ing; movable types are not yet introduced into
Japan. The writing, like Chinese, is up and down the page, and not
across it. Three or four different characters seem to be used
indiscriminately, and some of them are certainly Chinese. The good folks
of Dai Nippon are indebted to the Chinese for the first strong impulse
to their civilization; not being themselves of Chinese origin, but a
distinct branch of the Mongolian family. Their language is quite
different, and has exceedingly long words, instead of being built up,
like Chinese, of mono-syllables. Japanese written in Chinese character
is understood by any Chinaman; but so would English be, since Chinese
writing represents ideas. So, if a Spaniard writes five, an Englishman
reads it as "five," and understands correctly, yet the Spaniard would
tell you that he wrote not "five," but "cinco."

Hovering still about this gentleman, and beguiled by the strangeness of
all things we see into a curiosity like that of children, we admire his
sword. The hilt is very beautiful, composed of various metals blended
into a fine enamel. This enamel is used in Japan where Europeans would
use jewels, because the art of cutting precious stones is not known to
the Japanese. For the blade of this sword it is not impossible that a
sum has been given not unlike a hundred pounds; the tempering of steel
is carried to perfection in Japan, where gentlemen are connoisseurs in
sword-blades. Young nobles lend their maiden swords to the executioner
(who is always chosen from the defiled leather-selling race) that they
may be tried upon real flesh and blood; as executions in Japan are
generally cruel, and some criminals are hacked to death, rather than
killed outright, the swords on such occasions are refreshed with a fair
taste of blood. The mats upon the floor are the next things we notice. A
thick matting of straw forms a substratum, over which are spread the
fine mats, elegantly fringed. To see that lackered work inlaid with
mother-of-pearl, which we familiarly call Japan, in its perfection, we
must evidently visit it at home. Any thing of the kind so exquisitely
beautiful as this little table, is not to be found in Europe. Whatever
trinkets pass out of these islands into Europe, do so _nayboen_--that
is, with secret connivance--but the first-rate manufactures are in no
way suffered to come to us. Without _nayboen_, life would be
insupportable in a minute wilderness of rules and customs. People ev