Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-08-21

oonuuo tneuls6iVoS IN puD3lc, Anu PLhco
their clothes In large pidgeon holes pro-
vided for the purpose. Bathing is per
formed by the majority Of b population
daily, and Is regarded as q sanitary duty. /
II Is almost invariably performed in pub
lie as / nave described, and is not con- I
sidered immodest; however, 1 doubt
whether any such thing as m0desty Is
known to the Japanese. / do not romem- |
Der to have seen g single COW or OK about
Yokohama, but rs the hotels gave as fresh
beef, ! presume there must be q few in the
country. Hogs are also quite scarce.
Horses are more used than in China, as
you frequently see them about the streets
loaded with country produce packed ON
their backs; or, If returning TO the
country, carrying a load of semi-liquid
manure in jars or pots. They are HI
shaped, small animals, but are said 20
possess great strength considering their
| size, and much endurance. They were
invariably shod with a thick tough sandal
of straw, covering the bottom of b hoof
and fastened about the pastern.
Their houses are, for the most part, Of
one story, generally built of Wood and of
such slight material as to remind one
more of bird cages than the habitations
mostly made of white thin paper. They
are not acquainted with the art of making
glass, hence they admit light into their
apartments through grated openings, in
front of which a paper screen may be set
to cut of the view from the streets.
Some of the public buildings are quite
| good looking, both as to shape and sub
stantiability. At several points a native
guard house is passed, where soldiers
dressed in European fashion, and armed
with Enfield rifles mount guard, and pre-
sent anything but q poor appearance.
There are no large bodies Of native troops
| stationed in or about the city.
Tko -aNs-n al.a,1 a N Z - "a ohfolrn.-
coops. The whole front OF the store is
open to the street; the floor covered with
white mating, Is raised a foot above the
side walk, whereon the proprietor and
bis assistants sit cross-legged, like 50
many ~tailors, waiting for customers. The
goods are ranged on narrow shelves, I'M
ming up and back like the seats of a cir
Gus. At the threshold the native drops his
wooden sandals, but do not take it amiss
if a European customer comes in with his
boots on. Their principal retail trade
with foreigners is in curious ~sleeve-but-
tons, studs, rock chrystal, cigar cases,
and innumerable other articles to be
found no where else. The native silver
coin are rectangular in shape. The
largest is a boo, about Is cents in value,
and the smallest is quarter the value of
the boo. They have q copper coin much
resembling a baggage check in size and
appearance, which is called a tempo. The
! Al6AlCdn uOlldT ClICuldlc5 dllOuK al
classes. There are several foreign banks
which issue bills. The government has
also been issuing paper money called
kinsats. TIL bills are on strips of PASTE
board, about three inches long and an
inch wide, and are said to be saturated
with nitre, so that in case of fire they
will be sure to be destroyed. These
kinsats were issued about a year since, to
be redeemed IA years after date, and bear
no interest. 1t is a death penalty for q
native to refuse to receive one.
Yeddo, the great city sa1d capital
of the Empire, is distant twenty-five
miles, and can be reached either by steam
boat on the bay or by stage along the great
government th~oroughfare called the toca-
do, which Is a street, lined with houses
from one end of the island (Niphon) to the
other. A telegraph has been established
between Yeddo and Yokohama, which is
entirely controlled and operated by ma
tives. They have an alphabet of forty
seven characters, and use a French inssru-
ment after the principle of the House tel
/ egrsph. A railroad is to be built across
the island by English engineers and CAPT
tai. The Oriental bank corporation has
already taken a Japanese government
loan of several millions of dollars, at short
time, at twelve per cent. per annum. The
aptitude of these people in acquiring for
eign arts is wonderful. / saw the Stone
wall tex-C onfederate RAM getting under
way in the harbOr, with Japanese colors
flying, and was informed that she was
manned and differed wholly by Japanese!
They have no difficulty in managing her
condensing engines or handling her huge
guns with skill. A number of other sea
going steam vessels, both side-wheel
and screw, are employed by the gov
ernmenL, and 1 was informed that
beautiful machinery for steam vessels
is now being manufactured at gov
eminent shops, as well, also, as very
creditable ordnance. The coast is be-
ing made safe by lighthouses, which ave
under the superintendent of French en-
gineers, who also have charge of the gov
eminent dry docks. 1t seems somewhat
singular that the government which did
most to open up communication between
these people and the remainder Of the
world should now possess so little infu-
ence with them. Americans abroad urge
the ineffieiency n lack of experience of
our foreign representatives as the cause.
A third-rate lawyer, without culture or
diplomatic training, gets into Congress or
succeeds in manipulating a State conven-
ton, and thereby earns his right to a for
eign mission. He in urn appoints his
friends n supporters, without the slight
est regard whatever to fitness, to the sub
ordinate places in the legation. This pfr-
ty is great at home; the villagers look
with wonder at the Minister to Timbuc-
too, and the secretary of legation dis
courses largely concerning the manner in
which We will do things when we get
abroad. They get abroad, and find them
selves overmatohed by the skilled and
polished representatives of other nations,
and naturally subside into nothing
ness. Drinking whisky cocktails or play
ing d~raw-poker is found to be much better
pastime than attending to difficult public
business. What if the detested English
md Eronnh do loah IN oil fhiuoc ahroaI .
are not we the great Yankee nation at
homer Yankee enterprise is a great thing
in America, where ii is fenced about by
every imaginable bulwark of legal protee-
ton; but take it abroad where the Eng
lish, French aud Germans have a fair OPP
p~ortunity for competition, and you find it
the merest infant-a dwarfed, siekly,
crowded, overshadowed plant.
The cultivation of the soil in Japsn, as
well as China, is of the most careful and
painstaking character. Small areas are
compelled to support large populations.
Not a particle of anything of a manurial
value is lost, and not a foul weed is al
few or no varieties of fruits or vegetables
that we would consider an acquisition.
They have neither apples or pears fit to
sat. The toughest Shelby county seeding
is infinitely better han any of the first
kind offered in their markets. The Japs-
| nt5o DtISlIlDlOh II wv VI Il lu6 6lLb
of ours, but of less delicate flavor. 1
mention this fact particularly, as 1 am
aware that some parties propose to intro
duce this at the South as a novelty OF
great worth. Don't touch it. The Irish
potatoes soil in the market are uniformly
small, but of very fine flavor. Cabbages,
boans, turnips, beets, ETC., are first rate.
TIL latitude and climate OF Yokohama
are nearly identical with that of Mem
phis, but the cotton is of very poor, short
staple, and but little is produced to
the acre. Raw cotton is imported from
India. Indian corn, if introduced and
properly understood, would be a great
boon to the country. The great staple OF
the country is rice, although a good deal
of wheat is cultivated. In ease of a bad
season-occssioned by drought-as in the
past year-much rice is imported from
Saigon.
From what 1 could gather, both from
reading and in conversation with foreign
| ers, it seems that the government is 8
mixed despotism, rather difficult to de-
scribe. A number of Barons, termed
DaimaOs (Dy-ma-ol possess the land in
very large tracts. The whole number of
Daimsos is less han 100, / believe. These
: parties are the sovereigns of life and
|, property in their own territories, and
maintain q following of retsiners (verit-
able wash-bucklers of the middle ages)
in proportion to his wealth, who are gem
tlemen of two swords and do no work.
With one sword, q heavy, long, well tenn
pered, two handed blade, he dispatches
his enemy; with the other, a short, keen
instrument, he uses at close quarters or
commits hdri-kGri-self destruction
which right he may demand, no matter
J what crime he may have committed, even
the assassination of the Emperor. At the
head of the central government is the
Mikado, who is now the active and politi-