Japan and the Japanese

PRODUCTS OF JAIAN. 571
food, rank the first. Cheap woollens, blankets, glass-w ire, fancy cole red
and drilled cottons, cutlery, watches, soaps, and, perhaps, lead, tin, iron,
ginseng, and perfumery, will commend themselves to tlie people. Rice,
wheat and barley in the grain, sug ir, and, perhaps, flour, too, are such
products as can be readily disposed of in a country whose population seema
to live very near its production. At present there is no knowledge among
the mass of people as to what they can get from abroad, and no desire for it,
since all their wants have been hitherto supplied among themselves, and
they have been content with what they had.
The produce of the country is not much beyond the wants of its inhabit-
ants, and there is, therefore, a difficulty in paying for cloths and other
things which the common people might be glad to take. The proportion of
rich men is, probably, small, and wealth generally belongs to the class of
noblemen, or monopolists, by whom the industry of the masses is either com-
pelled or farmed for their benefit. These classes might be willing to take
fine things, articles of ornament or excellence, such as glass ware for the
toilet or table, fine cutlery, broadcloth, or watches, and pay for them in
crapes, silks, lackered ware, or gems ; but such a barter would extend very
slowly, and never amount to much. It is, however, likely to be the commencement
of the trade at Simoda, as the rich and noble can sooner gratify
their inclinations than the poor, and each party will desire to see the most
beautiful specimens of skill and art the other can furnish, and at first they
are most likely to be remunerative.
The most likely way to commence the trade with Japan is, it appears to
me, for ships going from China to California to stop at Simoda for water and
provisions, and pay for them in cotton, woollen, or other goods, of which a
larger assortment than could be disposed of might be had in readiness to
show. A few calls of this sort would make the people around the town
aware, practically, that the produce of their farms and gardens was likely
to meet with a steady sale, for returns which were valuable and appreciated
by their neighbors. The demands of a few ships for provisions would begin
to turn the attention of the people to supplying them, while an exchange
of each other's commodities would, probably, ere long, attract capitalists
from Yedo, Okosaka, and other large towns, to enter more largely into
the opening commerce, and take orders to be fulfilled by a certain date.
Merchants will find little encouragement to reside at Simoda for many sea-
sons yet.
In conducting a barter trade with the Japanese, the foreigner must under-
stand their determination in respect to the currency, and charge three times
the cash price for his goods, in order to make them equal with the market
prices of provisions and merchandise. However, further investigations are
still wanted to ascertain how much bread, cotton, and labor, can be obtained
for an icliibu, before the comparison of the currency of Japan with that of
China, England, or America, is perfectly satisfactory.
Jt is idle to speculate on the effects of the new influences likely soon tc