rise the great rivers of south-eastern Asia. In central Tibet there is a series of large lakes, many of which have not yet been explored. Of these Tengri-nor, locally named Nam-cho, or the "sky lake," from its great elevation, is probably the largest. 6. Though Tibet lies in the same latitude as the Mediterranean, yet its great elevation renders it in the winter almost as cold as the arctic regions. Owing, however, to the mountains and plains which intervene between it and the sea robbing the winds of their moisture, its excessive dryness prevents either the cold being so severely felt as otherwise it would be, or the country being unhealthy. "Flesh exposed to the Tibetan air dries until it crumbles to powder, but it never putrifies. Wood does not rot, but it breaks from mere brittleness, caused by the arid atmosphere. The very rocks during the winter crumble into powder, and mixing their dust with that of the dry soil, are tossed up by the high winds in blinding clouds." 7. A nation so remote from the busy world as the Tibetans, cannot be expected to make great progress in arts or commerce; but the country is known to abound in copper, iron, and tin, though the absence of fuel render these riches of little value. Gold mines are worked and jealously guarded by the Chinese, and the deposits of salt, borax, sulphur, and nitre, are developed to a considerable extent. The produce is carried by caravans consisting of long trains of pack-oxen, sheep, mules, and horses, the rivers being crossed on inflated bags. There is a large traffic with China, the produce of Tibet being exchanged for Chinese manufactures, European cutlery, and, above all, tea, this constituting the principal beverage of the Tibetans-morning, noon, and night. 8. In Tibet proper there are several towns, but the only one of marked interest is the capital, Lhassa, where resides the chief Buddhist priest and the principal Chinese political agents. The town is built on a level plain, 11,700 feet above the level of the sea, surrounded by mountains, and dotted over with populous monasteries. The city has a circumference of two-and-a-half miles, the In central object in which is a Buddhist temple, containing images richly inlaid with gold and precious stones. the western province of Tibet, Gartokh is the chief trading place. LESSON XVII. THE JAPANESE EMPIRE. 1. The Japanese Empire includes a chain of islands which extend in a curve from Saghalien to the Corea, being separated from the latter by the Corea Strait. There are four large islands-Nipon, Shikokou, Kiushiu, and Yezo-and many hundreds of small islands and islets. Most of the islands are of volcanic origin, and earthquakes still disturb them so frequently that the Japanese calculate on one of their cities being, on an average, destroyed every seven years. 2. The islands contain about 150,000 square milesthat is to say, are rather more extensive than the British Isles-and about two-thirds of the surface is mountainous. The chains run in a direction parallel with the length of the group, but most of the peaks are only of moderate elevation. Fusi-Yama an extinct, and Asama-Yama an active volcano, have the greatest elevation. The rivers of Japan are short and rapid, and only useful for irrigation, but the coast is so broken that there are fine harbours everywhere. 3. Though ten degrees further to the south, the average temperature is not much higher than that of Great Britain. The extremes, however, are greater. The summers are much hotter and the winters colder ; but even the hottest days are usually tempered by cool winds. June, July, and August, are the rainiest months, and the autumn which follows is the most pleasant season of the year. The seas around Japan are subject to violent hurricanes and storms. 4. The soil of Japan is fertile, and for the most part highly cultivated, agriculture forming the chief occupation of the people. Tea, cotton, rice, maize, wheat, millet, are the chief crops, and the parts unsuitable for cultivation are covered with luxuriant forests-chestnuts, oaks, pines, beech, maple, the camphor-tree, paper-tree, vegetable-wax-tree, being strangely intermixed with tree-ferns, the bamboo, banana, and sago-palm. Minerals are said to be abundant-gold, silver, copper, and coal, being the most important. 5. Although agriculture is the chief industry of Japan, the manufacturing industry is not neglected. The Japanese excel in the use of metals, and in the manufacture of silk, paper, porcelain, and lacquered wares. Commercial industry and intercourse with foreign nations have made rapid strides. Twenty-five years ago Japan was a closed-up empire. She refused to have anything to do with the outer world and its ways-she was a law unto herself. Every year a single ship came from Holland, and was permitted-with much indignity-to carry away copper bars and other surplus riches of the country. But when intercourse with other nations of the western world was forced upon her by an admiral, whose eloquence was aided by an ironclad, she suddenly woke out of the sleep of ages, and the only fear for Japan, nowadays, is that she will rush too fast along the path which she has chosen. Japanese youths are in every European university; and we have Japanese doctors and Japanese barristers; and in every department of intellectual life the Japanese promise to hold their own against the Western peoples to whom they were utter strangers a few years ago. The exports of Japan amount to about £4,000,000 in yearly value, the imports to nearly a million more. Of the latter, cotton and woollen goods and metals from England, constitute about one-half. Silk, tea, copper, wax, and camphor, are the chief exports. 6. If we exclude Yezo, which is looked upon rather as a colony than an integral part of the Empire, Japan is more densely populated than the British Isles. In 1878 the population was estimated at nearly thirty-five million souls. Yedo,* the capital, which at one time had the reputation of being the most populous city in the world, contained at this enumeration a little over a million inhabitants, living in about a quarter of a million houses. The chief towns after the capital are Yokohama, a thoroughly Europeanised town; Kioto, the ancient capital; Osaka, noted for its many fine temples; and Hiogo, the seaport of the two latter towns. 7. When the Japanese came to the islands which they now inhabit-probably from some part of southern Asia-they found the country thinly populated by the Ainos, an aboriginal race, with great heads of hair, profuse beards and moustaches, and, in some cases, with unusually thick coats of hair on their bodies. Many of these barbarians retreated to Yezo, Saghalien, and the Kurile Islands, where they still live, although the pure Ainos probably number less than 16,000 souls. In Japan proper the distinction between the conquered and the conquerors was kept up for ages, but, as in the case of the Saxon and the Norman, in process of time the fusion of races was complete, and the homogeneous Japanese people is the result. 8. The system of government of the Japanese Empire is that of an absolute monarchy. In former years there were two emperors of Japan, the Mikado,† or spiritual ruler, and the Tycoon, or executive chief; but in 1869, after a short war, the Mikado overthrew the power of the Tycoon, together with that of the Daimios, or feudal nobles, and became an absolute monarch. In the work of the government, however, he is assisted by the Great Council. * Now called Tokio. = Tycoon + Mikado "The Venerable." = "The Great Prince." E |