of any great disaster would be bravely borne.  From time unknown Japan has been a land of cataclysms,—­earth-quakes that ruin cities in the space of a moment; tidal waves, two hundred miles long, sweeping whole coast populations out of existence; floods submerging hundreds of leagues of well-tilled fields; eruptions burying provinces.  Calamities like this have disciplined the race in resignation and in patience; and it has been well trained also to bear with courage all the misfortunes of war.  Even by the foreign peoples that have been most closely in contact with her, the capacities of Japan remained unguessed.  Perhaps her power to resist aggression is far surpassed by her power to endure.