The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-02 00:00:00

JAPAN AND CHINA.

The fallowing is an extract of a letter from a

British naval officer :

" We left Port Royal on April 21, sailed down to
Aspinwall, the new American name for Colon, in
the Isthmus of Panama; we arrived there on the

25th, and found the American frigate Roanoke
lying there. We found that we had arrived at a

very opportune time, for the Japanese Ambassadors
had just arrived by train from Panama, and had
embarked on board the Roanoke, and were going
to start that evening for New York. So we were

the first Britishers—to welcome this peculiar, but
clever, race of Celestials to the ocean of the wes-
tern hemisphere. We went on board the Roanoke,
and were received with great attention by the
American officer , and were introduced to their
Japanese eminences. They are a very diminutive
race, of the true Mongolian cast, but their eyes
beam with intelligence; they all carry a Japanese
and English vocabulary, and are continually refer-
ring to it; and their guardian (a Captain Taylor,
of the United States Marines) informed us that they
are very quick in picking up the language. Their
dress is somewhat similar to that of the Chinese,
but their trousers more resemble ' knickerbockers'

—they carry two long knives in their belts, and a
dagger concealed in their bosom. These knives
answer two purposes, they are either used
in the defence of their country, or for
the purpose of killing themselves if they be-
come disgraced, which is effected by the unfor-
tunate individual ripping himself open; should
he fail in doing this his whole family are supposed
to attempt the same—the order given by the Em-
peror is expressed in the single word ' vanish.'
The American officers on board the Powhattan
man-of-war, on the Pacific side of the water, had
great difficulty in preventing the Ambassadors
cutting some of their servants' heads off on their
passage across for having disobeyed some trivial
orders. The Ambassadors and suite numbered 70
in all, and brought with them 82 tons of luggage,
including battle-axes, and beautifully enamelled
shields and staffs, with cross-heads, which they call
' standards.' They all carry small fans, and look
more like ' women'—l mean the Mongolian female
—than men. The interpreter, who spoke broken
English, said, 'By and bye we go to England,
must go first back to Nangasaki.' Capt. Taylor,
and several other officers who came across with
them, formed part of the American embassy to
Pekin. It is commonly reported that they were
transported through the country in boxes ; but
Capt. Taylor informed me that these are the
' chariots' of the country, and they could see per-
fectly well the country through which they were
borne. The latter part of the journey was made in
' row junks.' Capt. Taylor describes the country
as low and fiat, and devoid of interest, with a few
mounds here and there; but he could not say
whether they were fortified or not. He saw some
stake forts on the banks of the river, but did not see
any guns. Pekin very much resembles Canton, but
is much larger, and is said to contain 3,000,000 in-
habitants ; the streets being very narrow and dirty,
and the odour of them far from being pleasant.
1 They were not allowed, en their arrival at Pekin,
to converse or communicate in any way with the
Russian embassy. Capt. Taylor's opinion was,
that if we did have war we should have harder
fighting than Chinese warfare hitherto had been,
but that it was very probable that if we began
boldly that the Chinese would throw the whole
river open, pay down, and say ' Come up.' A
mandarin asked him if he thought the
English would make them pay for the
gunboats lost at the Peiho, and how much,,
and if tkey would want them to raise the sunken
gunboats. This will be about the first genuine
account you will have of the Japanese embassy.
They go to New York to see the President, and
after they have had their fling will return to Japan.
The next day the admiral and his staff, 10 of us in
all, started off by rail for Panama. Having crossed
the Isthmus of Suez, it was a double source of cu-
riosity and interest to me in crossing this one by
rail. We all know what hardships they under-
went in making the Suez railway, from the total
absence of water, and sand-storms continually de-
stroying their work. On this, however, but a few
yards from the sea, man found before him a dense
jungle of thick underwood and lofty trees, and deep
boggy swamps. Nothing daunted he began, and
though the lives lost are reckoned as one man to
every sleeper, yet in the space of three years a line
was made and the forest cut through for a distance
of 52 miles; thus opening a communication with
the other portions of the globe, and saving a pas-
sage of 14,000 miles. The line rises till within a
few miles of Panama, the summit of the ascent
being 240 feet above the level of the sea. For 10
miles we ran along the banks of the Chagres river,
a sluggish stream at this season, but in the rainy
season it is a rushing torrent. In fact this river is
the great drawback to the formation of a canal
across the Isthmus, as the rains are so heavy that
the banks would be continually washed away at
intervals of six miles along the line. The enter-
prising Yankees, Dutchmen, and Britishers have
made clearances, and built very nice houses for the
inspectors of the road. The forests are filled with
tropical flowers and flowering trees. Of Panama I
have little to say. Large hotels are being built,
but the drawback is the want of a harbour. Ves-
sels are obliged to lie three or four miles off the
town. The towers of the churches are covered
with the pearl oyster shells in lieu of tiles, and pre-
sent a very curious appearance. We procured
some Mexican horses, and rode over the extensive
savannahs. The grassy plains would make many
of our English gentry's parks look small, not only
from their extent but the richness of verdure.
Here and there are topes covered with the wild
banana and other fruit trees. The whole country
makes one feel the beauty and force of the lines—
' These are Thy glorious works, parent of good,
Almighty !' The age of these trees is of course
unapproachable. Man can do nothing but admire
and be lost in conjecture. We returned the next
day to Aspinwall. Our bill at Panama was truly
Californian."