as they did from the Gauls in the color of their eyes and hair.  They knew well enough that it was in their power to alter the laws, but they considered them as something which ought not to be altered.  Thus when the emperor Otho was doubtful on a point of the law of inheritance, he caused the case to be decided by an ordeal or judgment of God.  In Sicily, one city had Chalcidian, another Doric laws, although their populations, as well as their dialects, were greatly mixed; but the leaders of those colonies had been Chalcidians in the one case and Dorians in the others.  The Chalcidians, moreover, were divided into four, the Dorians into three tribes, and their differences in these respects were manifested even in their weights and measures.  The division into three tribes was a genuine Latin institution; and there are reasons which render it probable that the Sabines had a division of their states into four tribes.  The transportation of the Latins to Rome must be regarded as the origin of the plebs.

PRINCE JIMMU FOUNDS JAPAN’S CAPITAL

B.C. 660

SIR EDWARD REED THE “NEHONGI”

Prince Jimmu is the founder of the Empire of Japan, according to Japanese tradition.  The whole of his history is overlaid with myth and legend.  But it points to the immigration of western Asiatics by way of Corea into the Japanese islands of Izumo and Kyushu.

The historical records of the Japanese relate that Jimmu, accompanied by an elder brother, Prince Itsuse, started from their grandfather’s palace on Mount Takaclicho.  They marched with a large number of followers, a horde of men, women, and children, as well as a band of armed men.  On landing in Japan, after many years wandering by sea and land, they had serious conflicts with the native tribes.  They eventually succeeded in overcoming all opposition and in conquering the country, so that Prince Jimmu was enabled to build a palace and set up a capital, Kashiha-bara, in Yamato.  This prince is regarded by Japanese historians as the founder of the Japanese Empire.  He is said to have reigned seventy-five years after his accession, and to have died at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years, and his burial place is pointed out on the northern side of Mount Unebi, in the province of Yamato.

Prince Jimmu, or whoever was the foreign ruler who conquered and founded an empire in Japan, must have been a bold, enterprising, and sagacious man.  The islands he subdued were barbarous, and he civilized them; the inhabitants were warlike and cruel, and he kept them in peace.  He founded a dynasty which extended its dominion over Nagato, Izumo, and Owari, and still has representatives in rulers whose people are by far the most progressive dwellers in the East.

That part of the following historical matter, which is translated from the old Japanese chronicle, the Nehongi, is marked by local color and by Oriental characteristics, whereby it curiously contrasts with the plain recitals of modern and Western history.

     SIR EDWARD REED