Modern writers on Japan lay stress on the affection of the Japanese for their children, and yet “during the famine of 1905 many girls who had been sold by the suffering parents were redeemed by the Christians.”[116] This sacrifice of the children to the welfare of the parents is traceable to the influence of Confucius. To the same source may be ascribed the fact that, though in ancient times the female sex was prominent in Japan, after the introduction of Confucianism the Samurai considered it beneath him to even converse with his wife and children.[117] “Neither God nor the ladies inspired any enthusiasm in the Samurai’s heart,” says Professor Chamberlain. For is it not written by the great moralist Karbara Ekken in the _Owna Dargaku_, “It was the custom of the ancients, on the birth of a female child, to let it lie on the floor for the space of three days. Even in this may be seen the likening of the man to heaven and of the woman to earth.”[118] Only a few years ago a child, both of whose parents had died of cholera, was on the point of being buried alive by neighbours when it was rescued.[119] “Certain parts of Japan have been notorious from of old for this practice,” says Gulick. “In Toas the evil was so rampant that a society for its prevention has been in existence many years. It helps support children of poor parents who might be tempted to dispose of them criminally.” On the other hand, this word from Professor Goodrich, who as a member of the faculty of the Imperial College pictures a nation far from indifferent to the welfare of the child: “Ever since the beginning of that indefinite period which we call ‘modern times’ the birth of a child has always been an occasion for rejoicing. To be sure, in Japan that joy was very much greater when it was a boy baby; yet the Japanese have never displayed such intense dislike to girl babies as have the Chinese. One great reason for this was that the population of Japan was not so dense as it is in China. It was easier to provide for children, and therefore there was no incentive to put girl babies out of the way. I am sorry to say that very lately, since the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), when the Japanese people are almost crushed by the weight of taxes to provide money with which to pay war expenses and to keep up army and navy, the number of cases of female infanticide is increasing alarmingly.”[120] CHAPTER VI MESOPOTAMIA THE EARLIEST CIVILIZATION KNOWN—FAINT TRACES OF CHILD-SACRIFICE—LAWS FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN—CENSUS FIGURES IN STONES—CODE OF HAMMURABI—THE STORY OF SARGON.