INTERCOLONIAL COMMERCE. 321 near the standard of other countries. * Gold ap- pears always, to have been more plentiful than silver, because, perhaps, the mines of it require less skill in working. The Portuguese exported large quantities of silver; but the Dutch, who, in 164^1, exported L. 700,000 Sterling worth of
- " The emperor claims the supreme jurisdiction of all
the gold mines, and, indeed, all other mines in the empire, none of which may be opened and worked without his ex- press leave and consent. Of the produce of all the mines which are worked he claims two-thirds, and one-third is left to the lord of the province in which the mine lies ; the latter, however, as they reside upon the spot, know how to improve their third parts so as to share pretty equally with the emperor. The richest gold ore, and which yields the finest gold, is dug up in Sado, one of the northern provinces in the great island Nipoii. Some of the veins there were formerly so rich, that one catti of the ore yielded one, and sometimes two tahils of gold, (5 and 10 per cent.) But of late, as I was informed, the veins there, and in most other mines, not only were scarcer, but yield not near the quan- tity of gold they formerly di«l, which we were told was the occasion, amongst other reasons, of the late strict orders relating to the trade and commerce with us and the Chinese." — History of Japan, Vol. I. p. 107. Ksempfer's account of the exactions of the emperor and provincial chief contains internal evidence of exaggeration ; but it is probable they are founded on those exactions being exorbitant ; and this, more likely than the exhaustion of the mineral veins, will account for the rise in the price of gold and silver in Ja- pan. VOL. III. X
