. Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan. e several votariesof various pursuits have naturallylonged to add more to the littlethat is known of this self-isolatedKingdom. The political inquirer, for instance, has wished to study in detail theform of government, the administration of laws, and the domestic institu-tions, under which a nation systematically prohibiting intercourse with therest of the world has attained to a state of civilization, refinement, andintelligence, the mere glimpses of which so strongly invite further investi-gation. The student
. Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan. e several votariesof various pursuits have naturallylonged to add more to the littlethat is known of this self-isolatedKingdom. The political inquirer, for instance, has wished to study in detail theform of government, the administration of laws, and the domestic institu-tions, under which a nation systematically prohibiting intercourse with therest of the world has attained to a state of civilization, refinement, andintelligence, the mere glimpses of which so strongly invite further investi-gation. The student of physical geography, aware how much national character-istics are formed or modified by peculiarities of physical structure in everycountry, would fain know more of the lands and the seas, the mountains andthe rivers, the forests and the fields, which fall within the limits of thisalmost terra incognita. The naturalist asks, what is its geology, what are its flora and fauna ?The navigator seeks to find out its rocks and shoals, its winds and cur-rents, its coasts and 4 INTRODUCTION. The man of commerce asks to be told of its products and its trade,its skill in manufactures, the commodities it needs, and the returns it cansupply. The ethnologist is curious to pry into the physical appearance of itsinhabitants; to dig, if possible, from its language the fossil remains of longburied history; and in the afl&liation of its people to supply, perchance, agap in the story of mans early wanderings over the globe. The scholar asks to be introduced to its literature that he may contem-plate in historians, poets, and dramatists, (for Japan has them all,) a pictureof the national mind. The Christian desires to know the varied phases of their superstition andidolatry; and longs for the dawn of that day when a purer faith and moreenlightened worship shall bring them within the circle of Christendom. Amid such a diversity of pursuits as we have enumerated, a commoninterest unites a
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