“ Preliminaries are negotiated by a middleman, as in China and Japan, and the subsequent procedure extends over several days. The chief staple of the people’s diet is the sweet potato, and pork is the principal luxury. An ancient law, still in force, requires each family to keep four pigs. In times of scarcity a species of sago (obtained from the Cycas revoluta) is eaten. There is a remarkable absence of religious influence in Luchu. Places of worship are few, and the only function discharged by Buddhist priests seems to be to officiate at funerals. ”

“ The introduction of the arts of reading and writing are assigned to Shunten’s reign. Chinese invasions of Luchu may be traced back to A.D. 605, but they did not result in annexation; and it was in 1372 that China first obtained from the Luchuans recognition of supremacy. Luchuan relations with Japan had long been friendly, but at the end of the 16th century the king refused Japan assistance against Korea, and in 1609 the prince of Satsuma invaded the islands with 3000 men, took the capital by storm, captured the king and carried him off to Kagoshima. ”

“ The scenery of Luchu is unlike that of Japan. Though so close to the tropics, the islands cannot be said to present tropical features: the bamboo is rare; there is no high grass or tangled undergrowth; open plains are numerous ”

“ Professor Chamberlain states that the Luchuan language resembles the Japanese in about the same degree as Italian resembles French, and says that they are sister tongues, many words being identical, others differing only by letter changes which follow certain fixed analogies, and sentences in the one being capable of translation into the other word for word, almost syllable for syllable. ”