mission in this group.[107] The Rev. W. Forcade and an associate were
left on Lewchew in May, 1844, and after a residence of fifteen months
were able to transmit some notices of their treatment to the directors,
through Sir Edward Belcher, R.N. who stopped at Napa in August, 1845.
On their arrival, M. Forcade and his companion were conducted to their
dwelling, where they were surrounded by a numerous guard under the
control of officers, and attended by domestics, as they were told, "to
charm their leisure moments." Their table was bountifully supplied, and
everything they could ask to make them comfortable was granted them,
except their liberty. Whenever they went abroad, they were accompanied
by a guard, but allowed to hold no intercourse with the natives; they
had not been able to proceed beyond twelve miles into the interior, but
as far as they had opportunities of conversing with the natives, found
them simple and courteous in their manners, and disposed to talk when
not under surveillance. It is probable, however, that under such
restraint as these gentlemen were placed, it is not likely that they had
attained to such fluency in the language as to be able to hold very
ready communication with natives met in this hasty manner. The
intentions of the government were plain, however, not to allow them to
disseminate their doctrines, (if it had learned their real object), nor,
by intercourse with the people, become acquainted with their character,
or the state of the country. No assistance was granted them in learning
the language, and they were forbidden to adopt the native costume.
Notwithstanding this opposition, they had been able to acquire a partial
knowledge of the language, and to compile a vocabulary of six thousand
words. Permission to preach the Christian religion was not granted them,
lest, as the authorities said, the Chinese, to whom they are tributary,
would break off all intercourse; but the real reason was doubtless their
fear of the Japanese. Yet these obstacles did not dishearten them, and
they seem determined to persevere in their attempts, though it is not
unlikely that when Mr. Bettelheim arrives, the authorities will take
measures for deporting them all.
The Lewchewans are intimately connected with the Japanese. The language
is the same, with unimportant dialectical variations, and Chinese
letters and literature are in like manner cultivated by both. In
personal appearance, however, the two people are very unlike. The
Lewchewans are not on an average over five feet four inches high,
slightly built, and approach the Malayan cast of features more than the
Chinese. They are darker than the Chinese, and their mild traits of
character, unwarlike habits, and general personal appearance, suggests
the idea that they are akin to the aborigines of Formosa and Luconia by
descent, while their proximity and subjugation to their powerful
neighbors on the north and west, have taught them a higher civilization,
and introduced arts and sciences unknown to their early conquerors. When
Lewchew was subjugated by the Japanese, it was agreed that embassies
with tribute might be sent to Peking, and according to the Chinese
account, they come to that court twice in three years.[108] The
secretary or deputy embassador in 1841, was drowned in his passage from
Peking to Fuhchau. This embassy is a source of considerable profit to
the Lewchewans, for their junks, which are built on the Chinese model,
have free entrance to Fuhchau, and all the goods they import and export,
are passed without duty. The travelling expenses of the embassy to and
from the capital are also defrayed, and permission is given them to
study Chinese when in the country. This intercourse is therefore both
honorable and profitable to the Lewchewans, but the Chinese are not
allowed to trade there, and the only act of sovereignty the emperor
exercises, according to M. Forcade, is to send a delegate to sanction
the accession of a new incumbent of the throne--whom, however, it would
be ridiculous for him to refuse. He adds, "In conversation, if one is a
stranger, the Lewchewans will be continually dwelling on China, they
will boast about it, they will relate its history, they will describe
its provinces and its cities; but Japan is never mentioned! Such are the
words, but the facts are quite another thing."
The real character of the connection between Lewchew and Japan is not
well ascertained. No Japanese officers are seen on landing, and the
officers appointed to attend the people of the Indian Oak, exhibited the
greatest alarm when a few were seen at a distance, while the party were
taking a walk. The trade between the two countries is confined to the
ports of Napa and Kagosima, between which the vessels of both nations
pass; the junks from other parts of Japan are not permitted to resort to
Napa, but it is not probable that the prince of Satzuma has the right of
appointing the residents, or whatever authorities are sent thither.
M. Forcade says there were from ten to fifteen Japanese vessels in the
port, but when the American ship Morrison was there, in 1837, there were
only five. Lackered-ware, grass cloth, sugar, and earthen-ware, are
exported to Kagosima, and a great assortment of metallic articles,
cloths, provisions, and stationery taken in exchange. The country in the
vicinity of Napa, and towards Shudi, the capital, is highly cultivated,
and the people appear to be as well clothed, and possess as many of the
comforts and elegancies of life as their neighbors. They still retain
enough of their own customs, however, to distinguish them from the
Japanese, even if their physical appearance did not point them out as
distinct. M. Forcade says that there is reason for supposing
Christianity to have been implanted in Lewchew at the same time it was
introduced into Japan, but Lewchew at that time seems to have been much
less dependant upon Japan than subsequently; and it is not probable that
much was done to proselyte its inhabitants. He mentions that a cross is
cut on the end of the rampart where foreigners land, who are thus
obliged to trample on this symbol; but no other visitors mention any
such sculpture or custom. The landing place at Napa is a long stone
jetty, stretching across the beach, which at low tide, prevents boats
approaching the shore.
JAPAN.
This country has recently attracted increased attention on the part of
commercial nations, and several foreign ships have lately appeared on
the coasts, whose reception has only shown the vigilance of the
authorities in taking every precaution neither to offend nor receive
their unwelcome visitors. The Dutch and Chinese are still the only
nations allowed to trade with the Japanese, and the news brought by the
latter people of the troubles they have lately gone through with their
foreign customers, has probably only more strongly convinced the siogoun
and his ministers of the propriety of their seclusive policy. Nor is
there much reason to doubt that the Chinese and Japanese have avoided
the fate of the natives of Luconia, Java, and India, by shutting out
foreigners from free access and intercourse with their people, and owing
to their seclusion, have remained independent to this day. The works of
Siebold upon the natural history and political condition of the country
and its inhabitants, are now slowly publishing in Paris, but with such
luxury of execution as to place them beyond the reach of most persons
who might be desirous to examine them. The visits of two American ships
to the bay of Yedo, has directed the public eye again to the empire. The
first was that of the whaler Manhattan, Captain Cooper, who was led to
think of going into the port by having taken eleven shipwrecked men off
a small island near the Bonin islands, in April, 1845, lying southeast
of Nippon. As he was going north, he fell in with a water-logged junk
from Nambu, laden with rice and fish, from which he received eleven
more, and soon after made the eastern coast in the principality of
Simosa. Here he landed two men, and proceeding towards Cape King, landed
two more, who made their way to Yedo. Owing to north winds, he was blown
off the coast twice, and when he approached the estuary leading to the
capital, he was taken in tow and carried up to the anchorage.
Interpreters came off to the vessel, who could speak English
sufficiently well to carry on an imperfect communication, who informed
Captain Cooper that his wants would be supplied, but none of his company
allowed to land. A triple cordon of boats was placed around the ship,
consisting of upwards of a thousand small boats, displaying numerous
flags, and containing as many armed men as if the country was in danger
of attack. The ship was visited by crowds of natives of all ranks, who
behaved with great decorum while gratifying their curiosity, but no
trade was allowed. Many officers of high rank came on board and examined
the ship, and took an inventory of every article belonging to the
rescued seamen, before they were allowed to land. The ship was
gratuitously supplied with provisions and a few spars, to the value of
about $500, but the captain was again and again enjoined not to return
there on any account. When he inquired what he should do if he again
came across the siogoun's subjects in like distress, and exposed to a
cruel death, he was told, "leave them to their fate, or take them where
the Dutch can get them." The men rescued from starvation and death,
were, however, deeply sensible of the kindness which had been shown
them. After a stay of eight or ten days, Captain Cooper was towed out of
the port, and down the bay to the coast, and the last injunction was
only a repetition of the first order, not to come again. This
reception, though it presents no encouragement to hope for a relaxation
of the policy, deemed by the siogoun at once his safety and his profit,
is less likely to call for summary chastisement than the rude repulse
the American ship Morrison received in 1837, when she entered the bay of
Yedo on the same errand, and was driven away by cannon balls and armed
gunboats.
Captain Cooper represents the country in this portion of it as clothed
with verdure, and under a high state of cultivation. The proximity of
the mountains in Idzu, produces constant showers, which covers the
highest peaks with forests and shrubbery. Terrace cultivation is
extensively practiced, and constant labor is demanded to supply
subsistence to the dense population, who still at times suffer severely
for want of food. The capital could not well be seen from the ship, and
its enceinte was so filled with trees, that its dimensions could not
accurately be defined. No towers or pagodas were seen elevating
themselves above the dull monotony of the buildings. The harbor was
covered with vessels, at anchor and moving about; some of them unwieldy,
open-stern junks, designed for the coast trade, others light skiffs and
boats, used for communicating with vessels in the harbor and the shore.
The greatest part of the coasting trade centres at Yedo, owing to the
large amount of taxes paid the siogoun in kind, and the supplies the
princes receive from their possessions while they reside in the capital,
both of which causes operate to develope the maritime skill of the
people, and increase the amount of tonnage. The shortsighted policy
which confines the energies and capital of a seagoing people like the
Japanese, within their own shores is, however, less a matter of wonder
than the despotic power which could compel them to stay at home two
centuries ago, at a time when their merchants and agents were found from
Acapulco to Bangkok.
The Japanese empire presents the greatest feudal government now
existing, and on that account is peculiarly interesting to the student
of political science. In some respects, the people are superior to the
Chinese, but are inferior in the elements of national wealth and
progress. They belong to the Mongolian race, but are darker than the
Chinese, and not as tall, though superior in stature to the Lewchewans.
They approximate to the Kamtschatdales in their square build, short
necks, large heads, and short lower limbs. They are of a light olive
complexion, but seldom exhibit a florid, ruddy countenance.
Among the articles obtained from the junk by Captain Cooper, was a map
of Japan, including part of Yesso. It is four feet square, drawn on the
proportion of less than one degree to two inches, and contains the names
of all the places there is room for. It is cut on wood, and painted to
show the outlines of the chief principalities; the relative importance
of the places is shown by writing their names in different shaped
cartouches, but from the space occupied by the Chinese characters, there
is probably not one-tenth of all the towns inserted. The distances
between the principal points along the coast are stated, and on some of
the leading thoroughfares inland. The map is evidently the original of
Krusenstern's "Carte de Nippon," published by the Russian Board of
Longitude, and is drawn up from trigonometrical surveys. The degrees of
latitude bear the same numbers as upon European maps; the meridians are
reckoned from Yedo. The existence of such maps among the people
indicates that a good knowledge of their own country is far more
extensively diffused than among the Chinese, whose common maps are a
standing reproach to them, while they have others so much more accurate.
The coast from Cape King northward to Simosa, for the space of two
degrees, was found by captain Cooper to be better delineated upon this
map than upon his own charts. These seas present a fine field for
hydrographic surveys, and it would greatly advance the security of
navigation on the eastern shores of Asia, and redound to the honor of
our own land, if the American government would despatch two small
vessels to survey the seas and shores between Luconia and Kamtschatka.
The visit of Commodore Biddle to the bay of Yedo, has added nothing to
our knowledge of its shores. His polite dismissal, and the refusal of
the government to entertain any commercial relations with the Americans,
only add force to the injunction to captain Cooper the year before, not
to return, and shows more strongly that while the Japanese rulers are
determined to maintain their secluded policy, they wish to give no cause
for retaliatory measures on the part of their unwelcome visitors, and
mean to keep themselves as well informed as they can upon foreign
politics. The subject of foreign intercourse between the two great
nations of Eastern Asia and Europeans since it commenced three centuries
since, is an instructive one; and the general impression left upon the
mind of the candid reader, is that foreign nations have themselves
chiefly to thank for their present seclusion from those shores, and the
restrictions in their commerce. Rear-Admiral Cecille has also paid a
visit to some part of Japan, quite recently, but met with no success in
his endeavors to enter into negotiation.
The great object in view in making these attempts to improve the
intercourse with Japan, is to find new markets for western manufactures.
It is quite doubtful, however, whether the Japanese have many articles
suitable for foreign markets. Their lackered-ware is exceedingly
beautiful, but it would not be so prized when it became more common.
Copper and tea would form the basis of exports, and perhaps some silk
fabrics, but China furnishes now all that is wanted of them both, and
can do so to any extent. Until a taste for such foreign manufactures, as
woolens, cutlery, glass-ware, calicoes, &c., is created among them, and
they are willing to adapt their own products to the tastes of their
customers, it does not seem likely that a trade at all proportioned to
the estimated population and riches of the country, would soon be
established. The Japanese are afraid of the probable results of a more
extended intercourse, and deem it to be the safest course to run no
risks; and if they read the pages of their early intercourse with the
Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch, they must feel they would run many
serious risks by granting a trade. If the siogoun and his advisers could
be rightly informed, however, there are grounds for believing the
present policy would be considerably relaxed.
Learning is highly honored in Japan, and books are as cheap and common
as in China. The written language is a singular and most difficult
mixture of Chinese characters, with the syllabic symbols adopted by the
Japanese, rendering its perusal a great labor, more so than that of
Chinese, because Chinese must first be mastered. The spoken language is
polysyllabic and harmonious, and possesses conjugations, tenses, cases,
&c., to facilitate its perspicuity, and increase its variety of
expressions. The arts in which they chiefly excel are in the manufacture
of silken and linen goods, copper-ware, lackered-ware, porcelain and
basket work. Their cutlery is despicable, and the specimens of their
carving, which are seen abroad, do not equal those produced by the
Chinese. Agriculture is pursued on much the same system as in
China--minute subdivision of the soil and constant manuring, together
with frequent watering. Rice and fish are the staples of food;
vegetables are used in great abundance, but meats only sparingly. The
habits and sports of the people are influenced so much by the peculiar
notions attending a feudal society, such as adherence to the local
prince, and maintenance of his honor, wearing coats of arms, privileged
orders, and hereditary titles, that there is little similarity in the
state of society in Japan and China, notwithstanding a similar religion
and literature. The Japanese were called the Spaniards of the East by
Xavier, and the comparison is good at this day. They have, perhaps,
more genius and imagination than the Chinese, but are not as peaceable
or industrious.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE LANGUAGES OF THE JAPANESE, COREANS, CHINESE AND
COCHINCHINESE. The four nations here briefly noticed; viz., the
Japanese, Coreans, Chinese and Cochinchinese, have been collectively
called the _Chinese language nations_, from the peculiar relations and
connections they have had through the medium of that language. The
relation has throughout been one of a literary character, fostered to
some extent by religious prejudices, but depending chiefly for its
permanence and extension upon the superiority of the writings of the
Chinese. It is, in some respects, without a parallel in the history of
man. While European languages have all been indebted for many of their
words to the two leading ancient tongues of that continent, their bases
have been diverse, and the words they have imported from Greek and Latin
have undergone various changes, so much so as sometimes hardly to be
recognized. This is not the case with these four nations of eastern
Asia. They have all adopted the characters used by the leading nation
without alteration, and with them, of course, have to a very great
degree, taken her authors, her books, her knowledge and her opinions, as
their own.
One of the most observable features of the national character of the
Chinese, is its conservative inclinations. Not only is it seen in the
actions of government and in the writings of scholars, but still more in
the habits of the people and their modes of thinking. It has been
cherished by that government, as it is by all governments, as a sure and
safe principle of preservation, but it is also advocated by the people.
The geographical position of China has isolated it from all western
nations, while the political, literary and social superiority of its
people over the contiguous nations, has combined to foster their conceit
and affectation of supremacy, and make them disinclined to have any
intimate or equal relations with others. But one of the strongest and
most comprehensive of these conservative influences has arisen from the
nature of the language, strengthened by the extent to which education
has been diffused among the people. The language is of such a character,
combining mystery and difficulty with elegance and ingenuity, as greatly
to captivate a people who have time and inclination to trace out the
marks and veins on the pavement in the temple of science, but not the
invention or investigation to seek out and explore its hidden chambers.
The character of this language and the nature of the connection between
the nations who use it, may here be briefly exhibited.
The Chinese ascribe the invention of their characters to Tsang Kieh, one
of the principal ministers or scholars in the reign of Hwangti, about
2650 years before Christ; and although there is no very certain
information recorded respecting their origin, there is nothing which
seems to be fabulous or supernatural. The characters first depicted were
the common objects in nature and art, as the sun, rain, man, parts of
the body, animals, a house, &c., and were probably drawn sufficiently
accurate to be detected without much if any explanation. They were all
described in outline, and generally with far less completeness than the
Egyptian symbols. It is not known how many of the primitive characters
were made, but one feature attached to them all,--none of them contained
any clue to the sound. The inventors must necessarily, one would
suppose, have soon perceived this radical defect in their symbols, but
they either saw the incompatibility of uniting the phonetic and
pictorial modes, or else were so pleased with their varied pictures and
symbols, that they cared very little how the reader acquired the sounds.
At first, too perhaps, the number of persons who spoke this language was
so small, that there was little difficulty in making them all acquainted
with the meaning of the symbols, and when once their meaning was
learned, they were of course called by the name of the thing
represented, which everybody knew. The necessity of incorporating some
clue to the sound of the thing, or idea denoted, became more and more
evident, however, as the variety of the symbols multiplied, and the
number of people increased. One of the strongest evidences, that the
designing of these symbols was contemporary with the earliest days of
the Chinese as a people, is deduced from the fact that they are all
monosyllabic; the radical words in all languages are mostly of this
character, but in nearly all others, the single sounds soon coalesce and
combine, while in Chinese this has been prevented by the nature of the
written language. There is not, so far as the nature of the case goes,
any reason why the sounds of Chinese characters should all be
monosyllabic, any more than the Arabic numerals. But not only was the
increase of inhabitants, as we suppose, a reason for making the symbols
phonetic, the need of reducing the labor of learning the ever growing
list, and the difficulty of distinguishing between species of the same
genus and things of the same sort, was a still stronger motive. This was
done by the combination of a leading type with some other well
understood character, chosen quite arbitrarily, but possessing the _same
sound_ as the new object to be represented. Thus, supposing a new fish
called _pih_ was to be represented by a character; by taking the symbol
for _fish_ and joining it to any well known character pronounced _pih_,
no matter what was its meaning, the compound symbol clearly expressed,
to those who understood its elementary parts, the _fish pih_. But
neither does this compound contain any more clue to its sound to those
unacquainted with the component elements, than its marks and hooks do of
its meaning to those who have never learned them. When once the form and
meaning of the primitive symbols have been learned, however, the meaning
and sounds of the compound ones can, in many cases, be inferred to a
greater or less degree; but so varied has been the principle of
combination, that no dependence can be placed upon such etymologies for
the meaning. In the various mutations the written language has
undergone, the sound is not now so certain as it was probably at first;
but in the majority of characters, it can be inferred with a
considerable degree of certainty, though the idea is exhibited so
indefinitely as to afford almost no assistance in guessing at it. A
dictionary is indispensable in ascertaining the meaning, and almost as
necessary to learn the sound of all Chinese characters. The meaning can
be explained without any greater trouble than in other languages, but
the sounds of characters can only be given by quoting other characters
of the same sound, which the scholar is supposed to know, if he knows
enough to use the dictionary.