Japan and the Japanese

AN ESCAPE AND RECAPTURE. 467
learned to speak, read and write Russian, and became very much
attached to his instructors. They in their turn learned something
of Japanese; but it was forbidden to teach them the written charac-
ters. Teske was exceedingly anxious to collect statistical informa-
tion concerning Russia. A Japanese man of science, who had an
English sextant, a compass, a case of mathematical instruments,
&c., also paid them a visit. He knew how to find the latitude by
observing the sun's altitude at noon, using in his calculations some
tables obtained, as he said, from a Dutch book; and he was exceedingly
anxious to gain additional information, especially how to find
the longitude by lunar observations ; but this, for want of the
necessary tables, the Russians, much to his disgust, were unable to
teach him.
The first snow fell about the middle of October, but soon melted.
The winter set in about the middle of November, with deep snows,
which lasted till April.
As the spring opened they were permitted to take walks and
excursions in the vicinity of the town, and were presently removed
to a house, composed of three apartments, separated by screens ;
but were still closely watched and guarded. Tired of this confine-
ment, of which they could see no end, the Russians succeeded in
getting out of their pri.-on, and in gaining the mountains back of
the town, whence they descended to the coast, hoping to find some
means of escape by sea. But, after seven days' wanderings and
many sufferings, they were retaken. The island was found to be
composed of steep hills, separated by precipitous ravines, with
hardly any plain land, except near the coast. The interior was
uninhabited, except by wood-cutters employed in getting timber
and preparing charcoal.
When retaken they were confined in the common jail of the town,
but their accommodations were not worse than they had been in the
other two prisons. No ill will was shown towards them by any
of the officials, not even by those whose lives their flight had endan-
gered. The soldier who was held the most responsible for their
escape, and who had been degraded in consequence to the rank of a
common servant, showed even more alacrity than before in their
behalf. In a month or two they were removed back to their
former prison, where they were visited the next spring (1813) by