Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-11-15
DISCOVERIES IN JAPANESE LITERATURE.
yaon rux Srw roRx COURIER.

G. Krrxxpr. ESQ. The active and able Secretary Of th,
National Institute by the Hon Secretary Of the Interior
"U s. REvExuE CuTrER POLK
SAS FRAscIsco, Aus. Is, 1881.
"SIR: Herewith send you the alphabet and compass
the Japane language with the names OF the ocers and
men now ON board who shpwrecked and brought t
this port thinking they might be object OF curiosity,
worthy Of small space in the National Institute.
ssThese shipwrecked mariners very Intelligent and
as well as many other citizens OF the opinion that
hev 10 take tour through the United States obtain
idea of its extent greatness they would their return
their country, have most beneficial effect In opening
the doors Of that unknown portion Of Gods creation
al will send you possible daguereotype like
nesses of those on board which might also be placed in
nexion with the enclosed.
With feelings of the highest eseem have the honor tc
be, your obedient servant.
"WM. A. TENNISON, Lieut.. u. s. r. M.
"Hon. A. H. H. stuart, Secretary of the Interior"
Accompanying this letter copy the Japanese alphabet
executed apparently by hsud bu. with much skill that the
work might readily be mistaken for hogaphy list Of the
names Of the japanese saor with their autograph signatures
in the Japanese character representation Of the compass.
found them, and the japanese numerals These
objects Of rational curiosity, and will continue should
hear nothing further of the individuals who thus pro-
vdensly made guests but should Lieut. TEssIsoSs
suggestions be carried out they will attract the highest public
interest l will briefly describe them.
The Japanese alphabet, represented by It. TESsIsoHs
dsgam contains oryegh characters, which consist Of
straight oblque, parallel crooked, and angular lines and
marks resembling thick and ragged scraws with bad quill
pen. There are think circles, no ovas and but one
in the foryegh signs The of these letters
written, take it, to give as may be the ia
panese pronunciation, Ee roO, ha nhee, no, hey,
on chee d. nhoo, choW 0. ,ca,c, caw yo than, day,
sour fsoo may man, toraio moo. 90, E. No. O. Koo, yao
nam, X, foo, kou, A, thea, An, sam, kee you, may, nee
c. A, ghec mop, say, Dzoo, O. 1t will be remarked that
the character occurs twice. and in addition followed
by The same letter smaller size. The repetition is doubt
susceptible Of explanation consistent with the assumption that
they are separate letters In this representation Of the alpha
bet and in the lists Of the numerals and the proper names
is observable that the letters numbers and stand
perpendicular columns that the place of beginning the
rght-hand upper of the page at what would be with
the head Of the last coumn that the order of reading
writing from the top 10 the bottom of the column and
from the right the left side of the page after the
of the Chinese and directly the Of own who
and read horizontally and from left to right The
of the captain is MoSTHs, which is neither very foreign to
hard Some of the others sound
almost familiar connexion very possibly of
Patch, who mosened bis unlucky clay in the Ge
nessse SIN PAI, THAMErHo, HEcKoTHo, and YoU-AM-
Tho 6 o., "the" and "tho TO be favorite temi-
naons and, being written separately, perhaps
The cagaphy of these signatures looks groesque enough
but probably than the autographs Of the Pesi
dent and Cabinet for example, would to the most enlghen
ed japanese.
The numerals afford decisive proof of the advance this
mysterious people in mathematics, science the cultivation
of which is always accompaniment of high civilization.
Their System for the expression Of numbers to parake
of both the Arabic and Roman methods They do appear
have attained the noble and comprehensive simplicity of the
Arabian numerals, with their of arrangement by
which the best and the greatest of conceivable quantities
expressed by the Of than ten cardinal signs
but they far in advance Of the Romans who had better
Plan OF enumeration than the employ ment OF less greater
number Of signs representing fixed quantities. Lieut..
gives oil the characters used by the as num-
L-- IT,. ssoshod Of combination is
nearly identical with that which have borrowed from the
East and called Arabic only perhaps because have been
able trace further in that direction that is by
and decmals The units sthoats shatlts meets
goats reestoois noofs nannants yots COCO
81 omc TO- In order show clearly the structure of their
system, will continue the list Of until past the point Of
the multiplication of decimsls, follows ju-eechy IL
ju-shee IL jusong l3 shee IA go is ju-roguee
Is jutsce IL hofchey l8 ucoo 10; neehoo 20. It
obvious that the first syllable u, in each Of these words
and that the chief difference in their mode Of
pressing, by words the numbers between ten and twenty,
from that they put the ten before the unit and
place after that numb. Thus, express three and ten
we threep, putting the lesser number first in the
braion The Japanese ten and three, putting the
greater number first And above twenty also the difference
Of form is material The japanese eeshoo
TO be compound of two words each meaning equivalent
to ten and en" Our word fDentyi formed by the eson
Of f,oo into ten and is literally two tens But from twenty
pound omed of the syllable nees" the in twenty,
and word sgnyng number from eleven nineteen. In
stead Of saying, as do, wenyqne iic. two tens and
one they say nees NJ eu one ten ard e!sven and 30
on " ten and nineteen and soYshoo thirty
Inc arrangement Of the figures expressing these terms
more resembles the Roman than the Arabic and is
queny awkward and complicated and less efficient than
The latter The figure 10 horizontal mark, thick, and
nearly straight though not quite Two and three
presented by two three Marks respectively, perpendicu
larry under each other. -Four has arbitrary sgn and
has each number up TO and including ten From this
twenty they follow the Roman method Of notation, with some
smpli6cations and improvements For aHy number above
The OF two decmas they employ at least three chaac
es and seldom until they reach hundred. Thus,
write thryour in figures they place first the figure three,
second the figure ten which gives them three tens thirty
and thirdly the figure four The figures arranged in
the order, with would give three hundred and four
But for number under 200 do they require more than
four signs Il will be that this mode Of expressing mum
bers quantities s combination Of the principles Of trans
position and repetition Of signs.
The compass represented by circular lines surround
ing rude figure of arrow, probably intended for th
needle and the circumference Of the outer circle dvdet
off into astronomical sgn indicated by figures Of rat
tiger rabbit, SNAKE small snake, horse goat monkey
ter dog, and animal specifically named but about III
size OF dog.
II evident from these particulars that the japanese
people among whom learning has long been cultivated.
should the suggestions Of It. TEHSrsoS be adopted by
Government 10 not unlikely that the magnificent crcum
stance of the Of these shpwrecked mariners may
the Of bringing into close and friendly intercourse th
ruling Republic Of the Western World with these neuls
Of the farthest Esst Indeed, have little doub
that The sealed book Of Japanese history and poy abou
to be opened the nations of the world, and Providenc
have marked the for eectn
this desirable work