“In this heathen country fewer capital crimes are tried before the courts of justice, and less criminal blood shed by the hands of public executioners, than perhaps in any part of Christendom. So powerfully works the fear of an inevitable, shameful death upon the minds of a nation, otherwise so stubborn as the Japanese, and so regardless of their lives, that nothing else but such strictness would be able to keep them within due bounds. ’Tis true, indeed, Nagasaki cannot boast of that scarcity of executions; for besides that this place hath been in a manner consecrated to cruelty and blood, by being made the common butchery of many thousand Japanese Christians, there have not been since wanting frequent executions, particularly of those people who, contrary to the severe imperial edict, cannot leave off carrying on a smuggling trade with foreigners, and who alone perhaps of the whole nation seem to be more pleased with this unlawful gain, than frightened by the shameful punishment which they must inevitably suffer if caught in the fact or betrayed to the governors. “Of all the religious buildings to be seen in this country, the Tera, that is, the Buddhist temples, with the adjoining convents, are, doubtless, the most remarkable, as being far superior to all others, by their stately height, curious roofs, and numberless other beautiful ornaments. Such as are built within cities or villages, stand commonly on rising grounds and in the most conspicuous places. Others, which are without, are built on the ascent of hills and mountains. All are most sweetly seated,—a curious view of the adjacent country, a spring or rivulet of clear water, and the neighborhood of a wood, with pleasant walks, being necessary for the spots on which these holy structures are to be built. “All these temples are built of the best cedars and firs, and adorned within with many carved images. In the middle of the temple stands a fine altar, with one or more gilt idols upon it, and a beautiful candlestick, with sweet-scented candles burning before it. The whole temple is so neatly and curiously adorned, that one would fancy himself transported into a Roman Catholic church, did not the monstrous shape of the idols, which are therein worshipped, evince the contrary. The whole empire is full of these temples, and their priests are without number. Only in and about Miyako they count three thousand eight hundred and ninety-three temples, and thirty-seven thousand and ninety-three Shukke, or priests, to attend them.