people of the Suzuga-yama, in the country of Oomi^who
are said to have breathed out fire and smoke. In early
times-, according to the state records of the empire, black
savages were very formidable in Japan: they were at
length subdued and driven out; From the peculiar features,
the form of body, the crisp hair, and the darker
complexion which are observed in some of the natives of
the southern and south-eastern coast of Japan, there is
reason to suspect, as M. de Siebold observes, that these
wild tribes in the empire of Dai Nippon were allied to the
aborigines of the Philippine Islands, and perhaps to the
Alfourous of Australia.*
It would be very desirable to inquire further into the
history of these barbarous tribes in the Japanese islands,
and to compare their dialects with those of the"Papuan and
Alfurian races before they become exterminated or intefr
mixed with the civilised inhabitants, and it may be hoped
that some future traveller will take an opportunity of pursuing
this investigation, for which no data have yet been
obtained.
The Japanese themselves are immemorial inhabitants of
Dai Nippon. Their abode reaches beyond the earliest tradition.
Their history commences, six hundred and sixty-one
years before the Christian era, with Zin-moo, whose name
means ‘i Divine Conqueror.” He is regarded as-th©founder
of the Japanese monarchy, and from him are descended
the Dai'ris or Ecclesiastical emperors, who are a distinct
dynasty from th,e civil or political monarchs. Zin-moo is
supposed to have subdued the independent tribes of the
country. Klaproth supposes him to have been of a Chinese
family who quitted that empire during the troubles which
agitated it under the dynasty of the Tsheou. The Japanese
know nothing of the history of preceding times, during
which their chronicles present only a series of fabulous
beings. The names of the earliest of the Dai'ris who succeeded
Zin-moo are, according to Klaproth, Chinese and
Rot Japanese. Other colonies reached Japan, more certainly
from China, and particularly an expedition sent by
* Dr. von Siebold’s Mathematische und Physiche Geographie yon. Japan, s. 10.
the famous Thsin Shi-hoang-ti across the Eastern Sea to
seek for the ambrosia of the Chinese, supposed to impart
immortality,. It arrived in 209 before Christ. Thus
Chinese manners came to, be engrafted on the simple
.character of the people, and the whole aspect of Japanese
civilisation to resemble that of China. It is singular that
the art of writing was ndt introduced by these colonies:
it was not known in Japan till the reign of the sixteenth
Dai'ri, Qzantsjas^’when it was pro d u ced by Vo-him, a learned
man of the family -of- the Han. The characters were
Chinese, but as this system is not well adapted to the Japanese
language, a syllabic character, which is an abbreviation
of the Chinese: symbols, was invented in the eighth
century. Both are still in use.
" Paragraph 2.— Languages.'
Siebold thought he perceived some analogies between
the Japanese language and the idioms of several neighbouring
nations, particularly those of the Koreans, and the
Aino or Kurilians, who occupy the isles of Jeso and Ta-
rakai' or Karafto, termed improperly by Europeans Sa-
khalian, which are a part of the Japanese empire. He has
described the coast of Tartary, opposite to this last island,
named Sandan by the inhabitants, and compared some of
their customs withu those; of the Japanese. The words
which he collected as specimens of the language of Sandan
prove it to be a Tungusian dialect, as Klaproth has
shewn by a comparison with corresponding words in the
Mandschu. According to;this last writer, who, on such
a subject, is the highest authority, the language of Japan
bears no decided marks of affinity with any of the idioms
above mentioned. It was long ago. observed by Adelung
that the Japanese language is* not only in its vocabulary,
but also in its grammatical structure, entirely -distinct
from the Chinese, from which it has only borrowed words
connected with the progress of art and civilisation. It is a
polysyllabic language, and its words are said to be susceptible
of composition and inflection. Yet there are many points