Abstract
CANON TRISTRAM has done well in putting together this record of a visit to Japan, which, although not “recent” when measured by the rapidity of the present march of Japanese history, occurred only a few years ago. The object of the visit was mainly to study the working of Christian missions on the spot; and this is a welcome fact, because it ensures an audience for what the author has to say, who cannot but profit greatly from the acute observations and calm judgments which he records. While making no pretensions to scientific treatment, Canon Tristram's book is to the average run of tourist twaddle on Japan, as a good novel is to a “penny dreadful.” It is truthful, well-written, and inspires confidence. Under the guidance of his daughter, who as a missionary had acquired the Japanese language, Dr. Tristram visited some parts of the islands remote from the tourist-track, although all well-known to European residents in Japan. His instincts as a field-naturalist kept him on the alert for all that was to be seen of animal and plant life; and although we fear the precipitancy with which he yielded to temptation in the matter of ivory-carvings and rare china, must have told on his natural history collections, he seems to have brought back a good many plants, insects and birds.
Rambles in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun.
By H. B. Tristram With forty-five illustrations by Edward Whymper, from sketches and photographs. (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1895.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rambles in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun. Nature 53, 219 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053219a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053219a0