Hawaii holomua = Progress. [volume] (Honolulu) 1893-1895, 1894-05-23

latson OF the country = one o. the
most industrious and inget ious
on the face Of the earth. Its sys-
tenn of husbandry IS intensive. it
wastes nothing. and it is so 3oti-
mistic BY temperament. AM so
buoyant in feeling. that it APP ears
10 be quite incapable of depres-
sion by calmities so appalling as
those which have occurred three
times within the last 20 years
destroying, on each occasion.
many thousands OF human beings
and tens Of thousands Of habita-
tons. With a people so labori-
ous and so elastic. and witt re
sources so various as those which
they enjoy and develop with
equal skill and assiduity. proper
ity Is foregone conclusion.
Even before the appearance of
the Amos upon the scene-iHu.
IT seems. meaning dog, and i'm
plying their own belief in their
descent from that anirasl-tbeTe
was a race of aboriginals HON
those hairy people displaced.
They were savages, living in pits,
which they covered over with
branches of trees and with grass.
The oldest book of japanese his
tory, compiled between 673 and
$50 a. D., speaks of then as
earth spiders and describes
them as having tails. The last of
the race, so in number, are re-
ported to have been mastered
by the Emperor Jinmu, 600
years before Christ. But all
these early dates are doubtful.
There were two invasions of
Japan from the Asiatic continent
the first effected by a robust
and masculine tribe of Mo1gol-
ians, who came over from Corea,
bringing with them their wives
and children, their old meL and
women, and their agricultural
implements and household eff
fects. They had come to stay,
and they did so, dispossessing
the dog-faced Amos, and driving
them across the Straits OF Tsu-
garu to the island of Yezo, where
as Mr.. Landor's book has shown
us, they continue in the same un-
progressive state as when they
were expelled from the larger
island. The second invasion or
migration took place at much
later period, land came evidently
from a more cultured tribe of the
great Mongolian race" There
fore, the Japanese are to be
regarded as an ofshoot of the
Chinese. just as the Angles and
Saxons in England were an off
shoot of the large Teutonic family
on the neighboring continent.
Nor does the parallelism be-
tween the eastern and western
migrations end here, for the new
Corners in Japan appear to have
undergone a modification of their
racial character in their insular
abode. They became h gbly
receptive people. They stood
ready to welcome the good things
which were offered to them,
coming from whatever direction.
They accepted eagerly the Chinese
written language and the philo-
sophy with which it became
charged. They accepted Budd-
hism with its priesthood and
dogma and ritual. and permitted
it to crowd their native religion
until it became (that of a pitiful
minority. In like manner, the
Teutonic tribes which overran
England accepted and assimilated
an exotic learning and literature,
with the priesthood.
dogmas. and ritual of Rome, to
the gradual extinction of their
own faith.
Passing over the mythical
period of japanese history, com
mencing about Goo B. c, and
terminating about 400 A. D., we
find the Emperor Hanzei appoint
ing historiogrsphers in 464; so
that, henceforth, the annals of
the country become Ineligible
and fairly trustworthy. But,
even as far back as the first
century before the Christian era,
there are evidences of relative
" advanced stage of ciyilisation
having been reached. The
whole Empire, writes DR.. MUIR
ray. was in condition of quiet
md prosperity, such as had not
before existed. Taxes were, for
he first time, levied on the pro-
Feeds of the chase and on the
landiwork of the women. Re
for the collection of
water fused in the irrigation of
he rice crops were constructed
n the imperial provinces. and
encouragement was everywhere
,iyen to the growing industries
i the country
Somewhere about the year 202. |
he Japanese. under the rue Of |
masculine Empress. eqnipped |
'owerful feet and conquered the
hree kingdoms into which the |
'orea was then divided. all OF
Thich were compelled to become /