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the construction of suitable piers over the bar would prove, in every respect, a profitable undertaking. Echigo, is, as the Japanese say, one of the richest provinces of Japan, boasting indeed of never having suffered by famine, while all other provinces have done so. The export trade from Niigata would certainly become important. The undernamed are the chief productions of this rich province:
Rice, throughont the province, but particularly at Suyebara.
Tea, at Muramatshi, Murakami and Midzu.
Ai (blue pigment), at Suyebara.
Copper, at Yashiko, Toish, Otani.
Coal, at Akatani.
Petroleum, at Midzu, Kanaya, Garameki, Kogutshi, Tatemura, Yoshimisu, Aida, Mishooji, &c.
At Midzu there is a jet of gas issuing from the ground, which is lighted to the general amusement of the visitors to a tea-house, built expressly for the purpose, on the spot.
Silk is cultivated at Goshen and Joshiu.
Hemp, at Chiujo and Manoshiro.
Moreover fish is much exported, of which in the first place, I mention salmon, which abounds in the Shinanogawa between Ono and Hesima; and wooden clogs are exported by long files of pack-horses.
Besides the common fruits and crops a small kind of apple is grown in Echigo, which, if not plucked before being half-ripe according to Japanese custom, is very savoury and fragrant.
Following the coast N. E. of Niigata over a length of about 3 ri we come to another large river mouth, being that of the Agakawa. This river, though generally much wider than the Shinano, does not discharge such a large volume of water as the latter; a good portion of its water flows from Sawa-umi, situated at about 4 ri from the mouth, through the Kuagawa into the Shinano. In former years the Agakawa had no separate mouth but flowed through what is now called the Sinkawa, parallel to the
