Identifier: mikadosempire05grif (find matches)
Title: The mikado's empire
Year: 1894 (1890s)
Authors: Griffis, William Elliot, 1843-1928
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Harper & brothers
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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. Among the captured was one of the high-est officers in the Mongol fleet. The whole nation was now roused. Re - enforcements poured infrom all quarters to swell the host of defenders. From the monas-teries and temples all over the country went up unceasing prayer tothe gods to ruin their enemies and save the land of Japan. The em-peror and ex-emperor went in solemn state to the chief priest of Shin-to, and, writing out their petitions to the gods, sent him as a messen-ger to the shrines at Ise. It is recorded, as a miraculous fact, that atthe hour of noon, as the sacred envoy arrived at the shrine and offeredthe prayer—the day being perfectly clear—a streak of cloud appearedin the sky, which soon overspread the heavens, until the dense masses.portended a storm of awful violence. One of those cyclones, called by the Japanese tai-fu^ or okaze, ofappalling velocity and resistless force, such as whirl along the coastsof Japan and China during late summer and early fall of every year,
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THE INVASION OF THE MONGOL TARTARS. 181 burst upon the Chinese fleet. Nothing can withstand these maelstromsof the air. We call them typhoons; the Japanese say tai-fu, or okaze(ofreat wind). Iron steamships of thousands of horse-power are al-most unmanageable in them. Junks are helpless: the Chinese shipswere these only. They were butted together like mad bulls. Theywere impaled on the rocks, dashed against the cliffs, or tossed on landlike corks from the spray. They were blown over till they careenedand filled. Heavily freighted with human beings, they sunk by hun-dreds. The corpses were piled on the shore, or floating on the waterso thickly that it seemed almost possible to walk thereon. Thosedriven out to sea may have reached the main-land, but were probablyoverwhelmed. The vessels of the survivors, in large numbers, drifted toor were wrecked upon Taka Island, where they established themselves,and, cutting down trees, began building boats to reach Corea. Herethey were attacked by t

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