Japan and the Japanese

AN ENGLISH SHIP IN THE BAY OF JEDO. 485
Gordon, of the British navy, entered, in -June, 1818, the bay of
Jedo, in a little trading brig, from Okhotsk, of sixty-five tons' bur-
den. He was immediately visited by two officers, to whom he
said that he had come merely to obtain permission to return with
a cargo of goods for sale. They insisted upon unshipping his rudder,
and all required his arms to be given up. The vessel was then
surrounded by a circle of some twenty boats, and beyond by a circle
of sixty larger ones, besides two or three junks, mounting a number
of guns. Two interpreters came on board, one speaking Dutch,
the other some Russian, and both a little English. They inquired
if the vessel belonged to the East India Company ; if the English
were friends of the Dutch, and if Captain Golownin was at Okhotsk.
They asked after the king of Holland, the king of France, and
Bonaparte. They knew the names and uses of the various nautical
instruments, and said that the best were made at London. In
a subsequent visit, they told Captain Gordon that permission could
not be granted for his trading to Japan, as by their laws all foreign
intercourse was interdicted, except at Nagasaki, and there only
allowed with the Dutch and Chinese, and he was requested to de-
part the moment the wind was fair. The interpreters declined any
presents, being prohibited, they said, from accepting any. Captain
Gordon was much struck with the polite and affable conduct of the
Japanese, both towards him and towards each other. Everything
that had been taken on shore was carefully returned, and thirty
boats were sent to tow the vessel out of the bay. The shores were
lined with spectators, and, as soon as the guard-boats had left, not
less than two thousand visitors came on board in succession, all
eager to barter for trifles.*
In 1820, J. F. Van Overmeer Fisscher arrived at Nagasaki, as
a member of the factory. He resided there for seven years, and
after his return to Holland, published, in 1833, a work in the
Dutch language, entitled " Contributions towards a Knowledge of
the Japanese Empire," embellished with engravings from Japanese
drawings, so superior to former specimens as to give occasion for
some suspicion of aid from the European engraver.
* See London Quarterly Review, for July, 1819, in a note to an article oc
Golownin's narrative. The statement about bartering is questionable.
41*