them but onoe point 
a finger to your luggage and down must go the 
dollars or a bowie-knife fight ensues, l-lo ob iging 
porters here ; no policemen visible ; even the 
statioumaster has to be bribed to let you have 
jour lick'it in tinio (or the train. The worst 
loafers at Eastern ports are angelic crQatures 
Qompared with the dreadful rufliaus who swarm 
in this country. And jet it is a very lovely couii.tty ; 
the more I look at it the morn interested aud 
enchanttd I aoi, though its dcpljiably bjd name 
13 enough to frij^hten anyone. Ovor and over 
agaiii^ wo were wa.udd not to stay a ni-lu , 
tint h docs uut l.ike long to find ou, oi ti' 
causes for its deiidlincss than the climaio— chief 
* Even oiu' frii nil A. S. c<iu make a slip Hcbev did 
justice to Ceylon; and vocnt devol(>pments of mnrderons 
orimo gives ufl pause iu siipposiny that h^i hlu'lifi 
people when he chamt^i'ized thom us ^ile.— iic x, -i 
among which are dirt and bad drink. Their drinking 
I wells are a perfect " scunner" : not a drop ot 
decently pure water to be had. And yet about 
100 inches of rain per annum— the purest dis- 
tilled WBter— is poured upon this favoured Iflnd 
from the Atlantic and Pacific— five times as much 
as Australia gets, and four times as much as on 
the East of Scotland. And yet they have nothing 
to drink ! You remember that for two years the 
purest and best water we ever had was distilled 
water from the Pacific. As to the chmate, as far 
as I can judge or learn from the more intelligent 
of the inhabitanls, it is neither better nor worse 
than that of Colombo, tboagh such is its repute 
that we may not say so in Ceylon ! The soil is 
infinitely better than the average of Ceylon, and 
the vegetation proportionately good. The curious 
thing is the number of plants common to both 
countries, many of which mus^, of ooursp, hava 
been introduced here, the Mangoe tree, for instance, 
growing so lusarioasiy and bearing so enormously, 
the Coconut, the Breadfruit, Plantain, and Papaw, 
the Oleander, Shoeflower, and all the variedly 
beautiful Grotons, Ac, &c. Coffee I saw none of 
but feel sure it would grow and bsar well. There 
is an impression abroad that this Central America 
is a barren, insalubriou.s strip of land— lashed 
and blown by both monsoons. It is nothing of 
the kind, and, other things being equal, I should 
not hesitate about forming a home on yonder hiil's 
sheer rise to 3000 feet above sea level. 
Panama, ia short, unlike some other places I 
have visited, is, as regards the climate, soil, and 
prodaotivcaess, better that it was painted. If 
such be the case — and I believe it is — generally 
on this isthmus, how, it may be askod, came 
our countrymen t.) sueh utter, grief with their 
Darien scheme? Tliere were various causes ior 
this failure beside the fact that they were uusuited 
for labouring in the tropics— the chief reason beii g 
the hordes of ruffianly ypar.iards that periodically 
atlacked the unprotected colonists — dastardly 
attacks, which, we fear, were only winked at 
by our Erglish friends of that day, who were really 
jealous of the ambitious Soot. They have come 
to know us bettor now, but I have never been 
able to quite forgivo our southern friends for 
this perficiy. The same drawback miy be said 
to exi-t still, viz, the want of protection and a 
civilised Government ; but the day must soon come 
when, situated as it is, Central America will prove 
itself one of the most valuable and productive 
spots on earth, and poor Pafcerson to have been 
100 years ahead of his day. The bay in which 
I now write is indeed a thing of beauty, the 
deep blue, still water being literally studded with 
little gems of green islands from one to 150 
acres in extent. Within 100 yards of where the 
" Santiago" is anchored is an isle exactly resembling 
Helen'.s Isle in size and shape, but the jungle 
is more dense and the creepers hang down in 
richer festoons, kissing the rising tide. If my Kodak 
tells the tiuthyou will soe it for yourselves some day. 
Tho tide, rises here about 23, somg say 30 
feet; on the Atlantic si'le about 3 feet. This 
formed one of the difficulties which Lesseps had 
to face, but by no moans the chief. 
Tho one insuperable difficulty seemed, afler all, 
the impossibility of obtaining honest men as 
sub contractors. The extent uf deliberate swindling 
tljiit seems to have taken place is shocking to hear 
of. Hundreds of adventurers made stupendous 
fortunes out of the savings of the frugal but 
misguided French investors. 
This letter is postod in Guayaquil, the,, chief 
p'rrt of Epund.^v. smu descripliun of which 
ys)U WiU lijvl ia my nvxt. 
