Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/49

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41

Remarks. Provinces. Places and Districts.


Idzumo Idzumori-mura
Isé Oda-yama
Mimasaka Tsubo-i, and Sara-yama
Suwo Yama-hiro-yama Inaba
Musashi —?
Kotsuké Ashiwo-yama
Noto Tokoro-no-kuchi
Shimotsuké Seki-yama, Ashino
Aki Haci gun, Place?
Bungo Hachi-gun, Place?
Out of copper pyrites Buzen Nagatsu
Higo Hito-yeshi, Ashikita.

This list shews at how many different places copper has already been found in Japan. It will not astonish us that copper and also gold and silver have been exported from this country on a large scale since the Japanese first came into contact with Europeans in about 1545. These large quantities of metal must have been found and smelted in Japan, because no Japanese history speaks of the import of these metals.[1] We have endeavoured to estimate the quantity exported out of this country by examining the journals kept by the old Dutch factory at Desima. Although we cannot guarantee the following numbers to be exactly correct, still we can vouch for their being tolerably so.

Period. Thousands of Piculs
annually.
Total amount in Piculs
exported (Mediums)
1609-1692 25 à 30 2,310,000
1693-1713 30 à 31 0,640,500
1714-1720 15 0,105,000
1721-1742 10 0,220,000
1743-1751 6 0,054,000
1752-1763 11 0,132,000
1764-1789 8 0,208,000
1790-1796 5 0,035,000
1796-1819 8 0,184,000
1820-1831 11 0,132,000
1832-1858 7 0,189,000
Total in this period of 249 years.. 4,209,300 piculs.
  1. With the exception of some silver ducats imported in 1769 by the Dutch, and some very old copper cash imported in ancient times by the Chinese.