Cbinefe, which argues their defcent, fothat the new comers were
confidered as countrymen. They are principally huffiandmen
and fiihermen, and are a moft cheerful happy people, diverting
themfelves, after the labor o f the day, with a glais o f rice beer, and
with their mufical inftruments, which they take into the field
with them. A few centuries ago, thefe iflands were conquered
by a prince o f Satzuma, a province of Japan, who governed
them by his lieutenants ; .they ftill remain in the fame ftate o f
dependence, but are taxed with much gentlenefs. The inhabitants
alfo fend annually to the emperor o f China, a gift in token
o f loyalty and fubmiifion. They carry on a commerce with
Satzuma, and vilitit once a y ea r ; they have there a company o f
merchants, but are confined in their commerce to that port, and
limited to the value o f their trade, but by the connivance o f the
Japanefe officers, they difpoie o f an infinitely greater quantity
than the law admits. They import into Satzuma all kinds o f
filks and fluffs, and various Cbinefe commodities, which they
carry over in their own jonks, and iome o f their own produce,
fuch as corn, rice, fruit, and pulfe, and a fbrt o f brandy made
from the remainder o f their crops. They bring great quantities
gÉStóte* o f the Cypraa Moneta, or cowries, the fame fpecies which is
M o n e t .® . _ . r
found m the Maldtve ifles * ; from thofe ffiells is alfo prepared a
white varniffi, with which the boys and girls paint their cheeks;
they befides export a fort o f large flat ffiells, which when po-
liffied, are almofl tranfparent, and ferve the Japanefe for glais
in their windows; to thefe add fome articles of luxury, in various
fcarce flowers and plants brought in pots, and a few other matters
o f a trifling nature. Notwithftanding thefe people are really
• Outlines o f the Globe, vol. i. g , i j i .
fubjeft
fubjetfi to tlie Japanefe, they do not allow the emperor’s fit-
premacy, yet, like them, they have a Dairi or hereditary ecclefi-
aftical governor, to whom they pay great refpeft, and fuppofe to
be lineally defcended from the gods o f their country; he refides
at the ifle called by Kampfer + (to whom we are indebted for all
this account) Jajama, not remote from Ofima, an ifland o f fecond
magnitude.
T h a t i f l a n d , a n o t h e r l a r g e r , c a l l e d Tanaafma, w i t h f e v e r a l T a n a a s im a 7 o ' ■/ Island.
leffer, extend north and] fouth to the north-eaft of the Liquejo
iflands, and form the links between them and Japan. Between
the ifle of Tanaafma, and that o f Liquejo, are the freights o f
Fan Diemen-, that ifland is the moft fouthern o f thofe which
compofe the great empire of
J A P A N ,
and is the fmalleft o f the number; the latitudeof the fouth end is
30’ north, according to Doftor Thunberg, and the moft northerly
o f the Japanefe iflands extends to 40°, the longitude from 143"
to 161° eaft. The coafts are rude and rocky; the circumambient
feas, raging with ftorms during nine months o f the year, are S t o r m y .
ffiallow, filled with flioals and rocks, and extremely fubjecft to
frequent ffiipwrecks. Off this coaft are two whirlpools, dangerous,
and not lefs tremendous than thofe of the famousMac/-
Jlrom near the Norwegian fhores ; there are frequent inftances o f
ffiips being abforbed in the vortex, and their lhattered fragments
flung up at the diftance of many leagues. The poets o f Japan
make conftant allufions to thefe horrible phenomena.
T h e climate o f the Japanefe ifles, like that o f Great Britain,
* Hift. of Japan, p. 380.