Japan and the Japanese

DEPARTURE OF THE DUTCH SHIPS. 253
and, after they have gotten to the main sea, to a pretty considerable
distance from the harbor, the Japanese ship-guard, which never
quitted them from their first arrival till then, leave them and
return home. If the wind proves contrary to the ships' going out,
a good number of Japanese rowing boats, fastened to a rope, tow
them out by force one after another. For the emperor's orders
must be executed in spite of wind and weather, should even after-
wards all the ships run the hazard of being wrecked..
"All these several strict orders and regulations of the Japanese
have been made chiefly with an intent to prevent smuggling. The
penalty put upon this crime is death without hope of reprieve ; but
it extends only to the person convicted and his accomplices, and not
to their families, as the punishment of some other crimes does. And
yet the Japanese are so addicted to it, that, according to computation,
no less than three hundred persons have been executed in six
or seven years' time for smuggling with the Chinese, whose departing
junks they follow to the main sea, and buy of them at a low
price what goods they could not dispose of at their sale at Naga-
saki. But these unhappy wretches are almost as frequently caught
by the Japanese boats particularly appointed for that purpose, and
delivered up to justice at Nagasaki, which constantly proves severe
and unmerciful enough."
Not long after Kampfer's arrival in Japan, eleven smugglers
were caught in one boat, and brought to Nagasaki, where they
were executed a few days after. On the 28th of Dec., 1691,
twenty-three persons suffered death for smuggling, ten of whom
were beheaded, and the others crucified. Among the latter were
five who, upon being taken, made away with themselves, to avoid
the shame of an unavoidable public execution ; but their bodies
were nevertheless preserved in salt, on purpose to be afterwards
fixed to the cross. During Kampfer's stay in Japan, which was
not above two years, upwards of fifty smugglers lost their lives.
" Though there are not many instances of people executed for
smuggling with the Dutch, yet such a case occurred in 1791,
when," says Kampfer, " two Japanese were executed on our island
for having smuggled from a Dutchman one pound of camphor of
Borneo, which was found upon the buyer just as he endeavored to
carry it off from our island. Early in the morning on the day
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