poop

An enclosed superstructure at the stern of a ship

Chicago, already risen from its ruins

I guess the Great Chicago Fire would have been fresh in everyone’s mind since it happened less than two years before the book was published.

“You have only to try, son of John Bull,” replied the colonel.

Aouda turned pale, and her blood ran cold.

I don’t see why John Bull was such an insult. Sounds like calling someone a son of Uncle Sam.

direct patronage of the god Tingou

That’s spelled Tengu now days. You can still see their long-nosed faces in temples in Japan.

the bay of Yeddo, and at but a short distance from that second capital of the Japanese Empire

Yeddo is the archaic spelling of Edo which changed it’s name to Tokyo in 1869.

I never realized the word tycoon came from Japan:

Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning “great prince,” from Chinese. Use of the word was intended to make the shogun, the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official title shogun merely meant “general”). It worked with Matthew C. Perry, who opened Japan to the West in 1854; Perry carried out his negotiations with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor. In fact, the shogun did rule Japan, although he was supposedly acting for the emperor. The shogun’s title, taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry’s visit. Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet members used tycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leaders.

consigned all who were connected with the ship to the land where the pepper grows

I wonder what that is supposed to mean? I suppose it’s some form of insult but google only came up with this book.