Japan and the Japanese

PERRY'S FIRST VISIT. 515
with a black lozenge upon the back. A few had broad bamboo hats,
like a shallow basin inverted ; but most of them were bareheaded.
The officers wore light and beautifully lackered hats, with a gilded
symbol in front.
During the night watch-fires blazed along the coast, and bells
were heard sounding the hours. The next morning (Saturday),
Koyama Yezaimon, first in command at the town, came on board,
and made another attempt to beg off from receiving the letter to the
emperor. Finally, he proposed to send to Jedo ibr permission, and
was allowed three days to do it in.
Meanwhile, surveying parties from the ships ran up the bay a
distance of four miles, finding everywhere from thirty to forty
fathoms of water. They sounded round the bight within which
the
ships lay, keeping about a cable's length from the shore, and
finding five fathoms. Yezaimon represented that this survey was
against the Japanese laws, but was told that if forbidden by the
laws of Japan, it was commanded by the laws of America. On
approaching the forts, of which there were five, two apparently of
recent construction, the soldiers, armed with matchlocks, came out ;
but, as the boats drew near, they retired again. These forts were very
feeble, mounting only fourteen guns in the whole, none larger than
nine-pounders. Of soldiers, about four hundred were seen, many
of them armed with spears. There was also, as usual, a great
show of canvas screens ; but, on the whole, the warlike means of
the Japanese seemed contemptible. From the town to the end of
the promontory, a distance of a mile and a half, was an unbroken
line of villages. At least a hundred small craft lay in the harbor
The hills behind, some five hundred feet
high, were dotted with
pines and other trees. In the morning and evening, when the air
was clear, mount Fusi might be seen in the west, sixty miles distant.
The presence of the American ships did not seem to disturb
the coasting trade. Sixty or seventy large junks, besides hundreds
of boats and fishing-smacks, daily passed up and down the bay, to
and from Jedo.
On Monday, the llth, the same surveying party proceeded up
the bay some ten miles, followed by the Mississippi. They were
constantly met by government boats, the officers on board which
urged them by signs to return, but of which they took no notice.