The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-11-18

got through with them they didn't
know their own names
The japanese islands air evidently |
oy volcanic origin A number oV
volcanoes air still dom business. On
the island ov kyushu IL the largest
volcano In the world. still active.
Japan liz the home ov the earth
quake. Accordin' to Japanese Stats
tics, believed to be accurate, no less
than 1880 earthquake shocks were
recorded in thirteen years endin' In
1887. That must hev bin a lively
thirteen years fer Japan. Ov course
many ov them were slight and did
no damage. But some Quakes were
disastrous. The severe shocks come
about once In fifty years, the last one
bein' in 1894. when much damage
wuz done.
Hit liz strange. but there IL no re-
cord shown who the Japanese air.
or whar they come from. Hit IL sed
to be a fact that when the first jap
anese landed on the islands they
found Inhabitants. About 1900 ov
those earlier settlers, who air known
az Anus. still live In northern Japan.
Like the American Indian, they hev
given back to the more active. more
numerous portion ov the population.
The Anus and the Japs air friendly
but they do not mix up much. The
Anus hev long hair anvil over theil
/, h,,f ofr wild r
fact, they air religious in a way an
conduct themselves fairly well.
The rulin' family, that IL the pres
ent Mikado ov Japan, liz a descend
ant ov a family ov rulers; in othe
words, hiz ancestors hev governed
Japan fer $500 years, which IL re
r markable.
At one time hari-kiri, the act o
. suicide by Observation-Disclosures,
sword bein' used. wuZ common i
: Japan. But hit hez gone with othe
: foolishness.
The merchant class in Japan liz
lower class than those who till tn
soil, az in portions ov Europe. A
one time the Japanese merchants a.
sed to hev bin a tough lot. But the
n air improvin' along with the othe
q classes, though many ov them wi
- bear watching, bein' tricky.
70 For two hundred and fifty yea
~ Japan lived an isolated life. No TO
p eigners wuz allowed to land in Japa
"a and no japanese were allowed
le leave Japan. This period practical
IT came to an end in 1853, when fle
W. ov American warships appeared
ID front ov Yokahoma and gave Japs
Id twenty-four hours to open her por
~ to American trade. But I hev me
I'd toned this more at length in
former letter. 1t IL fact worthy
ds mention at this time, however, tn
rs fer many years during the peri
ne mentioned, no person wuz allowed
CHI build or sail any but the smalle
,r- boats, that being the plan to Ike
hit the Japs from crossin' the ocean
they didn't hev large ships tn
or could not get across. The authO
I'd. ties could not watch awl vessels tt
to went to sea, but they could see tt
ms no large ships were bein' built,
az they had a sure thing ov hit. E
or that liz only a bit ov history nc
,ot Some ov the finest steamers tt
lat sail the ocean nowadays air Japan
on steamers and they visit awl the gr
ed seaports.
ars Japan hez ANYWAYS bin lucky
ed critical periods. At one time
. a Mongols had an eye on Japan AM
IN fleet ov vessels wuz made ready
ov carry an invadin' force. Japan
di- no warships then, not even the
to ferior sort the Mongols had, an .
eat knew nothin' ov the plan to capt.
The her country. But the Mongols ne
y" got there. A storm destroyed
shi fleet just az the Spanish Armada v
sed destroyed when Spain attempted
in invade England several hundl
7uZ years ago. At that time Spain v
1ez in her prime and England wuz rat
ons a backward country, havin' pra
cally no navy. But things hev
4 reversed; England now hez the b
les gest navy on water and Spain
&C. nothin' but a few scraps. left
a Dewey and Schley after the Spani
or American war a few years ago.
any rate the country that captu
ort Japan will hev to know what
md liz dom, no matter what game IL
sht be played.
cal Az ever,
ry' ZEKE BILKINS
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