WHAT THE JAPANESE EAT. 
307 
being unfavourable to cultivation. And, from wbat wc 
ourselves have seen of the diet of these people, the sea- 
shore must be their most desirable location. I doubt 
if two Japanese out of three ever eat any article (rice 
and sweet potatoes excepted) which they do not obtain 
from the sea. Fish, shell-fish, gelatine, and almost 
every variety of sea-weed, are regarded as wholesome, 
and some of the latter are really ver}^ palatable. Almost 
every one has, when confined to a sick-room, relished a 
bowl of Irish or Ceylon moss ; and much of the Japa- 
nese sea-weed, when cooked, resembles that preparation. 
May not the succession of villages along an uncultivated 
sea-shore, as seen by all vessels passing on their voyages, 
have given rise to the prevalent idea of the marvellous 
population of the empire ? And does not this succession 
of mountain after mountain, of range rising above range, 
indicate the existence in their bosoms of great mineral 
wealth? I am no geologist, and therefore am not en- 
titled to an opinion ; yet, from what I saw, heard, and 
read while in and about Japan, I believe that gold, quick- 
silver, and coal exist in abundance in the mountains of 
Jesso. But to return to the town of Tomari. 
This, as I have before remarked, was a fishing-settle- 
ment, and contained some hundred houses, with a pro- 
bable population of from six to eight hundred: of these 
some fifty or more are Japanese, and the remainder the 
native Kuriles. Of these latter we had seen several 
hundreds at our various “ wooding-up’' places; and now 
I will proceed with my necessarily incomplete description 
of their general appearance, habits, &c. 
Dr. Pritchard, in his excellent work entitled “The 
