150 
COMMENDABLE CUSTOM. 
faithfully represents them as they exist at the 
present day. Theii' rough appearance and manners 
have remained unaltered since 16.53, for the poor 
shipwrecked Dut(dimen at first were afraid of 
them : — “ Their very habit increased our fear, for 
it had somewhat friglitful, which is not seen in 
China and Japan.” On a longer acquaintance, 
however, they found them kinder than was war- 
ranted l)y their looks. *'We may affirm,” says 
Hamel, “we were better treated by that idolater 
(the king) tlian we should have been among Chris- 
tians.” Their hatred of foreimi interference, and 
their inhospitable attempts to oppose the landing 
of strangers, or to hold any communication with 
them, also remain unaltered since his time. He 
relates that, in order to incite in their women and 
children a wholesome dread of his poor countrpnen, 
they spread a report that they “were of a mon- 
strous race, and when they drank were obliged to 
tuck up their noses behind their cars.” 
One custom which prevails among them is 
worthy of imitation even by the most advanced of 
