ing it, he stabs himself
with a dagger below the navel, and cuts open his belly to the breast
bone. The capital punishments inflicted on the inferior people are
hanging, beheading, or being flung over a precipice; and for smaller
faults, whipping and branding are usual.

The government of Japan would be well pleased to encourage trade with
all nations, but for two considerations. The first is, lest their
religion should be insulted, which was frequently the case from
misguided zeal, while there were any Christians among the Japanese.
The other proceeds from their aversion to strange customs, or to any
innovation in the manners of the people, from which they dread the
worst consequences. When the Dutch were first established in this
empire, the then prime minister explained their opinions on this
subject in the following manner: "We are well acquainted with the
advantages resulting from the system of government established among
us, and will on no account run the hazard of any change. We know that
great revolutions are often brought about by imperceptible degrees,
and are therefore resolved to cure the itch of novelty by the rod of
chastisement." Upon this maxim a law is established in Japan, by
which all the subjects of the empire are prohibited from leaving the
country; or, if any do, they must never return. They are so wedded to
their own customs and opinions, and so jealous of the introduction
of any new or foreign customs, that they never send any embassies to
other countries, neither do they allow their merchants to carry on
commerce beyond their own country. A few small junks are sent in
summer to the land of Yedso, a country about fifty leagues from the
northern extremity of Japan; and it is said that they bring much gold
from thence.

There is but one good harbour in Japan, all the rest of the coast
being so guarded by steep rocks or shoals, that they have no reason to
fear being invaded. In point of military discipline and bravery, the
Japanese far exceed the Chinese, and are by no means of so base and
effeminate dispositions as most of the inhabitants of that great
empire. The government also of Japan is perfectly uniform and well
settled, so that there cannot be any diversity of interests; for,
though several of its provinces are denominated kingdoms, yet all
these petty kings are under the strictest subjection to the emperor,
and the laws of the country extend over all. These laws pay the
strictest regard