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Rh language with Japanese is an element of the problem that has to be taken into account. Either the little archipelago must have been occupied by the language-giving race before the foreign conquest, or else it must have been occupied by the conquering race after the latter had adopted the language. Two other considerations may be worth adding. One is that Japanese history is solely the history of the ruling caste; the other, that from the very earliest glimmerings of that history, the student can trace a steady backward gaze at Korea as the one country beyond seas with which, from time to time, intercourse had existed.

Many guesses have been hazarded concerning possible Malay immigrations from the South, by sea or via the Luchu Islands. But there is no certain information, there are not even any legendary traces, of such immigrations. The Ainos, who are not Mongols, are indeed joint occupiers of the soil of Japan with the Japanese, and intermarrying has gone on between the two peoples, and goes on still. It has, however, been pretty well proved that this mixed breed becomes unfruitful in the third or fourth generation,—a fact which explains the rare traces of Aino blood even in the population of the extreme north of the island. The two races are as distinct as the whites and the reds in North America.

 Railways. Strategical, no less than business, considerations have been taken into account by the Japanese government in constructing its lines of railway. The great aim was to connect the two capitals, Tōkyō and Kyōto. As a first step, work was begun on the eighteen miles separating Tōkyō from Yokohama as long ago as the year 1870, with the assistance of English engineers; and the line was opened in 1872. Kobe and Ōsaka were then connected, and other short pieces followed, the 