Excerpt from Japan Dangerous, by reason of the shoals and sunken rocks. This was the geographical cause of Japanese exclusiveness Since the borders of the realm had a rocky mountain barrier, with unknown channels, which whilst deterring foreign ocean vessels of large tonnage from entering their harbours, were at the same time, easily and safely entered by their own small flat-bottomed craft. Now that steamers Of the largest tonnage, and their own ironclad war-vessels navigate these waters, the Japanese have had the dangerous parts of the coasts illuminated by lighthouses, pilots appointed, and buoys laid down. As to the maritime survey Of the principal shores, these having been delineated with soundings on the British Admiralty charts, the Japanese Government, relying on their accuracy have adopted them, and so saved some expense. But as yet the land has not been surveyed, except in the neighbourhood Of Nagasaki Harbour, the entrance to Yedo Bay, and some other localities, which our surveyors have mapped as minutely as any English harbours. The Japanese authorities, however, have in contemplation a trigonometrical survey of the whole country, when they possess the means of doing so. Meanwhile, a commence ment has been made in some of the mining districts, where gold, silver, copper, and other metalliferous. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.