page, and these were no doubt the residences of the northern and southern kings,
while the third at Shui, perfect, and still used as the royal residence, was the
palace of the | King of the Central Hills.” The traditions of Lew Chew
even to this day (as our officers found) preserve the memory of the former
existence of distinct sovereignties on the island.
Chow-Hwang claims, as we have seen, sovereignty over the island at this
day for the Chinese Emperor ; and one of the points which appeared difficult
to determine, was the precise relation which Lew Chew bore to China
and Japan respectively. That a tribute is sent in Chinese junks to China
annually from Lew Chew seems to be an established fact, yet the officials of
Lew Chew do not appear to be Chinese, and the common language of the
country is not that of the celestial empire, though Chinese is understood
and spoken by some of the Lew Chewans who are educated. As to any
rights Japan may have, all we can say is, that the Japanese commissioners
informed Commodore Perry at a subsequent period, when he met them in
conference on the proposed points of a treaty, “ that Lew Chew was a
distant dependency, over which the crown [of Japan] had limited control.”
I t is also certain that most of the trade to Lew Chew is carried on by
Japanese junks. The testimony of the Lew Chewans themselves is contained
in the following extract of a letter addressed to Commodore Perry
by the officials of Napha : “ Since the days of the Ming dynasty it has been
our great pride to be ranked as one of the outer dependencies of China, and
she has for ages given our king his investiture, and we have returned whatever
we could prepare for tribute; nothing of great importance to our
nation has transpired but it has been made known to the Emperor. Whenever
the time came for us to send up the tribute, we there [in China]
purchased silk and pongee to make suitable official robes and caps for ourselves,
and selected medicines and other things for the use of the state ; and
if they were not enough for our own use, then through the island of Tuchara
we have intercourse with a friendly and near nation, and exchange for our
productions, as black sugar, saki, grass-cloth, and other articles, things which
we send to China as tribute.” The friendly and near nàtion alluded to is
Japan.
Dr. Bettelheim, who lived some years in Lew Chew, believed, for several
good reasons, that “ the country, though independent to a certain extent, (its
ruler being permitted, for a good contribution to Pekin, to assume the high-
sounding title of king,) yet is, to all ends and purposes, an integral part of
Japan.” His reasons were briefly these :
1. “ There is a Japanese garrison quartered in Napha.” I t must not,
however, be understood that they show themselves openly, for the Lew
Chewans pretend that they are an unwarlike people, without military arms
or accoutrements; but Dr. Bettelheim accidentally came upon a part of the
garrison employed in cleaning their arms.
2. The trade of Lew Chew is entirely with Japan. I f the island were
a Chinese dependency, this would not be so. J apan sends ■ annually thirty
or forty junks to Lew Chew, of about four hundred and fifty tons each; only
one Lew Chewan junk goes annually to China, and every alternate year one
more, said to carry tribute, hut not a single Chinese junk is ever allowed to
enter Napha.
3.- The Japanese are to he found in numbers in Lew Chew, and stroll
about as uninterruptedly as the natives; they intermarry with the Lew
Chewans, cultivate lands, build houses in Napha, and, in short, seem to be
perfectly at home. But a Chinaman is as much hunted and spied after, and
pelted and insulted, as any other foreigner. This is strikingly confirmed
by the journal of one of our officers, who remarks, from facts that he was
witness to : “ They [the Lew Chewans] are evidently quite as much opposed
to intercourse with China as with all other nations, notwithstanding the
similarity, if not the .identity, of their religion, literature, and many of
their manners and customs. Indeed, they are de facto and dejure a part
of Japan, and their motto is, ‘uncompromising non-intercourse with all the
world,
4. In all Dr. Bettelheim’s intercourse with the Lew Chewan authorities*
there were always present, at least, two individuals, who, it was obvious, had
the management of the meeting and controlled the Lew Chew officials.
These he conjectured to be Japanese inspectors.
5. The language, dress, customs, virtues, and vices of Lew Chew correspond
to those of Japan, thus establishing a prima fa d e relationship. Of
these the language is to the ethnologist the most satisfactory proof, and of
the researches of some of our gentlemen, on this point, we shall speak more
particularly in its appropriate place, on a future page.
The English Bishop of Victoria, who, in the discharge of his official
duties, visited Lew Chew in 1850, thus speaks on this subject: “ On the
whole, it seems far the most probable opinion that Lew Chew was peopled
by a colony from Japan, to which people their physiognomy, language, and
customs have a close affinity; and that to China they owe the far more important
debt of their partial civilization and literature. The government
of the country appears to consist in a grievous oligarchy of literati immediately
dependent upon Japan. They stand in great fear of the latter country,
and look to it, and not to China, for protection in time of need. They
have an historical tradition that a few hundred years ago, during the Ming
dynasty, a war broke out between China and Japan, during which the
former, wanting to detach Lew Chew from the latter, raised it to the dignity
of a separate kingdom. In token of vassalage, every new king receives a
formal investiture from a Chinese officer, specially deputed and sent for that
purpose from Eoo Chow; to which city, also, a biennial tribute-junk is sent
from Lew Chew. At the Tartar invasion of China, and the commencement