The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1851-12-05
THE JAPANESE.

awaken some morning with keen
appetite for Japan and China. The
islands which spread over the ocean
track between California and these
countries. form such convenient step.
ping places, that, once TO conceive the
idea, is to see it done. IN contcmpla-
ton therefore. of this probable event.
which we may look to sec happen
about the year lS53-it may be we'll
that our people should begin to look
a little into the languages OF these
people. 1t so happens that recent
event puts us in possession Of the ia.
panesc alphabet, which the slirit Of
Young adventure happened to teach
the young idea how to shoo| ditorally)
should begin to study with all possi>
bic diligence. We announced a short
time ago, the rescue, by an American
vessel, of the officers and crew Of Il
Chinese Junk. Their compass and
alphabet fell into tie hands of their
rescucrs. How strange that the lat
ter should be on board Do we not
sec our manifest destiny in this curl.
GUS fact. 1t is not clearly an omen
of what is to happen, and what is re,
uu,red at our hands? Could any
thing be more spcciGc--more dis
t,nctlv saving TO us--as yon W il soon
need to conquer the japanese, the
sooner you learn how to speak to
thcm as conquerors, in Il langnagc
they can comprehend, the hcttcr A
correspondent of he Courier and
Enouircr thus describes III a phabct
in question:
"Thc Japanese alphabet contains
4S characters, which consist OF
straight, ob|iquc, parallel, crooked
and angular lines and marks. rcscm>
bling thick and ragged scrawls with
ba,! quill pen. There arc. think,
40 circles, no ovaIs, and but one curve
in the lorty.cght signs. The names
of these letters, wriiic1. | take il. so
rs TO give as ncar rs may be the Ja-
nancsc pronunciation. arc --Ee. yofn,
hop. nhcc, ho, hey, Mom. chez. D. mhoo,
chou. o, m0'r, cur. yon. M1m, dug,
sour, tsoo may, nam, rra'c n'oo. On,
E., No, o, Koo, ya'r, mam, X. foo,
kow, A, thea. An. sam. hce' yo" mav'
nee. C. A, ghce. mom. s4y. Dsoo Z.
1t will be remarked that the charac'
ter O occurs twice, and once in addi'
tim followed hv the same letter in
smaller size. The repetition is no
doubt susceptible Of explanation con-
.sis,ent with the assumption that they
arc separate letters. In this repre-.
.scnta,ion of the alphabet, and in the
lists Of the numerals and the proper
names, it is observable that the letters
numbers. and names stand in pcrpcn'
,dicuIar columns; tha: the place ct
-.hecinning is at the right hand, upper
corner of The page. at what would be
with US the head Of the last column;
that the order OF reading or writing is
from the top 20 the bottom Of the
column. and from the right to the lei
side Of the page, after the manner OF
the Chinese, and direct the reverse
,f our own. who write and read horl.
zon,alIv, anA from .eftto right. The
name of the captain is Months, which
is neither very foreign to Our cars.
nor hard to be pronounced. Some OF
the other sound almost iam!ial--as
Jim Potch. a connection, very poSs'-
bIv. Of our Sam Patch. who ncistened
his unluckv clay in the Genesec;
Sim pay, Thamc tho, Hcrkotho. ard
You.am. tho. "Oo," "lbe." and "tho,"
seem to be favoritc Examinations, and
being written separate y, are. per.
hans. surnames. The calIigraphy ol
these signatu us looks grotes?ne
enough, but not more SO, probably.
than the autographs of the President
and Cabinet, for example. would to
the most enlightened japanese. .
The numerals afford decisive proof
Of the advance Of this mysterious rco'
pIe in mathematics. a science the
cultivation of which is always an &C.
commitment Of high Civilizations
Their system for the expression OF
numbers Sc ems to partake OF both the
Arabic and Roman methods. Ihcf
do not appear to have attained the
noble and comprehensive simplicity
OF the Arabian numerals, with 'he'r
manner of arrangement. by which the
best and the greatest OF conce'Vao'c
quantities are expressed by the use OF
no, more than ten cardinals; but they
arc far in advance Of the Romans,
who had no better plan of enumera'
ton than the employment OF less OF
greater number of signs representing
fixed quantities.
ExrnAotpINARY CASE OF ELoPE-