J A P A is?.. 
Nagafakf, was 98° in the month of Auguft; and the fe¬ 
vered cold in January, 35 0 . The thunder in the fummer- 
months is generally during the night; and the fnovv will 
remain on the ground fome days even in the fouth. 
Though there be plains of confiderable extent, yet 
Thunberg allures us that the whole-country confifts of 
mountains', hills,, and valleys, the coad being moftly rocky 
and precipitous, and invefted with a turbulent fea. The 
face of the country is alfo diverfified with many rivers 
and rivulets, and generally excites the focial ideas of in- 
dudry. The foil in itfelf may be faid to be rather barren; 
but the prolific ftiowers- confpire with labour and manure 
to overcome even this obftacle. Agriculture is a fcie’nce 
in the hi-ghed eftimaticn with this fenfible people ; fo 
that, except the molt barren and untradlable mountains, 
the earth is univerfally cultivated ; and even molt of the 
mountains and hills. There are no'commons; and, if any 
portion be left uncultivated, it may be feized by a more 
i’nduftrious neighbour. The Japanefe mode of manuring 
is to form a mixture of excrements of all kinds, with 
kitchen refufe, which is carried in pails,into the field, 
and poured with a ladle upon the plants when they have 
attained the height of about fix inches. Weeding is car¬ 
ried to the utmoft degree of nicety. The tides of the 
hills are cultivated by means of Hone walls, fupporting 
level plats fown with rice or efculent roots. “Thoufanda 
of thefe beds (fays Thunberg) adorn mod of their moun¬ 
tains, and give them an appearance which excites the 
greated altonilhment in the breads of the fpeftators.” Rice 
is the chief grain ; buck-wheat, rye, barley, and wheat, 
being little uied. The .fweet potatoe is abundant ; with 
feveral forts of beans and peafe, turnips, cabbages, &c. 
The rice is fown in April, and gathered in November ; 
in which lad month the wheat is fown, and reaped in June. 
The barley alfo dands the winter. From the feed of a 
kind of cabbage lamp-oil is expreded, and. feveral plants 
are cultivated for dyeing ; there are alfo cotton-dirubs, 
and mulberry-trees,, which lad feed abundance of filk- 
worms. The varnifli and camphor-trees,' the vine, the 
cedar, the tea-tree, and the bamboo-reed, not only grow 
wild, but are planted for numerous ufes. 
The rivers have not been delineated with much care. 
.Among the few named are the Nogafa, and the Jedogawa, 
which panes by Ofaka, where it is crowned with feveral- 
bridges of cedar,"more than 300 feet in length. The ri¬ 
ver Ojir.gawa is one of the larged and mod dangerous in 
the country, though not fubjeft, like the others,, to dwell 
during rains. Fudgawa is alfo a large and rapid river; as 
is that called Sak-gawa. But the larged feems to be the 
jodo, or Yodo, which flows fouth-weft from the central 
lake of UitZi. Among the mod important rivers Ksemp- 
fer,names the Ujin, or Ojiil; the Oomi, reported by the 
Japanefe hidory to have burd from the ground in one 
night; and the Aflca. One of the chief lakes feems to be 
that of Oitz, which emits two rivers, one towards Miaco, 
the other towards Ofaka, -and it is faid to be. fifty Japanefe 
leagues in length, each about an hour’s journey on horfe- 
back ; and the breadth is eonfiderable. 
■ The principal- mountain is that of Full, covered with 
fnow. almod throughout the year. The Faconie moun¬ 
tains are in-the fame quarter,'furrounding a fmall lake of 
th'eTame name. Many of the mountains are overgrown with 
wood 5 and others cultivated as before explained. There 
sre feveral volcanos, and in general they abound with ever¬ 
green trees and cryllailine. Iprings. Near Firando there is 
a volcanic ifland, nor are others unknown in the fur- 
rounding-feas’. In the province of Figo there is a volcano 
which condantly emits flames ; and another, formerly a 
coal-mine, in- the province of Tfikufer. Near the lake of 
Oitz is the delightful mountain of Jefan ; which is 
adeemed facred,, and is faid to prefent not lefs than 3000 
temples. 
The vegetable-fireafures of Japan, are numerous, and 
have been ably explored by Kaempfer and Thunberg. On 
account, however,, of the enormous, population of the 
country/ and the abfolute necefiity of paying the utmoft 
attention to the introduction of whatever may contribute 
to human fudenance, it is not eafy to afeertain how far 
feveral of the efculent plants cultivated'here are truly in¬ 
digenous. There are many points of refemblan.ee be¬ 
tween the floras of China and Japan, and this fimilarity 
has probably been Arengthened by a mutual interchange 
of ufeful vegetables; if indeed both countries have not 
rather derived fome of their mod valuable, plan ts-from Co¬ 
chin-china, or the PhilippineTfiands, the ginger, the 
foy-bean, black-pepper, fugar, cotton, and indigo, though 
perhaps natives of the more fouthern regions of Afia, are 
cultivated here with great fuccefs and in vad abundance* 
The Indian laurel and the camphor-tree are found in the 
high central parts of Japan, as is alfo the Rhus vermix, 
from the bark of which exudes, a gum-refin that is fup- 
pofed to be the bafis of the exquifiteiy-beautiful and ini¬ 
mitable black varnilh with which the inlaid cabinets, and 
other articles of Indian luxury, are covered. Befides- 
the common fweet or China orange,, another fpecies, the 
Citrus Japonica, is found wild and almod peculiar to this- 
country. Two kinds of mulberry, are'met with, both in 
an indigenous and cultivated date; the one valuable as 
the favourite food- of the dlk-worm, the other edeemed 
for the white fibres or its inner bark, which are manufac¬ 
tured into paper. The larch, the cyprefs, and weeping 
willow,.found in all the warm regions between Japan and 
the Mediterranean, here arrive, at the extremity of their 
boundary to the eafl; the fame may be faid of the opium, 
poppy, white lily,-and. jalap. The trumpet-flower is com¬ 
mon to this part of Ada,- and Peru; in which circum- 
flanee it refembles the vanilla, whofe berries form an ar¬ 
ticle of commerce, being largely fifed in the preparation of 
chocolate. The tallow-tree, the plantain, the cocoa-nut 
tree, and two other palms, adorn the woodland tra/is, 
efpecially near the Ihore, by the variety of their growth 
and foliage, while the uncultivated fwamps by the. fides 
of the rivers-are rendered fubfervient to the ufes of the 
inhabitants by the profufion and magnitude of the bam¬ 
boos with which they are covered.. 
It is not a little remarkable that neither fheep nor goats 
are found in the whole empire of Japan; the latter being 
deemed mifcliievous to cultivation, while the abundance 
of cotton recompenfes the want of wool. Swine are alfo 
deemed pernicious to agriculture ; and only a few appear 
in the neighbourhood of Nagafaki, probably introduced 
by the Chinefe. There are in general, but few quadrupeds; 
the number of horfes in. the empire being computed by 
Thunberg as only equal to thofe of a fingle Swediih town. 
Still fewer cattle are feen ; and the Japanefe neither ufe 
their fi.efh nor their milk, but employ them only in plough¬ 
ing or drawing carts. Their food eonfifls almod entirely 
of fifli and fowl, with vegetables.. Hens and common 
ducks'are domesticated chiefly on account of their eggs 3 
a few dogs are kept from motives of fuperjdition ;"ahd' 
Cats are. favourites of the ladies. The wolf appears in the 
northern provinces, and foxes in other parts.; thefe lad- 
being univerfally deteded, and coniidered as demons in¬ 
carnate. 
That the precious metals,gold and diver, are. to be found 
iir abundance in the empire of Japan, has been well 
known, both to the Fortuguefe, who formerly exported 
whole fiiip-loads, of them, and to the Dutch in,former 
times. Gold is found in feveral parts, and perhaps Japan 
may in- this refpeft 'conteft the palm with the ficheifc 
country in the world but, in order that this metal ma y. 
not lofe its value by becoming too plentiful, it is pro¬ 
hibited to dig more than a certain dated quantity ; not 
to mention that no metallic mine, of any kind- whatever, 
can be opened and wroughtwithoiit the emperor’s exprefs 
permilfion. When thispermifiion is obtained, two-thirds 
of the produce are the portion of the emperor^ and the 
proprietor of the land receives one-third for the expences. 
' The'finelt gold, together with the.riched gold mines, are 
found ou the larged of the Nipon -jflands near Sado. It 
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