her population cannot be less than four millions, and when we witness the character and literature of the people as it is even now exhibited, we must believe that Java had once attained a far higher degree of civilization than any other nation in the southern hemisphere.
Japan.—You will, however, expect from me some notice regarding Japan—"that celebrated and imperial island," which, to use the words of Sir William Jones, bears "a pre-eminence among eastern kingdoms, analogous to that of Britain among the nations of the west;" and, however slender may have been the information procured, such as it is, I venture to submit it to you, nearly as I received it from the verbal communications of Dr. Ainslie.
It may be satisfactory and gratifying in the first place to observe, that every information which has been obtained, tends to confirm the accuracy, the ability, and the impartiality of Kæmpfer, whose account of Japan is perhaps one of the best books of the kind that ever was written, considering the circumstances under which he was sent. I am assured that there is not a misrepresentation throughout; he was a man of minute accuracy and felicity of talent, who saw every thing as it was, and not through the mist or medium of any preconception. The Japanese observe of him, that he is, in his History, "the very apostle of their faith," from whose works alone they know even their own country. Their first enquiry was for a copy of Kæmpfer; and, endeavouring to evince the estimation in which this author was held by them, their observation literally was, that "He had drawn out their heart from them, and laid it palpitating before us, with all the movements of their government, and the actions of their men!"
Referring you, therefore, to the works of Kæmpfer for an account of their history, institutions, and acquirements, as the genuine data on which this interesting people may be appreciated, I need only offer a few notices on the character which they appeared to Dr. Ainslie to display, during a residence of four months, and as far as he had an opportunity of judging.
They are represented to be a nervous, vigorous people, whose bodily and mental powers assimilate much nearer to those of Europe than what is attributed to Asiatics in general. Their features are masculine and perfectly European, with the exception of the small lengthened Tartar eye, which almost universally prevails, and is the only feature of resemblance between them and the Chinese. The complexion is perfectly fair, and indeed blooming; the women of the higher classes being equally fair with Europeans, and having the bloom of health more generally prevalent among them than usually found in Europe.
