The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-14 00:00:00

LITERA T U.R E.

A .Residence at Nagasaki and Hakodate in 1859.60,
with an account of Japan generally. By C.
Pemberton Hodgson, late Consul at those ports;
with a series of Letters on Japan by his wife.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.
This is a most interesting work on Japan that
affords a considerable amount of information, and
is written in a very pleasing style. The author
was fcr a long period a resident in Japan in an
official capacity, and the records we here meet with
are authentic, and given with the confidence of
one who speaks what he does know. In the
preface he observes that " he has endeavoured in
the following pages to present to the reader a
faithful picture of what he saw and learnt dur-
ing his residence at Hakodate, as Consul of her
Britannic Majesty." He furthermore states that
all he advances may be relied on, as his opportu-
nities were great for receiving intelligence. The
book commences with details of official visits,
which are certainly curious. The feeling towards
foreigners is thus explained, to account for the
difficulties that arose in the carrying out of the
treaties :
Not that I impute their unwillingness to meet our new
views to a wilful desire to annoy us, or a stubborn intention
of tampering with us. I fully believe that, at Nagasaki, in
June, July, and August, 1859, there was an under current
of good feeling towars foreigners, and a desire to carry out
the treaty in good faith; but the Government and its offi-
cials were totally unprepared for such a sudden displa' of
wealth, and such a demand for merchandise as came in so
suddenly upon them. They had only been accustomed to
the insignificant monopoly of Holland, who, naturally,
would not help us too zealously. But when they saw the
united resources of Great Britain, Russia, and America,
then, without being awed by the outward demonstration of
physical and scientific power, which at once appeared to
enforce perhaps, if necessary, a ratification of their respec-
tive treaties; without imagining or for a moment dreading
that a severe retaliation might be the consequence
of any infringement of its articles, the local Government
of Nagasaki was paralysed at the enormous demand
and unexpected drain on its home consumption and re-
sew ces, and was unprepared, even with advices and instruc-
tions from the capital, to meet such a huge commercial
catastrophe.
The writer speaks highly of the products of Japan.
" Its rice is perhaps the most nutritious in the
world ; the coal-beds are yet in their infancy,
and unexplored, but they are supposed to be rich
and extensive." There is an interesting account
of an excursion into the interior. Some of the
descriptions are very pleasing, and the intrepid
travellers were rewarded for their exertions. " I
had scarce reached the summit of the hill, when
I looked me down where a hundred realms appear
—lakes, forests, plains extending wide ! The
panorama was really grand. In the distance,
about 25 miles off, was the volcano, the end of
our journey, below us an enormous lake, which
had once been, perhaps, the crater of a volcano
also; around us, not the Alps or Pyrenees, but
delicious green-clad mountains, and there cer-
tainly was enough to ravish the eye and warm
the heart." At the conclusion of the second excur-
sion the writer says :
. My impression is still that the interior of Yezo is unin-
habited except by bears and animals; and that the natives
are really icthyologists, vegetarians, and dwellers on the
sea shore.
I would add, before closing this letter, one remark, which
is this, that, although it may not be in your day or mine,
the forests of Yezo contain all the woods necessary for the
fleets of any country ; and, please God, their undeveloped
riches will, unknown even to the natives themselves, be-
come most valuable exports by and by, to the advancement
of our religion and commerce, and to our mutual happiness
and benefit—things most ardently to be desired. For then
our treaty will be a treaty of friendship—ay, of real friend-
ship and amity.
The quantity of sea-weed is most surprising, as
here mentioned.
The amount of sea weed is really incalculable ; from Ha-
kodate to Yenanai, following the shore, it is 22 miles in a
straight line, but quite 60 miles if we follow the curves of
the bays and ups and downs of the land ; and every avail-
able inch is covered with it. Each day, as the weed is a
barometer, it is placed out to dry if the weed is not humid;
otherwise it is covered up against the rainy day. I say so
much on this weed, as it is a valuable export and edible,
and, with rice, constitutes the cuisine of my neighbours.
It is exported to China, and then sent up to those countries
where salt is dear, being lighter as merchandise, and well
adapted for cooking.
There are few shells to be seen, but the beach is covered
with agates and corallines of very pretty colours, and
very elegant sea weeds and egg shells, as in the Red Sea,
but the horns not so metallic. The sea weed (edible)
was often ten feet long and two feet broad, and some of
it had the appearance of beautiful lace, at least an eighth
of an inch in thickness when first culled from the bottom
of the sea.

The account of Sirouey, to which they made another
excursion, shows it to be a beautiful place. ‘' We
mounted another hill about 1,600 feet in
height, and from the beauty of the scenery,
and terraced umbrageous side on the top and back
of the hill, with valleys below, higher mountains
to the north and north-west, rivulets, sources, and
the grand Pacific to the east and south-east, we
held a council of peace, and the spot was unani-
mously baptised La Suisse Japanoise, in opposi-
tion to 'La Suisse Saxe,' in Fatherland. Hero was a
shady grove for poets and philosophers—sycamores,
oaks, chestnuts, silver birch, alder, hazel, prune,
guelder rose, rose, rhododendron, vicias. Number-
less legumirosae, the mimosa sensitiva were there,
with all Flora's unknown attendants to wait upon
and welcome us." The author states that there is
no necessity to carry arms in Japan, for revolvers
are provocatives instead of being preservers ; the
best security he considers to be for all foreigners to
reside in a common settlement. The letters of Mrs.
Hodgson to her mother are very entertaining, and
furnish a good account of the various places and
the mode of life and curious manners. One very
strange thing is the festival to the memory of the
dead. The relations have to offer food and water
to the manes of the deceased, and to illuminate
their resting-places, as otherwise the souls would
return to demand their rights and to punish the
delinquents also. Boats are sent out on the water
supplied with saki, rice, &c., to appease the demon
of the ocean, so that the souls of the departed
may rest in peace, and that future mariners might
escape a watery grave. It is said, however, that
the eatables on board do not go far, but "live gods
in the shape of very substantial living beings, and
possessing very earthly appetites,
.were never far
off the shore to pounce upon each little boat before
it sunk for ever." The Japanese ideas of Purgatory
are most peculiar, and not likely to make many
converts to their religion :
It appears that, on the demise of a Japanese, his body is
burnt, and that his soul mounts to occovLov or the
everlasting abode of perpetual bliss, after having per-
formed certain ceremonies, and b
having mono through the
ordeal described as indispensable to its reaching the acme
of delight.
One passport is demanded at the base of the mountain'
where it is officially vis6d by the benevolent priests and,
it found en regle, he- aturally takes his fee and pass it on,
till the soul of the departed meets with a volcanic Charon,
who avariciously demands his obolus. At the next ferry
or ladder a second pass, with the original passport, duly
fortified with all legal and necessary :ignatures and seals,
is demanded, and so the poor soul has to pay, even to the
last, for his exit from this world of woe. This second pur-
gatory passed, the happy defunct breathes celestial air; and
no doubt, having paid for his ambrosia, may look down
with bowels of compassion on Sisyphus, .olides, and all
our mythological acquaintances.
In plain English, it requires two pasqp es to reach the
summit of antediluvian Fusy-yama ; but once there, the
soul of the departed can look down upon the scenes of
earthly trial it has left in the vast abyss of human misery
below, and enjoy, floating high above the storm's career,
the prospect of indescribable bliss.
May the poor soul eventually reach our Chriusrtikasn, Heaven,infideioand be received (for "in my Father's house are many man-
sions") in pity and compassion It Jews) T