Japan and the Japanese

PRESENTS. 379
9. A large mange boiled and filled with brown sugar, like treacle.
Two smaller manyes, of the common bigness, dressed after the same
manner. A few of these things were eaten, and the rest, accord
ing to the Japanese custom, were taken home by the interpreter,
for whom they proved quite a load, especially as he was old and
rheumatic."
Having been dismissed with many ceremonies, they went next to
the house of the
acting governor of Jedo, who received them with
great cordiality, and gave them an entertainment consisting of a
cup of tea, boiled fish with a very good sauce, oysters boiled and
brought in the shells, with vinegar, a dish which, it was intimated,
had been prepared from the known fondness of the Dutch for it ;
several small slices of a roasted goose : fried fish and boiled eggs,
with very good liquor served up between the dishes. Thence they
went to the houses of the governors of Nagasaki, and returned home
at night thoroughly tired out, but well satisfied with their recep-
tion.
Meanwhile, the customary presents began to come in, which, in
case the director was at home, were presented and received in quite
a formal manner, a speech being made by the bearer and an an-
swer returned, after which he was treated with tobacco, tea, sweet-
meats and Dutch liquors. Besides thirty gowns from the emperor,
ten were sent by each of the five ordinary councillors, six by each
of the four extraoi dinary councillors, five by each of the three lords
of the temple, and two, " pretty sorry ones," Kiimpfer says, by each
of the governors of Jedo, in all, a hundred and twenty-three, of
which those given by the emperor went to the Company, and all the
rest to the director, constituting no inconsiderable perquisite.
It is the custom, on the return of the Dutch, when they reach
Miako, to take them to see some of the principal temples. The
first one visited by Kiimpfer was the Buddhist temple and convent,
where the emperor lodges when he comes to visit the Dairi. The ap-
proach to this temple was a broad, level, gravel walk, half a mile in
length, lined on both sides with the stately dwellings of the ecclesi-
astics attached to it. Having alighted and passed a lofty gateway,
the visitors ascended to a large terrace, finely gravelled and planted
with trees and shrubs. Passing two handsome structures, they
ascended a beautiful stairway to a magnificent building, with a