Untitled

TOPOGRAPHY OF NIP-PON. 423
to the bar at the mouth of the river, and to the prevalence of fierce gales in winter.
Hence the rice, silks, teas, lacquer, ginseng, indigo, and other products of the rich
. Nihi-gata plains have to be mostly forwarded by
bad mountain roads across Hondo
to Tokio. Tcradomari, lying 30 miles farther to the south-west, had threatened to
supersede Nihi-gata altogether by depriving it of the Sinano-gava, which might be
diverted by canalisation directly to the coast at Teradomari. But the vast cutting,
300 feet deep at one point, undertaken for this purpose, has never been completed,
and Nihi-gata, such as it is, still continues to be the best seaport on the coast. It
is partly sheltered by the neighbouring island of Sado, and several native and
foreign engineers have been invited by the Government to report on the best means
of improving its approaches. Mural-ami, Kasivazaki, Imamatsi, and the other towns
on this seaboard all suffer from the same want of convenient harbours or sheltered
roadsteads. In the neighbourhood of Aigara, capital of Sado, are some old gold
and silver mines, which have been worked for ages. The profit from these mines
under their present management was estimated in 1881 at about 17,000. But
for many years previously the value of the precious metals obtained appears to
have been more than absorbed by the working expenses. Limestone is the prevailing
formation in the island of Sado, which is very hilly, consisting of two
groups of mountains separated by an intervening cultivated plain.
On the large bay, protected westwards by the long promontory of Noto, are
situated the trading towns of Uvots, Sin-minato, To-yama, Takaoka, while towards
the south-west lies the manufacturing city of Kanezam (Itikava-ken\ famous for
its chased bronzes, painted porcelains, and textile fabrics. In the same district are
several other industrial centres, such as Komats and Mikara, both on the coast.
Farther south are the sea-ports of Takamats and Sakayi, whence are forwarded the
products of the surrounding towns of 0/iono, Maruoka, and Fitkuyi, lying at the foot
of the lofty Siro-yatno, or " White Mountain."
South of the rich Sendai plains there are no large towns on the rocky east coast
till we come to the decayed city of Mito, at the mouth of the Naka-gava. But
the population becomes more dense in the fertile plain watered by the Tone-gava
and its tributaries to the north-west. -Here Takatsaki and Mayebasi are noted centres
of the silk industry, and at Tomioka the Government has established a model silk
spinning factory, which has become the most important in the Empire. Near the
mouth of the Tone-gava is the large town of Dioai (Chosi), with its port of Fnabasi
at the northern extremity of Tokio Bay. Diosi, which consists of a group of villages
extending over a space of about two miles, is chiefly occupied in the fishing trade.
Large quantities of the iicns/if, a kind of pilchard, but of smaller size, are captured
all along the coast and brought to Diosi, where they are boiled down in huge
cauldrons. The oil thus obtained is used for lighting purposes, and the residue,
after being dried in the sun, is sent inland for manure. The smells arising from
this process render Diosi and the' neighbouring villages almost uninhabitable by
strangers.
Tokio (Tokiijo, Toke'i], the present capital and largest city in Japan, is the old
Ycilo ( Yedtfo}, or " Gate of the Bay." Its new name, synonymous
with the Chinese