Japan and the Japanese

456 JAPAN. A. D. 17921817.
Doeff, on again visiting Jedo in 1810, found to be in high favor at
court.
Up to 1809,* the ships from Batavia had arrived regularly; but
from that time till 1813 neither goods nor news reached the lonely
Dutchmen at Desima. The first and second failure they bore with
Borne resignation, looking confidently forward to the next year ;
" but, alas !
" says our by this time very thirsty, and somewhat
ragged, director, " it passed away without relief or intelligence,
either from Europe or Batavia !
All our provision from Java was
by this time consumed. Butter we had not seen since the supply
of 1807, for the "
ship Goede Frouw [good wife, but not good house-
wife] "had brought us none in 1809. To the honor of the Jap-
anese, I must acknowledge that they did everything in their power
to supply our special wants. . . . The inspector, Siye De?io:en,
among others, gave himself much trouble to distil gin for us, for
which purpose I supplied him with a still-kettle and a tin worm,
which I chanced to possess. He had tolerable success, but could
not remove the resinous flavor of the juniper. The corn spirit (whis-
key), which he managed to distil, was excellent. As we had also
been without wine since the supply of 1807, with the exception of
a small quantity brought by the Goede Frouw, he likewise endeav-
ored to press it for us from the wild grapes of the country, but
with less success. He obtained, indeed, a red and fermented
liquor, but it was not wine. I myself endeavored to make beer ;
and, with the help of the domestic dictionaries of Chaud and Bays,
I got so far as to produce a whitish liquor, with something of the
flavor of the white beer of Haerlem, but which would not keep
above four days, as I could not make it work sufficiently, and had
no bitter with which to flavor it. Our great deficiency was in the
articles of shoes and winter clothing. We procured Japanese slip-
pers of straw, and covered the instep with undressed leather, and
thus draggled alonjr the street. Long breeches we manufactured
- * The ships of 1709, 1800, 1801, 1802 and 1803, had been Americans. The
renewal of the war in Europe having again driven the Dutch flag from the
ocean, the ships of 1806 had been an American and a Bremener ; and those
of 1807 an American and a Dane ; one of the ships of 1809 was also an Amer-
ican, the Rebecca.