Information direct from Japan, derived from personal experience, is always
welcome. At the last meeting of the Geographical Society, a paper was read from the pen of Mr. Consul Pemberton Hodgson, descriptive of his journeys in the island of Jesso, Japan, and which had been communicated to the society by Lord John Russell, was read by Dr. Shaw. Mr. P. Hodgson and party made four journeys in the island of Jesso during the months of June, July, and August last year. The journeys were principally along the coast in various directions, but on the last he ascended the great volcano, about four thousand feet high. The country passed was described as exceedingly rich and beautiful, abounding in forest and flowers—chesnut, oak, pine, beech, birch, elm, cherry, sycamore, magnolia, roses, honey- suckle, convallarias, orchids, vines, clematis, and numerous others as yet unknown. He was received everywhere with the greatest atten- tion and civility during the excurions. He visited, likewise, the celebrated mines of lead and iron. Jesso he believed to be inhabited chiefly alongthe coasts only, the interior being overrun with bears and other animals, the forests containing "all the woods necessary for the fleets of any country." The Japanese of this island appear to live chiefly upon fish and vegetables. Large quantities of sea- weed and bide de river are collected. Quail, pigeon, partridge, woodcock, and snipe abound. Gold was also found. Mr. Hodgson concluded by giving his opinion that "Jesso is not known, even to the natives ; it is still a nut, of which, with the exception of the shell, they are entirely ignorant." The reading of the paper was followed by a discussion, in which Mr. Oliphant, Sir F. Nicholson, Mr. Willey, and Mr. Hodgson, the author of the paper, took part.
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