Japan and the Japanese

894 JAPAN. A. D. 17751776.
few familiar articles. Tlmnberg has annexed to his Travels a short
Japanese vocabulary, but he docs not appear to have made any
great progress in the language.
With much difficulty lie obtained, about the beginning of Febru-
ary, leave to botanize.* Every excursion cost him sixteen or eighteen
taels, as he was obliged to feast from twenty to thirty Japanese
officials, by whom he was always attended. On the neighboring
hills he noticed many burying-grounds, containing tombstones of
various forms, sometimes rough, but more frequently hewn; with
letters, sometimes gilt, engraved upon them. Before these stones
were placed vessels, made of large bamboos, containing water, with
branches of flowers.
He also noticed, both around Nagasaki and afterwards on his
journey to Jedo, the pits, or rather large earthen jars, sunk by the
road-side for the collection of manure, both liquid and solid. To
the fetid exhalations from these open pits, and to the bunting of
charcoal without chimneys, he ascribed the red and inflamed eyes
very common in Japan. In the gardens he saw growing the common
red beet, the carrot, fennel, dill, anise, parsley, and asparagus;
leeks, onions, turnips, radishes, lettuce, succory, and endive. Long
ranges of sloping ground, at the foot of the mountains, were planted
with the sweet potato. Attempts were also made to cultivate the
common potato, but with little success. Several kinds of yams
(Dloscorert) grew wild in the vicinity of Nagasaki, of which one
species was used for food, and, when boiled, had a very agreeable
taste.t Buckwheat, Windsor beans (Vicia fal/a), several species of
French beans (Phasedus), and peas (Pisum saticum), were com-
monly cultivated ; also, two kinds of cayenne pepper (Capsicum**,
introduced probably by the Portuguese. Tobacco was also raised,
for the use and the name of which the Japanese were indebted to
* A precedent of a similar permission, formerly gran ted to the medical
men of the factory, was found, but, upon a critical examination of Thun-
berg's commission, he appeared to be a Burgeon, whereas he to whom piTmission
had formerly been granted had been surgeon's mute, and it took
three months to get over this difficulty, and to persuude the Japanese that
these two officers were in substance the same.
t This species, the Dioscorea Japonica (confounded sometimes with the
weet f *ato), boa been lately introduced into the United States.