Japan and the Japanese

218 JAPAN. A. D. 1690.
Japan. At sunset, Nagasaki was six or seven leagues distant.
At midnight they reached the entrance of the bay, in which they
found fifty fathoms of water. This entrance was full of rocks and
islands, which obliged them to wait till morning ; and then, being
becalmed, they fired cannon to notify their arrival. These were
heard at the Dutch factory, six miles distant, and in the afternoon
four small vessels came out with some persons from the factory,
accompanied by swarms of Japanese officers, clerks and soldiers,
and the chief interpreter, who, on boarding the ship, demanded all
writings and letters, in the hands of whomsoever they might be.
They soon left, and the ship followed slowly, making her way by
kedging, till by ten at night she dropped anchor within half a
league of the city. The next morning she was towed in still further
by a fleet of Japanese boats.
The harbor was found to be well protected, and completely en-
closed by rocks, islands and mountains, on the tops of which
were guard-houses, from which those on the look-out, had, by means
of their spy-glasses, detected the ship shortly after she had made the
land, and had given notice of her arrival to the authorities. Along
the shore several bastions were seen, with palisades painted red, but
no cannon and on the hills several ;
fortifications, screened by cloths,
so as to prevent what was in them from being visible.
Having dropped anchor within three hundred yards of the island
of Desima, they were again boarded by two Japanese officers, with
a host of attendants, who made a careful examination of all on board,
according to a list given them, writing down their names and busi-
ness. Five or six of the number were then subjected to a strict
cross-examination as to all the particulars of the voyage. It so
happened that the steward had died, the day before their arrival,
of a fit of apoplexy, consequent upon his being denied any more
arrack, or brandy apart from his drinking, an able man, and, as
Kiimpfer tells us, the son of a noted divine at the Hague, but who,
by early indulgence, had fallen into debaucheries and a dissolute
life. Many questions were asked about the dead man, and his
breast and other parts of the corpse were carefully examined to see
if there were any cross or other mark of the popish religion upon
it. After much urging, the Japanese consented to the immediate