THE GOVERNOR'S PRESENT.

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rank of the parties or the value of the gift may be, the donor encloses in an envelope, bearing his name and compliments, a small piece of dried salt-fish, emblematical of the poverty of their ancestors, and of the thrift whereby their present affluence has been attained; and this is often wrapped in a piece of paper, on which is written the following favourite sentence, "Happy those who never depart from the wisdom of their ancestors," -a Confucian as well as Protectionist doctrine, the widespread faith in which, in this remote part of the world, may be possibly confirmatory and consolatory to some at home who will not believe that free trade and repeal of corn-laws can be beneficial to their country.

After this little episode of pig, pumpkin, and salt-fish, the Dutch gentlemen belonging to the factory turned up. The secretary of the Dutch superintendent of trade came, accompanied by two naval officers, instructors lent by the Government of Holland to teach the Japanese the arts of navigation, gunnery, and nautical science generally. The former had to explain that the superintendent, Mr Donker Curtius, was absent on public business, and the latter told us that their senior officer or commandant was sick; but they had a good deal of interesting information to give, which was to the following effect:

The superintendent of the factory, Mr Donker Curtius, had been in Yedo during the past six months, as well as Mr Harris, the American Consul-General; they had both been especially ordered to the capital. Alarmed by the rumours of the Allied operations against China, the Japanese Government was at first very fair spoken upon the subjects of granting a treaty to Holland and

America, opening her commerce and ports to them, admitting free intercourse with the people, and practising religious toleration. At one time the 14th April had been agreed upon as the day for the final signature of a treaty; then it was postponed; then rumours were spread of the priesthood, the Spiritual Emperor, and certain independent nobles, having opposed insurmountable obstacles to any concession. The Tai-koon, or Temporal Emperor, as well as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Prince of Bitsu, appeared well aware of the necessity for some arrangement being made to pacify the European desire for trade with Japan; but they doubtless delayed as long as they could, to see the issue of our efforts to open up China before they yielded themselves; and at last, although always most kindly treated and generously lodged, Mr Curtius and Mr Harris were sent back to their respective posts, as empty-handed as they went to Yedo. Mr Harris, having a shorter distance to go, was doubtless by this time in Simoda, but Mr Donker Curtius, when last heard of, was still on the road, and could not arrive for a week or so.

This news, at the first glance, looked unpromising: but there was this one point very certain, that if the Japanese intended to be guided as to their future policy by the concessions England and France should wring from China, Lord Elgin could show that the Court of Pekin had yielded all, and more than was expected; and Japan, at any rate, was saved the humiliation of being the first to concede the point of the admission of strangers to her capital, and intercourse with European nations on terms of perfect equality.

YANKEE SHARP PRACTICE.

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It seemed likely that the Americans would turn our operations to account by working on the fears of the Japanese; for the United States steamer Powhattan, bearing the flag of Flag-officer Tattnal,* had gone direct from the Gulf of Pecheli to Nangasaki, bearing the news of our success, and spreading tales of our numbers and intentions, which caused no small alarm amongst a people who for twelve months had been kept in a state of excitement by rumours of our doings in their neighbourhood.

Flag-officer was then the official designation of the American naval Commander-in-Chief. They found Commodore an inconvenient title, and have not as yet brought themselves to use the term Admiral.

CHAPTER III.

PASSING showers of rain, which set in towards evening, did not deter our officers and many of the Earl of Elgin's staff from visiting Decima and Nangasaki.* They returned delighted with the cleanliness and order of the towns, the civility of the people, and, better still, the absence of all those unmentionable smells which haunt the visitor on the shores of the neighbouring continent of China. About sundown the boom of three heavy guns twice repeated rolled from seaward over the hills around our anchorage; presently the same sounds came apparently from some nearer point; the battery above the town next took up the tune, and then the reports were heard again and again until lost in the distance. When we inquired what all this noise was about, a Japanese interpreter informed us that two European sail had appeared in sight of the lookouts, and that these guns were signalising the fact throughout the interior up to Miaco, where the spiritual Emperor resides. Such a method, in the absence of electricity, is a rapid mode of signalising; but the expense must be enormous, and can only be endured by a naturally thrifty government,

* We have preferred to spell Nangasaki thus, because the g in Japan is usually pronounced like ng.

DECIMA AND ITS INHABITANTS.

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through excessive jealousy and anxiety to know of the movements of Europeans. Next day the arrival of the naval Commander-in-chief, Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, in the Calcutta, towed by the Inflexible, Captain Brooker, proved that the Japanese lookout-men's eyes were as correct as they were keen.

It was early morning when we landed at Decima; and in justice to the Dutch residents, whose postprandial somnolence we have already mentioned, it must be owned that they had risen with the lark, as men should who dine when the sun is in the zenith. Decima, the foreign quarter of Nangasaki, is an island, and dear old. Kæmpfer, the most charming of Dutch writers upon Japan, compares it in form to an outspread fan without a handle. Its length cannot be much more than five or six hundred yards, and the settlement consists of one street of that extent, intersected at its centre by a short one leading to the only bridge which spans the canal that separates the once hated Christians from the good folks of Nangasaki. Along this street are the houses of the Dutch residents, and their Japanese agents and retainers, besides a number of native stores filled with articles of Japanese manufacture, and called by the name of the Dutch Bazaar. Decima and the residents were all awake and stirring; a few porters were carrying bales of imported produce; a store here and there was open, and boxes or packages were being tumbled about as if some commercial movement was taking place; but Decima, wide-awake and stirring, had none of the rush and throb of buyers and sellers, such as we had seen at the ports of China frequented by European merchants. How