The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-14
RULED BY STERN LAWS
Origin of this Powerful Race Yelled
in Mystery. An Exemplification Of
the Survival of the Fittest." A
Glimpse of the Island Empire. The
InhabitabIe Portion About. the Size
of North Carolina.
(By Rev. A. R. Morgan. }


japan is an island empire lying oppc-
site the Continent of Asia, on the east.
There are more than two hundred is
lands and islets, only about forty of
which are large enough TO accommodate
tue people with residences, and only four
OF these are of any considerable size.
These four are, beginning on the north,
Hokaido, Hondo (or Nippon), Kyushiu,
ana Shikoku. Hokaido is in the extreme
north and runs up into the region OF
Kamschatka, and has very cold climate
In winter. This island has been settled
and developed principally within recent
years. Hondo is really the mainland of
the empire, as the name implies. 1t is
about nine hundred miles long and about
two hundred wide. Shikoku. the word
meaning four provinces, and Kyushiu,
nine provinces, lie south of the mainland.
The people are fond OF calling the
country Dai Nippon, Great Japan.
The entire area of Japan is not quite
one hundred and fifty thousand square
miles. Two thirds of this is so mountain
Gus that it cannot be cultivated. and
does not furnish residences for the people,
leaving but one third for human habita-
tlons-an area just equal to that of
North Carolina. There are over forty
three millions OF people in Japan, while
we have not quite two millions in North
Carolina.
The land is OF volcanic formation, ana
both extinct and active volcanoes are
numerous. In the mou1 aims may be seen
huge boulders. masses of cinder that at
some time in the past were hurled in
blazing, seething masses of flame and
molten lava from the depths to where they
have lain for centuries silent witnesses
of the terrible convulsions of nature by
which Japan was brought forth from the
womb of mothc' earth and rose above
the waters of the great Pacific ocean. In
these hills are to be seen remarkable
contrasts. ] have seen growing over and
twining about one of these immense vol
canic cinders that princess OF wild 1ow-
ering plants, the Trumpet Creeper. the
tints of whose flowers were as delicate as
If the region in which they had their
being had been one of everlasting repose
instead OF having experienced the mighty
upheavals which at some time in the
past tore the rocks from the mountain
sides and reared from the level plain
in a single night peaks that tower up
into the regions OF perpetual snow.
The climate is exceedingly cold, semi.
arctic, in Hokaido. and in the northern
part OF the mainland and down the north
and west coast OF the mainland where the
shores are swept by cold currents from
Behring Sea and by winds from the north
ern ice fields. The two small islands on
the south and the southeast\coast of The
mainland are comparatively mild, being
protected by the backbone of mountains
that runs the length OF Hondo from
the cold winds and currents from the
north and having their shores washed by
the japan Stream. a mighty river in the
ocean, six hundred miles wide opposite
Japan, which rises in the tropics and sends
its warm currents and heated breath
even across the Pacific ocean to our west
ern shores.
Tokyo is the capital of Japan and has
over a million inhabitants 1t is only
eighteen miles north of Yokohama. o.
aka. Kyoto, and Nagoya, in the order given
are the next cities in point of numbers,
the smallest having two hundred and afty
thousand inhabitants, while Just west of
her corporate limits lies a fertile plain.
eAteQQlilS DoCh " tue mountains IN the
distance, twenty miles long by twelve
miles wide. containing three hundred
thousand people.
Yokohama is the principal seaport, some
times called the Liverpool OF Japan, while
Kobe. Osaka, and Nagasaki are ports OF
scarcely less importance.
IL one should start from Raleigh our
State capital. and go due west across the
continent and across the more than five
thousand miles of intervening ocean, he
would strike Japan about thirteen miles
miles south of Yokohama and would
leave the greater part OF the country on
the north of line so extended
Oranges in the southern and south
eastern part of the country grow in great
abundance. The persimmon is magnif
cent fruit. many of them growing to
the size of teai CUPS, mellow and deli
cious. Rice is the principal crop. Tea
and silks and various kinds of ornamental
wares produce revenue. The japanese
workman is the deftest handicraftsman
in the world and the products of his