tained to twice that period of longevity, while a
grandchild, Ugaya by name, reached the respectable old age of 836,042
years. Ugaya was, it is stated, the father of Jimmu, the first
Emperor. It is not necessary to seriously notice fables or legends or
poetic imagery, or whatever these tales may be deemed to be, although
I may remark that the divine descent of the sovereign of Japan has, so
far as I know, never been formally repudiated, and it is still
explicitly, if not implicitly, held.

Dr. Kaemfer, whose great work I have already referred to, propounded
therein the somewhat fanciful theory that the Japanese are really the
direct descendants of the ancient Babylonians, and that their language
"is one of those which Sacred Writ mentions the all-wise Providence
thought fit to infuse into the minds of the vain builders of the
Babylonian Tower." According to his theory, which to me seems
absolutely ludicrous, the Japanese came through Persia, then along the
shores of the Caspian Sea and by the bank of the Oxus to its source.
From there, he suggests, they crossed China, descended the Amoor,
proceeded southwards to Korea, and found their way across the
intervening sea to the Japanese islands. Another theory, which has
found many supporters, is that the Japanese are descended from the
Ainos, the hairy race still to be found in the island of Yesso. An
advocate of this view seeks to bolster up his faith by the evidences
of an aboriginal race still to be found in the relics of the Stone Age
in Japan. "Flint arrows and spear-heads," he remarks, "hammers,
chisels, scrapers, kitchen refuse, and various other trophies are
frequently excavated, or may be found in the museum or in homes of
private persons. Though covered with the soil for centuries, they seem
as though freshly brought from an Aino hut in Yesso. In scores of
striking instances the very peculiar ideas, customs, and superstitions
of both Japanese and Aino are the same, or but slightly modified."

[Illustration: THE SWEET SCENT OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOM
FROM A PRINT BY HIROSHIGE]

This seems to me to be no evidence at all. Flint arrows, spear-heads,
hammers, and so on are to be found in every part of the world. Mankind
all over the globe seems to have evolved its civilisation, or what
passes for it, in very much the same way, viz., by process of
experiment. Another authority has asserted that the short, round
skull, the oblique eyes, the prominent cheek-bones, th