she steams 16 knots an hour, although she is of less than 1,500 tons displacement, and carries two 25-ton breech-loading guns at the bow and stern respectively, in addition to lighter guns on the broadside. The hull is of steel, and there is no side armour, but a light protective deck covers the machinery and magazines. Besides the ships built in English dockyards, the Japanese Government have since 1875 constructed six ships in their own dockyard at Yokosha. Eleven out of the twenty-one steamers are fitted for torpedoes, and there are three first-class Yarrow torpedo-boats, together with many smaller boats, in readiness. The navy is recruited by voluntary enlistment, the term of service being from five to seven years. The navy of Japan was manned in 1883 by 702 officers and 4,511 men. All the foreign naval instructors formerly employed by the naval department have now been dispensed with, except a staff of English instructors at the naval college. Population. The empire is geographically divided into the four islands of Honshiu, the central and most important territory; Kiusiu, 'the nine provinces,' the south-western island; Shikoku, 'the four states,' the southern island; and Yezo, to the north of Honshiu. Administratively, there exists a division into three Fu, and forty-four Ken," or provinces. The total area of Japan is estimated at 148,456 square miles, with a population of 36,700,118, namely, 18,598,998 males, and 18,101,120 females, according to official estimates of the year 1883. The number of houses was 7,611,770. The population was divided among the various classes as follows: imperial family, 39; kwazokii, or nobles, 3,204; shizoku, or knights, 1,931,824; common people, 34,765,051: total, 36,358,994. The number of foreigners was 6,187, of which the Chinese formed more than onehalf. The following table gives the statistics of the births and deaths for the five years 1877-81: By a poor law promulgated in 1874, Government gives nine bushels of rice annually to every one over seventy years of age or under fifteen who cannot work, and also to foundlings till they reach the age of thirteen. There is a workhouse at Tokio, maintained by local rates. In 1881 the total number of paupers was 10,050, including 1,049 in Tokio workhouse, and the expenditure during the year ending June 30 1881, was 17,7957. The total number of criminal offenders sentenced in 1881 was 107,120 (including 9,470 females), of whom 98,690 were imprisoned for less than one year. The following is a list of the principal cities, with the popula tions in 1882. The foreign commerce of Japan is carried on through the open ports of Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Nagasaki, Hakodate and Niigata. The following table shows the value of the foreign commerce for 1882: The commercial intercourse of Japan is carried on mainly with The extent of trade with the United Kingdom, according to the Board of Trade Returns, is shown in the subjoined table, for each of the five years 1878 to 1882 :— The staple articles of export from Japan to Great Britain in the year 1882 were raw silk, of the value of 287,3871.; china, of the value of 42,3907.; and tobacco, of the value of 25,0177. The staple articles of British import into Japan consist of cotton goods, of the value of 1,378,8067.; woollen fabrics, of the value of 262,9321., and of iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 179,7597., in the year 1882. In 1882, 840 merchant vessels, of 801,396 tons, entered, and 827, of 798,643 tons, cleared the various Japanese ports; besides 533, of 631,288 tons, that entered and 523, of 616,080 tons, that cleared coastwise. The area of Japan is divided as follows:-Rice fields, 6,469,841 acres; upland fields, 4,561,412 acres; house grounds, 858,545 acres; forests and mountains, 13,378,453 acres; uncultivated, 3,592,967 acres. Except 12,932,418 acres of forest and mountain belonging to the State, all the rest is private property. The staple agricultural products in 1881 were:-Rice, 155,629,409 bushels; wheat, 62,049,940 bushels; beans, 10,795,717 bushels. In 1880 there were 1,124,564 cattle and 1,605,543 horses. The number of men occupied in fishing in 1880 was 848,288 and women 753,118; and the number of fishing-boats 190,045. In 1881 the mineral and metal products were as follows:-Gold, 10,063 oz.; silver, 332,968 oz.; copper, 4,632 tons; iron, 13,528 tons; coal, 881,261 tons. The first line of railway, from Hiogo to Osaka, 25 miles long, was opened on the 12th of June 1875. At the end of June 1883 there were open for traffic 220 miles of railway. The ports of Hiogo-Osaka, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, are connected with each other, and with Europe, by lines of telegraph. There were telegraphs of a length of 4,733 Engl. miles with 12,470 miles of wire in Japan at the beginning of 1883. The number of telegrams carried was 2,784,287, in the year 1881-2. The post office, first established in 1871, after European models, carried 44,729,699 letters, 29,533,936 postcards, 18,671,570 newspapers, and 1,128,519 books, packets, &c. in the fiscal year 1881-2.. The revenue of the post-office in 1881-2 amounted to 1,660,171 yen, or 332,0347., and the expenditure to 1,471,007 yen, or 294,2017. There were 5,169 post offices in Japan at the end of June 1882. Diplomatic Representatives. 1. OF JAPAN IN GREAT BRITAIN. Envoy and Minister.-Jushi Mori Arinori, accredited Feb. 1880. English Secretary.-R. Stuart Lane. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN JAPAN. Envoy, Minister Plenipotentiary, and Consul-General.-Hon. Francis Richard Plunkett, Secretary of Legation at Tokio, 1873-76; at Washington, 1876-77; St. Petersburg, 1877-81; Constantinople, March-July, 1881; Paris, 1881-83; appointed Minister to Japan, July 1, 1883. Secretaries. Hon. P. H. Le Poer Trench; Hon. L. G. Greville. Money, Weights, and Measures. The money, weights, and measures in common use at the three open ports of Japan, and the British equivalents, are :— MONEY. The Yen, or Dollar, of 100 sens, average rate of exchange. 48. The gold yen, the unit of account, very slightly differs, as to the quantity of gold contained in it, from the quantity of gold contained in the standard gold dollar of the United States. Much of the internal medium of exchange is paper currency, of which there are various denominations, corresponding to those in coins; but it is at a large discount. In the latter part of 1870 the Government established the mint at Osaka, where coins of gold, silver and copper are manufactured. Gold coins consist of 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 yen pieces; of the silver coinage there are 1 yen, 50, 20, 10 and 5 sen pieces. The 'trade dollar,' about equal to the Mexican dollar in weight and fineness, is also coined there. The copper coins consist of 2 sens, 1, and (or ri) sen pieces, the last said to be the smallest coin in use. All the coins are circular in shape; and the total amount issued from the mint since its foundation was, in 1880, 97,458,072 yens. It is stated to be the intention of the Government to introduce into Japan at an early period a new system of weights and measures, based on the decimal system of France. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Japan. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Report (eleventh) of the Postmaster-General of Japan, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1882. 8. Tokio, 1883. Eighth Report of the Director-General of the Japan Government Telegraphs for the year ended June 30, 1882. Tokio, 1883. Returns of the Foreign Commerce and Trade of Japan for the year ended December 31, 1882. Tokio, 1883. Report by Mr. A. H. Mounsey on the finances and public debt of Japan, dated Yedc, January 31, 1878; in Reports by H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part III. 1878. 8. London, 1878. Report by Mr. A. H. Mounsey on the public revenue and expenditure of Japan, dated Yedo, October 14, 1878; in Reports by H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part I. 1879. 8. London, 1879. Commercial Reports of H.M.'s Consuls in Japan. London, 1882-3. Trade of Japan with the United Kingdom; in Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the year 1882.' Imp. 4. London, 1883. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Adams (F. O.), History of Japan, from the earliest period to the present time. 2 vols. 8. London, 1875. Alcock (Sir Rutherford), The Capital of the Tycoon; a narrative of a three years' residence in Japan. 2 vols. 8. London, 1863. Bird (Miss J. L.), Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. 2 vols. London, 1880. |