liis day, the palace of the Emperor at Yedo, as well as many houses of the
nobility, were literally covered with plates of gold. In the beginning of the
Dutch trade, the annual export was £840,000 sterling; and in the course of
sixty years the amount sent out of the Kingdom, through the Dutch alone,
was from twenty-five to fifty millions sterling.
Silver mines are quite as numerous as those of gold. In one year, the
Portuguese, while they had the trade, exported in silver, £587,500 sterling.
Copper abounds through the whole Japanese group, and some of it is
said to be not surpassed by any in the world. The natives refine it and cast
it into cylinders about a foot long and an inch thick. The coarser kinds they
cast into round lumps or cakes.
Quicksilver is said to be abundant, but this, so far as we know, has never
been an article of export.
Lead, also, is found to be plentiful, but, like quicksilver, it has not been
sent out of the Kingdom.
Tin has also been discovered in small quantities, and of a quality so fine
and white that it almost equals silver; but of the extent of this mineral
little is known, as the Japanese do not attach much value to it, and therefore
have not sought for it.
Iron is found in three of the provinces, and probably exists in others.
The Japanese know how to reduce the ore, and the metal they obtain is of
superior quality, of which they make steel unsurpassed in excellency.
Coal.—“ They have no want of coals in Japan,” says Kmmpfer, “ they
being dug up in great quantities in the province of Sikusen and in most of
the northern provinces. ” Dr. Siebold also speaks of coal as being in common
use throughout the country; and on visiting one of the mines he saw
enough to convince him that it was skilfully worked. For domestic purposes
they convert the coal into coke. Viewed in the light of commercial intercourse
between the two hemispheres, this coal is worth more than all the
metallic deposits we have enumerated.
Native sulphur.—In a region so volcanic, this is, as might be expected,
an abundant mineral. In some places it lies in broad deep beds, and may be
dug up and removed with as much ease as sand. A considerable revenue is
derived by the government from sulphur.
Precious stones.—No diamonds have been found, but agates, camelians,
and jaspers are met with, some of them of great beauty. But the wealth
of the Kingdom in precious stones is imperfectly known, as the Japanese are
not lapidaries.
Pearls.—These are fished up on nearly all parts of the coast, and are frequently
large and beautiful. The Chinese taught the natives their value by
offering them very high prices for the finest qualites.
Mother of pearl, corals, ambergris and naphtha are also to be enumerated
among the articles of export.
Forest and fr u it trees.—The most common forest trees are the fir and
the cypress; and so sensible are the Japanese of the necessity of preserving
their timber trees, that neither of those above named can be cut but by permission
of the local magistrate; and the law requires that for every full grown
tree that is felled a young one must be planted. The cedar grows to an immense
size: sometimes more than eighteen feet in circumference. An English
ship at Nagasaki, within a recent period, wanted some small spars; they
were furnished ,* all were cedar, about ninety-six feet long. This tree would,
no doubt, prove a very valuable article of export.
There are two varieties of oak, both good and both different from the
oaks of Europe. The acorns of one kind are boiled and eaten for food, and
are said to be both palatable and nutritious.
The mulberry grows wild in great abundance; but it is so useful that the
people transplant and cultivate it. Of the varnish tree we have already
spoken.
The camphor tree is valuable and lives to a great age. Siebold visited
one which Charlevoix had described as having been seen by him one hundred
and thirty-five years before. I t was healthy and covered with foliage, with
a circumference of fifty feet. The country people make the camphor by a
decoction of the root and stems cut into small pieces.
The chestnut and walnut are both found, and the former yields excellent
fruit. There is also the pepper tree, or a tree which bears a species of
pepper.
Of fruit trees there, are the orange, the lemon, the fig, the plum, the cherry,
and the apricot. The plum and cherry, however, are not cultivated as much
for their fruit as for their flowers; The vine is very little cultivated; and of
the tea plant we have already spoken.
Having thus endeavored to furnish the reader with a condensed view of
the leading features that characterize the past progress and present condition
of Japan, we would at once proceed to the narrative of the expedition; but
there is a duty which we owe to our country, and which we will now endeavor
to perform.
Of certain events which have transpired since the successful expedition
under Commodore Perry, or occurred during its progress, it is due to the
claims of truth that something should be said. I t had been more gratifying
to us to be silent on the topios to which we are about to allude; but official
publications by other nations, as well as statements by some individuals, have
been put forth, the obvious purpose of which is to deprive our country and her
officers of whatever merit may attach to the fact that the United States were
the first, by peaceful negotiations, to cause an alteration in the policy of
excluding foreigners hitherto pursued by Japan.
On the 24th of November, 1852, Commodore Perry left our shores on
his mission to Japan. That such a mission had been resolved on by our gov