and passed. Should such action meet your approval, and be carried
into law upon your recommendation, I have no doutlt it would confirm
this government in the beliefdof the good intenition of the United States
toward it. I trust that my action thus far in the premises may meet
your approval, and shall await your instructions in relation thereto.
       I am', &c.,_
                                                 JNO. A. BINGHIAM.



                                 No. 414.

                         Mr. Bingham to Mr. Fish.

NYo. 24.]UNITED STATES LEGATION, JAPAN,
            Yokohama, December 5, 1873. (Received January 231 1874.)
   SIR: I have the honor to communicate herewith an. abstract of the
report of D. W. Ap Jones, esq., a citizen of the United States, upon the
adaptation of certain districts in Japan to the growth of cattle and
sheep. The material is in Japan to give profitable employment to one
hundred million people, instead of the twenty-five, or at most thirty
million, who now reside here, one.-half of whom are without remunera-
tive occupation, and in poverty. I deem it safe to say that the unoccupied
lands in this island and in Yesso, not less than one hundred thousand
square miles in extent, would, with but little outlay, support forty-million
cattle and sheep annually. Notwithstanding the published reports to
the contrary, I am also fully satisfied that the undeveloped mineral
resources of Japan, in coal, iron, copper, gold, lead, and silver, are very
great. I repeat the opinion heretofore expressed that the opening of the
country, under proper regulations and restrictions, would be attended
with advantageous results to Japan and to the United States.
         Iam  &C.,
                                                 JNO. A. BINGHAM.



                              [juclosure in No. 24.]
                          Abstract of Mr. Jones's report.
                                             TOKEI, JAPANX Novemtber 24,
1873.
 His Excellency the MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
   SIR: Your excellency, on the 25th of September last, was pleased to direct
that a
 passport be issued permitting me free travel through the provinces of Sagami,
Idzu,
 Inmuga, Totomi, Shinam, Kai, and Messashi, for the purpose of examining
the wild
 and unoccupied lands, and their adaptability to the raising and breeding
of sheep, and
 of reporting on the same to the foreign office. Already I have made a partial
exami-
 nation of the waste and mountainous lanis in the three first named provinces.
My
 examination was begun at Kina, in Sagami. This place is situated on the
right bank
 of the Hyagawa River, which flows out of Hakone Lake, and empties into the
bay of
 Odawara. A short distance above Kina, on the left bank of the Hyagawa, is
the vil-
 lage of Mia-gino. From this Sengoku is distant one-half ri, and the intervening
space
 unsettled. The hills and table-lands were covered with luxurious vegetation,
the pre-
 vailing grass being that known in Japan by the name of "kaya."
The kaya resem-
 bles, in some particulars, three distinct families of grasses, the Reed
canary, the wheat,
 and pampas. The latter grass is peculiar to South America, and to it, in
my opinion,
 the kaya bears a close resemblance. It grows from two to eight inches high,
blos-
 soms in August, and drops its seeds, which are small, in September. This,
in most
 places, is the principal grass cut and used for hay in this country. Between
Mia-gino
 and Sengoku there is nearly a ri square of good and available pasture-land,
together
 with sufficatn level and table-land to provide winter provender for the
stock.


JAPAN.


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