coin are ftamped witli the image o f Daikof, the Plutus or god of
riches o f the country; he is reprefented feated on two barrels
o f rice, with a fack in his left hand and a hammer in his right,
by a ftroke o f which he is fuppofed to produce, on any fpot,
money, food, cloathing, or whatever, is ufeful to man p
Gold and T h e Japanefe fp e a k o f two i f l a n d s t o n e n am e d Ginjima or
Silver Isles. ~ . '
thejilver, the other Kinjima or the golden. Their lituation is
kept very fecret; but Philip III. having heard o f them, and in-
ftigated by avarice, fent a ihip with a ikilful pilot to find them
out. The Dutch, urged by the fame paffion as the Spaniards,
made two attempts to difcover them, one in 1639, the other in
1643, but both were fruitlefs. They are faid to lie to the E. N. E.
o f the coafts o f Japan, a hundred and fifty miles diftant. All
that I can find is, that they are both put down in Mr. Arrows
fmitb's map; one in about Lat. 30° north, under the name o f
Rica di oro or the gold iiland, and the other Rica di plat a or the
Jilver, Hill farther north. Mr. Arrowfmith fuppofes it to be that
itupendous rock called Lot's Wife, a pyramid three hundred and
fifty feet high, admirably defcribed and depicted by Mr. Meares,
In p. 97 of his voyage. “ The Lat. fays he, was 29" 50' north,
“ the Longitude 142° 23' eaft o f Greenwich. The waves broke
44 againft its rugged front with a fury proportioned to the im-
“ menfe diftance they had.to roll before they were interrupted
44 by it. It rofe almoft perpendicular to the height, according
“ to the tables, of near three hundred and fifty feet. A fmall
44 black rock appeared juft above the water, at about forty or
■ fifty yards from the weftern edge. There was’ a cavern on
* Thunberg, ;v. 116. E . t Kaempfer, i. 68.
« its
its fouth eaftern fide, into which the waters rolled with an awful
44 and tremendous noife. In regarding this itupendous rock,
k -which flood alone in an immenfe ocean, we could not but con-
44 fidei; it as an object which had been able to refill one of thofe
44 great convulfions o f nature, that change the very form o f thofe
44 parts of the globe which they are permitted to defolate,’’ ■
S o m e * tin is found in Japan o f exquifite finenefs, almoft Tin.
equal to filver, but i t ,is a metal very little ufed.
I r o n abounds in the Japanefe empire ; that likewife is fufed
into cylindrical forms; -it is as dear as copper; moft forts o f in-
ftruments are compofed o f that metal and o f brafs; but they
are wife enough to make their culinary , veffels of a compofition.
o f iron.
C o a l s a b o u n d in Japan, b u t n o tw i t h f t a n d in g t h e f e v e r i t y o f C oal».
t h e w e a t h e r in w in t e r , t h e in h a b i t a n t s c h i e f l y u f e c h a r c o a l , p la c e d
o n a fh e s in a g r e a t p o t , fo p r e p a r e d as t o p r e v e n t a n y n o x io u s
e f f e c t f r o m t h e fu m e s .
T h a t ufeful article, fait, is made from the fea-water, filtrated S a l t ,
through fand, arid then boiled to a proper confiftence, and calcined
in earthen pots.
Naptha is frequent in one part of Japan. The natives colleiSt N a p t h a .
and burn it in their lamps inftead o f oil.
Sulphur abounds in an iiland called Iwogajtma or Sulphur ijle. S u l p h u r . •
near the province of Satzuma. Kaempfer gives a curious account
of the place. 44 It is, fays he, not above a hundred years
44 fince they firft ventured thither. It was thought before that
♦4 time to be wholly inacceflible, and by reafon of the thick
* Kaempfer,. i. 109.
44 fmoke