An evidence of the wise policy of the Japanese government is seen in the interesting experiment which is now being tried here. The Japanese government wished to colonize Yezo, and thus make it more difficult for Russia to get the island in her power. Sapporo was laid out in squares and streets, quite like an American city. Houses and stores were built. An agricultural college, with farms for experimenting, was located here. The criminals sent to Yezo are employed in preparing the way for the coming settlers. Forests are laid low, roads are built, and mines are worked. Into these openings in the forests settlers are flocking in large numbers. To induce the people to leave the crowded districts of southern Japan, free homes and tracts of land are offered to settlers. Coal is the principal mineral found in Yezo, and the mines are among the richest ever opened. It has been estimated that these mines are capable of producing as much every year as all the coal fields of Great Britain, and that they will continue to do so for a thousand years. Much of this coal is already finding a market in America. There are still living on the island a small number of the aborigines of Japan-a people called the Ainos. They are wild savages who live by hunting and fishing, and are settled in small villages along the coast and among the mountains. They build rude huts for shelter. Their life is much like that of our American Indians. The men hunt and fish and the women do all the drudgery and heavy work. One of the principal occupations of the women is the making of cloth from the fibers of the bark of a curious tree. From this cloth and from the skins of animals all their clothing is made. Men and women dress nearly alike, and the only adornment of their costume is a quaint embroidery made by using a thread of elm bark. The huts in which this primitive people dwell are usually built upon posts driven into the ground. Benches, which are built around the walls, furnish sleeping places. The only religion of the Ainos appears to be a strange sort of worship of the wild bear. In all their villages are to be seen tall poles on which are the skulls of bears. It is not easy to comprehend this religion, since the Ainos are ever ready to kill and to eat the bears to which they offer their worship. CHAPTER XXI. THE HERMIT KINGDOM. LEAVING Japan with her civilization, and with her ambition to be the leading nation in the Far East, we come to Korea, a country but little known to travelers. The peninsula of Korea, which is often thought of as a very small country and of little importance, is larger than all the New England States. Its position makes it of singular value to three great nations, — Russia, China, and Japan. A chain of mountains, lying close to the eastern coast, extends the whole length of the country. The long western slope of this mountain chain forms the rest of Korea. Another mountain chain forms a large part of the northern boundary. There are a number of broad rivers flowing down this western slope, the Yalu and the Han being the most important. Korea is not a land of great cities and stately temples, nor is it noted for grand scenery. For hundreds of years Korea would have nothing to do with the outside world. Its natural boundaries made it easy to carry out this policy. To prevent invasion across the Chinese boundary—the only part open to easy attack - a wide strip of territory was laid waste. The Koreans made their shores as barren and unattractive as possible, in the hope that no one would be tempted to land. For all of these reasons, Korea has been named "The Hermit Kingdom." In spite of such attempts at seclusion, the armies. of China and Japan have invaded this land from time to time and compelled the payment of tribute by the humbled natives. But so far as commercial relations are concerned Korea remained a sealed country until 1876. Then Japan, following Commodore Perry's example, succeeded in making a treaty which opened the Hermit Kingdom to the world. In the following year treaties with Korea were made by the United States, England, France, and Germany. The Koreans were not able to profit at once by this opportunity, because of the continued strife between China and Japan for the control of the country. |