visit them, nor was any Dutchman permitted to come on board our ship. The barbarous intolerance of the Japanese government even went so far, as to forbid our forwarding letters by the ships going to Batavia, thus depriving us of the pleasure of sending to our families an account of our welfare. The ambassador alone was allowed to transmit a report to the Emperor, but he was obliged to content himself with merely giving a short account of our passage from Kamtschatka to Nangasaky, and to acquaint his Majesty with the welfare of all persons on board his ship. This letter to the Emperor was to be translated by the interpreters into Dutch, and a copy of the original left with the governors, written with such accuracy that every line was to terminate with the same letter as the original. copy was delivered to the governor, and the original, after they had been compared together, was sent on board by two of his secretaries, in whose presence it was sealed. When the Dutch ships sailed, we were ordered upon no acccount to send a boat off to them: and when I wished Captains Musquetier and Belmark a happy voyage, as they passed by me, and inquired after their health, the only answer I received was a sign with their speaking trumpet; for which the chief of the Dutch factory apologized in a letter to the ambassador, saying that the captains had been most positively forbidden to utter the least sound in answer to our questions.'

This

When at length permission was obtained for the ambassador. and his guard to land, a large building called Megasaky, very similar to the Dezima on which the factory of the Hollanders is placed, was appointed for his residence. This Megasaky was situated on a neck of land, and so close to the sea that, on two sides of the house, at every high tide, the water came up to the windows. A lofty bamboo fence also surrounded the whole building, with the additional security of gates, double locks, and guards.

They counted always the number of persons who came on shore, and the boat was never allowed to return without a similar number; and if any officer of the ship wished to pass the night in Megasaky, one of the persons residing on shore was obliged to go back in his stead; and in like manner, when any officer belonging to the am bassador's suite was desirous of sleeping on board, some sailor had to fill his place on shore: for the appointed number of persons residing there was neither to be increased nor diminished, nor was any attention paid to their quality in this respect, but only to their numbers.'

On the other hand, every request for provisions, refreshments, or materials of any kind, was immediately fulfilled; and Sooo lbs. of biscuit and other provisions were furnished to the ship but the Russians were not allowed to purchase any thing for money.-Magistrates reside at Nangasaki, called Banjos; and one of the principal of them came to visit the ship, bringing with him the Director of the Dutch factory.

T 4

The

The magistrate immediately entered the ship: but the Direc tor was obliged to remain in the boat till the Banjos chose to send him word that he might come on board, which was not done till after he had been kept waiting a full hour.

The Director had scarcely entered the cabin with his suite, consisting of his secretary, the two captains of the Dutch ships that were here, and a Baron Pabst, when they were all obliged to remain during several minutes in an inclined posture, which they were called upon to do, by a most insolent order from the interpreter: "Myn Heer Opperhoofd, compliment voor de Opper Banjos!" (Mr. President, make your bow to the Head Banjos.) This submissive, and at the same time degrading attention, was not answered even by a nod. The compliments, as they are called, of the Dutch, are something between the bows of the Europeans and Japanese, which last consist in throwing yourself flat on the ground, touching the earth with your head, and crouching backwards and forwards according as you may be spoken to by your superior.'

We are told that the banjos always conducted themselves with great dignity, and that they never laughed, but occasionally shewed their satisfaction by a smile. Captain K. has described many particulars of Japanese customs in the order in which they naturally occurred to him, being interwoven with the journal of the proceedings of the embassy; which method of description, though perhaps not the best suited for information, is certainly the most entertaining that a traveller can adopt.

The office of governor of Nangasaki is filled alternately by two persons, who relieve each other at the expiration of every term of six months: but, during the stay of the Nadeshda in the port, both the governors continued in the exercise of their authority. They were both well inclined to the Russians, but cautious in suffering that feeling to appear; and they seemed bound to insincerity in various particulars, in obedience to the disposition of their court. It was said that every demand of the Russians, to which they acceded, was granted at their own risk: but (says the author) the anxious behaviour of one of the governors, when he really took upon himself to offer us a place for a walk, sufficiently demonstrated his confined uthority.'

The narrator has given the following account, being the whole of the information which he was able to collect, concerning the trade carried on by the Chinese with Japan :

Twelve ships are permitted to come to Nangasaky annually from Ningpo, (or, as the Japanese pronounce it, Simfo,) five of which arrive in June and sail in October, the other seven in December, and return in March or April. Their cargo consists chiefly of sugar, ivory, tin plates, lead, silk stuffs, and tea. That this last

article

article is among the imports from China I did not indeed learn from the interpreters; but upon our departure they gave us the choi ce between Chinese and Japanese tea. We chose Japanese, and fo Pund it much worse than the other; and I believe that what is said of the excellence of the Japanese tea is very much exaggerated. A small box full, which the governor presented to the ambassador shortly after our arrival, and some that the officers of the embassy drank at an audience in the governor's house, were very inferior to the better kinds of Chinese tea. The Japanese only drink green, the Chinese on the contrary always black tea. The Chinese exports from Japan consist of copper, camphor, lacquered wares, umbrellas, but particularly the dye-fish, which is used as a medicine in China; be sides these are a kind of sea plant, and large dried muscles, which last, known in Japan by the name of Awaby, are among their provisions, and are considered in China as a great delicacy.'

On the 22d of December, a courier arrived from Jeddo, with an order for the Nadeshda to be taken into the inner harbour to be repaired. The presents intended for the Kubo and his ministers had been landed, and M. Resanoff waited in expectation of orders to proceed to court. The ship's hull, masts, and rigging, in the mean-time, underwent examination. Copper was wanted for repairing the sheathing over her bottom; and, as the necessary quantity could not be readily furnished at Nangasaki, the governor made an offer to send to the city of Miaco for the supply: but this offer was declined, the ambassador taking on himself to order the copper on his journey to Jeddo. The Japanese at Nangasaki knew at this time that the Russian embassy would not be permitted to proceed to Jeddo, it having been announced to the governors that a nobleman would be sent from court to receive the embassy and to return an answer: but they did not communicate this knowlege to the Russians, which perhaps they were not authorized to convey; and, taking advantage of the circumstance, they were rejoiced to find themselves relieved from the trouble of sending for the copper.

February 19. the ambassador received an official notice that a person of very high rank, one who was permitted the honour to see his Japanese Majesty's feet, but never to exalt his regards higher,' was on his way to Nangasaki, attended by eight nobles, with full powers to treat with him. The interpreters did not exactly say that the ambassador would not now have occasion to travel to Jeddo: but, in order that it might the more easily be inferred, they intimated that it was the earnest wish of the Japanese government that the Russians should depart from Japan in the beginning of April.

It was only, however, on the 12th March that Skeyseima, the chief interpreter, acquainted the ambassador that he would not be

permitted

permitted to travel to Jeddo; and that the Japanese plenipotentiary would arrive in ten or fifteen days in Nangasaky, after which the ship must return to Kamtschatka, as soon as she could possibly be fitted for sea. The interpreter farther informed us, that we should not be allowed to purchase the least thing in Japan, but that the Emperor had given orders to supply the ship with all that was ne cessary, as well as with provisions for two months, free of any charge

to us.'

On the arrival of the plenipotentiary, much warm contest took place in adjusting the ceremonials to be observed. It was at length concluded that the Russian ambassador should make to the Kubo's representative an European and not a Japanese compliment but consent could not be obtained for the ambassador to be allowed a chair; and he was obliged, at the audience, to sit on the floor, with his legs tucked under him. A first meeting passed in the exchange of compliments; and the second completely terminated the negotiation: the necessary documents being delivered into the hands of the ambassador, which contained an order that no Russian ship should again come to Japan. Should any Japanese hereafter be cast on any of the Russian coasts, it was desired that they should be delivered over to the Dutch, who would send them by the way of Batavia to Nangasaki. The presents, and even the letter from the Emperor of Russia, were all refused.

The reasons assigned by the plenipotentiary for rejecting the presents were, that the Emperor of Japan would be obliged to make a present in return to the Emperor of Russia, and send an ambassador for this purpose to St. Petersburgh, and that it was contrary to the laws of the empire for any Japanese to quit his country.

This then was the result of an embassy, which had raised such great expectations. We gained no new advantages, but even lost those we had possessed, namely, the written permission which Laxmann had procured for us to visit Nangasaky. All communication is now at an end between Japan and Russia.'

Captain Krusenstern was informed that, on this momentous occasion, the Kubo did not determine from his own authority, but that he had sent an ambassador to Miaco, to consult the Dairi; who, although he had no executive authority, is held in the greatest veneration by the Japanese on account of his religious character."

The Russian ships carried from Europe five natives of Japan, who had been shipwrecked on the coast of Kamtschatka, and sent thence to Petersburgh: but, in being sent back to their native country, their case appears to have been extremely unfortunate, since it was doubtful whether they would ever be permitted to rejoin their families. One of these men, while

the

the Russian ships lay at Nangasaki, made an attempt on his own life; occasioned, it was supposed, by despair at learning that some Japanese, who had been carried back to Japan by the ambassador Laxmann, in 1792, had been doomed to perpetual imprisonment, without being allowed the least intercourse with their friends or relations.

Of all the effects produced by European usurpation, the singular condition of the Japanese, in which they placed themselves nearly two centuries ago and have inflexibly continued since, is the most extraordinary, though not the most fatal. When the Europeans first discovered the route of the Asiatic seas, the Japanese were a great trading people, whose ships visited all parts of India; and their mariners were the most capa ble of any in that part of the world. The Portuguese, however, a nation not sufficiently powerful to accomplish any purpose by direct force, having employed religion as an instrument to subject and enslave the Japanese, the latter were induced, as much by feelings of indignation as by apprehensions of danger, to separate from the rest of mankind; to the injury of all, but most to their own prejudice, they being a nation of a magnanimous character, and as capable of improvement perhaps as any in existence: so that, if they had not imposed on themselves a state of stagnation, it is probable that they would have shared largely in the advancement which has so generally taken place in many parts of the world, within the period of their seclusion. -- We must now attend to the sequel of the Nadeshda's navigation.

Having re-embarked the embassy, Captain Krusenstern sailed from Nangasaki on the 17th of April, not less willing to depart than the Japanese were to get rid of their visitors. It was known at Nangasaki that the Russians designed to sail northward, between Japan and the coast of Korea, and the intention appears to have given some uneasiness; endeavours being made by the governors of Nangasaki and by the interpreters to dissuade the Captain from that route: but they did not prevail. In the beginning of May, the Nadeshda was near the western entrance of the Strait of Sangaar, which separates Jesso from Niphon: but, without entering it, she passed on to the northward, and, about the middle of the month, sailed eastward through La Pérouse's Strait. The track of the Nadeshda afterward makes the circuit of Aniwa Bay, and of the Bay van Patientie, on the eastern coast of Sachalin.

M. de la Pérouse and Captain Krusenstern have not both entertained the same opinion respecting the merits of Captain de Vries, the commander of the Dutch ship Kastrikom, who discovered the coast in the year 1643; and Captain K. animad