The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-18 00:00:00

EXCURSION THROUGH JAPAN.

We extract from the correspondence of General
de Montauban, to the Minister of War, the follow-
ing account of an excursion lately made by him to
parts of Japan, and which contains some curious
details:—

" On leaving Tien-tsin the 22d November, I went
direct to Chefu, and visited the garrison. I there
found everything in good order, and very well
organised. The weather was extremely cold,
and the surrounding mountains were covered with
snow. Being within two days' distance from
Nangasaki, and the weather being fine, I re-
solved to pay a visit to that important port, not
being able to go in an official character to Seddo.
In order to reach the magnificent roadstead of
Nangasaki, we had to cross a Bosphorus quite as
rich as of Constantinople. The two banks are lined
with forts and defended by batteries, the guns of
which are roofed over; the mountains, which rise
like an amphitheatre on ether side, are covered
with trees, and gardens are formed on terraces one
above another, built up with stone walls. The
roadstead is excellent, and forms a large basin,
having on the western side the town, and on the
eastern different manufacturing establishments, one
of which belongs to the Russians. The town from
the sea presents rather a gloomy appearance ; the
houses are built of wood, and most of them are
only one storey high, but on reaching the inte-
rior of it, the greatest cleanliness is observ-
able, the streets are wide, and the houses
built in a regular manner. The men are in general
small in stature, but vigorous; those of a certain
class are well dressed and wear two weapons, one
like an ordinary sabre and the other like a poignard,
both being handsome of their kind. The lower
orders when working are almost in a complete state
of nudity. The women are also small in size, and,
contrary to the habits of the Chinese, allow them-
selves to be seen in the streets as well as in their
houses. The young girls some of whom are very
pretty, show no fear of foreigners, and willingly
enter into conversation with those who speak their
language. When they marry they are obliged to
redden their lips and blacken their teeth, which
gives them a frightful appearance, and is the
more to be regretted, that, so long as they remain
unmarried, they almost all have fine white teeth.
The inhabitants of Nangasaki are mild in their
manners, but possess a certain finesse peculiar to
the Southern nations of the East. They are well
behaved, and polite even to obsequiousness, and
are very industrious. There is at Nangasaki a
class of beggars who cannot follow any other
calling, and have their occupation handed down
from father to son. Their dress is clean, and
their heads are covered with a large hat, the brim
of which falls down over their eyes. Both dress
and hat are white, and they pass their time in
wandering about, stopping at every door, an-
nouncing their presence by striking a small iron
rod on an instrument of metal. It is rare that
the occupant of the house does not give them some
trifle. Everything in the town goes on in the
most perfect order, and I think it must be the same
in all the other towns in Japan. The police of the
place is carried on by Jaconmines, who are called
officers, for every Government official has a mili-
tary rank, and wears the double sabre in use in the
country. Those officers. though very polite, are
inflexible in the performance of their duties. Their
life is the penalty for the slightest infraction of
their duty. The bonzes, contrary to what is
the case in China, appear to be very powerful,
and are moreover well educated. Their dress,
which is all composed of silk and crape, with a
kind of gilded shoes, is exceedingly rich, and
bears some analogy to that of the French bishops
when they officiate on grand occasions. French
commerce is represented at Nangasaki by only two
merchants; the Dutch and the Russians have made
greater progress in that respect in Japan than any
other Powers. Fish, game, vegetables, and fruit,
are abundant and cheap at Nangasaki but beef and
mutton are scarce. The elimate is mild ; snow is
never seen, but there is a considerable quantity of
rain during the winter months. After a stay of
four days at Nangasaki, I attempted to go to
Ozaka. No foreigner had ever yet penetrated
into that town, and the accounts given of the
Inner Sea were marvellous. All, however, that
had been said of the beauties of the country
through which this sea runs, are far below the truth.
I doubt whether it be possible to find anything
more beautiful or more curious. From Nangasaki
to Ozaka we passed in succession through five or
six lakes like that of Geneva, bordered by moun-
tains of the most verdant aspect, with trees of pro-
digious height and size, some covered with green
foliage, and others with flowers of •every colour.
At the foot of these mountains are an uninterrupted
succession of towns and villages, and ports filled
with junks of every form. The inner sea is covered
with trading junks and fishing boats, fish being the
principal food of the inhabitants. The houses are
surrounded with gardens planted with orange and
apple trova, pine applpsa, kn_ After proceeding
for three days at a rate of about 10 or 12 knots
an hour (we only moved in the daytime) we
arrived before Ozaka, but only in the outer road-
stead on account of the shallowness of the water.
I made an application to the Governor for per-
mission for some French officers to visit the town,
but did not make myself known. The Governor
was in the country, but I received for answer
that an express should be sent to him. On the
following day four Japanese officers came on
board the steamer in a handsome junk belonging
to the Government. They visited our vessel
with the greatest curiosity, and appeared surprised
to see such large guns on board. Everything
struck the imagination of these intelligent men,
who, in spite of traditions unfavourable to Euro-
peans, could not be blind to our immense supe-
riority. After having waited for 24 hours for the
reply of the governor, and being pressed for time,
I gave orders to return to Naugasaki, contenting
myself with admiring through a spyglass the town
of Ozaka. I left Nangasaki on the morning of the
14th, and reached on the evening of the 16th
Shanghai, where the troops from Pei-Ho had
arrived some days before."

LAW INTELLIO ENCE.—Feb. 16.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
SECOND COURT.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Mr.
Justice Blackburn and a Common Jury.)
• RAPSON V. STARK.

Mr. Collier, Q.C., and Mr. T. Jones were counsel
for the plaintiff ; Mr. M. Smith, QC., and Mr.
Pinder for the defendant.
This was an action for breach of promise of mar-
riage. The plaintiff kept the Temperance Hotel at
Falmouth, and the defendant was a Scotch travel-
ling draper carrying his goods in a pack around
Falmouth. The plaintiff was a widow of 36, with
a son 17, and the defendant was 28. The defendant
used to stop every other Friday at the widow's
hotel. He became enamoured, and for five years
walked and went to chapel with her. He talked
of what he should do " when he was master there,"
and when out on his rounds carrying his pack he
wrote a great number of letters in a very bad hand-
writing, and the chief essence of his tale was,
" Hopping you are well, dearest, as I am at present.
Your admirer, or your own George." In the sum-
mer of 1860 the defendant went to Scotland, and
on his return he told the plaintiff, " Oh, what shall
Ido ? What can I say ? I have a wife and three
children living in Scotland. Don't grieve—be pa-
tient, and perhaps Providence may interfere."
The jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff—
damages £25.