INTERCOLONIAL COMMERCE. 3^ linen, manufactured from the fibrous bark of a spe- cies of urtica. * The principal dress of both sexes and of all ranks consists of a robe or gown, open in front, and secured by a girdle. For warmth the number of these is multiplied from three or four, to a dozen or more, and they are frequently quilt- ed, with the same view, with silk or cotton wad- ding. The sheep is unknown to the Japanese, nor do they understand the art of manufacturing cloth from any species of hair or wool. Notwith- standing this, the woollen manufactures of Europe are in great repute among them. By Captain Saris* account, t Flemish broad cloth was purchas- ed with avidity, at an advance of 550 per cent. All the manufactures in which the Japanese are clothed can be manufactured by their neighbours cheaper than by themselves, and these can also fur- nish tliem with the raw material cheaper than they can grow or produce it. They receive from China both raw and wrought silk, and when the Euro- pean nations had free access to them, they import- ed large quantities of the cotton fabrics of India. In Caron's description of Japan, X there is a
- Tliunl>crg's Travels, Vol. III. p. 267. This author's
work, upon all material subjects, is little better than a com- pilation from Ka;mpfer, by an inferior man. -j- Purchas, Vol. I. Book HI. p. 394. + Caron, according to Knempfer, was a person, who, by his abilities, raised himself from the mean condition of a
