kinds of grain and vegetables. The implements of labor, as has been
observed, are rude in construction, but are handled with great skill and
effect. The agricultural machinery is simple in principle but generally effective.
The sugar mills consist of three cylinders of hard wood, supported in
an upright position by means of a wooden frame. The cylinders are about
a foot in diameter, and are arranged in a row, with a mortice beeween them
to regulate the approach and their pressure upon the cane. The central one
has a wooden axle or shaft extending through the frame which supports it, to
which is attached a curved lever of fifteen feet in length, by which the mill
is readily worked. This central cylinder has a row of cogs of hard wood
near the upper end, which play into mortices cut into each of the two other
cylinders. A single bull or horse is generally used to work the mill, and
the animal moves in a circuit of about thirty feet in diameter. The cane is
placed first between the central and right cylinders, and before its escape it
is caught by the hand of the workman and, being twisted like a rope, is thrust
in between the central and left cylinders, by which it is completely crushed
and its juice expressed, which flows through gutters into a tub, placed in a
hole near by. The juice is then conveyed to neighboring houses, temporarily
constructed for the purpose, and there boiled in iron pans containing
about eight or ten gallons. What use is made of all the sugar it is difficult
to understand, as the common beverage, which is tea, is never sweetened.
I t probably is kept as a delicacy for the palates of the higher classes, who
delight in sweetmeats and other confections of sugar, or sent as an export or
tribute to Japan. In spite of an abundant product, sugar is evidently a
scarce article among the common people, for one of the interpreters begged
some from the Americans, as if he esteemed it a rare luxury. The refuse
cane, after being pressed, (baggass, as we call it,) is carefully dried and used
as fuel. The lew Chewans have also mills for the grinding of grain. These
are made of excellent millstones, and are worked by hand. The flour, however
, remains unbolted, but makes a good and sweet bread. The granaries are
marked objects in every village throughout the island. They are generally
constructed of either woven cane or wood, and in a square form, increasing in
width from their base, which is supported upon posts placed upon stones, to
their tops, which is covered with a rice straw thatch. They have the advantage
of being well ventilated and protected from vermin, of which, especially
of rats, there is a great abundance. These granaries often contain as much
as five hundred bushels, and as they are grouped together in numbers,
amounting sometimes to nearly a score, they are supposed to be the property
of the government.
The population of Great Lew Chew must amount to between one
hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand, since • there are two large
cities, those of Napha and Shui, and some thirty-six towns beside, with an
average of about six thousand people each. The island seems to be peopled
by two distinct races, the Japanese and the Lew Chewan, properly so called.
They both have o r i g i n a l l y sprung, however, from the same stock. I t has
been supposed by some that the Lew Chewan people are chiefly allied to the
Tagallas, a race which is spread over the Phillipme Marian, and other Pa
cific islands, and which originally sprang from the Malays. There is, however,
no affinity between the Lew Chew, Malay, and Tagalla languages, nor
are the relations of their physical peculiarities such as to favor the opinion
of a common origin. Prom the discovery, during the exploration of the
island, of some remains of ancient Hindoo worship, it was surmised that the
Lew Chewans might possibly have been originally a colony from southern
Asia Whether these remains are the relics of a people living m Lew Chew
previous to the present races, or only the vestiges of a religion once held by
one of the present existing races, but now supplanted by the wide-spreading
Buddhism, it is not easy to decide. Dr. Pahs, however, (to whom together
with his associate, Dr. Green, we are indebted for the principal facts of this
chapter,) inclines to the belief that the Hindoo idolatry was introduced directly
by means of priests coming from India as missionaries, or throug t e
medium of the commercial intercourse which has, in all ages, existed between
eastern nations*
The Japanese and the Lew Chewans differ slightly from each other, the latter
being more effeminate and somewhat less intelligent, but this may be
owing to their simple, retired life, upon a remote island, where their wants
are few, and nature is generous. They have, however, such strong resemblances
that it is almost impossible to resist the conviction of their sameness
of origin. They have both the same height, and very similar features. In
both, the head is oval, approaching in form that of the European, the frontal
bones rounded, and the forehead high, the face oval, and the general expression
mild and amiable, the eyes large and animated, though more so m the
Japanese than in the Lew Chewans, the irides in both are dark brown or
black, the lashes long, and the eyebrows rather heavy and arched
The long angular form of the internal canthuB of the-eye is seldom seen,
either in the Japanese or Lew Chewan. The nose in each is generally
handsome, and well proportioned to the other features; the root of it is not
depressed, as in the Chinese or Malay, and the nostrils are not so widely dilated.
The cheek bones are not very prominent, and consequently there is a
want of that squareness of face which is so remarkable in some eastern races.
The mouth is rather large, the teeth broad, very white and strong, and the
chin neatly cut. One mark the Japanese and Lew Chewans have in common
to distinguish them from the Malay or Chinaman; it is the possession of a
strong black beard, which both the latter are destitute of to any extent. In
other parts of the body the same conformity of organization exists in the Lew
Chewan and Japanese. ;
But it is not in mere physical conformity that we trace the same origin