Chapter XXI: Appendix: Note a (3)

[46] Kämpfer who describes the Camellia under the Japanese name of _Tsubaki_, speaks of it as a large shrub, almost a tree. Thunberg represents it as attaining the size of a large tree, exceedingly common in groves and gardens, and a very great favorite, as well for its polished, evergreen leaves as from the size, beauty, and variety of its blossoms, which appear from April to October, single and red in the wild ones, but double and of several colors, red, purple, white, etc., in the cultivated varieties, of which the Japanese assured Kämpfer there were several hundreds. Siebold describes the wild kind as a small tree, growing in clumps and thickets, often with many shoots from the same root, from fifteen to twenty feet high; while a much larger size is attained by the cultivated kinds. The name of Camellia was given to the genus by Linnæus, in honor of George Joseph Kamel, a Jesuit missionary, who sent to Ray descriptions of the plants of the Philippine Islands, published by him at the end of his “History of Plants.” The single-flowering variety was introduced into England, about 1739, by Lord Petre probably from China, of which it is a native, in common with quite a number of plants, to which the specific epithet _Japanese_ has been applied. As late as 1788 (as appears from Curtis’ “Botanical Magazine,” vol. i) it was very rare and costly. Down to that time it had been treated as a stove-plant, but soon after, on Curtis’ suggestion, it was introduced into conservatories, of which it soon became the pride, and was even found hardy enough to bear the winter in the open air. Previous to 1806 a number of varieties were imported from China; many others were produced in Europe, and already by 1825 these varieties had become very numerous (see “Botanical Magazine,” vols. xl and lvi). The _Camellia sasankwa_ is smaller, with smaller leaves and flowers, very closely resembling the tea-plant; and, in packing their teas, the Chinese are in the habit of putting some of the blossoms into the chests. It is extensively cultivated for its oil, in China as well as in Japan.

[47] The Japanese paper, as well for writing and printing as for the household uses to which it is so extensively put, is manufactured from the bark of the young twigs of the paper mulberry (_Morus papyrifira_). Kämpfer has given a particular account of it in the appendix to his work. That account, which, now that so many experiments are on foot for the manufacture of paper, may suggest some useful hints, is abridged by Thunberg as follows:

“After the tree has shed its leaves in the month of December, they cut off the young shoots about three feet in length, which they tie up in bundles and boil in a lye of ashes, standing inverted in a copper kettle till the bark is so shrunk that half an inch of the woody part is seen bare at the ends. If the twigs grow dry before they can be boiled, they are first soaked in water for four-and-twenty hours. When sufficiently boiled, they are taken out and the bark cut lengthwise and stripped off. After being soaked in water for three hours, the exterior black skin and the green part beneath it is scraped off with a knife, and the bark is then sorted into qualities; that which is a full year’s growth makes the best paper, and the less mature an inferior quality. Thus prepared and sorted, it is again boiled in a clear lye, being perpetually stirred, and fresh lye supplied to make up for the evaporation; and this process is continued till the bark is dissolved, as it were, separating into flocks and fibres. It must then be washed,—a process requiring care and judgment, as, if not carried far enough, the paper will be coarse, and if too far, thin and slazy. This is done in a running stream, by means of a sieve containing the material, which is perpetually stirred till it is diluted into a delicate, soft pap. For the finer kinds this washing is repeated, a piece of linen being substituted for the sieve, to prevent the finer parts from being carried away. After being washed, it is beaten with sticks of hard wood, on a wooden table, till it is brought to a pulp, which if put into water will dissolve and disperse like meal.

“It is then mixed in a tub with a clammy infusion, obtained by soaking rice in cold water, and with another mucilaginous infusion, obtained in the like manner from the root of Oreni (_Hibiscus manihot_). This mixture, upon which much depends, and the proportions of which vary with the season of the year, succeeds best in a narrow tub, and requires perpetual stirring. The whole is then put into a larger tub, from which the sheets are taken out and put between mats made of delicate grass straw, and laid one upon another in heaps, being pressed at first lightly, but gradually harder and harder, till the water is squeezed out. They are then laid upon a board to dry in the sun; after which they are packed in bundles for sale and use.

“For the coarser kinds of paper other sorts of bark are sometimes used.

“The Japanese paper is very close and strong. It will bear being twisted into ropes, and is occasionally used even for dresses.”

[48] Caron, whose opportunities of knowledge upon this point were much superior to those of Thunberg or any subsequent observer, is very explicit upon this point. “The parents educate their children with great care. They are not forever bawling in their ears, and they never use them roughly. When they cry they show a wonderful patience in quieting them, knowing well that young children are not of an age to profit by reprimands. This method succeeds so well, that Japanese children, ten or twelve years old, behave with all the discretion and propriety of grown people. They are not sent to school till they are seven or eight years old, and then they are not forced to study things for which they have no inclination.”

[49] In Kämpfer’s time no personal intercourse was allowed with those of whom articles were bought at Ōsaka, Miyako, and Yedo. In this respect there would seem to have been a relaxation.

[50] Kämpfer had noticed similar three-wheeled carts, made very low, and employed in drawing stone from a quarry. In unloading, the single wheel was taken off, when the cart formed an inclined plane.

[51] Kämpfer says that the European apple-tree is unknown in Japan, and that they have only one kind of pears, such as we call winter pears. The fruit grows to a great size, but must be cooked to be eaten. Cherry-trees are cultivated only for the flowers, as apricots and plums often are, the blossoms being brought by art to be as big as roses. Golownin, however, ate apples in northern Japan, though of an inferior quality.

[52] Kämpfer says there are two species peculiar to Japan, the acorns of which are boiled and eaten.

[53] Later accounts represent cloth or cotton stockings, or socks, as frequently worn in cold weather, resembling mittens, in having a separate accommodation for the great toe, so as to permit the introduction between that and the others of the shoe-holding strap.

[54] See paper by Dr. Whitney, in vol. xii of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[55] There have not been wanting attempts to introduce acupuncture into European practice. See a sensible article on this subject by Rémusat (“Nov. Mélanges Asiat.,” vol. i), in which he gives an analysis of a Japanese treatise on acupuncture, which, with a translation of it, was brought home by Titsingh.

[56] Kämpfer treats at length on the acupuncture and moxa, and gives in his appendix a translation of a Japanese treatise on the parts to be selected to be burned, according to the object to be accomplished.

[57] Of the Dosha powder, to which the Japanese ascribe singular effects, M. Titsingh has given a curious account. “Illustrations,” p. 283. It was the invention of _Kōbō_, a great saint and sage, who, by profound meditation on the writings both of his own sect and others, had discovered that the great scourges of mankind are four; namely, _Jigoku_, hell; _Gaki_, hungry demon, woman; _Chikushō_, the man with a perverse heart; and _Shura_, war.

[58] From Thunberg’s account of the arms of the Japanese, they cannot be regarded as very formidable soldiers. He mentions bows and arrows, scymitars, halberts, and guns. Their bows are very large and their arrows long, like those of the Chinese. The bowman, in order to shoot, places himself on one knee, a position which renders it impossible to discharge his arrows with any great rapidity. Guns were not ordinarily employed. Thunberg saw them, apparently matchlocks, only as articles of show in the houses of the imperial officers, displayed upon a stand in the audience chamber. The few cannon at Nagasaki, which once belonged to the Portuguese, were discharged only once in seven years, the Japanese knowing little or not at all the proper management of them, and fixing the match to a long pole, so as to touch them off at a safe distance. Their longer swords are broad-backed, a little curved, a yard long, and of excellent temper; the hilts somewhat roundish and flat, furnished with a round substantial guard without any bow. The scabbard is thick and rather flat, made of wood, and sometimes covered with shagreen and lackered. The shorter sword is straight. These swords are costly and rated at a high value.

From a Japanese work, Siebold states their method of making sword-blades: “The blades, forged out of good bar-steel, are plastered over with a paste of potash, porcelain clay, and powdered charcoal, and dried in the sun. They are next exposed to the fire and heated till the mass assumes a white hue. The glowing blades are then plunged into luke-warm water, three-fifths boiling to two-fifths cold, and cooled gradually. Often the edge only is heated, and then the cooling is with cold water. The reforging of old blades is not uncommon.” Of the two swords worn by the Japanese, one is long and slightly curved, the other short and straight. [See also paper on “Japanese Armour,” in vol. ix of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.]

[59] This appears to have been the substitute for those private interviews in which the doctor and secretary were expected to show off for the entertainment of the Dutch, and of which Kämpfer has given so curious an account.

[60] It would take a thousand of the ordinary Japanese mats to cover such a floor; but Thunberg says the mats upon it were of an extra size.

[61] This was a different arrangement from that which prevailed in Kämpfer’s time, when the ambassador had the whole, except those presented by the emperor himself.

[62] See paper on “Japanese Costume,” in vol. viii of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[63] The two swords, the badge of nobility, are worn stuck into the belt, on the left side, with no belt of their own, a little crosswise, and with the edge upwards. When a person is seated, the longer sword is taken from the belt and laid on the ground by him.

[64] The bosom of the gown is also used for the same purpose. For pocket-handkerchiefs, the Japanese carry about them a supply of small, square bits of soft paper, which they throw away as they use them.

[65] The Japanese print entirely from stereotype plates. They do not employ movable types, and they print on one side of the paper only.

[66] The emperors are seldom or never spoken of, in the Jesuit letters and other contemporary memorials, by their personal or family names, but only by some title, as Kubō-Sama; Kwambaku-dono,—the Kwambaku (or bonnet-keeper) being a high dignitary in the court of the Dairi, regent in case of a minority or a female Dairi;—Taikō-Sama, mighty lord; Shōgun-Sama, etc., etc.

[67] For a complete list of Shōguns, see Appendix III of Murray’s “Story of Japan.”—EDR.

[68] Kämpfer represents the Japanese strawberry as entirely insipid, and the raspberries and brambleberries as not agreeable; and Golownin, from his own experience, agrees with him in this statement.

[69] This plenty is in strong contrast with the famine, scarcity, and distress frequently noted by the Jesuit missionaries, as prevailing during the civil wars of their time; yet, even at present, occasional seasons of scarcity seem to occur.

[70] See a notice of Titsingh’s collection, by Rémusat, in “Nouveau Mélanges Asiatique,” vol. i. It included, besides the works since published, a manuscript history of Japan, in eighty volumes (Japanese volumes are quite thin), also a Chinese Japanese encyclopædia, several copies of a large map of Japan, colored drawings of plants, several botanical treatises, with wood-cuts, very well done, etc., etc. The encyclopædia was presented to the _Bibliothèque au Roy_, and Rémusat has given a full analysis of it in “Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits,” vol. xi.

[71] Theoretically the Shōgun is but an inferior officer at the court of the Dairi. The first rank belongs to the Kwambaku, who represents the Dairi when that dignity devolves on a woman or a child. The Shōgun, it is said, cannot hold this office. It was assumed, however, by Taikō-sama, and even conferred by him on his presumptive heir. Ordinarily the Daijō daijin, or president of the council, is the first officer; then follow the Sadaijin and Udaijin, officers of the left and of the right hand. These constitute the Dairi’s council, and theoretically the Shōgun can do nothing without their consent. It is esteemed a great honor to the Shōgun to receive even the third of these titles.

[72] There is no such consonant as Dj in Japanese, and the proper reading is not Djogoun, but Shōgun. An English translation, including both the Memoirs of the Djogouns and the other pieces, was published at London, in 1822, with the title of “Illustrations of Japan.”

[73] These two were the very pupils of Thunberg, though he writes their names somewhat differently.

[74] See also paper in vol. xiii of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[75] There are three classes of women-servants. Those of the first class make the clothes of the mistress, dress her hair, and keep her apartments in order. Those of the second wait on her at meals, accompany her when she goes abroad, and attend to other domestic duties. Those of the third are employed in cooking and various menial offices.

[76] The toko, as already described in Chapter XXXII, is a sort of recess, or open closet, opposite the entrance, considered the most honorable place in the room. The above ceremony might call to mind the _confarratio_ of the ancient Roman marriage.

[77] This is a small, square or oblong bag, containing a small image of metal, wood, or stone, supposed to operate as a sort of amulet, something like the medicine-bag of our North American Indians.

[78] See Lay’s paper on “Japanese Funeral Rites,” in vol. xix of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.

[79] Better _sekihi_.—EDR.

[80] Father Vilela, in a letter written from Sakai, 1562, in the month of August (at which time this festival happens), describes it in a very lively manner. He represents the people as going out two days before, as if to meet their dead relations, spreading a feast to refresh them after their long journey, escorting them to their houses, talking to them as if they were present, and, finally, dismissing them with torches, lest they might stumble in the dark, or miss their way. This, Vilela adds, is a great time for the bonzes, the very poorest offering them some gift for their religious aid on this occasion.

[81] Krusenstern, in his narrative of the Russian embassy of Resanoff (as to which see next paragraph of the text), speaks of the last expedition of Stewart as fitted out by some English merchants in Calcutta, and gives to the captain the name of Torey. Very likely he had both names.

[82] The whole party consisted of fifteen, but of these only five, and those the most worthless, were willing to return home. The others preferred to remain in Siberia.

[83] See also Aston’s paper in vol. i of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[84] Golownin was informed, during his captivity at Matsumae, that it is part of the duty of the Japanese soldiers to assist in extinguishing fires, for which purpose they are provided with a fireman’s dress of varnished leather. To extinguish a fire is stated to be considered a glorious achievement. But, though fire is almost the only element the Japanese soldiers have to contend with, they do not seem to be very expert at subduing it.

[85] The expenses of the visits to Yedo, in 1804, were sixteen thousand six hundred and sixty-six rix dollars.

[86] See “A Voyage Round the World,” by Archibald Campbell, a Scotchman, who served as a common sailor on board this ship. Doeff also mentions her arrival.

[87] See also Aston’s paper in vol. vii of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.

[88] The ships of 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, and 1803 had been Americans. The renewal of the war in Europe having again driven the Dutch flag from the ocean, the ships of 1806 had been an American and a Bremener; and those of 1807 an American and a Dane. One of the ships of 1809 was also an American, the “Rebecca.”

[89] This is Doeff’s account, but, according to Golownin, at that time a prisoner in the north of Japan (see next chapter), and who learned from the Japanese the arrival of the two vessels above mentioned, he communicated to the Japanese the fact of the capture of Batavia by the English, which fact, it was afterwards reported to him, the Dutch had confessed. Baffles also, in his memoirs, in speaking of Ainslie and his good treatment by the Japanese, clearly implies that he was known to be English.

[90] Mr. Medhurst, English missionary at Batavia, who has published an English and Japanese vocabulary, enumerates, in a letter written in 1827, as among his helps to the knowledge of the language, besides five different Japanese and Chinese dictionaries, a Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese one, in two thick 8vo volumes; also a corresponding one in Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch. These were printed in Japan, and were, perhaps, fruits of Doeff’s labors.

[See also paper on “The Early Study of Dutch in Japan,” by Dr. Mitsukuri, in vol. v of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.]

[91] The English translator of Golownin’s narrative mentions a species of sea-weed collected for eating, on the northern coast of Scotland and Ireland, and there called _dhulish_, or, when boiled, _sloak_, and which, he says, answers exactly to Thunberg’s description of the edible fucus of the Japanese.

[92] “The Japanese radish,” says Golownin, “is in form and taste very different from ours. It is thin and extremely long. The taste is not very acrid, but sweetish, almost like our turnips. Whole fields are covered with it. A great part of the crop is salted, the remainder is buried in the ground for winter, and boiled in soup. Not even the radish-leaves remain unused; they are boiled in soup, or salted and eaten as salad. They manure the radish fields with night-soil; this we ourselves saw at Matsumae.”

[93] The fort on the island where they were taken prisoners, when first seen from the ship, was hung round with striped cloths, which concealed the walls. These cloths had embrasures painted on them, but in so rough a manner that the deception could be perceived at a considerable distance.

[94] The description of this prison corresponds very well to Kämpfer’s description of the one at Nagasaki.

[95] The tea in common use, Golownin, like other travellers in Japan, observed to be of a very inferior quality. Green tea was used as a luxury on occasions of ceremony. Sugar was rare and costly, being brought from Batavia by the Dutch, and packed for retail in small baskets. Golownin saw also a very inferior kind, which he concluded to be of domestic manufacture.

[96] This was the name of one of Golownin’s fellow-prisoners, who had made himself quite famous among the Japanese by his skill as a draftsman.

[97] Golownin mentions the scurvy as a prevailing disease among the Japanese, perhaps occasioned by their thin diet.

[98] These released Japanese were sent to Matsumae, and, after remaining about a week, were forwarded to Yedo. The shipwrecked men did not give, so Golownin was informed, a very favorable account of their entertainment in Kamtschatka. Ryōzayemon praised Irkutsk, but represented eastern Siberia and Okhotsk as a miserable country, where scarce anybody was to be seen except beggars and government officers. He thought very meanly of the Russians, a few individuals excepted. From their military spirit, even the boys in the street playing soldier, he thought they must meditate conquest, probably that of Japan.

[99] There has been a great alteration in the last twenty years. Siebold states that sixty-eight square-rigged vessels—mostly, no doubt, American whalers—had been counted by the Japanese as passing Matsumae and Hakodate in one year. According to a memorandum furnished to Commodore Perry during his recent visit to Hakodate (May 3, 1854), there had been, in the years 1847-1851, no less than five foreign vessels wrecked in that vicinity.

[100] In Japan, as elsewhere, etiquette requires a good many things to be done under feigned pretences, and on many occasions an affected ignorance of what everybody knows. The Japanese have a particular term (_naibun_) to express this way of doing things.

[101] Yet Kahei wore two swords, though perhaps he did it in the character of a ship-master, or as an officer in authority in the island to which he traded from Hakodate, carrying on the fishery there chiefly by means of native Kuriles. These islands appear to have been farmed out by the government to certain mercantile firms, which thus acquire a certain civil authority over the inhabitants. The privilege of wearing swords, like other similar privileges elsewhere, is probably rather encroached upon by the unprivileged. On festival days, even the poorest inhabitants of Nagasaki decked themselves out, according to Kämpfer, with at least one sword. The present of a sword as a marriage gift—and it is ceremonies practised among the mercantile class, to which reference is made—is mentioned on p. 181.

[102] The old East India Company having become extinct, the Dutch trade to Japan had been revived as a government affair. A new Dutch East India Company having been formed, it was handed over to that company in 1827, but, after a two years’ trial, was restored again to the government, in whose hands it still remains.

[103] See London “Quarterly Review,” for July, 1819, in a note to an article on Golownin’s narrative. The statement about bartering is questionable.

[104] Siebold represents the Dutch at Deshima as humoring the Japanese antipathy to change, by adhering in their dress to the old fashion, and as rigged out in velvet coats and plumed hats, in the style of Vandyke’s pictures.

[105] A series of numbers, professing to give the substance of the recent works on Japan, principally Fisscher’s, Meylan’s, and Siebold’s, appeared in the “Asiatic Journal” during the years 1839 and 1840, and were afterwards collected and published at London in a volume, and reprinted in Harper’s Family Library, with the title of “Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Century.” The same numbers, to which some others were subsequently added in the “Asiatic Journal,” were reprinted in the “Chinese Repository,” with notes, derived from the information given to the editor by the shipwrecked Japanese, whom, as mentioned above, it was attempted to carry home in the “Morrison.” In the index to the “Chinese Repository” these numbers are ascribed to a lady, a Mrs. B.

A still more elaborate and comprehensive work, based mainly on the same materials, and often drawing largely from the one above referred to, but rendered more complete by extracts from Kämpfer and Thunberg, is De Jancigny’s “Japan,” published at Paris, in 1850, as a part of the great French collection, entitled “L’univers, ou Histoire et Description de tout les Peuples.”

Neither of these works contains any account of the Portuguese missions.

[106] Three accounts of this voyage have been published: one by Williams (“Chinese Repository,” Nov. and Dec. 1837); a second by Parker, London, 1838, and a third by King, New York, 1839. It is possible that outrages by whaling vessels, which had begun to frequent the seas of Japan in considerable numbers, might have somewhat increased the antipathy of the Japanese towards foreigners. Of transactions of that kind we should be little likely to hear, but that they did sometimes occur seems to be proved by a paragraph in the “Sidney Gazette” of February, 1842, warning mariners to be cautious how they landed on Japan, as a Japanese village on the east coast of the islands, somewhere near 43° north latitude, had been recently destroyed by the crew of the Lady Rowena, then in the harbor of Sidney, and whose captain openly boasted of the fact.

[107] Had the Japanese been readers of the London newspapers, they might have found in the following paragraph, which appeared in the “Examiner” of January 21, 1843, fresh motives for persisting in their exclusive policy: “MISSIONARIES TO CHINA.—One of the largest meetings, perhaps, ever held in Exeter Hall was held on Tuesday evening, convened by the London Missionary Society, to consider the means of extending and promoting in China the objects of the society. Wm. T. Blair, Esq., of Bath, presided. Dr. Liefchild moved the first resolution, _expressive of thanksgiving to God for the war between China and Great Britain_ (the infamous opium war), and for the greatly enlarged facilities secured by the treaty of peace for the introduction of Christianity into that empire. This resolution was seconded by the Rev. Dr. Adler, and was carried unanimously.” I have met with nothing in the letters of the Jesuit missionaries, nor in the Jesuit missions, that can be compared with this specimen of Protestant zeal.

[108] His instructions cautioned him not to do anything “to excite a hostile feeling, or distrust of the United States.” The official papers relating to this expedition, and to the subsequent one of the “Preble,” will be found in “Senate Documents,” 1851-1852, vol. ix (Ex. Doc. No. 59).

[109] Dr. Bettelheim is at this moment in this country, anxious to be employed as a missionary to Japan, for which his experience, derived from a nine years’ residence in Lew Chew, gives him peculiar qualifications. His treatment there was characteristic. The authorities were anxious to get rid of him, but afraid to send him away by force, while he was determined not to go. The inhabitants were ordered to keep away from his house, to sell him nothing beyond a supply of food, and to avoid him whenever he came near; while officers were appointed to watch and to follow him wherever he went. See “Glyn’s Letter” in Senate Documents, 1851-1852, vol. ix No. 59. There are also two curious pamphlets on the subject, written by Dr. Bettelheim, and printed at Canton.

[110] The same officers probably, designated by Kämpfer as deputies of the governor, called by Thunberg, Banjoshū, and by the more recent Dutch writers, Gobanjoshū.

[111] See also “America in the East” (Griffis) and “The Intercourse between the United States and Japan” (Nitobe).—_Edr._

[112] By Siebold, in “Moniteur des Indes,” vol. ii, p. 346, in his “Essay on the Commerce of Japan.”

[113] The official documents relating to this expedition were printed by order of U. S. Senate, 33d Cong., 2d Sess. Ex. Doc. No. 34.

[114] Japan, p. 197. Perry, to judge by his letters (Dec. 14, 1852, May 6, 1853), did not place much reliance on the aid of the Dutch. The British Admiralty showed their good will by furnishing the latest charts and sailing directions for the Eastern seas.

[115] As some persons may feel a curiosity to see Mr. Webster’s original letter, and as it is not to be found in the edition of Mr. Webster’s writings edited by Mr. Everett, I have copied it from the Senate Documents 1851-1852, vol. ix. The expansion given to it in the letter actually sent was not according to Japanese taste, which greatly affects brevity.

“TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.

“GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND:

“I send you this letter by an envoy of my own appointment, an officer of high rank in this country, who is no missionary of religion. He goes by my command to bear to you my greeting and good wishes, and to promote friendship and commerce between the two countries.

“You know that the United States of America now extend from sea to sea; that the great countries of Oregon and California are parts of the United States, and that from these countries which are rich in gold, and silver, and precious stones, our steamers can reach the shores of your happy land in less than twenty days.

“Many of our ships will now pass in every year, and some perhaps in every week, between California and China. These ships must pass along the coast of your empire; storms and winds may cause them to be wrecked on your shores, and we ask and expect from your friendship and your greatness, kindness for our men and protection for our property. We wish that our people may be permitted to trade with your people; but we shall not authorize them to break any laws of your empire.

“Our object is friendly commercial intercourse, and nothing more. You have many productions which we should be glad to buy; and we have productions which might suit your people.

“Your empire has a great abundance of coal; this is an article which our steamships, in going from California to China, must use. They would be glad that a harbor in your empire should be appointed to which coal might be brought, and where they might always be able to purchase it.

“In many other respects, commerce between your empire and our country would be useful to both. Let us consider well what new interests arise from these recent events which have brought our two countries so near together, and what purposes of friendship, amity, and intercourse, they ought to inspire in the breasts of those who govern both countries. Farewell.

“Given under my hand and seal, at the city of Washington, the 10th
day of May, 1851, and of the independence of the United
(L. S.) States the seventy-fifth.
“M. FILLMORE.
“By the President:
“D. WEBSTER, _Secretary of State_.”

[116] These islands lie between 26° 30´ and 27° 45´ north latitude, about five hundred miles west of Lew Chew and the same distance south of Yedo, on the direct route from the Sandwich Islands to Shanghai, three thousand three hundred miles from the former, and about one thousand one hundred from the latter. They consist of three groups. The largest island is about forty miles in circumference. There are nine others, diminishing down to five or six miles of circumference, and about seventy rocky islets, all evidently of volcanic origin. The extent of the whole is about two hundred and fifty square miles. The name is Japanese, and signifies “uninhabited,” descriptive of the state in which they were found when discovered by a Japanese vessel in 1675; and, except some ineffectual attempts at penal colonization by the Japanese, so they remained till occupied, in 1830, by a colony from the Sandwich Islands, partly Americans and Europeans, and partly Sandwich Islanders. They had been visited and claimed for the British crown in 1827, by Captain Beechey, in the surveying ship “Blossom.” The larger ones are fertile and well watered, but scantily wooded. The largest, called Peel’s Islands by Beechey, has a good harbor, and here Perry bought a piece of land from a squatter for a coal depot.

[117] There is another province of the same name in the island of Shikoku. That above-mentioned is otherwise called Bōshū.

[118] The squadron had as Chinese interpreter Mr. S. W. Williams, an American, long resident at Macao, one of the editors of the “Chinese Repository,” and one of the party of the “Morrison,” to carry back the shipwrecked Japanese, from whom he had obtained some knowledge of that language.

[119] The account of this visit is drawn partly from Commodore Perry’s official reports, and partly from the letters of Lieutenant Contee and others, published in the newspapers.

[120] Mistake for Kanagawa.—EDR.

[121] Rather on their heels.

[122] The number of American officers present at these interviews was from twenty to fifty.

[123] The treaty is dated at Kanagawa, probably because it was the nearest town. See Kämpfer’s mention of it, p. 74. Mr. Bidinger, chaplain of the squadron, in one of his excursions on shore, managed to reach and pass through it. He found it a large town.

[124] See, as to the roofs in Hakodate, p. 306, and employ these two passages to reconcile the discrepancy noticed in vol. i, p. 392, note.

[125] There is a volcanic island similar to this, off the south coast of Satsuma, and another near Hirado.

[126] It is said that these coins are called koban, but that ancient name can hardly be applied at the same time to three coins, of such different values. The old koban of Kämpfer would be worth at present rates about eleven taels; the new koban of 1708 not quite six taels. For the above account of the Japanese coins and monetary system, on which subject the official report of the two American commissioners is rather blind, I have been much indebted to an elaborate paper on the trade to Japan, written by S. Wells Williams, the Chinese interpreter to the embassy, and originally published in the “N. Y. Times.” No person in the fleet was so well prepared by previous studies and the experience of a long residence in China and familiarity with Chinese literature to make intelligent observations in Japan. Japan has, like Europe, its numismatology. Jancigny mentions a Japanese treatise on this subject, published at Yedo in 1822, in seven volumes, which describes five hundred and fifty coins, with colored prints (the color being given in the impression) of most of them. The Japanese coins are not struck, but cast in a mould. They are, however, exceedingly well finished, and the impression sharp. Siebold speaks of halfs, quarters, and sixteenths of a koban in gold; and of eighths and sixteenths of a koban in silver; and, according to his account, there are in some provinces zeni, and eighths of a koban in paper notes. This practice might have been borrowed from the Chinese—paper money being one of the numerous inventions in which they anticipated us of the West. [See also “The Coins of Japan” (Munro).—EDR.]

[127] The following is given in the “San Francisco Herald” as a copy of the address presented to Mr. Burrows on this occasion:

“With pleasure we welcome you to Yedo Bay, and in doing so, can assure you that your ship, the ‘Lady Pierce,’ is the first foreign vessel that has been received by us with pleasure.

“Commodore Perry brought with him too many large guns and fighting men to be pleasing to us; but you have come in your beautiful ship, which is superior to any we have before seen, to visit us, without any hostile weapons, and the Emperor has ordered that you shall have all the kindness and liberty extended to you that Commodore Perry received.

“You have, Mr. Burrows, come here, relying on our friendship and hospitality, and we assure you that, although we have been shut out for ages from other nations of the world, yet you shall bear with you, when returning to your country, the knowledge that our Emperor and the Japanese his subjects will never fail of extending protection to those who come as you do to Japan. But the Emperor is particularly desirous that you should extend the terms of the treaty made with Commodore Perry, wherever you may go, to prevent any more ships coming to Yedo Bay, as all must hereafter go to Shimoda or Hakodate.

“It has given the Emperor and all the Japanese great pleasure that you have returned to Japan our countryman, Dee-yee-no-skee[This name is unintelligible, except that “skee” stands for “suke.”—EDR.], who was shipwrecked, and who has been residing for some time in your country, where he states he has been treated with the greatest kindness, and particularly so on board your ship, the ‘Lady Pierce.’ That you should have made a voyage to Japan to restore him to his friends and home, without any other inducement, as you say, except to see Japan, and to form a friendship with us, merits and will ever receive our most friendly feelings; and be assured, if any of your countrymen, or other people, are shipwrecked on our shores, we will extend the same kindness to them that you have to our countrymen, and place them at Shimoda or Hakodate, and thus open to the world that our religion, which is so different from yours, governs the Japanese, in all their dealings, by as correct principles as yours governs you. We understand what ships of war are; also what whaling ships and merchant ships are; but we never before heard, till you came here, of such a ship as yours,—a private gentleman’s pleasure ship,—coming so far as you have, without any money-making business of trade, and only to see Japan, to become acquainted with us, and bring home one of our shipwrecked people, the first that has returned to his country from America or foreign land.

“You offer us, as presents, all the rare and beautiful articles you have in your ship; but have received orders from the Emperor that we must not tax your kind feelings by taking anything from you, as you have already been sufficiently taxed in returning Dee-yee-no-skee.

“The Emperor also directs that all the gold pieces you have presented to the Japanese must be collected and returned to you, and to say that he alone must make presents in Yedo Bay. He has directed presents to be made to you, in the Emperor’s name, by the governor of Shimoda, where he desires you will proceed in your ship, the ‘Lady Pierce,’ and land Dee-yee-no-skee, which will be in compliance with the treaty.

“Your visit to Japan in the ‘Lady Pierce’ has been attended with great interest to us, and you will not be forgotten by the Japanese. We hope we may meet you again, and we hope you will come back to Japan.

“The Emperor has directed that two ships like yours shall be built, and we thank you for having allowed us to take drawings of the ‘Lady Pierce,’ and of all that we desired on board.”

[128] See papers on Japanese music in vol. xix of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[129] This, probably, is one of the Portuguese legacies to Japan.

[130] See also “Townsend Harris” (Griffis).—EDR.

[131] The title of a work ascribed to Valignani, the same visitor of the Jesuit missions in the East, repeatedly mentioned in the text, vol. i, pp. 100 _et seq._, and whom Purchas elsewhere calls the “great Jesuit.”

[132] See Satow’s “Notes on the Intercourse between Japan and Siam in the Seventeenth Century” in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.

[133] See vol. i, p. 221.

[134] Sec vol. i, p. 250.

[135] See vol. i, p. 266. Colbert’s East India Company and scheme of opening the commerce of China and Japan was simultaneous with his West India Company, and his attempts to strengthen and build up the establishments of the French in the Carribee Islands and in Canada. La Salle, who immortalized himself as the discoverer of the Upper Mississippi, and as first having traced that river to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, came originally to Canada with a view to the discovery of an overland western passage to China and Japan. See Hildreth’s “History of the United States,” vol. ii, p. 113. The Japan enterprise, however, proved a failure, and the letter given above never actually reached Japan.

[136] This was before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

[137] This reads very much like the third clause in the American letter.