Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/603

 GEOGRAPHY,] JAPAN 575 afford a most grateful shade in summer. On the road from Tokio to the celebrated temples at the foot of the Nikko hills is an avenue nearly 50 miles in length, of cedars and pines, some of the trees being fully 50 or 60 feet in height. Unfortunately these noble specimens are fast disappearing, as the wood-cutter s axe and saw have been ruthlessly plied during the past few years. In Japanese wood-felling a common plan is to kindle a fire at the roots of the tree ; this dries up the sap in the trunk, and renders the wood harder and firmer. Two principal varieties of the pine occur, called respectively the red and the black, from the colour of the bark. The former thrives in sandy ground, while the latter grows in softer black soil. It is said that, if one of these varieties be transplanted to the soil bearing the other, it will also in time change in colour till it resembles its new companions. The tints of the maple foliage, bright green in summer and brown-red in autumn, contribute in no slight degree to the beauty of a Japanese landscape. The mulberry tree grows well in the eastern regions, where the silkworm is reared and the silk industry carried on. The- bamboo is especially useful and plentiful. Bamboo clumps are seen at frequent intervals in the rice-land ; they line the river banks, and flourish equally well on the higher grounds ; and it would be impossible to enumerate the multifarious purposes for which the cane is used. Of fruit- trees Japan possesses the orange, apple, walnut, chestnut, plum, persimmon, damson, peach, and vine. The fruit, however, is in most cases of quality far below that of European orchards. The best oranges come from the province of Kishiu ; these have a smooth and very thin rind, and no seeds. The larger oranges, with thick and rough rind, grow throughout the country. The so-called apple resembles the large russet, but only in colour and shape ; it has absolutely no flavour, and is hard and stringy. The plum, of which there are several varieties, may be said to be the best fruit obtained, next to the orange and persimmon. This latter is exceedingly plentiful and has two varieties, the soft and the hard ; it is often dried, and sold packed in boxes like figs. The peaches are not remarkable either for size or flavour. The best grapes are grown in the provinces of Kai and Kawachi ; both the black and the white are found, but the fruit is small, and only continues in season for a short time. The tea-plant grows well in Japan, and tea forms one of the chief exports to foreign countries. The best leaf comes from the neighbourhood of Uji, in the province of Yamashiro, to the south-east of Kioto ; but it is also largely exported from Yokohama, being produced in the fertile district in the east of the main island. The production of vegetable wax has always formed on? of the principal industries of the island of Kiushiu, and the trees bearing the wax berries grow in great number on the hill slopes and round the edges of most of the cultivated fields (excepting rice-land) in the provinces of Hizen, Higo, Chikuzen, and Chikugo ; in Satsuma, however, they are not so plentiful. The cotton- plant, introduced from India in 799, also thrives. The camphor tree is found in most parts of the country, parti cularly in some of the higher regions ; on account of its agreeable smell the wood is largely used in the manufac ture of small cabinets and boxes. Amongst the minor vegetable products the sweet potato is particularly plenti ful ; it has several varieties, that known as the Satsuma potato being perhaps the best. Water melons and gourds of various sizes and shapes thrive in the more sandy soil ; and onions, carrots, small turnips, tomatoes, and beet-root are also cultivated. The brinjal bears a dark purple fruit shaped like a pear. The long white radish, called by the Japanese daikon (lit. &quot; great root &quot;), is exceedingly common, and forms one of the chief articles of food amongst the lower classes, who eat it either raw or dried and pickled ; the average size of the root is from 18 inches to 2 feet in length, and 1| inches or so in diameter. Beans and peas can also be grown. The climate of Yezo is said to be very favourable for both wheat and barley, and it is probable that in future years this large island may thus prove a source of considerable gain to the Japanese. In the island of Shikoku the indigo plant is found in abundance, and it also occurs in the eastern portion of the main island. The poppy is grown in Shikoku. In ferns and creepers of various kinds Japan is particularly rich, but her list of flowers is not very lengthy. The rose, peony,- azalea, camellia, lotus, and iris are, however, to be seen. 1 Animals. As regards animal life Japan is well provided. Mammals, The domestic animals comprise the horse, ox, dog, and cat ; while the wilder tribes are represented by the bear, deer, antelope, boar, fox, monkey, and badger. In Yezo are found very large bears, so powerful as to be able to pull down a pony ; in the central provinces of Shimotsuke and Shinano a small black species exists. The deer, antelope, and monkey are caught in nearly all the hilly regions throughout the whole country. Sheep do not thrive, although the hardier goat does, the reason assigned for this being that the &quot; bamboo grass,&quot; with its sharp-edged and serrated blade, proves very deleterious as pasture. In the western part of the province of Shimosa a sheep- farm was started a few years ago; but it is not yet possible to judge whether the venture will prove successful in any great degree. In the meantime sheep are usually imported from China. The Japanese horses, or rather ponies, are not very powerful animals; they stand on an average from 13 hands 2 inches to 14 hands 2 inches in height. They are thick-necked and rather high-shouldered, but fall off in the hind quarters. Large numbers of ponies are imported from China. At the Shimosa farm experiments have been made in putting an Arab or Barb to a Japanese mare ; the half-bred animal thus obtained compares very favourably with the pure native breed, being of better shape and of far superior speed. Tbe oxen are small but sturdy, and it is probable that, if the vast tracts of moorland at present lying uncultivated in the northern provinces were utilized for breeding cattle, substantial gains would be secured. The ordinary Japanese dog is very like the Eskimo dog, and is generally white, grey, or black in colour. A few, however, are red-brown, and much resemble the fox ; these are used by the hunters in the pursuit of game. There are several species of monkeys, and large numbers of these animals, taken in the hills of Kai and Shinano, are brought into the Tokiu market, where they are sold for food ; the flesh is white and very palatable. Wild birds 2 are represented in 1 The great authority on the Japanese flora is Franchet and Sava- tier s Enumeratio plantaruin in Japonia sponte crescentium, Paris, 1875-1879, 2 vols., which contains 2743 species of phanerogamic plants, 700 species more, that is, than were given by Miquel, who in 1866 contributed a survey of the subject to the Mededeelinyen of the K. Akad. van Witemch. (Amsterdam), and in 1870 published Catal. Musei Botanici (Leyden, part i., Flora JaponiccC) on the basis of the rich collections of the Leyden Museum. Much interesting matter will also be found in Rein s contributions to Petermann s Mittheilungen, 1875 and 1879 ; in the Mittheil. dcr deutsch. Oes. Ost-Asiens ; and in Knipping, &quot; 6zaka, Kioto, &c., in Nippon&quot; in Petermanu s Mittheil., 1878. It has been shown that the Japanese flora as a whole has a great similarity not only to that of the neighbouring Asiatic continent but also to that of North America, the coincidences being most frequent, however, not with the flora of the eastern but with that of the western coast. 2 T. Blakistou and H. Pryer, in their &quot; Catalogue of the Birds of Japan&quot; (Trans, of the As. Soc. of Japan, 1880), mention three hundred and twenty-five species of birds, and they do not consider the list as anything like complete. Oi these, one hundred and eighty species also occur in China, and about one hundred are identical with those of Great Britain. The S traits of Tsugaru (15 or 20 miles across) appear to be a line of zoological demarcation, as neither the sheep- faced antelope (Nemorhxdus crispa], the Japanese monkey (Innuus