Literature.

Literature .

SEYIEWS . A . Cruise in Japanese . Waters . By Captain SiiEiiAnn Osncmx , E . N . London : Messrs . Blackwood and Co . C . vi'TAix SiiEitAiio OSBOKX is no novice in the art of authorcraft , and lie seldom fails to present us with one of the most seasonable and amusing volumes respecting any place to which liis

professional duties may call him . It fell to his lot to he sent with his ship to take the Earl of El gin to Japan , and he UOAV comes forward to reveal to us what he saw and heard in that terra incognita . The Japanese are a very original race in their notions and customs , and are not to be confounded with their neighbours , the Chinese , whose clumsy oddity first strikes the European , but the former have a remarkable peculiarity , unlike any nation we know

of—it is their extreme boyishness , ivhich is grotesque in the extreme , and our Iivelj- author has lost none of the feeling in the sketches he has brought before us . When Captain Osborn's ship , the Furious , unceremoniously intruded into the inviolate harbours ofthe Japanese , he caught the first indications of the quaint customs of the people , for he tells us the order appeared to be—stop the ship , if you can , by any means short offeree ; and if you cannot , take notes of everything she does and all about her , having a brace of note takers , that one may act as a check upon the other . He says : —•

In happy ignorance of any treaties made by Admiral Sterling or others , her majesty ' s ship steamed on , pretending perfect unconsciousness of the existence of guard boats and officials . However , it was soon very evident that if they could not stop us , it AA-as quite as much as their lives ivere AA-orth not to be able to report correctly upon Avho and AA'hat we ii'ere . Just as Ave had put the helm hard down to escape one pair of boats , two others skilfully tumbled into the wash of our paddle wheelsand the most expeditious shorthand Avriters at home could not

, have made their quills fly faster than did these Japanese in noting down facts that one of their party , who stood on tiptoe to peer into the ports , shouted out for their information . Next day AA-e learned that the spies had given a very excellent account of H . M . S . Furious , and had only missed one gun in the " list of her armament . " The vessel , however , kept on her steady way , no impediment being offered bnt b y the most energetic and " persevering

telegraphing . Captain Osborn tells us , that" AA e found all the boats removed and made fast in by the shore . One officer , more anxious than the rest to do his duty , or Asiatic-like , desirous to ascertain to what length he might go , stood up in his boat as we came abreast of him , and mildly gesticulated with his fan ( the everlasting emblem of office in Japan ) for us to go bade again ! AA ' e would fain not have seen it ; but of course the officious signalman

immediately reported that there was a Japanese officer waving . A spyglass was brought steadily to bear on him ; the wretch Ai-as about fifty yards off ; the action of the fan became at onee less violent , then irregular , as if the Avaver of the fan was in a dilemma ; then a spasmodic jerk ; the glass ivas kept steadily on the wretch ( ive feared lest the ambassador should see him and cry halt !) there-, ivas a , pause—another flutter—Hurrah ! He shut up his fan . and retired , under his awning , beaten . He had only to porforin Haki-kari , or disemboiveliiieut , aud we miht

gproceed , giving the officious signalman orders not to make nonsensical reports of every Japanese AVIIO ehose to fan himself I " But with all this , there appears to have been no ill humour manifested . They took it as a matter of course , and finding that they were unable to stop the Furious , put on a cheerful face , and made the best of it , coming to have a good examination of the ship , ivhich they set about , not with feelings of wonder and curiosity , but to make themselves acquainted with the arts of the AVestern world . We are next told : —

" There Was soon a general flurry , for the Japanese appeared to have been waiting for their Dutch friends to awake to inquire if we might bo visited . Japanese officials , AA'ith pockets full of paper , pens , and ink hurried oil ' , jolly , good natural looking fellows , always ready to laugh , and in appearance resembling more the Kanaka races of the . South Sea Islands thaw the Chinese we had left behind ns . Their dress in some respects was Chinese , and their language sounding very b' ]; e a mixture of the discordancy of that most discordant of languagesand the soft

, li quid sounds of the Kanaka tongue . But how they interrogated us ! What ivas the ship's uaiue , our name , the ambassador ' s titles , everybody ' s name and age , everybody ' s rank and business ?—what did we want , whither were Ai-e going , AA'henee did AA-e come , IIOAV many ships were coming , Ai-here was our admiral ? Indeed , a Russian custom house agent , or a British census paper , could not have put more astounding questions whether in number or naturethan did these Nangasaki

, , ro porters . AA ' e wore as patient as naval officers , or angels , may usually be supposed to be under such circumstances ;—answered all their questions . allowed them to see , touch , smell , and hear evervthing . except the Witish ambassador , AAIIO was in his cabin , and then dismissed them with a glass of sherry and a biscuit . The captain aud first lieutenant

! had hardly congratulated themselves that , at any rate , that portion of thepleasuE ) of visiting Japan was oi-er , when another boat full of reporters ,-u , ived , tumbled up the ladder , were very well behaved , but asked exa- vly the same questions , and went exactly through the same farce as the ihvi ? ' party had done . They were , we learnt , duplicate reporters , whoso statements served to check , and correct , those of the first , set of inquirers . . Directly they left us a tivo sivorded official arrivedtAvo sivords in Japan , like tiA-o epaulettes in Europe , indicate au officer

of some standing . He introduced himself through a Japanese interpreter , who spoke English remarkably AA-ell , as " a chief officer , " who had au official communication to make . AA'ould he sit doivn—would he unbosom himself' ? Could he not see the ambassador 1 Impossible . AVhat . ' " a chief officer" commmunicate ivith an ambassador ! AVe were truly horrified . The chief officer must be simply insane . Did he couple the representative of the Majesty of Great Britain with some superintendent of trade ? The chief officer apologizedhe was properly shocked

; very at the proposition he had made : he saw his error , and what ivas more to our purpose , the ambassador assumed a size and inrportanee in his eyes which it ivould have been difficult to have realized . The " chief officer" then put his questions . Did Lord Elgin intend to call on the governor of Nangasaki 1 No ; he had not time to do so . Did he expect the governor to wait upon him ? Tho governor could please himself ; the ambassador ivould receii-e him if he came . If the lieutenant- called on Lord Elinwould his excellency receive

governor g , him ? Yes . This was all the chief officer had to say ; his mission ivas a special one . He begged to wish us good morning , merely adding that the governor of Nangasaki hoped the ambassador would kindly accept a small present which would shortly be sent . The present arrived soon afterwards—a stout cob-built pig of three hundrediA'eight ; and such a quantity of pumpkins . ' It looked at first very like a joke ; indeed , the infernal music of an animal never seen alive on board of a man-of-war added to the comicality of the affair . "

The peculiar custom of the Japanese to take notes of every thing they see , is not merely a matter of habitual curiosity , but is turned to good account , as our traveller soon had occasion to see in the numberless " copies of every thing ivhich had been taken from the models of the Europeans or the descriptions of the reporters ; and this species of industry is fostered by the chiefs , who contend ivith each other in making their serfs or dependants

imitate any European article they can procure , and sending the surplus specimens to be sold throughout the empire . Captain Osborn saw the following , at Nangasaki : — " At one stall wo found microscopes , telescopes , sundials , rules , scales clock ' s , knives , spoons , glass , beads , trinkets , and mirrors , all of native make upon European models , and the prices were so ridiculously small , that ei-en at the loiA-est estimate of the value of labour , it AA-IIS a puzzle

how any profit could be realized upon the articles . The microscopes were very neat , and intended to be carried iu the pocket ; an imitation Morocco case ivas opened , and contained ivithin it a small and not powerful lens , fixed in a metal frame at a short distance from an upright pin , on AA'hich the object for examination AA-as to be stuck , and the entire AA'orkmanship was highly creditable . The telescopes were framed in stiff paper eases , sufficiently thick and ingeniously lackered to resemble leather over wood . The glasses , though small , were clear ; the magnifying power Ai-as not great , but it , was a marvel to see such an instrument sold for a shilling . AVe saw another description of Japanese telescopes ,

six feet long when pulled out ; it was unite as powerful and as genuine as those real Dollauds A \ -hich our naval outfitters are in the habit of procuring for credulous parents when equipping their sailor children at seaports . The price at iSfangasaki is a dollar , or five shillings , but at Portsmouth it is five pounds sterling ! The Japanese clocks exhibited for sale ivere beautiful specimens of mechanism , and proved what wo had heard , that the people of this country are most cunning in the fashioning of metals . One AA-as like those table clocks we see at home

under square glass covers , all the works being open to scrutiny ; it ivas six or eight inches high , and about as broad , and it would have been difficult to knoAv it from one of Mr . Dent's best of a like description . . . One day some great personage desired to have the construction of Colt ' s pistols and Sharp ' s rifles explained to him , in order that be might undertake their manufacture . Another insisted upon making aneroids at Yedo . Glass making , in all its branches , became a great rage , and some of the specimens of ornamental bottles were very original and tasteful ,

iu pattern . Iron and brass guns were east of ei'ery calibre up to those of ten inches diameter , Shells , with the latest improvements in fuy . es , one prince could produce ; and another became so enraptured with steam machinery , and . I daresay , so shocked at the enormous price the Dutch charged them for their steamers , that a factory for their construction was established , and one complete engine had already been turned out of hand , put up in a vessel built at Sangasaki , and actually worked about the harbour . "

The Dutch , from their old connection with the Japanese , have a number of teachers here , ivhose business it appears to be to instruct the natives in the European arts of construction , and sometimes the pupils drive their instructors into a corner , b y their desire to know why , and IIOAV to do everything ;—" Mathematics , algebra , and geography , they acquired eon amort ; and the facility of computation , by means of the European system of arith-