JAPAN
THE A OOR
AND THE
PACIFIC
DS
507
T58
HA TILLEY
LONDON
SMITH ELDER&CO
A 842,193

"LTR".
University of
Michigan
Libraries
1817
ARTES SCIENTIA VERIT,

T
JAPAN, THE AMOOR,
AND
THE PACIFIC;
WITH NOTICES OF OTHER PLACES.
212
914
317
197 bevolking dor I Zeit.
خرور

Hanhart, lith.
HOUSE AT YEDO, WITH GROUP OF JAPANESE.
Published by Smith, Elder & C° 65, Cornhill, London 1861
JAPAN, THE AMOOR,
AND
THE PACIFIC;
WITH NOTICES OF OTHER PLACES
COMPRISED IN
A VOYAGE OF CIRCUMNAVIGATION
IN THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN CORVETTE "RYNDA,”
IN 1858-1860.
BY
HENRY ARTHUR TILLEY.
WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.
M.DCCC.LXI.
[The right of Translation is reserved.]
DS
507
.758
PREFACE.
IN the following pages the Author has endeavoured
to depict the scenes and incidents of an interesting
voyage of circumnavigation, as well as the present
state of all those countries he visited, among which
two are but little known as yet; viz. Japan, and the
territory lately ceded to Russia at the mouth of the
Amoor.
Although several works have been already pub-
lished lately on the former country, still the Author
hopes that his account of a residence of more than
three months, every day of which he was moving
among the people, may add yet a little more know-
ledge to the public concerning that most interesting
country and its inhabitants.
With regard to the Russian settlements at the
mouth of the Amoor, the Author was the first English-
man who ever landed there. All his remarks and
opinions are those of an unbiassed mind wishing to
a 3
vi
PREFACE.
describe what really is; and the information he offers
is as complete as his means of observation and research
allowed.
In extenuation of any slight errors, the Author
must beg indulgence by stating that the whole work
was written when in a state of constant locomotion,
and that he was thousands of miles distant at the
time of its going through the press.
Alexandretta, Syria, January, 1861.
CONTENT S.
CHAPTER I.
Russian Squadron-Voyage to Teneriffe-Santa Cruz-Cape Verde
Islands-Porto Grande-Rio Janeiro-Entry into the Bay-
Immigration-Environs of City-Petropolis-Hospital and French
Sœurs de Charité-Polka Fever-Departure-Simon's Bay
CHAPTER II.
Simon's Bay-Road to Cape Town-Gardens, Museum-S. E. winds
of the Cape-Constantia and its Wines-Ascent of Table Moun-
tain-Dutch versus English-Peculiarities of Population-A Ball—
Trip into the interior-Horses-The Paarl-Its Vineyards-
Monkeys-Aspect of Country-Baine's Kloof-A fortunate Emi-
grant-Animals and Sporting-Mode of Travelling in Colony—
Stellenbosch-Excitement of Dutch Boers about Railway-A
Field for Emigration
PAGE
1
12
CHAPTER III.
Departure from Simon's Bay-Mew Bay-A Tropical Forest-
Anger-Batavia-Population-Municipal Police of Malays and
Chinese-Stroll by Night in Batavia-Gambling-Opium-Re-
venue from latter-Banca Straits-Tin Mines-Singapore versus
Batavia-A Buddhist Temple-Mr. Whampoa, a Chinese Merchant
-The Human Family at Singapore-A Stroll through Streets;
Barbers, Jewel Dealers, Tailors and others—Leave Singapore
CHAPTER IV.
Manilla-City of Manilla-Population-" Tributo,"— Government
-How time is spent in Manilla-The Tagals; their Houses, Dress,
Women, Amusements, &c.—A Fête of the Pueblo—Marriage
Customs Music-Cock-Fighting-A Cock-Pit Gambling-
Cigar Manufactories-A few Particulars about the Tobacco Cul-
tivation and Manufacture-Produce of the Country-Tagal Manu-
factures-Commerce - Enterprise-Mines and Minerals-Hong
Kong-Unpleasant Circumstance-Shanghai.
•
28
37
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Leave Shanghai-Approach to Nangasaki-Fishing Boats-Visit of
Sub-Governor on board-Questions and Curiosity-The Russian
frigate Ascolde-A Buddhist Temple-Life in Japan-Treatment
of Japanese by Foreigners-Popularity of Russians-The Bonzes,
and their troubles-Language-Capability of Japanese in learning
-Nangasaki; its Temples, Tea Houses, &c.-Contrast with former
visitors-Inhabitants-Foreign Commerce in 1859-Exports—-
Porcelain-The Tea Houses and Gardens; their Inmates and
Visitors — Photographing — A Comical Scene and a Japanese
Custom-Dezima; Honesty of Japanese-Departure
CHAPTER VI.
Sketch of Japan Empire-First Knowledge of it-Marco Polo-
François Xavier in Kagosaki- The Portuguese Jesuits and
Merchants-Spanish Intercourse-Taikosama-Proscription of
Christian Religion-Dutch Intercourse-English in Japan-Trade,
Persecution, and Rivalry of Europeans-Massacre of Simabara-
Portuguese and Spaniards expelled-Dutch alone: their Treat-
ment and Servility-Incorporated into the Spy System-Inter-
course of China and Japan-Attempts to renew Relations during
the last fifty Years-Different Treaties, and necessity for re-
making altogether-Geographical and Political description of
Empire—The Eight Castes of Japan Society—Men and Women;
their Appearance, Dress, Customs, &c.—Marriage and Polygamy
-Punishments and Suicide-Sintooism-Buddhism-Education
-Language-Literature-Industry, Arts and Science-Produc-
tions of Land-Food-Houses-Manner of Sleeping-Simplicity
of Dress and Habits-Gardens-Medicine and Mechanics-Ex-
pectations formed of Japan-Trade formerly and at present-
Utility of Ports in Japan to Whalers and other Ships.
CHAPTER VII.
Hakodadi-Situation Important-Town and Neighbourhood
Visit of Governor-Breakfast-Japanese Swords-The Gover-
nor's Suite-A Sea-God's Temple, and the Rape of the God-
Whalers and Whalemen-New Granada-Flag in Japan-Ex-
cursions around Hakodadi-Rural Temples-A Water Mill-
Japanese Sportsmen-Fête-Temples-Bonzes and their Flocks
-Devotees-Graveyards-Funeral-Public Bathing-The Rus-
sian Consul―The American Consul-Disgraceful Scene-Incen-
diary Fire in Dockyard-Visit to Lead Mines-A Yankee-German
and his Adventures-Aspect of Country in Yeso-Interior of
Mine, and Manner of Working-Effect of Spy System-Smelting
of Ore-A Country Inn-Public Dinner-Adventure with a
Bonze and a Farmer-Japanese Gilpin-Tea Gardens-A Porce-
lain Manufactury-Arrival of Count Mouraviëf-Amursky -
Japanese Currency and Panic-Unpleasant Results
PAGE
55
71
. 102
靠
​CONTENTS.
ix
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure from Hakodadi-Fishing-A storm-Bay of Yedo—
Kanagawa and Yokahama-Trade-Deceit and unwillingness in
trading-Writing on fans-Cranes-Tea Houses and their Inmates
-Yedo; appearance from the Bay-Forts-Japanese Navy-
Ship-building-Visit of Governor of Yedo-Dilemmas of Japanese
Officials-Making Treaties with Foreign Powers-Preparations for
resistance-Discord among the Ruling Powers
CHAPTER IX.
•
Landing in Yedo-The Temple Dai-ghoo-ghee — Carpenters
Removal of the Bonzes-Fire-proof safes for Valuables—Assault
on Russian Officers-Stroll into the City-Manner of Buying—
A ride through Yedo-Passage of a Great Man-Shops-Wards
and Wardens-Curiosity and crowding of People-The two-
sworded Boy-Objects of Curiosity-Landing and reception of
Count Muraviëf—A Cyclone in Yedo-Murder of Russian Officer
and Sailor-Causes and Consequence-Prevarication and probable
Connivance of Authorities-Funeral-Remarks on the Murder-
Correspondence with Government-Probable Consequences of this
Murder-Americans in Japan
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
136
. 151
Return to Yedo-Manner of Fishing-Ride through Yedo to the
Village of Oodzee-Visitors and their Escort-Moveable Houses
and Shops-Tea House at Oodzee-A universal Pastime-Walks
in the City-Wardens-Dangerous Streets-Guard Houses-
Houses of Feudal Princes-Temples-Christianity in Japan-
Missionaries, and their probable Success-Shopping-Strolls-
Population estimated-Life in the Temple-Sketch of the In-
mates, &c.—Anecdotes-Result of Mission - Departure from
Yedo-Storms and Winds on Niphon Coast-Straits of T’zugár—
Great Japanese Feast-Processions, &c.-Ainos or Hairy Kuriles
-Public Music and Dancing
. 177
CHAPTER XI.
Matsmai-Gulf of
Departure from Hakodadi-T'zugár Straits
Tartary-De Castries Bay-Misfortunes of Russian Ships during
War-Incidents of that time-The Diana Frigate-The Yacht
America-Passage through the Amoor Liman, or Gulf-On a
Sand Bank-Difficulty of Navigation-Sagalien Island—A cha-
racter, and his Adventures-Get off the Bank-Ghelak Settle-
ments-Mouth of the Amoor-Arrival at Nicholaivsk.
203
X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
Rise and Progress of Nicholaivsk-Climate-Buildings-Commerce--
American and Amoor Companies-Captain Vries and the Navi-
gation of the River-Visit to Ghelak Village-Dogs and Bears—
How Bears are worshipped-Natives' Manner of Living-Port of
Nicholaivsk― Amusements, Dogs and Sledging-A Ball-The
Vosmerka and Bear Dance-Departure-De Castries Bay-A
Wreck-Shooting Excursion - Siberian Forests, Animals and
Hunting-Arrival of Ships from Europe-Departure.
PAGE
218
CHAPTER XIII.
Russian Colonies of the Amoor-Description-Boundaries-Island
of Sagalien-Bays on the Coast-Usuri River-Capabilities of
Country-Cossacks and their Difficulties-Difficulties of Coloniza-
tion-Future of Nicholaivsk-Remarks on former Writings about
this Country-Utility of these Colonies to Russia-Return to
Hakodadi-English and French Consul-Disputes with Governor
-Farewell to Japan
238
CHAPTER XIV.
Gale-Arrival in St. Francisco-The Town and its Inhabitants-
Mixture of Nationalities-Newspapers-Theatres-Fast Living
of Americans in California-Editors-Visitors on Board-The
Rowdies and the Irish-Dark Side of St. Francisco-Fire Com-
panies-Suggested introduction into England-Public Honours-
Popular Feeling
•
250
CHAPTER XV.
American Steamboat-Make Acquaintances on board-Dinner-
Sacramento-The City of the Plain—A civil General-Dockyard
in Mare Island-Appearance of Mining Land in California-
Placerville, or Hang Town-Mining Districts-Modes of Mining
formerly and now-Mining Life-Trough Washing and Hydraulic
Mining-Quartz-Appearance of Country around Mines-Search
of a Miner for "Claims"-Hotels-Carston Valley Mines-Visit
to different Claims-An Intelligent Miner-First Discovery of
Gold-Return to Sacramento-American River-All not Gold
that glitters-Indians-A Conversation with Enlightened Ameri-
cans-Scenes on Steamboat-A Model Editor for California-Sail
for Hawaian Islands
•
265
CONTENTS.
xi
CHAPTER XVI.
Approach to Honolulu-Description of Town-Schools-Honolulu
at Night-The Hula-hula-The Whaling Seasons-Constitution-
Kanakas-Population-Costume-Vices of Natives-Murders by
Foreigners-A Meli, or Native Chant-Newspapers-A Tragedy
in High Life-Official Visit to the King-His Palace and Guards
-Ministers-Insignia of Hawaian Royalty-Hon. Mr. Wylie-
Saturday in Honolulu-Sunday-A Remark
PAGE
€ 292
CHAPTER XVII.
A Tour round Oahu-Kekuanoa and his Daughter-Valley of
Nuuanu-The Pali-Panorama-A Native Hut and its Inmates-
Kanaka Dinner-Dwellings of Natives—Manner of Eating-Pet
Animals-A Night in a Hut-Gliding Sketch of Country and
Inhabitants—A Chinese Emigrant-Rest in a Kanaka Hut, and
a Scene of Morals--Progress of South Sea Islands in Christianity
and Civilization — Vices - Departure from Kanaka Hut—An
English Judge-Cattle-Exportation of Hides-Animals-District
of Waialua—Ride to Ewa-Ewa-A Kanaka Family—Kalo, and
Manner of preparing Poi-Remarks on the Tour-Leave Hono-
lulu-Karakoa Bay-Lazaref Island
•
308
CHAPTER XVIII.
Arrival at Island of Tahiti-French Protectorate-A good Thing
for the Islands Sketch of Tahiti — Divisions-Districts-Native
Government-Laws-Commerce-Produce of Island-Revenue-
Papeete Queen Pomare-French Newspaper-Its Character 335
CHAPTER XIX.
A Tour round Tahiti-Nature versus Art―Aspect of Western Side
of Island-Houses-Pictures by the Way-A Remarkable Cavern
School-houses-Protestantism-Departure of Missionaries-
Public Instruction-Dress-District of Papara-French Soldiers
-Traffic in Spirits-Night in the South Sea-Catholic Priests-
European Settlers-Cultivation of Vanilla-Lake of Vaihiria—
Outlet of Lake Subterraneous-Bishop Jaussens-Papoari-A
Night in the Minister's Hut-An Outcast-Road to Taravoa-
Misfortunes by the Way-Fort of Taravoa-The French Officer
in Command-Prisoners: a Naughty Pair-Windward Side of
Tahiti-Matavia Bay and its Souvenirs-Point Venus-A Native
Family-Return to Papeete
344
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
Island of Moria, or Eimeo-Desertions-The King, Minister, and
Admiral on Board-Their Distinguished Qualities-Bay of
Opunopu-Falling away of Population and Industry-District of
Papetoai-An Old Missionary-Voyage Southward-Winds of
high Southern Latitudes-Mercy Bay-Shipwrecks-Magellan
Straits-Bay of Pleya Parda-Chilian Settlement at Punta Arena,
or Sandy Point-Climate-Patagonians-Aspect of Shores in Strait
-Pampas-Gregory Bay-Possession Bay-Current of S. Atlantic
Ocean-A Pampero.
•
PAGE
372
CHAPTER XXI.
Monte Video-Town-Ladies-Society-Education in Buenos Ayres
and Monte Video-City of Buenos Ayres-Rivalled by Monte
Video-Aspect of City-Rides in the Vicinity-The Saladeras
and Mataderas-Destruction of Horses-Commerce of Hides, &c.
-Election of President-Markets-The Gaucho-Population-
Foreigners-Climate-Viente Norte-The Pampero-Mortality
of Children-Diseases-Progress of Provinces during Peace . 381
ILLUSTRATIONS.
To face Title.
House at Yedo
View of Kanagawa
View of Yakuama
View of Yedo
·
•
Cemetery of the Nobles and Princes at Yedo.
Emperor's Sporting Quarters at Odji
Public Gardens at Odji
Emperor's Temple at Yedo
""
p. 138
པ
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13
P. 141
p. 145
"" p. 149
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135
135
p. 178
p. 180
p. 184
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER I.
Russian Squadron-Voyage to Teneriffe-Santa Cruz-Cape Verde
Islands-Porto Grande-Rio Janeiro-Entry into the Bay-
Immigration-Environs of City-Petropolis-Hospital and
French Sœurs de Charité-Polka Fever-Departure-Simon's
Bay.
IN September, 1858, an offer was suddenly made me
to undertake a voyage round the world. As I am
excessively fond of travelling, though my experience
of travel had been as yet only that of a student
wandering through my own country, France, and Ger-
many, I accepted the proposal with pleasure. And
the desire of making such a voyage was increased,
when I heard that it was to be on board a Russian
ship of war. There was not only the opportunity of
seeing strange lands and their peoples, but the facility
of studying a class of men almost strangers to us,
during the intervening passages at sea.
Two days only were allowed me to prepare for a
voyage of two years; but what is not possible in our
1
2 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
land of railways, telegraphs, and sewing machines?
The second night, therefore, I was on the road to
Paris; the third day passing through Brittany on my
way to Brest. On my arrival there I was most kindly
received by Commodore Popoff, the Commander of the
little Russian Squadron, and by him introduced on
board his ship, the Rynda, which was to be my home
for more than two years. Two black-looking corvettes,
called the Rynda and Gudin, mounting each 11 guns,
and a clipper gunboat, called the Opritchnik, com-
prised the squadron.* Their destination was the
Amoor River; but as the Commander had full liberty
to touch at any ports he pleased, and as he was himself
a curious and enterprising man, the voyage promised
to be very interesting.
These corvettes, two of seven, all similar, had been
constructed in great haste at St. Petersburg during
the war. The gun-boat was also one of a number
which had been built in the White Sea, at Archangel.
The officers on board, mostly very young men, were of
good family, well-educated and gentlemanly fellows;
and for their uniform kindness and attention to me
throughout the voyage, I must ever remember them
with pleasure. Like myself, nobody on board had ever
made a similar voyage, so that the charm of novelty
exercised the same influence on all.
The words Rynda and Gudin are names of officers formerly
about the old Muscovite Court. Opritchnik, one of the Opritchnina,
or body-guard of Ivan Vasilevitch, surnamed the Terrible. This
guard consisted of one thousand men, chosen from the nobility. They
were the terror of the people. From their saddles hung dogs' heads
and a broom of twigs, to show that their office was to bite the enemies
of their master, and to sweep them away.
TENERIFFE.
3
We left Brest a few days after my arrival, and
steamed out of the celebrated Goulet, or mouth of the
harbour of Brest, towards which, in former years, so
many anxious eyes of English naval commanders were
turned, in expectation of the French Fleet issuing
therefrom. No sooner were we well out at sea than a
heavy gale of wind initiated me into the pleasures of a
maritime life.
Adverse winds prolonged our voyage southward as
far as the Canary Islands. When about 120 miles
from Teneriffe, the remarkable peak of that island
rose above the horizon. Accompanying the commodore
on board the gun-boat, we steamed towards it; the
two corvettes continuing their route to a given ren-
dezvous further south. All the next day we had the
magnificent cone in view, sometimes wholly visible,
sometimes only its summit appearing above the girdle
of clouds which encircled the whole island. At night
we lay to off the north-east point, and at dawn skirted
its eastern shores, covered with rugged lava hills, their
summits only clothed with forests of the Canary pine,
and their valleys half concealing a few huts, a vine-
yard, or a verdant patch of garden. On approaching
Santa Cruz, a pilot came out, and brought us to anchor
before that town.
No sooner were we on shore, than a crowd of beggars
surrounded us, not timidly holding out the hand for
charity, but clamouring for it with sturdy impor-
tunity. When clear of these for a time, we mounted
on horseback, and examined the town and environs.
The nature of the Canary Islands strikes the newly-
* It is visible in very clear weather, at a radius of 150 sea miles.
1-2
4 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
arrived European the more, as he there obtains his
first view of tropical vegetation, the palm, the cactus,
and the aloe. The town is surrounded by pretty gar-
dens of oranges, citrons, &c., but is otherwise unin-
teresting. It is necessary to explore the interior of
the island, the vicinity of the peak, and the small
inland towns, in order to have seen the beauties of
Teneriffe. I wonder that English tourists do not
oftener visit the Canary Islands. They are only a
week's steaming from England, and the beauties of
nature, and the originality of the people, would well
repay a visit.
Leaving Santa Cruz, we steamed to where the two
other ships were lying-to for us, and then together
continued the voyage, arriving at Porto Grande, Island
of St. Vincent, on the 17th November.
Porto Grande is the best harbour in the Cape Verde
Islands, being completely sheltered from the west
by the Island of St. Antonio. It is the great coaling
station in the Atlantic, and the least unhealthy spot
in all the islands. The population consists of some
hundreds of negroes and mulattoes, and a few black
soldiers, the whole under a Portuguese governor. The
scene around is miserably desolate, presenting only
volcanic cones of ashes and lava, with a few cacti and
euphorbia scattered here and there. Behind the village
is a graveyard, the broken-down entrance to which
is surmounted by the American eagle. Within, the
mounds were numerous, and the inscriptions told us
that the dead had all been victims to African fever:
they were mostly American and English seamen.
The grave of one, a captain in the English navy, was
SMELLING LAND.
5
covered with an old chest, on which were rudely written
his name and fate.
We left Porto Grande with the trade wind, which
just began to be felt. On the 28th we crossed the Line,
in longitude 28° W., and the event was celebrated by
a fête among the officers, given by the commodore,
and by divers amusements among the men.
The
usual weather-rain, thunder, and lightning-had been
experienced in the equatorial belt of calms, but we soon
steamed through this, and met the south-east trade-
wind.
On Wednesday, 8th December, at dawn, Cape Frio
was in sight, bearing N.N.W. about thirty miles. It
was on the Isle of Frio that his Majesty's frigate
Thetis, laden with treasure, was wrecked on the 5th
of December, 1830: a great part of the money was,
however, recovered during the following year.
With what pleasure is the first sight of land hailed
by those who, for long, tedious weeks have had nothing
but the eye-wearying features of water and sky before
them! With what desire did we not look forward to
many a ramble through this garden of nature we were
about to visit! The first lieutenant at the masthead
declared he had sniffed the delicious perfume of the
herbs and flowers borne to him on the dying morning
breeze. I followed his example, and went aloft, but
although I tried hard to smell the scented gale, the
freshness of the morning had already passed, and with
it the perfume of the flowers from the land. It is said,
however, that under favourable circumstances, the land
has been smelt long before the eye perceived it.
Our entry into the harbour of Rio was accompanied
6
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
by mist and rain, so that the beautiful scenery was
lost upon us. The Sugar Loaf was veiled in mist:
we just caught sight of the fort of Santa Cruz and
its lowered flag, as we passed abreast. As soon as
our little corvette had thundered forth its twenty-one
guns, and Fort Vilganhon had returned the compli-
ment, we were passing alongside the French Admiral,
whose band struck up the Russian national air. With
heads uncovered, as in duty bound, and hair dripping
with rain, we stood returning the salutes of the officers
on the quarter-deck, who, as long as we were un-
covered, remained the same, until we had swept by.
No sooner had the French Admiral finished, than the
Old Cumberland, the English Admiral's ship, took up
the strain, and gave us once again the whole melody.
I must confess here that the music on board the
French frigate was vastly superior to that of the two-
decker English. A few minutes more and the anchors
were let go; the chain cable rattled through the hawse-
holes, and we found ourselves moored a hundred yards
from the English Admiral.
The vast empire of Brazil, with an area of 6,000,000
of square miles, possesses only a population of
8,000,000, including 20,000 colonists of different
nations, and about the same number of the abori-
gines, half reclaimed from their savage state, but
prone to relapse into it whenever they find an oppor-
tunity. They are perishing visibly, and must soon
become extinct.
It strikes one with pity towards the owners of this
magnificent country, to see large tracts of fertile land
in the immediate vicinity of Rio without the least
BRAZIL.
7
cultivation. In many of the numerous islands of the
bay which I visited, where the richest vegetation and
the most beautiful flowers springing at once from the
granite-fringed surface of the water proclaimed the
fertility of the soil, a few square feet only were culti-
vated; the rest was the home of the snake and the
lizard. Were such a country in other hands, how
different would be the result. Yet here it can hardly
be otherwise; the abolition of the slave-trade paralyzed
what little energy there was: the abolition of slavery
would entirely ruin the country. Free colonization
must first take place on a large scale; instead of
twenty thousand, there must be twenty millions: and
to bring this to pass, the laws relating to immigrants
must first be changed; all religions must be tolerated,
and security given against the agents of emigration
and their fraudulent practices; then may Brazil offer a
home and abundance to the overstocked and laborious
populations of Europe.*
In Rio de Janeiro, and throughout Brazil generally,
every article of necessity or fancy is exorbitantly dear;
* Land is remarkably cheap in Brazil. According to an official
document published in 1850, commissioners were appointed for the
sale of public lands at prices varying from 1s. 6d. to 5s. 6d. per acre,
according to the position and fertility of the land. Labour being paid
very high, many persons have amassed money enough to become pro-
prietors of land to some extent. The great drawbacks are, the heat
of the climate, the absence of roads to any extent into the interior,
and the necessity of sending the produce for export to certain ports.
The first may be modified by care and temperate habits; the latter
two causes they are taking some steps to remove. For the well-
being of the country every means should be taken to keep up a stream
of immigration; as it is known that negroes, the present workers of
the soil, are not reproduced, and the slave treaty prohibits fresh
supplies.
8
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and I am sorry to remark that the stranger must, in
addition, submit to the dishonesty of the dealer, who
will ask him double the price that a native would pay.
The excessive dearness of Rio falls very hard on people
of small means just arrived from Europe; and I
heard several complaints from officers of the navy,
who receive only their ordinary pay, while most other
services allow double to the crews on this station. A
mil reis (about half-a-crown) has the relative value in
regard to what it can purchase that sixpence has in
England.
There is nothing particularly worthy of notice in the
city itself. The palace is a mean building; the churches
are not to be looked at after those of Spain, Belgium,
and France. In the neighbourhood, however, are
some interesting rides, provided there has not been
so much rain as to make the roads knee-deep in mud.
The Corcovada and Gavia mountains are worth visit-
ing, as is also the Botanic Garden, with its beautiful
avenue of palms, consisting of about one hundred trees,
which has at least the effect of great novelty to a
European eye. The opposite side of the bay, the
village of St. Domingo, and, above all, some of the
numerous islets with which the bay is dotted, ought
to be visited. These latter are perfect gardens of
nature. From the verge of the water, all up their
granite-ribbed sides, spring the huge-leaved cactus and
aloe; a thousand gay flowers of different hues twine and
wreathe round the thick undergrowth, and the air is
loaded with the perfume of the herbs, which grow knee-
deep over the surface.
Petropolis, a German colony, the summer residence
RIO AND ITS ENVIRONS.
9
of the court, the ambassadors, and the chief men of Rio,
is approached by steamboat, rail, and carriage. It is
picturesquely situated some distance up in the moun-
tains, in a cool and refreshing atmosphere. A visit was
made there to call upon the Russian ambassador, whose
post cannot be an enviable one. His life must be one of
ennui à la mort, without even the relief of sporting,
unless a long and fatiguing journey be made into the
interior. Again, the selfish exclusiveness of the Bra-
zilians does not tend to enliven a prolonged stay in
the country. Not that they are wanting in formal
hospitality, but their reception of strangers forms a
striking contrast with what the traveller may expe-
rience in the towns of the Argentine Republics.
One of my first visits to public buildings was paid
to the "Misericordia.' This excellent establishment
may bear comparison with the best of our European
hospitals. Here, as in most other spots in the wide
wide world, where humanity lies suffering and disabled,
are found those excellent creatures, the Sœurs de St.
Vincent de Paul. Our doctor and myself conversed
for some time with the lady principal, and with the
still young sœur who showed us round the wards.
This latter was an accomplished person. She spoke
English and German very well, and her whole manner
bespoke a lady of no inferior station. We were talking
to her of the probability of any of us being under her
care, when the report of cannon from the bay inter-
rupted our conversation. Little did we think that at
that very moment one of our own poor fellows was
being blown into the water from a gun he was loading.
Such was, however, the case, as we learned a few
10 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
moments after leaving. The French Admiral was
leaving the Gudin. The twelfth gun, not properly
stopped at the vent, when being sponged, exploded,
and shattered the arm of the poor fellow (one of the
best men, as is usually the case) who was loading
it. He was immediately removed to the hospital,
had his arm amputated, and in ten days-thanks to
the care bestowed on him-was removed on board
previous to our sailing. This accident caused a second
and third visit to the Misericordia. In the different
wards, whites and blacks, slaves and free, were side
by side; among them several English and American
sailors-victims of their own imprudence perhaps-in
the delirium of intermittent fever. One, an English
sailor, the Sister told me, was the nuisance of the
whole ward. While I was there, he was cursing
and swearing, and complaining in incoherent phrases
that they gave him sweet water instead of grog; but
the good creature who attended him excused his rough-
ness and brutality, and ascribed it all to the paroxysm
of fever. If she can boast of nothing else, Rio may
be proud of her Misericordia.
The yellow fever was not raging during our stay,
and the hospital appointed for the victims of that
malady was empty. Much havoc had been made
during latter years by cholera. Lallemont, a German
physician, of seventeen years' practice in Rio, in his
work on the Gelbe Fieber, accounts for its prevalence
from the exhalations of animal and vegetable matter,
festered by the broiling sun, which arise from the
low shores of the bay. Its first appearance in Rio
long puzzled the physicians of the place. It received
YELLOW FEVER.
11
the name of the Polka Fever, from the fact of that
dance having been just introduced, and being all the
rage.
Our stay in Rio was short, but long enough to
lose one man from fever, and to have many more in
a sickly state. And nobody was sorry when the
anchor was once more at the bows and the ship
speeding on her way to the Cape.
On the 23rd January, we were once more at anchor
in Simon's Bay.
12
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER II.
Simon's Bay-Road to Cape Town-Gardens, Museum-S. E. winds
of the Cape-Constantia and its Wines-Ascent of Table
Mountain-Dutch versus English-Peculiarities of Population-
A Ball-Trip into the Interior-Horses-The Paarl-Its Vine-
yards-Monkeys-Aspect of Country-Baine's Kloof-A Fortu-
nate Emigrant-Animals and Sporting-Mode of Travelling in
Colony-Stellenbosch-Excitement of Dutch Boers about Railway
-A Field for Emigration.
A WEEK passed in Simon's Bay offers little that
can interest the eye or amuse the mind. Equal in
size to a small English village, it contains much
about the same ingredients: a tolerable inn, numer-
ous low grog-shops, a few stores; these, with the
Government buildings, constitute Simon's Town. The
neigbourhood is composed of high, precipitous sand-
stone hills, covered with bush, heath, and many pretty
flowers in their season, but quite impracticable for
walking, on account of the loose rock which strews
the surface. Besides, unless your ship lies close into
the land, the communication to and fro is very diffi-
cult, on account of the strong south-east winds during
the summer season; and it several times happened
that I was obliged to pass the night on one of our
vessels lying more inshore, as I found it impossible to
reach the Rynda, which was the farthest out.
It must seem to any observer, on riding from
13
ROAD FROM SIMON'S BAY TO CAPE TOWN.
Simon's Bay to Cape Town, that the whole of the
Cape Peninsula was at some remote period one or
more islands, and that False and Table Bays were
the extremities of the strait between the mainland
and island. The space between is now sand soil
covered with bushes, and but little above the sea
level. The first ten miles of the road to Cape Town
are detestable, what is called a beach road; and as the
sands sometimes shift, it is no unusual thing to stick
in the sand wheel deep. Passing round two small
bays, in which are a few fishermen's huts for curing
herrings and Cape salmon, you arrive at the third,
Kalk Bay, which is quite a little fishing village, to
judge from the number of boats and tubs for salting
which extend along the beach. But the Leviathan of
the ocean, whose bones converted into garden fences
everywhere meet the eye, no longer gives occupation
to the colonists: once so frequent here, it is now no
more seen. Herrings and Cape salmon are the prin-
cipal fish caught; they are salted and conveyed into
the interior, where they are consumed by the farmers;
quantities are also exported.
Rounding the Muisenberg, just beyond Kalk Bay,
the road becomes level, and runs in many parts through
avenues of oak and fir-trees. The latter are mostly
inclined to an angle of 40° by the continued strain of
the S. E. winds. One or two pretty little villages are
on the road. A little to the left is Wynberg, the
residence of many of the merchants of Cape Town,
a delightful spot; near this place also, is the country.
residence of the Governor, Sir G. Grey. Having left
Simon's Town at 7 A. M., we arrived in Cape Town at
14
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
10, and not finding room at the Masonic Hotel, put
up at the Commercial, kept by a Dutchman. The
usual price of living at Cape Town is 7s. 6d. per diem,
whether you dine or not in the hotel.
After breakfast the doctor and myself sallied out to
see the lions of the place. Of course the first object
which a traveller nearing the Cape by land or sea would
look for, is the Table Mountain. There it is, standing
as it were over the town with its precipitous sides,
seeming to defy an escalade, and flanked by the Devil's
Berg on one side, and the Lion's Hill on the other,-
the latter in form like a gigantic Egyptian statue of a
lion couchant. Leaving the ascent of these for a
future day, we entered the Botanic Gardens, in which
is assembled a good collection of the flora of the
colony. They are situated opposite the governor's
residence, and the avenue of oaks which leads to
both is the favourite promenade of the burghers of
Cape Town. In the afternoon, the band of the
garrison played in the gardens: it was a miniature
Wednesday of Regent's Park, with all the beauty of
the place in small bonnets and inflated crinolines
after most approved European models.
We paid, during our stay, a visit to the South
African Museum. Here I expected to find a collection
of all the natural curiosities of the South of Africa,
but half the objects were from other parts of the
world. Trophies from Bomarsund, consisting of mus-
ket and bayonet, surmounted by a pair of scissors
left by some Russian dame in her hasty flight, adorn
the walls. A few stuffed antelopes and leopards,
models of the natives, and a few specimens of Cape
S. E. WINDS OF THE CAPE.
15
mineralogy, comprise the only things which properly
belong to the country. How interesting would it be
to a traveller to find the productions of such a land
properly classified, instead of being mixed pêle méle
with articles from every other part of the world.
Cape Town has been so often described, that I shall
not attempt it here. A day or two showed us the dis-
agreeable side of a residence there. The town is
paved with red sandstone, which soon crumbles to
pieces, and when the S. E. commences, such a cloud
of dust is whirled about in all directions, that, on
returning home, one has the appearance of a brick-
maker. To guard the eyes from its ill effects, the
inhabitants wear a veil over their faces- a habit which
the passing stranger will do well to copy. These
S. E. winds are one of the remarkable phenomena of
the south of Africa; with a bright sky, their first ap-
pearance is marked by the Table Mountain putting on
its "cloth," or perruque, as the French call it. This
generally takes place about mid-day, when the whole
mountain is soon covered with mist; this, arrested on
the top, is condensed, or poured like smoke over its
sides, until it is evaporated. Not a cloud, however,
passes from it to obscure the bright blue which is over
the town. A little after noon it commences to blow,
the whole town and shipping are enveloped in a cloud
of dust, ships are torn from their anchors and driven
against one another, or slip their cables and put to sea.
Towards morning the wind moderates, but recommences
generally at the same time on the morrow. During
our stay of six weeks, I do not think there were six
days in which we did not have a succession of these
16
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
winds. Their continuance may always be judged of
by observing the range of mountains extending from
Cape Handklip into the interior. Here the clouds
remain settled, piled one on the other, for days to-
gether, and are a beautiful sight to watch, when
reflecting the sun's rays at different hours of the day.
During our stay the Megara, the admiral's flag-ship,
was driven by those winds from her anchors, and
obliged to run to sea. This caused the more conster-
nation, because the officers were that evening to have
given a dramatic representation in the theatre.
No one, however short his stay, would think of
leaving without paying a visit to Constantia. So a
day or two after our arrival at Cape Town, we drove
over through the pretty village of Wynberg, and were
most hospitably received by young Mr. Van Reinen,
the proprietor of High Constantia. On this estate,
which is only of a few acres, the wine is no longer
made from the half-dried grape, as formerly. At Great
Constantia, the property of Mr. Van Cloot, the wine
is thick and luscious, more like a liqueur; it is con-
sidered to be the best Constantia. The best wine,
however, to my taste, is a light wine resembling
hock, and at least drinkable-which cannot be
said of Cape wines in general; for the so-called
Madeira and Sherry are so filled with tartar, that on
drinking them for some time, disagreeable symptoms
of acidity show themselves. This applies only to the
ordinary wines, and those when new, as mostly sold.
In company with our doctor and the first lieutenant
of the clipper, I ascended the Table Mountain. The
ravine, at the back of the town, the channel of the
ASCENT OF TABLE MOUNTAIN.
17
Rio Dulce, is the best way for making the ascent.
When you have passed through two or three whole
regiments of laughing, chattering washerwomen of
every hue, from white, or café au lait, to jet black,
of all breeds, mixed and mixed again, Dutch, Hot-
tentot, Malay, and Madagascan, standing up to their
naked knees in the brook, and hammering the linen
upon the smooth worn rock, you soon arrive at the
bounds of cultivation. On then through the wild
beauty of nature, over immense slabs of granite,
polished by the floods of ages, through groves of
acacia-trees reeking with perfume, until at about the
height of 2,000 feet you reach the head of the ravine.
From this point the way is over loose stones, up rudely
formed steps five or six feet high, by immense boulders
which have been torn from the mountain; on look-
ing up you may see others impending, that seem as if
a push would precipitate them upon you, and from
which the water is distilling in crystal drops glittering
in the sun. You hear a curious cry, and beneath are
black monkeys skipping about the rocks. Of these,
however, but few are left; they have very wisely
migrated to less disturbed quarters. We had started
from Cape Town at ten o'clock in the morning, and
did not reach the summit until four o'clock: the
height is about 3,600 feet above the sea level. It is
said that numerous picnic parties go up every year;
if the ladies of Cape Town can manage the ascent on
the town side, they must be possessed of no small
powers of endurance.
On reaching the plateau on the summit, fatigue is
forgotten in admiration of the prospect. The town
2
18
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
lies beneath, at the base of the lion's mountain; the
shipping and Robben Island, with the blue ocean form-
ing a background; in the distance ranges of hills rise
from the mainland; and if you turn your back to
these, you see the Cape, the extremity of Africa,
and the vast waste of the Southern Ocean.
We had started with a N.W. wind, but on nearing
the summit, could distinctly mark by the thin flying
vapour the various currents which seemed to meet at
the N.W. point of the mountain. The plateau has
an abundant supply of water, condensed from the
clouds ever resting on it; it filtrates through the
sandstone, and gushes out in all directions from its
sides, and especially just above its granite base. It
took us about three hours to descend. There is
another much more practicable way, by going round
by Constantia, where the ascent is more gradual.
Care should be had, however, not to attempt the
excursion without a guide, during the S.E. winds,
as fatal accidents often occur from persons losing
themselves in the mist, and falling into one of the
numerous crevices. This was the fate of a poor
fellow only a few days before our arrival.
Nearly all the houses of Cape Town have "stoeps"
and porches before the door. The rooms are without
plastered ceilings; the wooden beams being varnished.
Many houses have but one story, so that the rooms
are lofty and spacious. As for their inhabitants, what
strikes a stranger most of all, is the ignorance of the
English language among the old settlers. After sixty-
four years' possession by the English, this seems in-
comprehensible: Dutch, indeed, seems much more
POPULATION OF THE CAPE.
19
necessary than English, especially in the interior.
Not alone the lower class, but men of wealth and
station are apparently unable to speak English;
though I was often assured that it is not ignorance,
but hatred, which prevents them. An example lately
occurred, which is recorded by Mr. Calderwood: "It
was voted in the Dutch synod that the professors
should not speak or teach the English language,
and only negatived by forty against thirty-six." The
coming generation give promise of more liberal feel-
ings in this and other things.
Besides the English and Dutch, the population
consists of various crosses between them and the
aborigines, and the slaves formerly imported from the
Malay Islands and Mozambique. Few pure Hottentots
are to be seen, and still fewer Caffres; at least, in the
neighbourhood of Cape Town. The general name of
Africanders, is given to the motley population, what-
ever may be their colour. Many of the women of this
class are finely formed and very beautiful; amongst
whom, those of Madagascar descent may be distin-
guished by their elasticity and suppleness of figure,
while those of the Hottentot preserve somewhat of
their original prominent peculiarities.
During our stay, Cape Town was enlivened by the
visit of many foreigners; a French regiment en route
for the East, Spanish officers returning from Manilla,
and Dutch from Batavia. At a ball given by the
town to the officers of the fleet, all these were
assembled; and the mixture of uniforms, of English,
French, and Russians, together with the presence of
a crowd of pretty women, rendered the scene very
2-2
20 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
attractive. There is no necessity, it would seem, that
bachelor emigrants should return to England to find
partners, as certainly few towns of the size in Europe,
can produce more beauty than I saw assembled that
evening.
Having seen all that was interesting in Cape Town,
I started with Ivan Ivanovitch, the secretary of the
expedition, for a short trip into the interior. My
friend, who was writing a history of the voyage for the
Russian Government, was anxious to see
a little
beyond the capital of the colony. Mounted, there-
fore, on the top of a lumbering omnibus, with eight
fine horses and two black Jehus, one to hold the
reins and the other to use the whip, we proceeded at a
furious gallop over the twenty miles of sandy plain
which separate the Cape peninsula from the high land
of the interior. Our team was afterwards increased
to ten, and on the road we frequently saw teams of
twelve and fourteen; these are guided by two pairs
of reins, one for the leaders, and the other for those
near the wheels. The whip, a bamboo some fifteen
feet long, with a thong of twisted deer-skin about
double that length, required all the strength of arm
of our whipper to wield it with success. Driving
four-in-hand in England is nothing to this, dashing
along ten miles an hour over a sandy road often
full of holes. The Cape horses are small, hardy,
and full of vigour, and will stand an extraordinary
amount of work. Their value has, within the last
few years, nearly doubled, on account of the number
bought up by the remount agents for India. As a
farmer said to me, "They go sixty or eighty miles
THE PAARL.
21
""
a day for a week together, and get no better treat-
ment than, at the end of the day, to have their heads
tied to their knees, and be left to shift for themselves.'
After a few hours we arrived at the pretty district
of the Paarl, where the French Protestants, who had
taken refuge in Holland after the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, were planted by the Dutch Colonial
Government.
The district of the Paarl is chiefly laid out in vine-
yards and corn land, and is considered one of the
best cultivated parts of the colony. Here we paid
a visit to Mr. Isaac Bosman, a fine healthy old
Dutchman, seventy years of age, and proprietor of
one of the best vineyards. Like most of his country-
men, he did not, or would not, speak English; but
as his Dutch was tolerably pure, we got on very
well together, by our speaking German. His little
estate was quite a paradise; having a fine collection of
indigenous trees, among which the Caffre tree was
conspicuous, groves of mulberries, oranges, and citrons.
As it was the time of wine harvest, he showed us the
different processes of making Frontignac, Pontac and
sherry; also his distillery, which was in full work.
Among the wines was a fine Pontac of 1801, of
which he had only about fifty gallons left, and which
he told us he reserved for the use of the church.
It was certainly quite equal to any Constantia we
had previously tasted. The great enemies of the
vineyards are the black baboons, which descend from
the neighbouring hills and commit great depredations ;
and the cunning rascals choose their time so well, that
the mischief is only seen when the enemy has departed.
22 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Having engaged a cart and four horses, with an intel-
ligent Mozambique lad about twelve years of age (though
he did not know his age) for our driver, we proceeded
on our trip. The districts such as the Paarl are but
oases amid thousands of acres of uncultivated land.
Between each range of hills is the same dark sandy
soil, covered with stunted brushwood, which will only
be brought into cultivation when the country becomes
thickly populated. It is between the sloping limbs
of the hills, that you perceive a thick cluster of dark
green; from this issues a stream of water, and its
course is marked through the valley by the winding
line of verdure. It is here that may be seen the
snug white homestead of the settler, encompassed
by cedars or oaks, bright green vineyards, and yellow
corn. Passing the pretty village of Wellington, you
soon begin to ascend the kloof or pass through the
mountains, called Baine's kloof, from the name of
the engineer. The view from the summit and during
the descent is very fine. After about six hours' ride
we reached a rude building of boards at the foot
of the pass, where we spent the night.
Our host had killed a fatted sheep, and after supper
we went to our rude but exquisitely clean room,
through the chinks of which the rays of the moon
were penetrating, and with them the wind; much to
the disgust of my otherwise romantic friend, who
was a poet, but preferred the pleasures of imagina-
tion among the soft carpeted rooms of St. Petersburg
to the settler's rude abode in a distant colony. The
owner of the place was a fine young fellow from
the west of England, who had emigrated some four-
A SUCCESSFUL EMIGRANT.
23
teen years ago, and was now, he told me, making a
good fortune. He was farmer, inn-keeper, post-master,
government inspector, and many things besides; was
boots, chambermaid, waiter, or anything else that he
saw necessary. Withal, he was pretty well educated,
expressed himself well, and was altogether a superior
man of his class. Knowing the interest taken at home
in matters connected with emigration, I noted down his
struggles, as those of a successful emigrant.
Fourteen years ago, he emigrated as a lad, from his
native village. On board ship was a lady of influence,
going to join her husband in Australia. She took a
fancy to the lad, and gave him a letter of introduction
to one of the colonial officers; but nearly a year expired
without his obtaining any appointment: the usual reply,
"call again," continued week after week, until his
perseverance wearied his patron, and he was asked if
he thought that the secretary meant to shoot a man to
make place for him. He then, when his money was
all spent, began to look out for himself, and wisely
took the first thing that offered. He was appointed
police constable to a gang of convicts employed in
making the road over which he had travelled. The
young man was persevering, honest, and above all,
sober. He met a companion, an Irishman, in the
same position as himself; and feeling no doubt that
l'union c'est la force, they laid together a plan to make
a fortune. Their earnings for a year or two were
saved and placed at interest at six per cent., until a
small capital was amassed. He then told me his
struggles as a small storekeeper, keeper of the tolls,
and in various other attempts. In his little store, he
24
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
had plenty of visitors, he said; it being the only house
on the road, and thirty miles distant from the nearest
town one voyager wanted something to eat, another
something for his horse; some wanted to pass the night,
and were obliged to sleep as they could. This, as he
said, ate up all his profits, for he never took money
for such slight entertainment; at last the idea came
into his head to open a sort of inn. The wooden
barracks of the police being for sale, the two men
bought them, and from that time, seven years ago,
commenced their fortune. Both are well known and
respected in the district. Only a short time before my
visit, they together bought a farm of three thousand
acres, of which the Irishman is in charge, while the
Englishman, as before said, manages the inn.
Wild animals of all sorts are becoming scarce;
Spring-bok and Reh-bok are to be found, but the
pursuit is very fatiguing. They are mostly shot
by the farmers from horseback: persons travel-
ling through the country have generally a gun in the
cart, as an opportunity often presents itself when least
expected. There are still many leopards, or Cape
tigers, about the hills, and they are very destructive to
the flocks. The farmers set iron traps for them, and
shoot them when they are fixed by the leg. The
master of the Rynda, walking among the hills at the
back of Simon's-town, saw a she leopard and two cubs
only a hundred yards off; much as I wandered, how-
ever, with my gun in search of game, I never had the
good fortune to get sight of one. Formerly, there
were many wolves in this district, and the ravine
where the inn stands, is called Wolver Kloof on that
TRAVELLING BY BULLOCK WAGGON.
25
account. Black baboon apes are everywhere common
among the rocks, but generally where the step of men
cannot reach. Birds, such as partridges, quails, &c.,
are abundant, and afford good sport.
The usual mode of travelling, beyond the imme-
diate vicinity of Cape Town, is by bullock waggon,
with a team generally of fourteen or sixteen fine oxen,
yoked two and two. The waggon is of a long oval
shape and covered with canvas. For the long journeys
into the interior, horses, and even mules are of little
use, while a yoke of oxen are capable of bearing pro-
longed fatigue, and what is more important, they
always find their own fodder. It is a pretty sight that
presents itself at the "outspanning" places by the
wayside. About every ten miles, is set apart a certain
tract of country for the use of travellers; and as water is
above all things needful, these spots are always selected
in some valley by the side of a brook or pool of water.
On these places, the neighbouring settlers are not
allowed to turn their cattle, under a penalty; all
comers are free for twenty-four hours, after which time
they are expected to make way for others. Around
these spots, at all hours of the day, may be seen the
different spans of cattle grazing; while near the road-
side is the waggon, with the sixteen pairs of yokes
extended before it. A little further on, under the
shade of some tree or bushes, are the voyagers, cooking
their provisions, or stretched on the ground sleeping.
If women are of the party, the waggon is set apart
for their use, while the men, wrapped in their sheep-
skins, take the softest place they can find. If a long
journey is performed on horseback, the rider generally
26
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
has a led horse, which he mounts occasionally. To a
European just released from the formal life of great
towns, nothing can be more agreeable than to make a
journey in a new country in this vagabond, gipsy sort
of manner.
A beautiful drive over mountain and intervening
plains brought us to Stellenbosch, the first settlement
of free colonists from Holland that was established in
the colony. I had seen many of the most picturesque
villages of old Holland, but none to be compared in
snugness and beauty to this. Its streets of irregularly
built houses, running at right angles, are lined with
magnificent oaks, from which the fat acorns dropped
by basketfuls at every gush of wind. The right of
gathering these is sold street by street by the munici-
pality, and they are carefully collected by numerous
troops of various coloured children, and finally become
transformed into excellent pork. Every house has its
stooep, or raised porch, in which the inhabitants may
be seen drinking their coffee as early as five o'clock
in the morning, and chatting with visitors in the
evening.
The whole of the district, at the time I visited it,
was in a state of the greatest excitement: they were
going to have a railway. The good old Dutchmen,
the most anti-go-ahead animals in existence, actually
thought it possible that a railway passing through
their towns and estates might double the value of the
property. The conviction was not, however, arrived at
without a deal of rousing up by the few energetic men
they had about them; but at length it was decided on,
the ground surveyed, and labourers were on their way
THE CAPE AS A FIELD FOR EMIGRANTS.
27
from England: a year or two will see Cape Town in
direct communication with the interior. The comple-
tion of this railway will form an epoch in the history
of the colony. If since 1800 she has progressed
twenty-fold, she will then make prodigious strides both
in population and improvement. With steam, new
energies will be awakened; the plodding, obstinate,
Dutch farmer must change his ways, while the inventive
Englishman will find in it a help to carry out his plans,
and a remedy for the deficiency of human labour.
As a field for emigration, various are the opinions
given by people well acquainted with the colony: I
here allude to persons of small property; for labourers,
there is always work with good wages. Among the
causes which would prevent an Englishman of small
property from settling in this colony, are, the unpleasant
feeling of the Dutch, and the absolute necessity of
speaking the Dutch language. Fortunes are not to be
made by farming, but by commerce only, in the ports
and larger inland settlements. To a man of small
desires, who can realize the words of Pope-
"Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
Lie in three words, health, peace, and competence-"
the height of his ambition may be found in any of the
beautiful spots of which this fine country possesses so
many.
28
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER III.
Departure from Simon's Bay-Mew Bay-A Tropical Forest-Anger
-Batavia-Population-Municipal Police of Malays and Chinese
-Stroll by night in Batavia-Gambling-Opium-Revenue from
latter-Banca Straits-Tin Mines-Singapore versus Batavia-
A Buddhist Temple-Mr. Whampoa, a Chinese Merchant-The
Human Family at Singapore-A Stroll through Streets; Barbers,
Jewel Dealers, Tailors and others-Leave Singapore.
AFTER a stay of six weeks in the Cape Colony, the
squadron again set sail for the China Seas. On the
forty-second day we reached the Straits of Sunda; but
before coming in sight of land were made aware of its
vicinity by a number of Birds of Paradise, which
hovered around our masts. Sometimes a tangled
mass of cocoa-trees and rattans was passed, as, driven
by the current, it floated out into the Indian Ocean.
The same afternoon we anchored in Mew Bay, at the
entrance of the straits.
I was soon ashore with my gun, treading for the
first time the intricate ground of a tropical forest.
Around the beach thousands of trees had been felled
by former visitors, and their trunks and stretching
boughs formed impassable barriers along the shore.
After forcing my way about half a mile inland,
without meeting anything living but monkeys and
parrots-which, with their agile movements and dis-
cordant noise, were enough to give life to the forest-
THE STRAITS OF SUNDA.
29
I at last came upon a pool of water. Thence I
followed for some distance a sort of path, on which
the foot sank deep at every step in the damp black
earth, and which was obstructed with round holes full
of water. At first I took this for a native track, but on
examining the ground I saw the unmistakable traces
of different sorts of wild beasts; among which were
those of a large clawed animal, and of others with
small cloven feet resembling those of deer. Recollect-
ing that I was in a land of the rhinoceros and the tiger,
I did not care to penetrate any farther, but returned
to the boat without disturbing either the monkeys or
the parrots, both which seemed to chatter the same
language.
A few hours' steaming through the straits brought
us to Anger, a village in the Sundas, much frequented
by ships for fresh supplies of provisions. On casting
anchor we were immediately besieged by Malays
bringing fowls, cocoa-nuts, and monkeys. We took
in some quantity of the first, which are remarkably
cheap (five shillings a dozen) in these islands, the
original home of the domestic fowl. Of the last we
received on board thirty or forty, but before we reached
Batavia, two days later, they had all fallen overboard,
and we had a clear ship.
At Anger there is nothing remarkable on shore.
The country is flat and marshy; along the shore
spread large groves of cocoa-nut trees. About a mile
from the village is an obelisk, raised to the memory
of an English general (Crawford, I think, was the
name), who died during the British occupation
of Batavia. There are many Chinese settlers in
30 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Anger; and the stranger on first beholding the
Malays of the Sundas, will be struck with their small
stature and miserable appearance; their long lank hair
streaming in disorder around their faces, and little, in
their appearance, to distinguish the sexes.
One or
two European houses are to be found at Anger, the
residences of the Dutch officials; the abodes of the
natives are miserable hovels. A line of telegraph
wires communicates with Batavia, and gives advice of
the arrival of vessels.
Immediately that the anchor was dropped before
Batavia, and the customary salutes had been given and
returned, I hailed a Malay sampan, or boat, and sailed
to shore. Passing between the piers, which extend for
a mile into the bay, and between which flows the river,
we landed at the old port of Batavia. Prior to 1809,
when these piers were constructed under the French
domination, the river was constantly overflowing its
bed, and the malaria thus generated caused a fear-
ful mortality among the inhabitants: even now no
European will sleep in the old town if he can help it.
New Batavia is about three miles from the port, and a
delightful city to spend a short time in. Its houses
are spacious buildings, surrounded by park-like gar-
dens; and the hotels, of which there are several, are
excellent, containing every luxury which the cli-
mate, indolence, or epicureanism require. Crowds of
Japanese servants, of silent step, haunt your move-
ments, ready to anticipate or to execute your wishes.
The price of living in these hotels is about 7s. 6d. per
day, and carriages may be hired for the same time for
a mere trifle.
BATAVIA.
31
The Chinese and Malay quarters are apart from that
of the Europeans, and the houses are huddled together
and very dirty. The Chinese are heavily taxed, and
a source of uneasiness to the Government. The
Japanese and other Malays seem kept in an excellent •
state of subjection; noné are allowed to be abroad
after sunset without carrying a lighted torch, made of
cocoa-nut fibre. The same municipal law extends to
all the coloured population, including Chinese. Each
quarter is under the charge of a native police, and the
weapons with which they are armed are most efficient,
though primitive. They consist of light poles, having
at the extremity a fork-like division, made out of a
bush on which the thorns, inclining inward, are left ;
something like the following sketch :-

With this instrument the policeman catches the evil
doer by the back of the neck. If the culprit remains
quiet, it does him no injury; but on his attempting to
run away the thorns run into the flesh, and, unless he
stops instantly, lacerate his neck in a fearful manner.
There are also more decisive weapons to back the use
of these when necessary.
A ride through the different parts of Batavia by
night, offers not one of the least curious scenes to a
traveller: the twinkling from the smouldering torches
carried by the gliding natives, the tramp of the native
patrols, their wild cries at every bridge, the illumined
houses of the whites, huge bats fluttering about in all
$
32 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
directions, one after another attract his attention, as,
recovering from the relaxation of the day, he wanders.
about in the European part of the town enjoying the
cool of the evening. But if he enters the Chinese
quarters he will meet quite a different life; the streets
being lit up with lamps, and the air reeking with
nauseous odours. The traffic is still great, and
business is going on, but business much mixed up
with pleasure and with vice. At the gambling
tables may be seen Chinese playing at cards or
dice, for gold, or for the lowest coin in the currency,
unmoved by either their gains or losses. The
Chinese are said to be the most desperate gamblers of
any people on earth, risking not only their moveable
and immovable property, but even their wives or
concubines. At the opium shops, which generally
adjoin the play stalls, others may be seen sitting on
the low tables smoking the drug; and at a little box
at the door small parcels are sold, in value from
6d. and upwards. The Dutch Government receives
annually more than 800,000l. revenue from opium
alone.
From Batavia we proceeded towards the Banca
Straits, passing amid numbers of the low alluvial and
thickly wooded islands, which are everywhere dotted
over the Java Sea. At the entrance of the straits we
cast anchor and fired a gun for a Malay pilot. During
the night a boat silently approached the ship, and
three Malays came on board. At daybreak perching
themselves, after the manner of monkeys, on the
davits of the quarter-boats, they were at least a source
of amusement to the men, if of no utility to the ship.
SINGAPORE.
33
The low shores of Sumatra rose emerald green from
the water's edge, as far as the horizon, the level only
broken by some giant trees which towered above their
more humble companions. On the other side, the site
of the famous tin mines, among the mountains of the
island of Banca, could be distinguished by the great
clearings made in the forests. This industry is entirely
in the hands of the Chinese, under Dutch supervision,
and in 1853 it produced 5,540 tons of metal.*
On the 25th we arrived at Singapore. This settle-
ment forms a remarkable contrast to Batavia; as a
resting place for the traveller it is far inferior. There
the native races are held in strict subjection; here
they do what they like, and are independent even to
insolence. Batavia is the chief port of a colony largely
producing all sorts of tropical commodities; Singapore
is but a depôt, where such commodities are brought
for exchange. Yet Singapore, from its position and
its unrestricted commerce, bids fair in a few more
years to equal, if not to surpass, the city which was
founded more than two hundred years before it. As
soon as was possible I took up my residence on shore,
to examine at leisure this cosmopolis of the east.
On visiting the chief Buddhist temple in Singapore
we witnessed a ceremony which takes place every year
—that of blessing the junks returning to China with
the south-west monsoon. A crowd of lounging
Chinese filled the temple, some lying on the floor,
some smoking their bamboo pipes, some gnawing
sugar-cane, and others engaged in conversation.
Respect there was none. Presently twenty or more
Crawfurd.
3
34 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
bonzes arrived, and commenced divers antics; gongs
were beaten, incense smoked, and, as a finale, a huge
heap of crackers was exploded before the altar. On
this each bonze caught up the image which was next
him, and with a hopping step ran across the road to
where the boats were waiting to take them on board
the junks.
I could hardly believe it possible that
religion could become debased by man to such an
extent as this.
Among the acquaintances I made in Singapore was
that of Whampoa, a Chinese merchant. The name of
this intelligent and liberal gentleman has lately been
much brought before the public of different nations.
He told me that, as a child, he accompanied his father,
an emigrant from the south of China, -to Singapore.
This was in 1820, when only a few huts were raised on
a small space cleared from the tropical forest, by the
banks of that stream, where now stand nearly 5,000
houses, containing a population of upwards of 26,000.
Then. only a few ships lay in the roads; now more
than 800 square-rigged ships and 3,000 junks cast
anchor every year, bringing imports to the value of
nearly 22,000,000 dollars, and taking away produce
to the amount of 17,500,000 dollars, in round num-
bers.* The fortunes of the two Whampoas increased
with that of the colony, and the son is now one of
the richest merchants of the place. He owns one or
two country seats in the neighbourhood, situated amid
groves of nutmeg-trees, and in one of these he enter-
tained a large party of us at dinner. Many of the
officers expected a dinner of birds'-nests, sharks' fins,
* Crawfurd.
POPULATION OF SINGAPORE.
1.00
35
nenuphar, and other Chinese meats, and were dis-
appointed to find a well-laid English table, and Mr.
Whampoa at its head, doing the honours with all the
ease of an accustomed host. In a conversation I had
with him about China and the Chinese, one remark
struck me. He compared his countrymen to a man in
a deep hole looking up into the sky, and perceiving
only one star, whereas if he came up to the surface of
the earth the whole firmament would appear to him.
Mr. Whampoa's son is receiving his education in
Edinburgh, and he himself expressed his intention of
visiting England in a year or two.
Singapore is the best place in the world for seeing
in a small space the different races which are generally
called Orientals, and their mixed progeny. In like
manner it is at Rio Janeiro and Cape Town that the
African races may be best observed; and at St. Fran-
cisco, the various peoples of Europe. In the town of
Singapore, Chinese, Malays, natives of India, and
Europeans are found, and this is their numerical order.
Parsees, Persians, Arabs, and Siamese, come next.
The languages spoken correspond with the races, but
the Malay, easily learned, is the common medium of
communication.
A stroll through the streets, or a ride in one of the
one-horsed carriages of the place, affords both amuse-
ment and instruction to the visitor. Chinese vendors
of trifles, or keepers of out-door restaurants and cook-
shops, ply a busy trade at the corners and in the nooks
of the streets. Ensconced under some wall may be
seen a barber, shaving the almost naked body of an
Oriental, shampooing a Chinaman or picking his ears.
3-2
36
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Several squalid-looking mortals wander about the
streets, haunting the stores frequented by stranger
Europeans. One day, I was standing in Whampoa's
store, when one of these persons came up to me,
and unfolding a dirty rag, offered me the contents
for sale, consisting of several rubies, emeralds, and
brilliants, worth, perhaps, many hundred pounds.
This man, Whampoa told me, was one of the richest
in Singapore, and was a native of India. In one
street the tailors' shops are sure to attract the notice
of the stranger, for in some as many as fifty Chinese
may be seen making up white clothing, their bodies
naked to the waist, their tails bound round their heads,
and their persons sending forth a strong musky odour.
The Sepoy policeman, the Parsee money-changer, the
Arab captain, the Siamese sailor, the Chinese small
dealer, dandling his baby at the door while his Malay
helpmate is performing some menial duty within, will
all stay the footstep of the wanderer as he passes
through the streets of this settlement, which has the
aspect of an everlasting fair. And such, indeed, is
Singapore for its soil produces little except spices and
fruits. It is a depôt, where the produce and manufac-
tures of China and the Archipelago are bartered for the
manufactures and luxuries of Europe.
Our next port, after leaving Singapore, was Manilla,
where we arrived on the 13th May.
37
CHAPTER IV.
Manilla-City of Manilla-Population-" Tributo "-Government-
How time is spent in Manilla-The Tagals; their Houses, Dress,
Women, Amusements, &c.-A Fête of the Pueblo-Marriage
Customs-Music-Cock-fighting-A Cock-Pit-Gambling-
Cigar Manufactories-A few Particulars about the Tobacco Cul-
tivation and Manufacture-Produce of the Country-Tagal Manu-
factures-Commerce-Enterprise-Mines and Minerals-Hong
Kong-Unpleasant Circumstance-Shanghai.
THE modern city of Manilla is a fortified town at the
mouth of the river Pasig, containing about 12,000 in-
habitants, chiefly Spaniards and their descendants, and
the troops; but the walled city forms only a small
portion of what is generally called Manilla. With
the suburbs, consisting of several "pueblos," chief
among which is Binondo, where the consuls, principal
merchants, and foreigners reside, the whole population
is not less than 100,000. In the entire group of islands
there are about a million of Negritos or Igorroto,
still in a savage state, and about four million Tagals
and others, under Spanish authority. The Chinese
Metis, or descendants of Chinese by native women,
number about a quarter of a million, and are
easily distinguished, the obliquity of the eye remain-
ing through generations; in fact, Chinese blood is
hard to lose, as the saying is. The pure Chinese
number about 12,000; the Spanish Metis about
38 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
20,000; while the persons of pure Spanish blood are
not more than 5,000, including those fresh from the
mother country. As this estimate is based upon
the "tributo," it is not quite satisfactory, for false
returns are sure to be made to avoid payment. This
"tributo," and the monopolies of tobacco and distil-
lation, are the chief sources of the revenue of the
colony, much of which is drained from it by the
mother country. The "tributo" of the native popula-
tion is 14 Spanish dollars; of Spanish or Chinese Metis,
3 dollars; and of pure Chinese, 62 dollars, per annum.
The government of the colony is entrusted to a
governor and sub-governor. There are very few
European troops, though the officers of all grades are
Spaniards. The native soldiery consists of five regi-
ments of infantry, one of artillery, and one of cavalry;
altogether, 8,000 men, with about the same number of
militia. There is also a small naval flotilla for local
purposes, of which the head-quarters is at Cavili, a
fortified place a few miles from Manilla, towards the
sea. But the well-being of the colony seems to be
preserved more by the pastoral crook of the Church
than by the sword of the governor.
Our stay in Manilla being so short, there was no
possibility of making a journey into the country, or
going up the Pasig to the Lake of Bay, to visit the
plantations of Jala Jala, formerly the property of
M. Gironnière, whose romantic book, Vingt Ans aux
Philippines, though read with astonishment in Europe,
is laughed at near the spot where its scenes are laid.
During the few days I spent in Manilla I took up my
quarters in a hotel, of which there are two or three in
MANILLA.
39
the suburbs of Binondo; but there was little comfort
in these, which are very different from the hotels in
Batavia or even in Singapore. Their badness, how-
ever, speaks much for the general hospitality of the
Spaniards and foreign residents, whose houses are
open to all visitors furnished with letters of introduc-
tion, or who are known by their name or station to
be respectable. We nevertheless preferred a hotel,
because it left us free to spend every day as we liked;
either driving about the beautiful environs of Manilla
in a brilocho, or open carriage of the country, drawn
by two small horses of the race which is common
to the whole Indo-Chinese Archipelago; visiting the
different pueblos, native houses, cock-fights, pro-
cessions, masses, &c.; or rowing about on the Pasig
in a "banca," among swarms of ducks, naked people,
and boats moving to and from the city. In the
evening came the usual drive up and down the
"Playa," or beach-road, which fronts the town, and
which is the general promenade of all Manilla after the
heat of the day. There were generally to be seen the
carriages of the governor and bishop, each with four
horses; brilochos, filled with Spanish ladies in man-
tillas; proud-looking, voluptuous Creoles; picturesque
"Metises," accompanied by Spanish cavaliers; and
dark-looking half-breeds, puffing cigarettes or chew-
ing betel. A band of native musicians executed pieces
from popular composers; soft words were spoken, in-
trigues were begun, continued, or brought to a close,
while the sun sank behind the distant mountains of
Merivedis; and soon carriage after carriage disap-
peared, bearing their burdens to the tertulias, or
40 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
evening parties, which generally close the listless day
of a Spaniard or Creole in Manilla. At 11 P.M. the
gates of the city are closed for the night.
By far the most interesting portion of the popula-
tion are the Indians, as the Tagals are called, the
Metis and other mixtures. Like all other Indo-Poly-
nesian peoples, the Tagals are idle, careless of all
except pleasure, good-natured, loving money without
the trouble of working for it, insincere, superstitious,
great gamblers, vain and cunning: those about Manilla
are the worst specimens. The houses of the Tagals
are small bamboo constructions raised on piles; the
interior being covered with mats, on which the whole
family sleep under a mosquito curtain. Utensils are
few; but a Virgin, a crucifix, and a cock, have always a
place of honour. The wants of the inmates are easily
supplied; their superfluous wealth goes in card-playing
and cock-fighting, and their greatest riches are carried
about either on their backs, or under their arms in the
form of a game cock. The better class of Tagals, and
most of the half-breeds, have dwellings of a more solid
construction, but even these have little furniture.
The dress of the men is a pair of trowsers with a
shirt worn outside them; the former of striped silk or
cotton, and the latter of calico, grass cloth, or pina,
generally richly embroidered at the bosom.
The
dandies among them have many little accessories; such
as a fine stitched pina handkerchief, a silk cravat, and
a hat made of fine bark, nearly equalling in strength
and flexibility those hats known by the name of
Panamas. Such a costume will cost ten times as
much as a European dress, besides the gold and silver
TAGAL WOMEN.
41
ornaments which almost every Indian wears. But their
dress, like everything else they possess, often changes
hands, owing to their ineradicable habit of gambling.
The Tagal women wear a petticoat of striped silk,
pina, or cotton, according to their means; and a sort
of chemise made of a very transparent stuff, either
nipa, pina, or a mixture of these materials, with long
sleeves open under the arms: this is also striped,
richly embroidered, and, when confined round the
waist by a sash, generally betrays a full and well-
formed bust. They bind their long black hair into a
thick knot at the back of the head, and stick trinkets
in it, having first washed it with the juice of the
bergamot orange, and then anointed it with cocoa-nut
oil in which the fragrant flowers of the Sampaguita
have been boiled. They also rub their bodies with
this mixture, called by them lañis oleroso. Like all
Indian women, they are passionately fond of flowers,
and wreath themselves coronets from the many beauti-
ful flowers which carpet their fields, especially one,
the sweet-smelling Tchampara. The little feet of the
women are unfettered with shoes or stockings; all
they wear is their tiny toe-slippers, or "chenillas " of
coloured velvet, worked with silk, gold or silver thread,
and lined with red silk. They have also a habit of
polishing their heels and tinging them with carmine,
as they do their fingers also.
Taken altogether a
Tagal woman, when dressed in her manner, has a very
agreeable appearance, as she moves coquettishly along
with an undulating swing of the body, or dances the
national or Spanish dances.
The Tagals are personally very clean; those who are
42
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
rich enough, and live near the river, have a small
bathing house of bamboo in the water to which the
family retire, and where intimate acquaintances can
join them. Here, clad in a dress appropriate to the
occasion, they smoke their cigarettes, eat their bon-
bons, and luxuriate in the cool element. Those
who do not possess such a bathing house, take their
swim in the most convenient part of the nearest river.
The Spaniards, and the Hijos de pais, as the pure
descendants of Spaniards are called, follow the same
custom, as in fact they do many other of the easy
habits of the natives, which soon grow upon them.
The chief food of the Tagals is rice boiled dry;
pansit, a sort of vermicelli made from rice; the dried
flesh of deer or buffaloes, and fish. The lower orders
sit on the ground and eat with their fingers; those
who have any pretension to polite manners, sit at
tables, but still use their fingers more than forks or
"bocadito" or choice morsel, offered you
spoons: a
with the fingers, must be considered a great compli-
ment. In the midst of a repast, even in families of the
better class, a cigarette or chew of betel is indulged
in often. They are a sober people; the chief intoxi-
cating drink used is a wine made from the cocoa-palm ;
they consume, besides, great quantities of cooling
drinks made from different fruits. Hospitality is a
common virtue, and it is often carried to excess,
especially when a Tagal has the honour to entertain a
stranger as I witnessed on several occasions.
On the occasion of the fêtes of the patron saints
of the "pueblos," which adjoin Manilla, two of which
occurred during our stay, the whole afternoon was
FÊTE OF THE PUEBLO.
43
spent in the marching of a long religious procession
through all the streets of the pueblo. This was made
as imposing as possible by an array of priests, white
and brown, in their gorgeous robes, bands of military
music, all the civil authorities, and lines of devotees
bearing lighted tapers. Among the number were
many long-tailed Celestials, Christians pro tem. In
the evening the feasting and gaiety commenced, and
nearly all the houses of the pueblo were illuminated.
We entered several houses, and were received with
the greatest joy; in one house, that of the alcalde, I
soon found myself promenading with the daughter of
the host, and trying to make her understand the two
or three words of pure Castilian I knew, mingled with
much bastard Latin, which, though it did not serve
the purpose intended, had at least a mirth-producing
effect. The gentle niña meanwhile took pleasure in
presenting me with cigars, cigarettes, and choice sweet-
meats, and finally, spread a betel leaf with lime,
wrapped up in it a piece of areca nut, clipped and formed
the whole into a neat morsel and persuaded me to
have a chew. The feasting, dancing, and music were
kept up until midnight; fresh friends kept coming
and going, evidently making a round of visits, and all
•was light-heartedness, affability, and enjoyment. I
heard afterwards, that however much the natives like
to entertain foreigners, they detest the Spaniards, and
the presence of one at their parties immediately throws
a restraint and iciness over all the guests.
Notwithstanding that it is already three hundred
years since Christianity was introduced among the
Tagals, they still retain much of their old superstition
44
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and loose habit of living. That irregular intercourse
of the sexes, especially, which, as missionaries tell, is
the prevailing vice among their converts in the Islands
of the Pacific, has not been, and apparently cannot
be, eradicated in these islands. Constancy has little
part in the native character, and bigamy, to the third
or fourth degree, is a common occurrence, so that
the law has provided that no couple can be joined
without producing papers signed by the alcalde of
their parish, to testify that each is free; but either
because they are too poor to pay the fee, or too lazy
to take the trouble, great numbers overlook the
ceremony altogether. Connections between foreigners
and native women are also common, and considered
honourable by the latter. It is a habit among
them for the swain to work for his future father-
in-law, and earn his intended by a certain period of
labour, as the Hebrew patriarchs were sometimes
constrained to do; and it often happens to the poor
youth, as happened of old to Jacob, that the cruel
father-in-law refuses his consent at the end of the term
fixed: although, by that time, the bridegroom may
have little left to desire unless it be the strengthen-
ing of their union before the priest. The girl, in such
cases, can leave her father, and throw herself upon
the protection of the law, which, if the man has
served the stipulated term, orders the immediate
celebration of the marriage. This old custom keeps
its ground still, in spite of many attempts of the
priests and the Government to put a stop to it.
Among the amusements of the natives may be num-
bered theatrical performances in bamboo theatres, in
COCK FIGHTING.
45
which devils, fairies, and other supernaturals play a
great part. Musical by nature, they have copied much
from the Spaniards; and the manner in which the
native military bands play pieces of celebrated Euro-
pean composers would merit approbation in any
country. The favourite instrument among the people
is a bandoline with metal strings, on which they play
with a piece of bamboo, or they let the finger-nails
grow long for that purpose. Gambling is their
delight, but cock-fighting is a madness, for it com-
bines sport (so called) with ruinous gambling.
In a Tagal pueblo, on a holiday, the spectator may
see seven-eighths of the male population with cocks
under their arms; and in the court of the church he
may see dozens more pegged down, while their owners
are performing their devotions within, and putting up
a short supplication for good luck. A stream of people
in striped clothing of many colours, is setting in one
direction, which the stranger will most likely follow,
as I did, on a certain fête day, through the pueblo
of Santa Cruz, adjoining Manilla.
The neighbourhood of the cock theatre was a busy
scene of Tagals and Chinese: stalls and locomotive
trays, where cocoa-wine, cigars, gingerbread, pansit,
fruits, and sweetmeats were sold; cocks of all sizes
and plumage carried under the owners' arms, or held
before the beak of some rival, or confined by a peg
stuck in the ground; the shouts of the Chinese ven-
dors; the labial hubbub of the Indians; the crowing
of a hundred shrill cocks; heat, dust, odours, nau-
seous or savoury, composed of palm-oil, musk, seething
fat, and tobacco;—-such were a few of the phenomena
46
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
which occupied three of my senses, and made not a
very delightful impression on a fourth. The building
was of bamboo poles, on a foundation of palm stems,
about sixty feet high, having a roof with lids like a
box, to admit the light full on the operations below.
Inside was a round platform about five feet from the
ground, encircled with a railing of bamboo. The
spectators were in the space between, their heads on
a level with the platform, the stage of operations; but
we, as strangers, were admitted to the platform, and
furnished with chairs. Besides ourselves there were
on the platform a Government inspector to settle
disputes, the proprietors of the gallery, and police;
the owners of cocks were admitted when wanted.
Hundreds of natives were peeping from the outside,
their eyes being on a level with the stage; arms were
thrust through the bars, and money was thrown in
the ring as they eagerly betted.
The bets being arranged for one fight, the owners
of the birds commenced by swinging them backwards
and forwards till their beaks touched; when a proper
degree of irritation was produced, the spurs were un-
sheathed, and with ruffled necks the combat began.
It was generally of short duration, the sharp steel
spurs, or rather blades, two inches in length, disabling
one or the other bird at the first well-aimed attack.
The victor then took up his cock and his money; the
vanquished his dead or wounded bird, and sneaked out
to dress its wounds, while another couple continued
the sport. In about half an hour, I saw about fifteen
couple contend. Sometimes both birds were killed; at
another time one turned coward and ran away, and of
CIGAR MANUFACTORIES.
course lost, and was well hissed.
47
In one instance,
after a well-contested fight of about a minute, one of
the combatants being prostrated, his rival began to
crow his victory and the owners were hastening to
take up their birds, when the prostrate bird, fired by the
contemptuous crow of his enemy, sprang up, chased the
other round the ring, pierced him by a well-directed
spring, and was greeted with shouts of joy from all the
gazers. The cocks were of all sizes, but the result
seemed to depend more on their agility and training
than their size: there is a small species found wild
in the forests, which is much prized for its pluck and
fierceness. I saw several hundred dollars change hands
during this half-hour; the proprietor deducted a portion
for himself, and paid the balance to the winners, the
owner of course always backing his own bird. Such is
a picture of the cruel amusement of cock-fighting, so
common not only in the Philippines, but all over the
Archipelago. Apart from its brutality, it has a
degrading effect on native character: a cock is treated
better than a wife; labour or talents are only exercised
to provide the means to indulge the passion, and
cheating and pilfering are the natural results.
In this
The largest of the cigar manufactories of Manilla is
in the suburb of Binondo, and affords occupation to
4,000 women, and half that number of males.
and other Government manufactories in the neighbour-
hood, there are altogether 7,000 men and 9,000 women
employed. On entering the first portion of the build-
ing the ear is assailed by an almost deafening noise,
caused by some hundreds of women seated on the
floor and hammering the leaves on a stone or block
48
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
These
with a mallet, to polish them for outsides.
women form a motley group, some being half naked,
others in rags, many in gay colours, and a few dressed
with care and neatness. Among them were several
whose personal appearance was prepossessing, but
on the whole I judged that beauty found a more
profitable occupation than making cigars for a few
cents a day.
Tobacco was introduced by the Spanish Govern-
ment from the New World. It first became a
monopoly in 1781, and the income derived from it
from that year until 1840, amounted to 28,827,450
dollars. The present yearly profit averages about one
million and a quarter of dollars. The strictest mea-
sures are adopted during the time of its harvest to
prevent any infraction of the monopoly, and the gather-
ing is presided over by officers sent on purpose. The
leaves are first placed under cover, in heaps, to fer-
ment; then sorted by women into five classes accord-
ing to their size, and suspended in a current of air to
dry. Each packet thus sorted contains ten leaves, and
is called a "palilo;" ten such make a "mano," and
thirty mano a "farda," weighing from seventy to
seventy-five pounds. The tobacco is of three qualities,
the first being paid for at the rate of 83 dollars per
farda; the second 7, and the third 5 dollars. This
is about 6d. English money per pound for the first
quality; manufactured in cigars it is sold at the
Government depôt for 14 dollar, or more than 5s.
All this tobacco is sent up under an escort to the
different factories around Manilla. Women, called
Dobladores, then wet it with water, or sometimes rum
PRODUCE OF THE COUNTRY.
49
and vinegar, and make it up into rough cigars, which
are finished by the Celladores, as the girls are called
the refuse is made up into cigarettes. Most of the
cigars are packed in cases of 500, numbering from
one to four, according to size; they are sold at the
rates of 14, 10, 8, 6 dollars per thousand, the better
sorts being in boxes of 125 each. On the whole, very
little care is taken in the manufacture: the tobacco is
of good flavour, but carelessly made up, and in the
cases which we received on board, many cigars were
disgusting from the odour and taste of palm oil, or
other grease with which the work girls are accustomed
to rub their bodies. Nearly the whole of the popula-
tion, men, women, and children smoke, and quantities
of leaves are exported to Spain.
Among the other products of the country, may be
briefly mentioned rice, largely exported to China, and
received there free of duty. Sugar-cane is largely
grown; coffee is almost wild, and the Government has
given prizes for its cultivation to those who possess
plantations of 7,000 square yards. Cacao, beans,
indigo, silk, and cotton are also produced. The cocoa
palm, and the bamboo, those bounteous offerings of
Nature to man in an infant or savage state, are here
found in great abundance; and pages might be filled
with the list of the almost innumerable articles they
furnish him with in return for the slightest labour.
There are a few specialities of nature or art in these
islands which deserve to be named. The "abaca" is a
species of banana (Musa textilis), from the finer fila-
ments of which, mixed with silk, most of the native
clothing is made; while the coarser sort, commonly
4
50
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
known as Manilla hemp, is largely exported, both raw
and made into rope. The pinâ, or pine-apple leaf, pro-
duces a fibre so airy and fine that its weaving must be
carried on under water, as some say, or under a net, as
the least current of air will break it; and yet when the
kerchiefs made from it leave the hands of the Tagal
work-girl they are heavy with embroidery: the prices of
these vary from 20 to 2,000 francs, and even higher.
More solid fibres of the same plant are made into
dress pieces, which are eagerly sought for by all visitors
to Manilla, and must rejoice the hearts of the fair
ones at home for whom they are intended. Mats
made from strips of bamboo, and from the leaves of
several trees, are used for various purposes, such as
boat sails, carpets, or beds. The finely-woven hats
and cigar-cases of Manilla are world-renowned, but
they cannot be compared to the similar productions
of Panama.
A tolerably large trade is carried on between the
Philippines and the islands of the Sooloo group, chiefly
by the Chinese, and consists in the exchange of Euro-
pean manufactured goods for birds' nests, tortoise-shell,
biche-de-mer, or dried sea slugs, shark fins, deer
sinews, and pearls, all of which are re-exported for the
Chinese market.
The Philippine group presents a most unfavourable
contrast with the other colonies, English or Dutch,
of the Indo-Chinese Archipelago. Not a steamboat
is seen plying between its different ports, on the
Pasig, or on the vast Lake of Bay. Agriculture is
everywhere neglected, the natives being careless and
lazy, and foreigners being more addicted to other
PRODUCE OF THE COUNTRY.
51
enterprises. The greater part of the foreign trade is
in their hands, since the expiration of the charter of
the Philippine Company in 1834. A few of them
have plantations of sugar and coffee on the shores of
the Lake of Bay.
Yet in no country in the world has Nature more
showered those bounties which are requisite for man's
necessities or comfort. The climate is varied, accord-
ing to altitude, from tropical heat to a fresh and tem-
perate atmosphere. The soil is of singular fertility,
producing in abundance every sort of corn, fruit, or
flower. Its mineral wealth will no doubt be found
enormous gold is washed in many of the provinces by
the natives, who use the dust as money for purchases
and for gambling; and when gold is present in the
sands of the streams, rich ore must exist near their
sources in the mountains. Coal, I heard, had been
found in many parts, of good quality, but too expen-
sive in the working to compete with ship coal from
Europe. Iron ore is found in abundance, rich, and
easily worked; but, except a mine or two worked by
Chinese, it is neglected. Rich specimens of copper
ore have been found, and there is every reason to
believe that, in every class of mineral wealth, this
group will be found to rival the neighbouring one of
Japan, which it resembles in its geological formation.
In the vast forests of the interior, whose intricate
wastes have rarely been trodden by civilized man,
may be found magnificent timber for building, dye-
woods, trees producing gums, balms, oils, and var-
nishes, and others whose trunks are filled with honey
and wax.
Many species, as yet only known by the
4 2
52
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
name given to them by the savage, are awaiting a
classical nomenclature from the botanist. The forest
and the plain teem with animal life; the rivers, lakes,
and surrounding sea swarm with fish. Nature has
done all she could, man but little to utilize her gifts.
From the Philippine islands we steamed to Hong
Kong, and anchored before the settlement on the
anniversary of the Queen's birthday, at 11 A.M.
All the ships in harbour were dressed out with
flags, and as soon as the usual salutes and visits
had been made, the two Russian corvettes were also
dressed. At noon salutes in honour of the occasion
were fired from all the English and other ships of war,
with the exception of the Russian. This led to much
unpleasant feeling at the time, and after our departure
an article was inserted in the Hong Kong newspaper
not only most insulting to the Russian Commodore,
but also distorting all the circumstances, inasmuch as
it declared that no notice whatever had been taken
of the occasion, and that the Russian Commodore
had failed in courtesy towards the English Admiral,
by not informing him of his intended departure. The
truth is that, with the exception of the salutes, the
customary honours were paid, and that notice of the
Commodore's departure on the morrow was given by
him to the English Admiral—a fact which the writer
of the article might be well supposed not to know.
Why the salutes were not given is easily explained.
Owing to some stupid misunderstanding while the
squadron was at Portsmouth, an order had been given
in the Russian service that for every salute given under
SHANGHAI.
53
any circumstances a similar salute should be demanded
in return. When the English flag officer came on
board the Rynda at Hong Kong, and invited a partici-
pation in the general salute, the question was put,
“Would the compliment be returned?" The answer
of the English flag officer was "No." "Then the
Russians must decline joining in the salute." And
no salute was fired. However absurd an order may
be, requiring a return salute to one which is given by
vessels of all nations at the same moment in cele-
brating any national event, yet, as it was an order, no
commander should be insulted for not following it.*
Firing salutes is altogether a great absurdity; and if
return compliments on such occasions were insisted
upon, there would be no end to the booming of guns,
and the exchange of civilities would be as tedious as
that of two Japanese officials, who never know when
to leave off their mutual compliments. Far better
would it be for ships of war entering foreign ports
simply to lower their flag as a salutation, and to receive
a like compliment in return, instead of uselessly burn-
ing much powder and frightening timid old ladies on
shore half out of their wits.
On the morrow I accompanied the Russian Commo-
dore in the gunboat to Shanghai, the two corvettes
remaining at Hong Kong, to follow us in a few days,
and meet us in Nangasaki. Although by this time the
south-west monsoon ought to have blown with force,
we had nothing but calms, and light, contrary winds,
accompanied by thick fog, so that we did not arrive at
the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang until the 2nd of
*This order has since been cancelled in the Russian service.
54
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
June. Just at the mouth of this vast river is the large
alluvial island of Tsung-ming, which was below water
three centuries ago, and now contains upwards of half-
a-million of inhabitants. After remaining a day at the
village of Wusung, we steamed up to Shanghai, and
anchored just below the English settlement.
The two or three days we passed in Shanghai were
spent in wandering about the old walled city, examin-
ing the shops, and observing the different occupations
and habits of the people. But this place has been so
often and ably described, that I could but repeat the
words of others. What struck me most in my rambles
were several Chinese undergoing public punishment in
the streets, their necks fixed in the kia or cangue, a
large wooden frame weighing many pounds.
I re-
marked also a naked, headless trunk rolling in a ditch
outside the town, and a trunkless head fixed on a gate-
way within.
55
CHAPTER V.
Leave Shanghai-Approach to Nangasaki-Fishing Boats-Visit of
Sub-Governor on board-Questions and Curiosity-The Russian
frigate Ascolde-A Buddhist Temple-Life in Japan-Treat-
ment of Japanese by Foreigners-Popularity of Russians-The
Bonzes, and their troubles-Language-Capability of Japanese
in learning-Nangasaki; its Temples, Tea Houses, &c.—Con-
trast with former visitors-Inhabitants-Foreign Commerce in
1859 — Exports - Porcelain-The Tea Houses and Gardens;
their Inmates and Visitors-Photographing-A Comical Scene
and a Japanese Custom-Dezima; Honesty of Japanese-
Departure.
WE left Shanghai on the 7th June, at four o'clock,
and anchored for the night in the Yang Kiang, below
Wusung. An English ship with troops on board
passed us going to Shanghai, no doubt to join the
admiral prior to his visit to the Peiho river for the
finishing of the treaty. We dropped flags to each
other, and exchanged distant salutes with the officers on
her poop.
Our pilot quitted us at Gutzlaff Island, and we had
to work up against N.E. winds to Nangasaki. The
weather was abominable; constant rains, mist, and
the impossibility of getting an observation rendered
the voyage very tedious. On the evening of the 12th
we passed close to an island, supposed to be one of
the outstanding Japanese islands, and the next
morning the sight of Cape Goto enabled us to steer
directly for the harbour of Nangasaki. The whole of
56
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
that evening, in spite of the rain, all the officers were
on deck, their eyes bent on the dark mountain range
before them, anxious to arrive in the mysterious land
so long a marvel to the rest of the civilized world.
The commodore, captain, and master, enveloped in
their thick leather coats, were peering into the gloom,
or now and then consulting the chart of the coast by
the light of the ship's lantern. Presently a faint light
was seen ahead; then one after another some four or
five hundred flaming torches, fixed over the sterns of
as many fishing craft, came in view. It was a
beautiful sight, those lights against the dark moun-
tains, forming a half circle round the bay, and
extending as far as the eye could reach along the
coast. As their glimmer became starlike and less,
it reminded me of former days, when passing at night
by Brighton, or some other bathing town of the south
coast of England. Every few minutes blue lights were
shown from some conspicuous part of the ship, and
on rounding a point two blue specks in the distance,
shown by our consorts, guided us up to an anchorage.
The Rynda and Gredin, after a splendid passage
of seven days from Hong Kong, had already been
in Nangasaki nine days, and her officers had seen
almost all that was to be seen in the place. They had
been visited by the officials, who brought off a pig and
baskets of vegetables and fruit as an offering; had
visited and received the visit of the Governor; had
dined with him, and had their dessert sent after them
on board, according to Japanese etiquette-all which
was to be enacted anew for the commodore and for us
on the morrow.
QUESTIONS AND CURIOSITY.
57
The night of our arrival I remained on board the
little vessel which, for a month past, had been my
home. At eight o'clock next morning, two or three
boats came alongside, and from them issued the third
officer in command of the place, accompanied by two
others, an interpreter, and several subordinates, who
were all ushered into the captain's cabin, where they
took their seats in true European manner. Books
were opened, questions were put by the chief officer
through the interpreter, answered through him, and
consigned to the book. Most of these questions were
ordinary port ones; to a few, such as "How long do
you intend to stay?" "What do you come here for ?"
the captain gave the old answers,-Wood and pro-
visions, to pay his respects to the Governor, &c. The
head officer, a fine stout man of about fifty, next
inquired when the commodore would call on the
governor, and how many persons would accompany
him; whereupon the captain referred him to the com-
modore himself. Meanwhile tea and sweet cakes had
been introduced, cigars and pipes were lighted, and a
general conversation ensued. I should have imagined
that these officers had had opportunities enough of
gratifying their curiosity, yet their inquisitiveness was
unbounded, and I, at length, became its object. I had
been conversing with the captain in English and
French, and had noticed the curiosity with which the
officials regarded me, till the question was put, Was
I a Russian, and why I did not wear a uniform ?
The captain answered for me that I belonged to the
commodore's ship; but their suspicions were not
allayed, and they evidently were puzzled about my
58 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
nationality. It was the same wherever I went in the
town. Whether these intelligent people noticed the
difficulty with which I spoke Russian, or my speaking
French and English, not a day passed but the same
question was put to me several times. Some curaçao
and other sweet liqueurs presented à propos to our
visitors caused a change in the conversation, and when
they took their leave it was with a warm shake of the
hand all round, and a wish expressed to meet again.
They then went on board the Rynda, where a repeti-
tion of the same questions and ceremonies took place.
The Russian frigate Ascolde was lying under repair
in a cove opposite our anchorage, where she had
been already eight months, having been almost lost
in a typhoon in September 1858, when returning
from Japan. This occurred between Van Diemen's
Straits and Shanghai: a fact to be noticed, as it is
stated that such storms are seldom or never met
with so far north as the latter place. She lost fore
and main-top masts, besides being so strained that
every knee in the ship had to be replaced. As soon
as the weather moderated, she rigged jury masts,
and having experienced tolerably fine weather after-
wards, reached Shanghai in a most pitiable state,
whence she came up to Nangasaki. Her officers were
housed in a Buddhist temple opposite the town, while
barracks were erected close by for the men. Thither
I proceeded, as soon as possible, to pay a visit to the
officers; and as long as our vessels remained, I was
almost entirely a guest among those gentlemanly and
amiable men.
The temple which they inhabited was a curious old
THE
"ASCOLDE."
59
building; ornamented with grotesque carvings in stone
and wood of the various beings, earthly or unearthly,
which Buddhism has consecrated. After climbing the
steep and muddy path which led from the landing
place, a sight of the Russian flag directed us to our
destination. On one side of the gate stood a Russian
sentry, on the other, in a box-like house, sat on their
mats the two or three policemen appointed as spies or
watchmen. The sailors were comfortably housed in
two large wooden buildings, erected for them by the
Japanese, while the captain and officers were located
in the temple itself, and the priests were confined to a
centre building or sanctuary.
The Ascolde, bearing the flag of Admiral Putiatin,
a name well known in these seas, as also that of her
captain, now admiral, M. Unkofsky, had only a few
months before been at the Peiho and at Yedo for the
ratification of the two treaties. M. Unkofsky had
commanded the Pallas in 1854, and a map of the
coast of Corea will show the names of himself, and
nearly all his officers marked on the various capes
and gulfs of that peninsula. Many of the officers
had served during the war in these seas; some in the
Aurora, others in the unfortunate Diana; one or two
had been prisoners to the English, and all had some-
thing interesting of the campaign, to make the hours
grow late over the mess table. They seemed to live,
all of them, a very jolly life in this old temple. Plenti-
fully supplied with all the necessaries and luxuries of
life from Shanghai, they had formed quite a little farm
about them, and oxen, sheep, and pigs, were slaugh-
tered: much to the disgust, no doubt, of their shaven
60
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
hosts. They had made themselves quite at home;
many had formed liaisons with some pretty Japanese
women, and had their own menage in the town.
Nearly all spoke Japanese sufficient to make themselves
understood; a few had made such progress as to
speak with facility, and even to write and read.
To this they were, in a measure, indebted for their
popularity among the people, but especially because
they were very observant of their customs, and care-
ful not to offend their little scruples. I saw one or
two instances of men speaking the English lan-
guage, entering the clean, mat-spread rooms of the
Japanese, in their dirty boots, in spite of the pro-
testations by words and signs, and the looks of despair
of the owners.
To shout at and abuse the people,
tiresome and procrastinating though they be, is ill
calculated on the part of foreigners to gain their
willing services; yet I witnessed many instances of
such violations of civility during my stay in Nanga-
saki. I wish my countrymen and Americans would
remember, that to treat the people of Japan, with
whom they may have to do, as they would a Hindoo
servant or a Chinese cooley, will be the very worst
manner of having their wants or wishes attended
to. On the other hand, kindness and attention not
to violate their prejudices, and, if possible, to enter
into their social life, will be the best method of having
everything that may be required. This was the way
in which the Russians, during their stay of nine
months in Nangasaki, contrived to gain the affec-
tions, not only of the people, but of the higher
authorities. Captain Unkofsky, and through him, his
LIFE IN JAPAN.
61
officers, had only to express a wish to have it satisfied,
where it was possible; his name was known for miles
around, and called aloud to us in the streets as we
passed. The officers in their walks through the town,
were surrounded by laughing children, backed by
a circle of pretty girls, with the men peering over
their shoulders. One officer especially, Prince Ouk-
tomsky, the grand duke's aide-de-camp, knew, I think,
all the children of Nangasaki, for they would crowd
round him, shake him by the hand, and in their gentle,
pretty little way, talk to him till he arrived at his
destination.
All the trading classes in Japan are considered
contemptible by the higher authorities, government
employés, and feudal retainers. Formerly few or no
Russian traders had ever come to Japan, while num-
bers of English, American, and Dutch had at different
times touched at their ports. This circumstance has
given the Japanese a high idea of Russia, and a
great respect for its officers; which prestige, of
course, the latter endeavour to support. Such was
the explanation given me by an intelligent Japanese,
an officer of the Government at Nangasaki.
The finest buildings in Nangasaki are the temples,
and then, with one or two exceptions, undoubtedly
the tea houses. These temples are situated in the
most beautiful sites of the beautiful environs of Nan-
gasaki, surrounded with trees and gardens, which in
great measure supply the food of the bonzes; and
here these shaven-headed and often portly gentle-
men seem to lead a very easy life. One was always
on duty at our temple for four hours at a time,
*.
62 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
reciting prayers continually to a sing-song tune,
and beating time upon a gong placed by his side.*
Whenever I paid a visit to the barrack temple, there
was always one or another of them thus praying. But
the evening seemed to be their season of recreation,
for then the saki flowed, and the childish laughter of
the women might be heard from within as they helped
the reverend fathers to kill time. Poor bonzes!
this irruption of barbarians at the different ports has
caused them to be put to sad inconvenience. They are
turned out of their homes to make way for the strangers;
if a consul comes he has a temple; hospital, bazaar,
or barracks, all are found in the temple. They are
the more incommoded because they cannot follow
their usual habits under the eye of strangers. In
Nangasaki, however, they became accustomed to the
Russians, and after a short time threw off restraint and
acted in their usual way.
The head bonze of this temple was a fine old
man, and made himself very useful to the officers in
many ways, especially in helping them to acquire the
language. He took great trouble with me during two
or three days, to teach me a few hundred of the most
common words, and wrote me a long vocabulary, to
which I put the English sounds, as he pronounced
them in Japanese. Then it was I first remarked the
richness and precision of the Russian language in
consonant sounds. There are many in the Japanese
* The Buddhist ritual is in the Pali language, literally copied
out in Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, or other character, according
to the language of the country. The priest reads off the words, with-
out understanding the sense. The beating of the gong is supposed
to arouse the attention of the god.
JAPANESE LANGUAGE.
63
They had
language which no one Latin or Saxon consonant can
express, while the Russian character gives the exact
pronunciation. While I waited one day at the custom-
house for a boat, an officer begged me to pronounce
certain English words, of which he had the sounds
before him written in Japanese character. One which
puzzled him the most was the word stop.
no Japanese character to express the final consonant
p, but made two syllables out of the word-sto-pee.
When I had practised him in the sound of the word,
he was unbounded in his thanks. Some of the officials
whom I met in Japan had acquired one or two Euro-
pean languages merely from visiting English, American,
or other ships, learning a few words at a time in their
intercourse with officers and men, and carefully noting
down such words in Japanese for future use. In
Kanagawa and Hakodadi many of the shopkeepers had
learned so much Russian as to make themselves intel-
ligible to the Russian sailors.
Crossing the bay in one of the simple yet swift
boats of the country,* propelled by oars from one to
half a dozen in number, we reached the broken flight of
steps near which are situated the custom-house and
the other admiralty buildings. It was at these steps
that the landing of Europeans for years past took
place, when they came to spy out the land; but the
captains of men of war, yea, ambassadors and their
suites, when once on shore, found themselves sur-
* The boats in Japan are formed of five planks, one for the flat
bottom, and two on either side. The prows are sharp, and the
sterns broad, partly open, with two small beams projecting on either
side.
64 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
rounded by a police-guards of honour, said the
Japanese-to protect their honoured guests, and pre-
vent their being annoyed by the too great curiosity of
the people. Their short walk was only to the governor's
house and back again to those steps. A few words.
with an interpreter; a glimpse of the people; the
pleasure of seeing the Japanese governor and his
officers smoke their miniature pipes, and drink their
tasteless tea, and all was over for the traveller in those
days. Things are changed now. A foreigner is as
free to go where he likes in Nangasaki as at Shanghai;
he may visit temples and houses, and wander anywhere
in the neighbourhood within the prescribed distance,
without an escort of spies; if troubled at all it is only
by the pertinacious curiosity of the people. The
weather, however, during the month of June was so
abominable that I had little wish to attempt any
excursions; the south-west monsoon had brought
up the rain, and day and night the leaden sky poured
down its ceaseless torrents, and soon rendered any
way but the paved streets impassable.
Everything, however, is so stereotyped in Japan,
that one description suffices for the whole empire.
The towns, houses, dress of both sexes, and manner
of living will be described, therefore, in different parts
of the book, as occasion may require. It must be
remarked that Nangasaki has the most foreign, mixed,
and changing population of the whole country. Natives
from all parts of the country visit it from curiosity,
and for traffic. Some forty or fifty ships of different
nations, between which and Japan treaties had been
made, were in the port, waiting for, or rather fore-
OPENING OF TRADE.
65
stalling, the opening of the trade on the 1st of July.
Despite the threat from the home government, that
they must abide the consequences of the illegality of
trading before the time fixed, the agents of English
houses had long ago made matters right with
the governor of Nangasaki, had disposed of their
cargoes, and taken others in return to realize 400 or
500 per cent. in Shanghai and Hong Kong. This
rate of gain, I heard from the chief agent of a well-
known China firm, had been realized on seaweed
cargoes alone. The great difficulty, however, to the
free carrying on of commerce was in the monetary
exchange. The circulating medium was at this time
paper, called taels, of which 4.65 went to the Mexican
dollar. The natives were prohibited from taking
foreign specie, as I was several times made to under-
stand by pantomimic signs of losing their heads or
being well bambooed when I offered them coin to pay
for any purchases. Those merchants, therefore, who
could obtain a sufficient supply of paper money were
enabled to buy their cargoes, and immense sums of
money were, no doubt, made by them in the first days
of the trade. Wax, camphor, seaweed were the chief
cargoes copper was still the monopoly of the Dutch
alone; but on the expiration of their term, all copper
would, I heard, be submitted to public auction. The
Russian officers informed me that, on their arrival eight
months before, the prices of all things had been less
than one-half of what they were in the month of June,
and even then they were increasing. And yet Nan-
gasaki is much cheaper than any other place I visited
in Japan, infinitely more so than Yedo.
:
The manu-
5
66
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND TIIE PACIFIC.
facture of lacquered articles is carried on to a great
extent, but they are much inferior in richness and
beauty to the manufactures of Miako and Yedo. The
porcelain is certainly the best in the empire, superior
to any I saw afterwards in Yedo, both in the fineness
of the clay and in design; it is as thin as a wafer,
beautifully transparent, and nowhere else to be found
but in Nangasaki,*
The tea-houses are situated in the upper part of the
town, and confined to one or two streets. Some few
are placed in gardens, laid out in Japanese style, with
rocks, pools of water, mountains in miniature, dwarf
cedars, and large shrubs of Camelia Japonica. The
entrance to them is generally through a large gate-
way, inside which the first thing seen is the kitchen;
on either side of this are raised platforms covered
with mats, which form the saloons by day, and the
chambers by night of the different inmates. At night
the whole space is partitioned off by small folding
screens, five or six feet high; or, as often may be seen,
the different couples lie stretched on their mattresses
promiscuously over the floor, half concealed only by
a coarse green mosquito curtain. The second story
is generally reserved for the better sort of visitors,
and lately, since the buildings have been open to
Europeans, for their use. The three principal tea-
houses are called Kadonchekudoya, Kagetsuro, and
Sinchekudoya. Some of the women in these houses
are the prettiest in Japan, and in a few may be detected
* The clay brought up by the anchors and cables in the bay of
Nangasaki is a gray, smooth, fine marl, and from this is manu-
factured that beautiful ware, called egg-shell china in England.
TEA-HOUSES.
67
Formerly, during
descent from a European father.
the Dutch bondage in Desima, all women about to
become mothers by Europeans were forced to leave the
island, and the father was not allowed to have any
control in the bringing up of the child, which was
generally destined, if a girl, to be brought up in one
of these tea-houses. These poor girls are simple,
modest in their demeanour, and would, if they could,
be honest and faithful to one. They must not be
judged by the same standard and measure as the fallen
ones of European lands: it is their misfortune, not
their fault. Received when children of tender age into
these houses, they are carefully and even kindly brought
up; care is bestowed on their education; they are
taught to sing, to play the mandoline, to embroider, and
so forth but their fate must be accomplished. Arrived
at a nubile age, and often before, they are given over to
some satyr of a Japanese, and thenceforth they form part
of the establishment. Often they may be seen, dressed
out in their best, in scarlet and gold embroidery, their
beautiful black hair decorated with flowers, toddling
with their shuffling gait to the house of some official,
to whom they have been ordered beforehand, to join
the revel and its licentious sequel. When their time of
service is accomplished they are free. Many are for-
tunate enough to be chosen as wives by Japanese
during their stay in the establishment; but for the
most part, these victims of depravity become old
while still young in years, and enter into the order of
female religious mendicants: of whom more hereafter.
In one of these tea-houses of which the Russian
officers of the squadron took almost exclusive pos-
5-2
68 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
*
session, several mornings were passed in photographing
Japanese of both sexes decked out in full costume,
dancing and singing girls, with now and then some
curious beauty from the neighbourhood; also musical
instruments, swords, gongs, teapots, &c.-in fact,
everything that was characteristic of the country and
scene, or could help to fill up the picture. Group
after group was taken of figures sitting, dancing,
attitudinizing, eating, drinking, or smoking, and glass
after glass spoiled, owing to the laughing and frolic-
some behaviour of the highly amused moosoome.
After several well-portrayed scenes were taken, though
not without great trouble in keeping the subjects in
a state of repose for a few seconds, the hilarity of the
whole party was increased by the changing of costume.
Moosoome came out in uniform, with pantaloons and
swords girded on; officers in Keremon and Obee,† their
hair dressed out à la Japonaise with coloured crape,
and flowers. Each played the part of his or her
assumed character, the moosoome strutting up and
down, and the men prostrating themselves like the
Japanese women, till the scene became so ridiculous
that the most serious could not hold out. The people
around roared with laughter; tears were running down
the cheeks of a fat old bonze, as his ponderous sides
shook, while two caustic-looking, two-sworded gentle-
men, putting their noses in at the garden gate, shook
their heads, and, no doubt, vowed to themselves that
the barbarians were spoiling the people. An inci-
* Moosoome-Anglicè, girls.
Keremon, Japanese gown; Obee, a silk scarf worn round the
waist, and tied into a huge knot.
OLD RURAL CUSTOM.
69
dent at last took place which promptly dispersed the
assembly, and showed me an old rural custom of
Japan. Just as the women reappeared in their own
costume, half-a-dozen men entered the garden with
something like grass in their hands. No sooner did
they appear, than the women, young and old (the
latter might have saved themselves the trouble), ran
screaming in all directions, and the men with the
grass after them. When they were caught, down
went their keremons, and they all received a stamp
on the naked back with the roots of the grass, which
left the dirty impression on their skin. Following
the example set by the men, nearly all present, catch-
ing up some of the roots, gave chase through the
garden and different compartments of the building,
and inflicted the same penalty on the victim when
caught. Few of the moosoome, however, made any
difficulty about it; on the contrary, it was a long
time before many of the party came back again. It
was explained to me by one of the Japanese present,
that what I had just seen was an old custom in the
country, on the first day of pulling and transplanting
the young rice.
Before leaving Nangasaki we had a banquet in the
temple, given by the officers of the Ascolde to the
other ships. The Japanese furnished quantities of
game, among which was a species of wild goat, which
is much hunted in the mountains of the interior.
I have heard it said, that the goat was an animal
unknown in Japan; it is, at least, never kept in a
domesticated state.
Some time before our arrival a large fire had con-
70 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
sumed the Dutch storehouses in the island of Desima,
and the Japanese had lent their aid in extinguishing
it. During my rambles about the town and visits to
the different houses, it more than once occurred that
the people offered to sell me champagne, beer, coffee,
&c., all which had evidently been plundered during
the fire. The same were offered to others besides
myself: quantities of coffee, which is not used by
the Japanese, were offered for sale to some of the
men for a mere trifle. The honesty of the Japanese
people has been much vaunted, and, without doubt,
they are honest among themselves; but this instance,
and one or two which occurred afterwards, showed that
they are not so particular where foreigners are con-
cerned. Yet during my residence on shore in the
temples of the places I visited, I never heard of a
single thing being pilfered, although our effects were
carelessly cast about, and crowds of Japanese were
continually passing and repassing.
After a stay of about twenty days in Nangasaki we
sailed, intending to proceed straight to the Amoor
River, but an unforeseen circumstance entirely changed
the original plan, and detained us more than four
months in different parts of the empire.
71
CHAPTER VI.
Sketch of Japan Empire-First Knowledge of it-Marco Polo-
François Xavier in Kagosaki-The Portuguese Jesuits and
Merchants-Spanish Intercourse-Taikosama-Proscription of
Christian Religion-Dutch Intercourse-English in Japan-
Trade, Persecution, and Rivalry of Europeans-Massacre of
Simabara-Portuguese and Spaniards expelled-Dutch alone;
Their Treatment and Servility-Incorporated into the Spy System
-Intercourse of China and Japan-Attempts to renew Relations
during the last fifty Years-Different Treaties, and necessity for
re-making altogether-Geographical and Political Description of
Empire The Eight Castes of Japan Society-Men and Women;
their Appearance, Dress, Customs, &c.-Marriage and Polygamy
-Punishments and Suicide-Sintooism-Buddhism-Education
-Language-Literature-Industry, Arts, and Science-Produc-
tions of Land-Food-Houses-Manner of Sleeping-Simplicity
of Dress and Habits-Gardens-Medicine and Mechanics—
Expectations formed of Japan-Trade formerly and at present-
Utility of Ports in Japan to Whalers and other Ships.
Ir was about the end of the thirteenth century that
the first notice of Japan was given to Europeans by
the celebrated Marco Polo, who had the good fortune
to see some ambassadors of that nation at the court of
a prince of Mantchooria, with whom he was staying.
The costume and habits of these men were just what
they are at the present day, and probably had been a
thousand or more years before he saw them. It was this
land, called by Marco Polo Zipango,* that Columbus
went to discover, and found America.
* Zipango.-The Chinese call it Ye-pan-kouo, i.e. Japan King-
dom.-(Le Huc.) The Japanese call their country Nipon, from the
chief island. The Chinese words mean, the country of the rising
sun, or the east, from the situation of Japan with regard to China.
72
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Jesuit
missionary, Francis Xavier, landed at Kagosaki, the
capital of the dominions of the Prince of Satsuma,
in the island of Kiusu. He and his attendants were
treated with great hospitality, and princes and people
were converted. After the missionaries came the
merchants of Goa and Macao, who reaped a golden
harvest, and Firando became the seat of their trade.
Manilla was already a flourishing city. Her mer-
chants envied the rich prizes of the Portuguese; her
Dominicans the success of the Jesuits. Both entered
Japan, and became the rivals of the Portuguese ;
and Jesuit and Dominican set their proselytes the
edifying example of envy, hatred, malice, and all un-
charitableness, practised one towards the other. The
results did not teach them wisdom; for the same
policy was acted over again in China, and is con-
tinued, in a modified degree, down to the present
day. Rivalry, and intrigue for domination and power,
took the place of conversion, till they all found them-
selves involved in common ruin.
Taikosama the Great, the conqueror of the Corea,
was one of the greatest, and certainly the most ambi-
tious, of Japanese monarchs. His object was to
become the Louis XI. of the Japan feudal system.
A shipwrecked Spanish captain displayed before the
eyes of this man a map of the world, half of which
then belonged to Spain. He did more: he explained
the policy of Spanish conquest-the missionary pio-
neer, followed by the needy adventurer and ferocious
soldier. This was enough for the wily Japanese;
twenty Spanish priests were crucified in Nangasaki,
CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN.
73
and the Christian religion was proscribed. It re-
mained, however, lingering on, whilst commerce
flourished.
Meanwhile (1600), the Dutch entered on the stage.
One ship of a fleet only arrived, and in it was the
Englishman Adams, who obtained much favour from the
Siogoon; partly, no doubt, because his religion differed
from that of the Portuguese and Spaniards. Through
his exertions, trade was opened with the English East
India Company, but was carried on with much luke-
warmness, and intrigued against both by Dutch and
Portuguese. It ended quite in 1673, during the
inglorious reign of Charles II.; he being married
to a Portuguese wife, and at war with the Dutch,
both these circumstances gave full scope to Dutch
intrigue.
In 1631 the Portuguese were prisoners in the
newly-settled isle of Desima; the Dutch in the old
port of Firando. The Spaniards had departed seven
years before; but edict after edict was fulminated
against priests, churches, and Christians. All trade
was encouraged especially raw silk was received;
and copper, silver, gold, wax, and camphor were
given in exchange; the only contraband was the
Jesuit, and every means was adopted to keep him
out. Japanese spies constantly resided at Macao, and
a most insulting surveillance was exercised over the
once proud Portuguese: the rudders of their ships,
and their arms, had to be sent on shore; themselves
were guarded in their walks abroad, and the emblem
of their religion was trampled under foot before their
eyes. There is, however, a great deal of doubt as
74
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
to the extent to which this practice was afterwards
carried, and I believe it has been long discontinued.
In Japan, as in China, many things in Buddhism
resemble those of Romanism; and I have seen not
only images like the Virgin, but also the cross, in
the temples of Japan: the string of beads is worn
by every bonze and devotee in Japan.
But the last act of the drama was about to be
played out. The Christian population revolted, and
shut themselves up in the strongly fortified town of
Simabara. The Japanese troops were unable to
take it, and requested the aid of the Dutch. The
Governor, Rockerbecher, complied; European cannon
demolished the fortress, and delivered forty thousand
men to pitiless massacre. Thus the act of an avari-
cious trading company cast a stain on the character
of a brave nation, whose valiant deeds for their
liberty had just been applauded by all Europe.
A pretended conspiracy, revealed by the Dutch to
the Japanese, closed the account of the Portuguese.
Ten days were allowed them to be gone; and an edict
threatened death to any Portuguese who should put
foot in Japan. A year or two afterwards some ambas-
sadors from Macao endeavoured to renew relations,
but they were put to death; a proceeding which pre-
vented a repetition of any further attempts.
The Dutch had triumphed; they were now alone
in the rich field they had so long struggled for and
obtained by so much bloodshed and intrigue. But
what was their mortifying position to find themselves
prisoners in the same narrow island from which their
rivals had just been driven! The same humiliating
THE DUTCH IN JAPAN.
75
surveillance was exercised over them; they were,
moreover, required to be the spies of the Japanese
Government over the other nations of Europe, espe-
cially over the Portuguese. At the same time those
laws were made-that junks should be constructed
only with open sterns, and therefore not sea-worthy ;
that no Japanese should leave the empire, or even hold
communication with strangers under pain of death;
-the results of which are plainly evident now.
The Dutch, however, made their millions. In 1660,
they lost Formosa, wrested from them by the Chinese
pirate Koxinka. Throughout the East, also, their
power was declining. This was well known to, and
taken advantage of by the Japanese. They depre-
ciated the gold coins which the Dutch received by
one-half, then a short time afterwards by another
half; and their insolence towards their prisoner-mer-
chants was unbounded. On the other hand, the
Dutch employés cheated the Japanese, brought them
inferior goods, peculated, and indulged in private
trade themselves. Thus, for many years past, the
profits of the trade have been nearly null; two ships
per year between Nangasaki and Batavia were all
that were sent, freighted partly by the company
and partly by merchants who bought the privilege.
The Japanese, throughout all the intercourse, were
the greatest gainers. They obtained information from
Europe, on politics, science, and literature. Books,
especially those on medicine, were translated; instru-
ments of different kinds were imitated; and cannon and
guns imported to replace their bows and arrows: many
of which latter are, however, still used by the military.
76 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
But the day of the Dutch is finished. It remains to
be seen how the new order of affairs will affect the
country-whether the high ideas of expansion and
commerce will be realized by the European powers
whose flags now float at the different ports of Japan.
Communication between Japan and China is said to
have existed long before the Christian era. The
Chinese looked upon Japan as a subject State; the
Japanese proved their allegiance by insolence, piracy,
and conquest. A bitter national hatred has ever existed
between the two peoples: the Chinese eat blood and
ill-treat their women, say the Japanese, who seldom
touch flesh, and allow full liberty to their females.
Nevertheless, the Chinese traded to Nangasaki with
woollens, furs, and raw silk; but under most restricted
terms. Two junks were left as hostages in the hands
of the Japanese, and their factory was strictly guarded.
When I was at Nangasaki the same state of things
existed, and I heard that all overtures made by the
Chinese to have the privileges of European nations
had been repulsed.
The attempts of Europeans during the last fifty
years to renew intercourse with Japan may be told in
few words. Captain Pellew, in 1808, entered Nan-
gasaki, and his visit was followed by the suicide
of the governor: it is not certified, however, that
his presence was the true cause of this misfortune.
During the French occupation of Holland further
attempts were made by the English, but with little
success. In later years, several ships tried their
fortune, but were always supplied, gratis, with pro-
visions, and dismissed. It was reserved for the Ameri-
THE JAPANESE EMPIRE.
77
cans to succeed in 1853. Commodore Perry entered
the Bay of Yedo, and forced a treaty, and the opening
of two or three ports for whalers. The Russian mis-
sion of Admiral Putiatin followed. Then came the
Dutch and French treaties. In 1858, Lord Elgin made
his in Yedo. The Americans re-made theirs; the
Russians also; and it seems very probable that they
will soon all have to be again re-made. Prussia and
Denmark are hastening to the field.
The whole empire of Japan is comprised of 3,800
islands, rocks, &c., integral or dependent. It is
situated in one of the most favoured spots of this
world as regards climate. Its soil produces the vege-
tation of the tropics and of the temperate zone; its
colonies furnish all that a colder region only provides;
its coasts are jagged with bays and harbours; its lofty
cones of volcanoes, active and extinct, are its sea-
marks. The sea that washes its shore is of that
beautiful blue of the deep ocean which is so seldom
seen in the neighbourhood of land.
Nipon-i. e., the land of the rising sun-is the chief
island, and gives its name to the empire: Japan,
and other European pronunciations of the word, are
erroneous. This island, Kiusu, and Sikof, the next two
in size, with the outlying groups, compose the empire
proper. Yeso and the Kuriles are, properly, colonies
and conquests. The former island was taken about
two hundred years ago, as also were Sagalien and the
Southern Kuriles, until Russian power was encoun-
tered. The fate of all these islands is evident; they
* The Prussian expedition is said to have been unsuccessful.
February, 1861.
78
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
must belong again to Russia: with, perhaps, the excep-
tion of Yeso. The Loo-choo islands are, properly,
only a tributary state of Satzumą.
The three principal islands of Japan are portioned
out among the feudal princes, and are divided into
eight provinces, which are again subdivided into six
hundred and twenty-two districts. Though each prin-
cipality is governed by its own prince, such a surveil-
lance is exercised over them by the imperial govern-
ment, through its numerous spies, that, with one
exception, Satzuma, they are kept well under control.
The imperial cities, so called, are Yedo, Miako, Nan-
gasaki, Oosaki, and the other ports open to foreigners;
the Government having the power to take the rule of
any city out of the hands of its feudal prince, if for
State reasons it be necessary.
A description of what is known of the political state
of Japan can be given in a few words. It is about
the most absolute despotism that exists, or has ever
existed, yet tempered by ancient customs having
all the force of laws. The policy which has ruled this
nation surpasses all that Machiavelli, Metternich, or
Talleyrand ever dreamed of: Fouché would have been
a demi-god could he have had such a police and such
spies.
At present, little is known of the policy of the
empire, or the workings of its different parts; and all
communications pretending to explain these should
be received with greatest suspicion. The information
derived from the government officials is not to be
depended on at all. M. Gaskewitch, than whom no
one is better acquainted with the language, literature,
THE TWO EMPERORS OF JAPAN.
79
and institutions of Japan, has confessed his ignorance
on-many points, which writers have since endeavoured
to explain; and he had, perhaps, greater facilities of
learning the truth than any one, for he was intimate
with a learned Japanese, who left his country some
years ago, and who accompanied him to St. Peters-
burg, where he still resides.
The chief Emperor is the Mikado, or Diari, whose
residence is Miako. He is the chief of all the religions
of the empire, but particularly of the old Sintoo.
Formerly he was the ruling temporal prince, but he
has long been reduced to a state of political impo-
tence, like that of a Roi fainéant of early French
history. He is consulted pro formâ on all subjects of
importance, though his counsels are not necessarily fol-
lowed. It is reported that, when informed that a treaty
had been made with the Americans and Russians, he
was totally opposed to it, and predicted that numer-
ous evils would ensue in consequence; which have cer-
tainly come to pass. His court is said to be the seat
of the arts and the resort of learned men. His
attendants are priests of royal or noble blood; his
wife and his concubines the prettiest and most culti-
vated women, as are also all those of his court. He
himself is weighed down by his honours. But very
little is known as yet either of him or his half-
fabulous Court.
The Tykoon, or Siogoon, is the temporal emperor,
of hereditary descent, and the real source of all politi-
cal power. He resides at Yedo. His government is
a Council of State, of whom five are said to be feudal
princes, and the rest chief nobles; through this coun-
80
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
cil must pass all important affairs and the signing of
death warrants.
The Minister of Police holds in his hand the
threads of the vast spy system of the empire, but
does not form a part of the council of state.
The Chief Councillor, or Prime Minister, is said
to be the most important personage after the Siogoon.
If the Tykoon refuse to sanction any law made by
his councillors, or by a majority of them, the matter
is referred to a committee of chief princes, of whom
the heir apparent is one. If their decision be given
against him, he must resign; if, on the contrary, in
his favour, those of the council who opposed him are
supposed to commit suicide.
Next in rank are the great feudal princes of Japan,
many of them very powerful, and with large bodies of
retainers at their command. The most redoubted is the
Prince of Satszuma, who is quite an independent prince,
having at his command a large army and artillery,
which the proximity of his State to Nangasaki has en-
abled him to acquire. His officers were studying artil-
lery practice under some officers of the Ascolde, when
I was in that town. The imperial spies scarcely ever
enter his dominions, for his counter-police is so good
that they are invariably murdered. The late Governor
of Hakodadi is said to have been, for more than seven
years, a spy in Satszuma and Nangasaki, where he
worked as a common carpenter, making notes and
fulfilling his office. For his zeal, he was promoted
to be governor. Few are so lucky as he, in escaping.
One reason assigned for the power of this prince
is, that he had in his hands the son of a former
JAPANESE CASTES.
81
Emperor, whose descendants he can at any time set up
in opposition to the present Tykoon. Some of these
princes are for, and some against, the present change.
Of all those persons-princes, governors, with the
Tykoon himself, who signed the first treaty, only two
are said to exist, the rest having been sacrificed, or
having sacrificed themselves. It is these princes who
will bring down the wrath of foreign powers upon the
imperial government, to end most probably in their
own overthrow.
After the princes come the noblemen of different
ranks, and these furnish the State with officers and
governors of the imperial domains. To every one is
attached a locum-tenens, or rather spy, who reports
on his conduct.* They are obliged to remain half the
year in Yedo, and their wives reside there altogether.
If one of these noblemen become too rich, honours are
heaped upon him, which force an enormous outlay-a
policy which keeps them in a state of subjection.
The next class are the Sintoo and Buddhist priests,
the latter doomed to celibacy, but practising it about as
much as did the monks of the middle ages: in almost
every obscene picture in Japan there is sure to be a
bald-headed bonze. They are of various ranks; some of
two swords, others of only one; they dress in long black
or white robes, and are the educators of the young.
The soldiers, vassals of the crown, or of the feudal
princes, whose embroidered badge they wear, form the
* It must not be supposed that such a system is considered dis-
graceful in Japan. It is a recognized part of the Government, just as
an Opposition in Parliament is with us. In the higher stations the
word comptroller would better express the office than "spy."
6
82 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
next class. Their weapons are bows and arrows, pikes,
and latterly muskets supplied by the Dutch and
Americans. There is also a corps of artillery and
engineers. I knew an officer of the latter, who had a
very good knowledge of mathematics and fortification.
Added to these, are the sailors of the newly-formed
imperial fleet.
The fifth class are the inferior government officers,
interpreters, "eschia," or medical men, and literati.
These mostly wear two swords and trowsers.
The sixth class are the merchants, who possess the
least importance and the most money, and are on this
account much resorted to by the higher classes, who
despise them. Though not so cunning as the Chinese,
they bid fair to become so with European contact,
under the able lessons of those inferior government
officers through whom business is at present transacted.
I saw more of this class than any other in Japan,
except the officers and country people. To this class it
is seldom permitted to wear a sword. As an exception
I heard that the compradore at Nangasaki, on the
recommendation of Captain Unkofsky, had been
allowed that honour.
The seventh class are the mechanics, who all have
their guilds as in Europe formerly.
The last class is composed of farmers; serfs, and all
the lower orders of feudal retainers.
The pariahs of Nipon society are all those whose
business is with dead animals, in skinning them, &c.
This arises from the old doctrine of defilement by
blood. Nevertheless, I have met officers and others
out shooting, their hands and clothes spotted with the
PHYSICAL CHARACTER OF THE JAPANESE. 83
blood of the game they had killed. Fishermen are also
said to belong to this body; but if they are pariahs of
society they are at least very happy ones.
The Japanese belong to the Mongolian race, of which
they may be considered the first class, as they are
certainly superior to the Chinese, both morally and
physically. The men are of middle stature, robust,
well-formed of limb, muscular, and agile; their skin is
a warm white, ruddy in youth, and becoming yellow in
after life. The labouring classes, however, who are
generally naked when working, have a skin of a decided
brown. Their eyes, as in all their race, are oblong in
form, deep-set and oblique, piercing and expressive.
The nose is generally flat, broad at the base, and the
nostril extended; yet I have seen noses among them
well formed, long, and almost Grecian.
While the Chinese shave their heads from ear to
ear, crossing the crown, and allow the back hair to
fall behind as a tail, the Japanese shave theirs from
the temples to the crown, and collecting the back hair
into one tress, about the thickness of the little finger,
train it over the shaven part, tie it neatly with paper
thread, and clip the extremities. This part of the
head and the face they always keep closely shaven, so
that, as may be supposed, a barber plays no small
part in the public utility.
The women are as fair of skin as most Europeans,
and are well formed; their arms, hands, and feet being
well-moulded; were it not for their awkward manner of
walking, owing to their sandals, they would be graceful;
when sitting and conversing, the movements of their
hands and arms are particularly so. Their abundant
6-2
84
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
black and rather coarse hair is bound up into thick
masses at the back of the head, and a number of little
arrows made of gold, silver, or ivory are passed through
it, something in the same manner as with the peasant
girls on the Rhine. Their coiffure once made, and
the hair plastered with wax, it remains untouched for
many days; care being taken not to disorder it in sleep.
The teeth are an object of much attention; the young
girls and the men have them white and even; the
married women still even, but glossy black. Brushes
made of soft wood, and a fine powder are used to keep
them white; but the picture of an old woman, with
her kani-box before her, blacking her teeth, is one of
the most disgusting sights which a stranger can look
on. Many girls also blacken their teeth, but the sub-
stance with which they do it is not very durable, as I
have seen a brush and a little powder make them
white and glistening again in a few minutes.
women also extract their eyelashes, paint their lips and
cheeks with safflower (rouge), and use rice-powder ex-
tensively in their toilette. Altogether, the Japanese men
and women, if not strictly beautiful, have much which is
agreeable, and certainly original. The young of both
sexes are remarkably pleasing; ruddy, laughing, and
graceful in their actions; but though a young girl be
like an angel at fourteen, she will be worn out, old
and ugly at twice that age.
The
The working costume of the people is nature's robe,
with the addition of a slip of cloth, like the maro worn
by the South Sea Islanders.
Their only garment
when not at work is a loose robe of coarse cotton
cloth, confined by a sash round the waist. The
JAPANESE COSTUME.
85
women always wear a similar robe, but are not at all
shy about throwing it off when inconvenienced by it
in their labours or by heat. The costume of the great
when at home consists of the same single dressing-
gown, of better material, it is true, though of precisely
the same form; but when they go out, receive visits,
or are on service, their dress is very different. One,
two, three, or four fine silk dresses are worn one over
the other, and are tucked into a loose pair of trowsers;
a broad scarf is wound several times round the waist,
in which are stuck the two swords, the fan, the pipe-case
and pouch, and the indoo, an ingenious little portable
medicine chest (with the ladies, containing perfumes);
and over all is a long official jacket of black silk or
crape. The wearers are guided as to the colour of
their trowsers and under garments by the rank they
bear, and no person below the fifth class is permitted
on any account to put on trowsers. The dress of the
ladies also consists of robes-de-chambre, varying in
number according to the season; they are rounded
and open at the bosom, and confined round the waist
by a long scarf called an "obe," which is tied into an
enormous knot behind. Gold and silver brocade, and
embroidery form a great part of the attire of ladies, who
can afford those luxuries. The sandals worn by both
sexes are of straw, fastened by a thong which passes
between the great toe and its neighbour.
To keep
these sandals on in walking requires a depression of the
heels, which of course causes a corresponding depres-
sion in other parts of the body, and gives the wearer
an awkward appearance: a woman walking quickly
has to shuffle along at a step something between a
86
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
toddle and a trot. A thick cotton sock, with a parti-
tion for the great toe, is worn by the men, beneath
their sandals, and both men and women tramp along
in high wooden clogs in wet weather; but, sensible
people as they are, no sooner do they come into a
house than they kick off shoes and stockings, and walk
about at their ease with naked feet on the soft mats.
The common mode of salutation is to bend nearly
double and remain so for some time in conversation,
giving a bob down for every compliment; which, as
politeness is one of the greatest of Japanese virtues,
occurs very frequently. The visit or rencontre ends in
the same way as it begins; and it is a most amusing
sight to see two old women bobbing thus, and chatter-
ing for half an hour before either one or the other will
give in. The men generally salute one another in the
same manner, but they pass the hands down the knee
and leg, and give a strong inhalation of pleasure while
performing these gymnastics. The difference may be
seen at once between inferiors saluting their superiors
and equals saluting equals: in the latter case the
ceremony is a long one; in the former a low bend
from the inferior till the fingers touch the ground, a
curt yet affable bend from the superior. But there
are a great many nice distinctions observed in the
etiquette of salutation according to rank, which could
only be made intelligible to the stranger by the lectures
and demonstrations of a professor.
Men and women go uncovered both at home and
abroad; the military are the only exception to this
rule. To protect their heads from the sun, their large
paper umbrellas or their fans are used. In the north,
MARRIAGE-PUNISHMENTS-SUICIDES.
87
where the winters are often severe, they muffle up
their heads in a cloth, so that only the nose and eyes
are visible.
Polygamy, if allowed by law in Japan, is not prac-
tised; for although the great generally have a number
of concubines, still one woman only is the wife, and
she alone has the honour of being a hostage for her
lord. Divorce is not permitted to the higher classes,
but only to merchants, artisans, or peasants. The
nuptial ceremonies are all fixed by law or custom,
according to the rank of the parties; the number of
presents to be given and returned; the duties of bride,
bridegroom, father, mother, friends, and assistants-
all are strictly defined. The same strict etiquette
regulates the treatment of the newly born babe, the
growing child, the dying, the dead, and the funeral
rites. So immutable and deeply rooted have the cus-
toms of this country become during its long seclusion
from the Western World, that the whole machinery of
life, political, civil or social, goes on with the regu-
larity of well-ordered mechanism, and has become
popular by long continuance. Provisions were made
against every event: especially against intercourse with
the stranger the forerunner of change; and death was
to be the penalty of all who should hold communion
with him.
Capital punishment seems to be inflicted by burning
alive, beheading, or crucifixion, according to the crime;
justice being both prompt and without mercy. For
political offences, and misfortunes or faults of generals,
statesmen, or officials, as bloody a law as ever dis-
graced the Punic senate, is in full force in Japan.
88
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
The unhappy person, however, has the sad privilege
of suicide, and so saves the honour of his family,
and his property. A small sword presented to him,
generally by the officer who is to replace him, is the
signal that he has succumbed to intrigues, to dis-
favour, or to fate; he draws the sabre across his
body, often cross-wise, and some faithful friend or
hired attendant finishes the work which a too timid
hand may have failed effectually to perform; the
head is then severed from the trunk. Often the
disgraced officer does not wait for the summons of
his prince; he stoically takes leave of his friends and
family, retires to a temple, and anticipates the fatal
message by an heroic self-destruction. Only the reli-
gious belief of thorough annihilation after death could
produce the calm execution of a crime against nature,
as is said to be the case with the Japanese; just as the
hope of more than earthly bliss prompts the fanatic
follower of the Prophet to seek the same end by
rushing into the midst of his infidel foes.
Sintoism is the ancient religion of the land, and is
nothing else than the worship of ancestors. Its rites are
very simple, and the moral tenets it enjoins are the same
as those which are the groundwork of purer religions. A
Supreme Being is acknowledged, and a mirror in the
temple is said to be the emblem which represents his
purity and power of penetrating into the human mind.
These temples are primitive buildings, and form a
great contrast to the rich and idolatrous habitations
of Buddha. The priests of the Sintoo religion do not
shave the head, and they are permitted to marry, and
wear two swords. Such a simple worship could not
RELIGION-EDUCATION-LANGUAGE.
89
long satisfy the multitude, so that when Buddhism was
introduced, with its absurd ceremonials, its grotesque
idols, its less abstract doctrines—a religion whose rites
could be readily performed-it was immediately received
by the people, and has become the prevailing creed of
the land. Its temples swarm with priests, who entirely
shave the head, and are not allowed to marry. Buddhism
in Japan, however, is more respectable than in China;
the absurdities there practised in the ceremonial, such
as letting off crackers, &c., are never seen in Japan.
There are said to be other sects who differ from
the two above mentioned, and even a party which
still adheres to a degenerated form of Christianity,
the traces of the labour of the Portuguese and
Spanish missionaries in the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries; but little or nothing is known of
them. There is no reason to believe that the
Japanese are at all a bigoted people; on the con-
trary, all creeds would be perfectly tolerated, so long
as they had no political tendency. It was only be-
cause Christianity appeared dangerous to the State
that its followers were persecuted and destroyed.
Education is widely spread among the people, who
are all able to read and write; the bonzes being the
chief instructors. Caligraphy is an art studiously
cultivated, and it is a great occupation of youth to
acquire it to perfection; boys of all classes may be
seen, in their moments of leisure, flourishing their
brushes over a roll of paper. The Chinese is the
language of the learned. There are two Japanese
languages, both written and spoken- a simple and
compound one. The former has an alphabet of
90 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
decided sounds, preserving the same value in all
combinations, of which many can only be imitated
in European tongues by a series of consonants, espe-
cially the gutturals: the Russian being, of all European
languages, that which has the greatest affinity to it in
sound. The system of forming words is phonetic:
the simple character expresses only a syllable, whilst
the compound character expresses the word complete,
or even a series of words. For example, the word
Sa-ka-na (fish) can be expressed by three characters
of the simple, or by one of the compound language.
So with other words, and even ideas. In Japanese
works, explanations of difficult symbols are often
given by placing the reading in simple characters
in a parenthesis. Different characters are used in
writing, according to the matter in question and the
person to whom it is addressed; thus different forms
would be used in writing a diplomatic report, and a
letter to a friend. To acquire enough of the ordi-
nary language for the common purposes of life is
easy; but it would require long years of residence and
hard study to be able to appreciate the different
styles, or even to become acquainted with the mass
of words, and their value according to the emphasis
laid upon them.
There are large public libraries in Japan, and litera-
ture is as common, and books are as widely circulated,
and much cheaper than even in Germany.* Thousands
* In this the Japanese are a remarkable contrast to the Chinese.
Williams, in speaking of the literature of the latter, remarks—“ No
treatises on the geography of foreign countries, nor truthful narra-
tives of travels abroad, are contained in it, nor any account of the
language of their inhabitants, their history, or their governments.
LITERATURE-ARTS-MANUFACTURES.
91
of illustrated novels are printed every year; and, to
judge from the pictures with which they are profusely
illustrated, they contain much the same ingredients as
our own-love, murder, adultery, suicide, intrigue,
heroism, and folly. Obscene picture-books and prints
are very common; and it is no unusual occurrence for
a young girl to offer them for sale quite as a matter of
course, and as though there was nothing disgusting
about them. Their books are printed from wooden
blocks on fine silky paper, doubled, so that the exterior
sides are only printed upon. The Japanese are much
further advanced in painting and drawing than the
Chinese; they understand perspective, and many of
their wood illustrations are both true to nature and
well designed, in their peculiar style.
In industrial arts and manufactures, the Japanese
on the whole equal the Chinese, and in much excel
them their lacquer work is far superior in design and
finish; their silks and crapes are inferior, and of a
width unsuitable to foreign use, being only a foot wide.
Linen and cotton cloth is coarse, but soft; and, from
the price I paid soon after our arrival in the country, I
should judge that foreign manufactures could not com-
pete with them. The paper of Japan is one of the
most remarkable articles of its industry; and there are
Philological works in other languages are almost unknown. Works
on natural history, medicine, and physiology are few and useless."
The Japanese, on the other hand, have numberless native works on
all these, and, what is far more important, they cause translations to
be made from what European works they can get on those sub-
jects. They seem thoroughly to appreciate the necessity of approxi-
mating their intelligence to that of Europeans; all are eager to
understand the language of the Western stranger, and reap every
possible benefit from his presence.
92
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
many sorts. Thick paper made of the bamboo is
oiled, and made into umbrellas, great-coats imper-
meable to wet, and coverings for palanquins and
boxes. Thinner sorts, made from the finer part of the
bark of the mulberry-tree (Morus Papyrifera), are for
personal use for blowing the nose, wiping the fingers,
wrapping up the meats taken from table, and various
other practical purposes. Every man or woman has
the long sleeve-pockets filled with this useful article,
and it forms an important clause in the marriage
contract, what supply the wife is to receive every
month. The finest quality is used in rolls for writing,
printing on, and making into writing books.
The Japanese cutlery and sword blades cannot be sur-
passed in any country in Europe, though iron is scarce.
Copper is manufactured into various forms, ornamental
or useful, such as vases, animals, birds, besides being
used in the carpentry and decoration of buildings.
Silver and gold are also made up into innumerable
articles of jewellery. Great skill is shown in the
working up of metals, such as gold, silver, copper,
and iron, one with the other, into ornaments; especially
those for the hilts of swords and clasps. The mirrors
used by the Japanese are of bronze, the reflecting sur-
face is silvered and polished, the back and handle are
wrought with different devices. Since my return to
Europe I have seen in the museum of Copenhagen
some Etruscan mirrors identical in form and character
with those of Japan.
Among the minor manufactures may be mentioned
rush and grass mats; bamboo made into cups, mats,
and innumerable other things of common necessity;
NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.
93
carved images of wood, ivory, or bone, called Needzgee,
which are worn as an appendage to the pipe-case in the
girdle of every Japanese; pocket-books, pipe-cases, and
garments made from the deer-skins of Yeso and Saga-
lien. In all these, as in fact in everything which leaves
the hands of a Japan artisan, there is a neatness and
elegance which show at once the taste, patience, and
skill of the people.
The chief agricultural productions of the country
are-rice, which is the staple product; other cereals,
grown in small quantity; and pulse of all sorts. The
soil yields the fruits of temperate and tropical climes,
but of inferior quality. Grapes grow in abundance
on the slopes of the volcanoes, but they are tasteless
and sour. The cotton-tree (Rhus -?) and the
tea plant are planted as hedges, so as not to take
up unnecessary room. The infusion made from the
tea is a pale yellow, and its smell and what taste it
has are very aromatic: as a beverage it is as universal
as in China. The varnish-tree (Rhus -?), from
which the celebrated lac is made, is also common
in China; where, however, its juice is not brought
to nearly such perfection as in Japan. Sugar is
largely grown, and is used uncrystallized. Vegetable
wax, from which the Japanese make their candles
camphor; a vegetable oil which burns extremely
well, and is now used on the Californian coast for
the lighthouses; the sauce called Soya, made from
bean meal and salt, flavoured with herbs; different
fermentations of rice known as saki; flax, and a kind
of nettle (Urtica Japonica), from which ropes are
made; the all-useful bamboo; various species of pine
;
94
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and cedar, used mostly in the construction of junks and
houses, besides many hard woods: such are most of
the productions of the country, natural and artificial.
The chief food of the people is fish and rice, with
eggs, vegetables, vermicelli, sea-weed, and pickled
roots, cakes, and sweetmeats, to diversify the diet.
Saki, tea, and sugar-water are the only drinks.
All the houses are of unpainted wood, the outsides
being generally formed of sliding panels, so that the
door may be in any part the owner likes. Inside there
are other sliding panels with window frames, and a
space from one foot to six feet wide is left between the
outer and interior slides, which forms a kind of bal-
cony, either for pleasure or for performing domestic
jobs. All the windows are of oiled paper, stuck on
neat frames with a glue which is insoluble in water.
The interiors are divided into chambers by sliding
screens of paper, ornamented with paintings of
scenery, or of animals: Foodra, with its flat, snow-
topped summit, tortoises, butterflies, cranes, and
monsters are the favourite delineations. The floor
is covered with mats of a uniform size, about half
an inch thick, and in the middle is a square place
for the wood fire, when a brasero is not used. There
is little or no furniture, so called; indeed, none is
needed. The inmates sit on the mats by day around
their trays at dinner, or tea drinking; and at night,
a thick mattress, covered with silk, crape, or cotton,
is laid on the floor for a bed; then the Japanese,
throwing off his day-garment, puts on a thick
wadded keremon for his night toilette. The most
curious article of bed furniture is the pillow. In the
JAPANESE DWELLINGS AND HABITS.
95
Malay Archipelago, a hollow bamboo-platted pillow is
used; in China a roll of stuff encased in a lacquered
cloth, and painted with different devices, is the mode;
but in Japan the pillow is a pretty little lacquered box
with drawers, in which the ladies keep their paper,
hair-arrows, &c. The top of this box is concave, and
a little cushion, in shape and size like a sausage, is
wrapped in clean paper and placed in the hollow for
the back of the head to rest upon. The Japanese
always sleep on their backs; and as only a small por-
tion of their head touches the pillow, their elaborate
coiffure does not become disordered during the night's
slumbers. Their sleep, however, is only for short
periods, as it is the custom to eat in the night from a
tray placed by the bedside, or to take a few whiffs
from the pipe; the tobacco-box containing live embers,
and other conveniences for smoking, being always
within hand's reach.
In their persons and homes the Japanese are scru-
pulously clean. Public bathing houses are found in all
the towns, where boiters of hot water are always ready,
and their ablutions are performed by pouring the water
over the body. Men, women, and children bathe all
together, and in the country the nearest brook is the
bath even in towns may be sometimes seen through
the door the master, mistress, child, or servant, sitting
in a tub of water enjoying their luxury. Their only
unclean habit is that of permitting the refuse of the
houses to collect in little trenches around the buildings,
so that in hot weather the stench is often quite unsup-
portable.
The great simplicity of their dress and habitations
96 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
is another quality which must strike the stranger in
Japan. I often wondered what became of the rich
and decorated utensils and furniture displayed in the
shops, as I never once saw any such in use among the
people, nor even at the feasts of the higher classes:
invariably the different meats were served on plain black
lacquer ware. As regards dress, it is only the women
who appear in gay colours; with the exception of
officials when in gala costume: even then the acces-
sories are of the plainest description; straw sandals
and a plain fan of white paper and bamboo. But
although the more costly and decorated articles of their
manufactures are never used and seldom displayed, yet
their inner chambers, or large trunks, are almost sure to
contain them. Those droll little cabinets of lacquer and
gold, with drawers and recesses, of all shapes and sizes;
the richly embossed bowls, cups and boxes; indoos,
needzgees, images carved in wood or ivory, or cast in
metal; gorgeous silks and satins; embroidery of gold
and silver; tapestry; rich keremons and obés; wonderful
porcelain; kani-boxes and saki bottles: such are a few
of the varied contents of those trunks, and which are
generally obtained as marriage presents, or by that
social interchange of homage and cordiality which is
practised by the Japanese at the New Year, and on
other remarkable feasts of their Calendar.
But if the interior of the houses is homely, there is
quite a luxury in the little gardens which adjoin them.
There are rocks, rivers, lakes, cascades, and mountains
in miniature; gold and silver fish sport in every pool;
shrubs and trees are trained into the drollest yet most
symmetrical shapes; there are birds whose notes are
FLOWERS-SCIENCE.
97
sweet, or whose plumage attracts the eye; there are
flowers whose perfume floats on the soft air, or whose
brilliant petals glare from the dark foliage which sur-
rounds them the camelia japonica, the rose, clematis,
jessamine and orange, the lotus and the lily, besides
many unknown in European floriculture. The Japanese
are passionately fond of flowers, and have attached to
each some sentiment or signification; and they have a
poetical calendar arranged according to the successive
blooming of different plants throughout the year.
The Japanese seem to have possessed long before
our Christian era those notions of science which in a
crude state filtrated through Asia, to be brought to
perfection by the philosophers of Western Europe.
They have for ages determined time, seasons, and the
direction of places by the sun's shadow with a dial
and gnomon. The hydraulic clock, which Ctesibius
invented at Alexandria 140 B.C., had been used many
centuries before that time in China, and perhaps in
Japan. Astrology and astronomy were ever favourite
studies of the learned. The inferior animals, their in-
stincts, qualities, and capabilities of service to man were
closely observed; and much has already been learned
of China and Japan by western nations, and more will
yet be learned to enrich the science of natural history.
The healing art in Japan was until lately, much as it
still is in the Chinese empire, a simple hygienic treat-
ment, with the favourite operations of acupuncture,
moxa-burnings and frictions; but subsequently many
Dutch works (n medicine have been translated, and
that science has entered upon a wider field, which the
presence of medical men at the consular ports will do
7
98
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
much to extend. In simple surgery they seem to
be very expert. European machinery, the railroad,
steam, cannon, fire-arms and defensive architecture,
are receiving great attention on the part of the govern-
ment and the learned; and very creditable imitations of
such things have already been turned out.
But in this age, in which speculative ideas are so
closely followed by practice, and immediate results are
expected to follow the slightest discovery, the great
question is, of what use will Japan, that country so
long all but unknown, be to those who have been so
assiduous in forcing an entry therein? The Govern-
ment of the United States, which was the first to take
a decided step, was no doubt prompted thereto by a
laudable curiosity, and the desire to rival and take pre-
cedence of all European powers in throwing open the
land, so to provide harbours of refuge for her whaling
fleet, the largest in the world. Russia has a still
stronger interest in the matter, as her colonies adjoin
Japan, and the pioneers of either power come in
contact upon an unsettled boundary. But the great
object of England and America was the rich commerce
expected from free intercourse with the people. How
far such an object has already been, or is likely to be
attained, I will endeavour to show in a few words.
The Portuguese, and afterwards the Dutch, realized
enormous profits on their trade, which was chiefly in
the precious metals; and it is estimated that those
nations drew from Japan, during the ninety-five years
preceding the prohibition in 1708, metal to the amount
of nearly one million pounds sterling per annum.
About that year the exportation of gold and silver was
TRADE, PAST AND PROSPECTIVE.
99
forbidden, and that of copper allowed only to the
amount of 15,000 piculs. From that time the exports
gradually decreased, and during the present century
the trade at Nangasaki was insignificant. The Dutch
still retain the monopoly of copper, which, however, will
shortly expire. The principal imports by foreigners
were raw silk, dye-woods, iron and glass, cotton and
woollen cloths; their exports, besides the metals, were
camphor, lacquer ware, wax, and sulphur.
On the general opening of trade, or rather before it,
in 1858-9, many fortunate speculations were made at
Nangasaki and Yokahama, and cargoes of sea-weed,
fish, lacquer ware, and wax were shipped for the China
market; but this was only of short duration. At the
end of the latter year hardly anything could be
obtained at all, and many ships had to return as they
came. The Government forbad the sale of any one
commodity to a larger amount than fifteen piculs per
day, and refused to furnish Japanese coin to a greater
extent than fifty dollars per day. In addition to this,
prices naturally augmented in the ratio of the new
demand. The first comers were enabled not only to
get rid of their cargoes to advantage, but to purchase
the productions of the country at a very low rate;
but with the increasing demand the prices of most
articles mounted upwards of 500 per cent. in the course
of a few months.
The great hope of political economists in looking
towards this country was that the cottons and woollens
of England would find purchasers among the thirty or
forty millions of its people; but it is a hope not at
all likely to be soon fulfilled; for what has Japan
7-2
100
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
to give in exchange? She cannot furnish those two
important commodities which China does-raw silk
and tea-in themselves more than sufficient to balance
the imports of our manufactured goods. She has
now no abundant supply of the precious metals, appa-
rently not even enough to maintain the currency of the
country, and the produce of her soil can only be very
little over and above her own consumption. Besides,
as I before said, the Japanese have their own cottons
and linens, cheap and abundant, and their thick
wadded cottons are used in the place of woollen gar-
ments. Japan has probably in the bowels of her moun-
tains wealth enough to balance almost any amount of
importation, but that wealth can never be available
until European art assists Japanese industry in working
the rich mines, which, though said to be nearly ex-
hausted, are probably only so in relation to the im-
perfect way in which they are worked. Free trade,
free intercourse, and time, will alone show how far this
country can answer the expectations which have been
formed; the people, it is true, are willing, but the
government is averse to such a state of affairs, and it
will only be when the same policy has been enacted
against it as against China, that there can be any
chance of success. But the interests at stake in Japan
are trifling compared with those connected with China;
* Exports from China, average for five years
Imports of English manufactures, average for five
years
£9,000,000
2,000,000
Balance made up by opium and manufactures from India. But the
Japanese do not smoke opium, and are not likely to do so. At
Nangasaki an attempt to introduce it was found out, and the opium
was thrown overboard.
WHAT IS REALLY GAINED BY THE TREATIES. 101
and even though compulsion were crowned with suc-
cess, the object attained would not be found to com-
pensate for the cost of securing it.
The only real benefit of the treaties, therefore, is
the opening of ports in various parts of the empire,
where ships, and especially whalers, can refit and
victual in safety. Of these there are at present five-
Nangasaki, Hakodadi, Simoda, Yokahama, and Nee-e-
ga-ta. This latter, however, not being a safe anchor-
age, and having a shallow bar at the entrance, is to be
changed for another more suitable.
Such is but a slight sketch of the most interesting
features of the Japan empire and its inhabitants; but
it will, I trust, give the reader a glance into a country
as yet so little known, and about which so much
that is extravagant and untrue has been written in all
languages. In the pages which follow a few more
interesting facts may perhaps be gleaned.
102 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER VII.
Hakodadi Situation Important-Town and Neighbourhood-Visit
of Governor-Breakfast Japanese Swords-The Governor's
Suite-A Sea-God's Temple, and the Rape of the God-Whalers
and Whalemen-New Granada Flag in Japan-Excursions
around Hakodadi-Rural Temples-A Water-mill-Japanese
Sportsmen Fête Temples - Bonzes and their Flocks
Devotees-Graveyards-Funeral-Public Bathing-The Rus-
sian Consul-The American Consul-Disgraceful Scene-Incen-
diary Fire in Dockyard-Visit to Lead Mines-A Yankee-
German and his Adventures-Aspect of Country in Yeso-
Interior of Mine, and Manner of Working-Effect of Spy Sys-
tem-Smelting of Ore-A Country Inn-Public Dinner-
Adventure with a Bonze and a Farmer-Japanese Gilpin-
Tea Gardens—A Porcelain Manufactory — Arrival of Count
Mouravief-Amursky-Japanese Currency and Panic-Unpleasant
Results.
As we steamed into the spacious bay of Hakodadi,
the boat of a Japanese pilot adroitly laying itself just
in our track, made fast to a rope and delivered up its
pilot, to earn ten dollars for the Japanese Governor.
At two o'clock we had cast anchor before the town,
when the officials came on board to ask the usual
questions and look about them.
It was soon known that despatches had been re-
ceived from Count Mouraviëf-Amursky, the Governor-
General of Eastern Siberia, in which were orders to
await his return in Hakodadi. He had been waiting
for us for some time, and had at length proceeded
HAKODADI.
103
to the Peiho. The report was, that the whole
Russian squadron in these waters would assemble
in Hakodadi to accompany him on a diplomatic mis-
sion to Yedo.
Hakodadi is situated on a high island-like penin-
sula, protruding from the south shores of the island
of Yeso into the Straits of T'zugar, and containing
several peaks from 500 to 1,000 feet in height. It
was one of the first ports opened under the American.
treaty, and was much visited by the vessels of the
allied squadron during the war. Until then only a
miserable fishing village, it is likely to become a place
of considerable political and commercial importance,
both from its geographical and its local position. A
low alluvial isthmus connects the peninsula with the
main island, and a plain of some extent, bordered by
an amphitheatre of hills, over which may be seen
towards the south-west the magnificent cone and
plateau of the extinct volcano "Senkea," separates
the mountain peninsula from the high lands of the in-
terior. The town is built at the foot of the peninsula,
forming three terraces of streets up its side, con-
spicuous in which are four temples, the temporary
residences of the consuls, and near which the flags
of America, France, Russia, and England now fly.
If ever any European power wishes to obtain a pied à
terre in Japan, no better spot could be chosen than
Hakodadi. Easily fortified, with good anchorage, and
a delightful climate, it offers all the advantages re-
quired for such a purpose.
The houses are of miserable appearance. They are
built of fir-wood, and thatched with reeds and bark,
104 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
upon which large stones are placed to prevent their
being blown off during the hurricane-storms which
sometimes visit the islands. Over each roof is a tub
filled with water, as a precaution against fire, but it is
more for show than for use, as its contents would be
about two pailfuls. Narrow ditches, filled with nasti-
ness, surround each house and line the streets. The
mildewed appearance of all the woodwork shows the
occasional dampness of the climate. Within doors.
all is perfectly clean, as, in fact, are all the houses,
even of the poorest class, in Japan. A few shops in
which all the best wares were carefully packed away,
were all that could be seen of its business. The
inhabitants are already quite accustomed to strangers;
not so, however, are the dogs, with which the place
swarms; these noisy curs, however, always expressed
their dislike from a suitable distance. They are a half
wolf, half fox-like animal, resembling the dogs I after-
wards saw in Siberia. There were also strings of shaggy
little pack horses in the streets, receiving or discharg-
ing their burdens of rice, fish, or sugar.
On our arrival in Nangasaki, a pig, some fish, and
a basket of vegetables had been sent on board; here
we had nothing of the sort. Perhaps the oft-repeated
visits of ships of war, or the practice of paying cere-
monial visits, or an approach to European customs,
may have been the cause. Neither, after a visit paid
to the governor, were the remains of our insipid feast
sent after us. I think, however, from what I saw
afterwards, that it was the meanness of the governor
which caused such a departure from Nipon customs.
On the 6th, the governor paid his visit on board.
VISIT OF GOVERNOR.
105
He came in a large, unpainted boat sculled from the
stern by some twenty men. In the middle there was
a little raised cabin in which his Excellency and
his attendants sat on mats round their tobacco-boxes
and smoked their pipes; and in the prow there were
official spears of various forms, with small flags and
banners. Six other boats filled with officers and soldiers
came after. Only the under governor, spy governor,
and three or four other high officers, accompanied his
Excellency into our cabin. After the commodore had
shown him various European articles which he thought
would interest, and which were looked upon with that
grave and attentive reserve which marks a high-born
Japanese, we all sat down to breakfast. The inter-
preter stood by the side of the governor, and inter-
preted with the most profound respect, his eyes cast
down on the ground. Various dishes suited to the
Japanese taste had been prepared, and sweet wines.
and liqueurs were served round. The governor and
his lieutenant ate and drank sparingly; not so, how-
ever, the others: they took all we gave them, ate
what they could, packed the rest up in paper, and
deposited it in the bosom-folds of their capacious
robes. One or two of them began to become rather
merry after a few glasses of liqueur and Constantia,
but on perceiving the eye of their master once or
twice fixed on them, they would not touch a drop
more.
The governor was an old man with a long face,
pointed chin, straight nose, eyes very slightly oblique,
and a very mild and pleasing expression. He put me
much in mind of an old Scotch lady as he sat at table,
106
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and the resemblance was made more ludicrous by the
extreme politeness of the commodore, who had handed
him to his seat, and was now helping him to this and
that, and overwhelming him with the most marked
attention. The poor old man was kept continually
at work bowing his acknowledgments. He wore his
official dress, yellow figured satin trowsers, a rich blue
silk robe over a white one, and over all the black
silk jacket-like dress. A pair of magnificent swords
completed his costume, but these were delivered over
to his sword-bearer. They were very old weapons,
their hilts of corroded iron, yet richly wrought with
gold and silver; but the blades were the chief object
of value. These swords are heir-looms, and treasured
as such. It has been until now almost impossible
to obtain swords in Japan; officers of men-of-war
can get permission to purchase them on application
to the governor, or through the consuls, but it seems
that the natives will not sell them to merchants or
others, for numerous offers to buy were made to our
officers by merchants both in Nangasaki, and after-
wards in Yedo. In the latter place I found they
were to be procured easily enough, but I had
already bought a pair in Nangasaki. Much has
been said of the beautiful temper of their blades;
that they can rival the sword of Saladin in cutting
through the most airy fabric, as well as through Euro-
pean swords, without turning their edge. The only
instance I ever saw of their use was that of a Japanese
cutting through a sapling about an inch and a half in
diameter, and then repeatedly slicing pieces off the
stump. I had afterwards a melancholy example of
THE GOVERNOR'S SUITE.
107
how these swords can cut.* There is one great fault,
however, with most of the modern Japanese blades;
they are too highly tempered, and brittle at the edge.
The lieutenant-governor was a young man,
of a
very fine, sharp, and cunning cast of countenance.
The others were very fat, good-natured bons vivants.
The interpreter, who spoke English tolerably, was
permitted, on the application of the captain, to par-
take of some refreshment in the presence of his august
master. These interpreters are cunning rascals, and
need be, to have to explain the most disagreeable
truths in such a way as not to offend their superiors.
I had reason to know in many instances that they do
not half translate what is said; sometimes because they
do not quite understand it, in which case they invent,
and at other times because they dare not communicate
the truth. Thus both parties are for the present in
their hands. Most of the consulates have, however,
an interpreter of their own, either a native Japanese,
or a European who can speak the Dutch language,
which most of the interpreters speak well. English
is, however, now become the official language in trans-
acting business with the Government.
ང་
After breakfast the party adjourned on deck, where
the photographic apparatus was set up. The gover-
nor wanted his portrait to send to his poor wife in
Yedo, but as it was beneath his dignity to have it
taken so publicly, it was arranged that it should be
done at his own house the next day. His subor-
dinates underwent the operation. One, to whom it
must have been new, became very red, then very
*See Chapter IX.-" Murder of Russians."
108
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
pale, as the focus was fixed on him, which provoked
the laughter of all present, especially of the old lady
the governor.
When the result was shown him,
he was delighted, and took it away with him to
excite the envy of his own and his wife's friends.
Soon after the governor returned on shore, and the
corvette gave him a parting salute of five guns.
On the south-west side of the peninsula of Hakodadi
is a remarkable cave, in which is a temple dedi-
cated to the god of fishermen. Formerly it con-
tained an idol, no doubt grotesque and curious,
for it disappeared two or three days after the dis-
covery of this cavern by the Americans in 1853. The
Japanese fishermen accuse them of having taken it;
the Americans say the fishermen removed it; but
I met during my voyage the real culprit, who stole it
during the night, and just as he had done so, was
disturbed by the approach of an American boat from
Ringold's squadron, which had come with the same
intention. Having made up my mind to visit
this cave, I accompanied Baron H an officer
of the Grédin, for that purpose. Unfortunately a
heavy swell was setting in at the time, and as there
are some rocks in the channel just below the level,
and we were not provided with torches, we were un-
able to penetrate into the sanctum.
On a ledge of rocks near the entrance, I was sur-
prised to find three or four Americans, with a boat
drawn upon the rocks. These men were deserters
from whale ships; for though men on that service
are paid a per-centage of the proceeds of the voyage,
#
DESERTERS FROM WHALING SHIPS.
109
but receive no fixed wages, yet desertions are of
constant occurrence, often after years' service, and
when much money is due to the men, who, of course,
forfeit all claim by the act. A few days before, a
whaler came to Hakodadi, and lost half her men.
The consul could not find them, but the captain
obtained others, and put to sea. The men were
then found by the consul, and employed by him
at the spot where I saw them. Another whaler
arrived, and the same thing happened; the former
deserters would not re-ship; the captain could not
put again to sea with his few hands; so he had re-
course to stratagem. He put to sea one afternoon,
returned in the night with an armed boat, and carried
off all the men he could find. Mr. Rice, the American
consul, had come on board the Rynda for assistance,
but all the ships were then under such repair as would
prevent their putting to sea for some days. I found
the remaining men on the rock armed to the teeth, as
they expected a second attempt would be made that
night by another whaler, which, in fact, was made;
but finding the men on the alert, the captain prudently
returned with his boat. It seems to be a practice
among whalers in these seas where men are not to be
had, to deliver up their deserters one to another, but
that does not prevent their being smuggled on board
by the sailors, and stowed away till the ship puts to
If the captain has any suspicion of such prac-
tices, he has recourse to an infallible method of
unearthing the men, by smoking the ship with pepper,
when they soon make their appearance. The facts I
have related will show the careless habits of this class
sea.
110 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
of men, their love of change, and disregard for the future.
One man told me he had nearly a hundred dollars
already due to him upon the cargo when he ran away.
A schooner arrived on the 9th under the New Granada
flag, and although her captain was an American, she
was not allowed to remain. The governor declared
that no treaty existed with the Government of New
Granada, and ordered that provisions should be sup-
plied, and that she should be dismissed. The captain
came on board to ask our interference, but it seemed
to have no result.
For some days I made many excursions along the
shores of the bay, and in the interior of the island,
to the distance of ten or twelve miles, on horseback
or with my gun. The horses we obtained were small,
entire, strong and hardy animals, accustomed to move
in single file, from their being used as pack horses.
All transport of goods throughout the country is carried
on by them, and by oxen. Wheel carriages are never
to be seen, the only approach to them being low cars
on rollers of solid wood, which are used to drag
heavy weights. It astonished me to see the heavy
burdens which these animals carried. Travelling in
Japan is entirely in palanquin, or on horseback for
the higher classes, on foot for the others. The saddles
are high, uncomfortable things, made of lacquered
wood, decorated according to the rank of the rider;
in Hakodadi we generally got a sack instead of a
saddle, which was not to be had for hire or sale. The
stirrups are iron slippers, weighing eight or ten pounds
each, and can only be used, I should think, by a
EXCURSIONS IN YESO.
111
Japanese. A European, if he wishes to ride, must
The price paid for the
itsheboo (2s.) per day;
manufacture himself a pair.
hire of these horses was 1
the price to buy them being from 12 to 25 itsheboo.
This was during my first visit; but, as with everything
else, in all the ports, the price increased six or seven-
fold during a few months.
The hamlets on the shores of the bay contain a
population of fishermen. Salmon, cod, soles, and
other fish abound. But at this time of the year the
principal fish caught is a kind of sardine, which they
boil down and compress into large masses for exporta-
tion to the south. Blazing fires might be seen during
the whole night along the shore, with the naked fisher-
men moving about them.
Following Kamida creek up to where it issues from
the mountains, the road passed through a long scattered
village of agriculturists. The houses were all clean,
and there was an air of comfort and well-doing
even about the poorest of them. Each had large
stacks of beech wood provided against the winter,
and men were still employed either in bringing it in
from the mountains on their horses, or in sawing
it up. The whole reminded me much of scenes I
had seen in Germany. The country, on entering the
mountain gorges, was most picturesque. The valleys
seemed fruitful; rye, barley, potatoes, and pulse
were growing about the homesteads interspersed with
orchards, containing apples, pears, plums, and nuts.
Herds of fine cattle were roaming over the plain, and
troops of young horses frisking about amid the high
grass; and yet it was almost impossible to get from
112 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
↑
the comprador of the government an animal that was
at all fit to eat. I verily believe that these cunning
people palmed all their old disabled bulls and aged
cocks and hens upon the Europeans, to avoid the neces-
sity of having themselves to eat them, or let them die of
sheer old age. Complaints were of no avail; the reply
was always, that the people were unwilling to part with
their young animals. The truth was, that the govern-
ment bought the old ones for a trifle, and sold them at
an exorbitant price to us. A bull cost, on our arrival,
about 6 itsheboo; five months afterwards 20 dollars
were demanded. It is true, they were a little younger,
for all the aged animals of Yeso must have been
already got rid of. It is a curious fact, that the cows
of Japan will not produce milk except for their calves.
The Japanese creed forbids its use, but I was assured by
several Europeans, who tried to form a dairy, that they
found it impossible to obtain milk from the animal
under any circumstances. The sheep is almost un-
known in Japan.
Everywhere the country people were courteous and
obliging. On entering a house, or from the passing
traveller, there was always the greeting O-kai-o.
Whenever I came into a dwelling a place was pointed
out to sit down, a pipe, tea, &c., were brought for-
ward, and a conversation opened by signs, made more
intelligible by the few hundred words I had learned or
written down in Nangasaki.
Health and content were written in the face of man,
woman, and child. Yet I saw the traces of many
diseases-tinea, scabies, impetigo, and small-pox, for
vaccination is at best very imperfectly understood even
RURAL TEMPLES-WATERMILL.
113
in Yedo, and hardly at all here. Perhaps the most
common infirmity in Japan is blindness. Medical men
account for it by the custom of shaving the forehead to
the crown, and going exposed to the sun and cold.
A striking feature in the rural scenery of Japan,
are the little temples met with everywhere by the
roadside. They are still more numerous than are
the pagodas in China, and are always situated in a
small wood, generally of fir-trees, through which an
avenue is made up to them from the road, and
carved posts of wood, like a gate frame, are placed at
the entrance, and at intervals up the avenue. These
temples are devoid of any beauty, being generally
roughly built of wood, and sometimes, though not
always, contain a few idols. Their principal use is as
resting places for poor travellers, where they may eat
and sleep, and in my wanderings about the country I
often formed one of a party, whom I had met in these
buildings. In the neighbourhood of Kamida, there
was one most picturesquely situated by the river, and
this formed a common place of resort during the sum-
mer evenings. The little woods are generally filled
with rooks and doves, birds which love to haunt the
precincts of the temples.
In one of my rambles I came upon a water-mill, and,
curious to see the manner of applying that motive
power, I entered. This was very simple; several poles
of heavy wood were fixed in a frame, and in these
poles were notches at intervals. A projecting shaft
from the centre of the wheel had spokes placed also
at short distances, and, as the shaft revolved, these
spokes were caught in the notches of the poles, ele-
8
114 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
vating them about two feet, when they fell upon the
grain placed in a round hole beneath. It was simply
pounding in a mortar, by pestles moved in the above
manner. The substance ground was rice, used for
Japanese bread, or rather sponge cake, and for whiten-
ing the complexion of the ladies, who consume large
quantities. It is also largely used as a substitute for
soap, which is unknown in Japan. There is a certain
bean, too, which, when ground, is used for the same
purpose of washing. Public mills are not numerous
in Japan, small ones being generally found in private
houses or shops, in which the grain, &c. is pounded
in a mortar, by a pestle on a lever, worked by a man
treading on one extremity.
The shedding of blood is against all the moral laws
of Japan, yet I met many a long-robed sportsman
during my own shooting excursions. They were armed
with a gun resembling a walking stick, by which hung
a rope-match, as with the first matchlocks invented in
Europe. Their powder was like small shot, and their
shot like small bullets. The barrel was not bad, of
small bore, and must have been true, since ducks could
be killed by their two or three shots at some distance,
as I have seen. My double barrel and percussion caps,
fine powder, and even-made shot excited their admira-
tion, though not their envy. In this island of Yeso,
vast quantities of deer and bears are shot every year,
and the horns and skins form an important article of
exportation. The fishermen and the Ainos also bring
in the skins of the beaver and sea-otter; but their value
is well understood, and they fetch high prices. And
yet a clause was inserted in the treaty against all
BONZES AND THEIR FLOCKS.
115
shooting or killing of birds, &c., as it would offend the
prejudices of the people. Rather, it should have been
said, that it would prevent Europeans rambling into the
country, and so familiarizing the people with their
presence.
•
There are in Hakodadi three large Buddhist temples,
and one of the Sintoo creed, much inferior to the
former. In one of these the Russian consul, M. Gaske-
vitch, is lodged for the present, until a large building,
now erecting for a consulate, be finished. Mr. Rice,
the American consul, or trade-agent, is similarly placed.
The out-buildings of the temples throughout Japan
are used for all sorts of purposes-as inns, dining-
rooms, for charity meetings, and tea-parties, for it is
here a custom to collect money from the devotee in
much the same manner as in other parts of the world.
I have sometimes seen hundreds of persons, men,
women, and children, seated in these temples, each
with his tray and cups of black lacquered wood before
him or her, the bonzes praying or drumming, while
their flock was feeding. After such a repast a general
collection takes place, mostly in copper cash, among
which a piece of silver may now and then be seen.
Most of the fraternities of bonzes must be partly sup-
ported in this way, to judge by the frequent occurrence
of these feasts. Like the Catholic priests of Belgium
and other countries, where hundreds exist without any
fixed employ, the bonze of Japan makes his own pri-
vate connexion, and so gets all the religious work
which may be required by the family, such as masses,
private prayers at home, &c. To judge also from
Japan engravings, they are not a bit behind their
8-2
116 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
brethren of Europe in the art of ingratiating them-
selves with the most pious and tender part of their
flock.
The larger temples have all their different shrines,
or small chapels, dedicated to particular devotions.
Besides the various images of Buddha, a virgin and
child are frequently seen, with many other most interest-
ing deities, male and female, to whom prayers are
offered up, much in the manner and for the same pur-
poses as they were two thousand years ago to Venus,
Diana, or Mercury. I have sat for hours on the steps
of these temples, and watched the devotees as they
put off the shoes from their feet, and entered the pre-
cincts of their sanctuary. At one time, two young and
interesting women, in their newest costume, were
squatted down before the drums, beating in cadence,
to the monotonous mumblings of a bonze, hidden
somewhere behind the altar. At another time, a poor
old decrepid creature, with her brown and shrivelled
bosom and legs bare, would put down her basket, and
prostrate herself before some favourite god. Then a
peasant, a merchant, a soldier, would look in at the
door, fold his hands open upon his breast, and bow
his head a few times, count his beads, and then, nine
times out of ten, turn and examine me, and, at last,
sit down by me on the steps and smoke a pipe. Sel-
dom an officer, or a man of rank, was seen; the poor
and the women seemed the only worshippers.
The porches and fronts of all temples of note are
most elaborately decorated with wood carving, and
with massive ornaments of copper. The roofs rise
to a sharp ridge, and their sides, slightly concave,
BURIAL GROUNDS-FUNERALS.
117
are covered with tiles of the same form. At the gates
may generally be seen beggars squatting down, many
of them blind, with a cloth to receive the copper cash
thrown by the charitable. Beggars, however, are not
common in Japan.
•
Behind these temples in Hakodadi are the burial
grounds, situated on the slopes of a fir-wood. There
tomb-stones and cenotaphs may be seen as in Europe,
with, no doubt, the same proverbs, the same recounting
of virtues which the departed did or did not possess.
Hither came the two young girls, whom I had seen
drumming in the temple, to perform the pious task
of placing fresh flowers over the tomb of their departed
parent or friend. They put their lilies and bluebells
in small bamboo cups, which they stuck in the earth,
and having played a little, went shuffling away again
arm-in-arm. There many a being of former days,
"unknown to fortune or to fame," was lying, or
rather sitting, for that is the posture in which the
dead are buried. They are placed in a tub doubled up,
and have generally but a very few feet of earth above
them. Burning the dead is also common in Japan,
and a place is set apart for that purpose behind the
town of Hakodadi.
The funeral processions which I saw consisted of
both men and women, the latter clothed in white
dresses with hoods. Officials are always present to
verify the burial. Bonzes perform their duty, and
generally watch the grave for some time afterwards.
As in China, a day is set apart for a fête in commemo-
ration of the departed, and prayers are said, flowers
strewed over the graves, and the bonzes make a rich
118 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
harvest by the sale of different holy objects, and by
sacrifices, &c. But this custom is, I believe, as com-
mon in Paris as in Japan, and on a certain day, the
cemetery of Père la Chaise receives its pious visitors,
who leave their world of gaiety to cast a thought back
on those they loved, to look on the spot where they
are, perhaps, no more, and to plant a twig or sow
seed upon that human mould.
What is the right definition of the word "modesty?"
Such was the question I put to myself when I first,
this day, entered a Japan bathing-house. There were
men of all ages, women, girls, and children, stand-
ing by dozens washing themselves, with as much
unconcern as though they were drinking tea, and,
to tell the truth, the European visitor looked on as
much unconcerned as any. "The immodesty is in the
remark,” said Madame de Staël, to a young officer,
who asked her if she did not think some statue of
Hercules, or Venus, which they were looking at, was
very immodest. So I resolved to think no evil of the
naked modesty of Japan.
On the 14th of July, the officers of the gunboat
Plaistow gave a dinner to the officers of the squadron
already assembled in the bay. On this occasion I met
M. Gaskevitch, the Russian consul. This gentleman had
resided for ten years in Pekin, and spoke the Chinese
and Japanese languages fluently. It is known that for
many years the Russian Government has had the privi
lege of an establishment in Pekin for priests and inter-
preters. In 1853, M. Gaskevitch accompanied Admiral
Putiatin, as naturalist, on his mission to Japan in the
RUSSIAN CONSUL-AMERICAN CONSUL. 119
frigate Pallas. Transferred to the Diana, he was on
board her at the time of the catastrophe at Simoda,
remained some time there, and was taken prisoner in
the brig Greta, by the English steamer before men-
tioned. Vainly he protested that, as a civilian, he had
the right to be liberated; such a right was not allowed,
it seemed, by the English code, for he was carried away
to England, and there only liberated. He is the gentle-
man whom Captain Whittingham, in his narrative of
the voyage of the Sybille, describes "as a learned
Russian, a councillor of the empire, and a man speaking
or writing most European tongues." This is perfectly
true; he is, besides, a clever naturalist, has written
much on Japan and China, published a dictionary of
both languages, and is occupied in preparing a still
more useful work on the language and customs of
the country. The consul and Lieutenant Zelonoi,
first officer of the frigate Ascolde, were two of the
three prisoners then taken, and from both I made
inquiries as to the truth of a report which I had
heard, that Admiral Stirling had offered either one
his liberty if he would consent to pilot an English
squadron to where the Russian vessels were lying. I
was sorry to hear it confirmed that such a proposition
was made, but through an officer who, when fulfilling
an unpleasant duty, protested against being anything
but the vehicle of such an insulting message. To
M. Gaskevitch I am obliged for many explanations
of customs, which my short stay in Japan prevented
my inquiring into myself.
While speaking of consuls, let me introduce to the
reader the American trade-agent or consul. If any-
120 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
thing ought to prevent governments intrusting political
business to trading men, especially in such a country
as Japan, the disgraceful scenes which passed in this
town of Hakodadi, ought to be a lesson. An Ameri-
can clipper-schooner, the Maury, under, I believe, the
English flag, had followed us up from Hong Kong, and
her commander intended to remain as a merchant in
Hakodadi. Whatever may have been the disputes
between these two men, who accused each other (and
the whole was an affair of dollars, or the means of
gaining them), the fact of a representative of a great
people like that of the United States, so far forgetting
himself as to come to blows with his opponent, and
even to fight a maudlin kind of duel with him, and
then their both running to complain to the consul of
another nation of each other's proceedings, is to make
a consulship a laughing-stock to all lookers-on; and
a pretty picture it was to set before a people like
the Japanese and their officers, whose satirical nature,
though their words may not be understood, can be
unmistakeably read in the nervous twitching of their
mouths, and the droll twinkling of their eyes.
On the night of July 22nd the whole bay was illumi-
nated by a fire in the Japanese dockyard and wood
magazines. Boats were despatched in all haste from
all the ships, and the sailors, by their systematic exer-
tions, soon succeeded in cutting off the further en-
croach of the flames, and thereby saving many
thousand dollars' worth of timber.
The governor
and his lieutenants and officers were on the ground,
and thanked the officer in command. That gentleman
told me, that on his arrival things were in the greatest
INCENDIARIES-A GERMAN YANKEE. 121
confusion-the men screaming, several bonzes present
with their idols, and their little fire engines, in shape
and size something like our garden pumps, squirting
slender streams of water upon the flaming mass.
This fire was discovered to be the work of incen-
diaries, one of whom was taken on the spot; the
other was found a few days afterwards, and the trial
of both was prompt. They were condemned to the
death of incendiaries, which is to be burnt alive in
the field set apart for the burning of the dead. Their
sentence was forwarded to Yedo, for confirmation by
the council, and due notice was to have been given to
the consuls of the day of punishment.
About twenty-five miles from Hakodadi there are
some lead mines, which I had long determined to visit,
and on the 27th I set out for that purpose. My com-
panion, a German Yankee, was a young fellow in
whom the go-ahead enterprising spirit of one nation
was grafted on the stolidness of the other. Tossed
about by fate in various capacities and in various
climes, he had at length been employed by the
American consul as the doer of all sorts of dirty
work, such as hunting up deserters from ships, and
other matters, which a consul in these parts has often
to attend to. But he had a spirit of enterprise in
him which pleased me. He had already explored
half the island of Yeso, and his last exploit was
ship-wrecking himself before the little town of Mats-
mai, which he was desirous to visit. In an open boat,
with two American sailors and a Japanese servant,
and the stars and stripes flying above, he managed
122 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
to have his bowsprit and jib carried away when just
before the city. He then ran his boat ashore, as he
said, to repair damages. Whether the Japanese under-
stood this trick or not, they shut up him and his men
in a temple, and kept them prisoners. But as he
spoke a little Japanese he bullied the officers, and,
making himself out to be somebody, contrived to have
an interview with the governor, to whom he delivered
a letter in English, with a demand that it should be
forwarded to the American consul. The letter stated
that he was kept a prisoner, and requested that the
consul would get a ship of war to come to Matsmai
and release him. His ruse had full effect; the gover-
nor received the letter, but took care not to send it,
and the Yankee and his men had full liberty to wander
about the town; but this did not much benefit them,
as the shops were all closed, the people kept within
doors, and a posse of spies accompanied them whither-
soever they went. Meanwhile, the boat had been
repaired, but the weather was too bad, according to
him, to set sail, so that his stay was prolonged for
some days. The Japanese getting tired of this, were
about forwarding him on by a junk, when he took
himself off. Such was the companion of my little
excursion.
Mounted on the stout ponies of the country, we
skirted the shores of the bay for seven or eight miles,
and then struck into the interior. The rain of the
last few days had left the bridle-paths half a
foot deep with mud, while many of the fords of the
torrents were nearly impassable; and then there were
numerous ditches with a small narrow plank for a
INTERIOR OF YESO.
123
bridge, which required the utmost caution in crossing.
About ten miles from the town we reached a small
village, from which a guide was procured to lead us
up into the mountains. From this village the journey
was most exciting. Winding up steep mountain
paths one moment, the next we were wading through
the bed of a mountain stream, where the water was
foaming over thousands of rocks; and thus we ascended
and descended for miles, through woods of beech,
birch, and larch: through valleys where the wild rose
and many beautiful and gorgeous flowers, as rich
in colour as the butterflies which were stealing their
sweets, attracted and amused the eye and perfumed
the air we breathed. The horse of our guide having
slipped when crossing a narrow plank bridge, was
precipitated with his rider into the deep ditch beneath;
and the laughter which his appearance caused us was
only equalled when, on crossing the next ford, my
own steed lost his footing on the uneven bottom, and
the stream tumbled us both over and over for some
yards.
The country and its flora reminded me much of the
scenery in the duchy of Nassau. In a few spots of
the valleys were rude huts with patches of potatoes,
beans, and peas around them; elsewhere, in the
valleys and the hills was a thick brushwood, filled,
our guide said, with foxes, deer, and a small black
bear. Much has been said of the over-crowded popu-
lation of Japan. True, Nipon and the southern islands
are densely peopled, every yard of land, even to the
mountain-tops, is cultivated there; the most minute
hand-labour, and the arts of manuring, irrigating,
124 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and reclaiming by dykes and drainage, are practised;
the plough is unknown, the hoe being the great
instrument of agriculture. It is this kind of labour
which, with the simple habits of the people, and
the non-rearing of animals for food, enables these
islands to support their millions. Even their most
valuable trees, the tea plant, the mulberry, and the
varnish-tree, are so planted as not to take up room
which might be devoted to the cereals, sugar, &c.
But in the island of Yeso it is otherwise. The
Japanese here are colonists, as traders and fishers,
and their settlements are on the coast, or not far
removed from it. The interior is still inhabited by
the Ainos, helots of the Japanese conquerors, despised,
jeered at, and tyrannized by them. Broad sweeps of
alluvial plains, fruitful valleys, and mountain sides are
here uncultivated, and await a further immigration.
In one of the gorges of the mountains was the
mining settlement, presided over by a high officer
of the Prince of Matsmai. This gentleman received
us with all that quiet cordiality which is characteristic
of Japanese good breeding, and introduced us to his
wife and family, whereupon we all sat down round the
tobacco-box, and smoked the customary pipe and drank
the insipid tea which the lady of the house presented
to us. We afterwards proceeded to visit the mine, the
entrance to which was about 400 feet above the level
of the river beneath. A dress made of straw or rushes,
with a cap à la Robinson Crusoe, and a torch made of
reeds, were provided for each of us in order to explore
the dirty interior. The tunnel was about 500 feet
long, very low and narrow, and the ground knee deep
LEAD MINE-ESPIONAGE.
125
in chalky mud. In this tunnel were four or five little
chambers, in each of which one man was occupied
in chipping off small pieces of the ore with a hammer
and chisel, and placing them in small baskets, which
women conveyed to the smelting hut outside. Two
veins in the quartz, which I examined, were about
eight inches thick; and specimens which I took were
very rich. But all the leads were worked upwards ;
several attempts seemed to have been made to work
down, but the holes were filled with water, which they
have no means of emptying by pumping, &c. If no
better principle of mining is carried out in the rich
copper and silver mines of Japan, the greatest part of
her mineral wealth is yet to be discovered.*
On leaving one of these chambers, I gave the man
who had hewn me some specimens a small gratuity,
which he thanked me for in the Japanese manner, by
carrying the gift up to his forehead, and then placed
it in his sleeve pocket. I then remarked a boy peer-
ing at us through the gloom. When half-way down
the mountain I heard somebody shouting behind me,
and the Japanese to whom I had given the piece
of silver, came running after me, and returned the
money with looks of the utmost fear and horror.
Such is an example of the spy system pervading all
classes. The boy had seen me give the man money;
he, thinking us alone, had taken it, but on finding a
third person present, he avoided the consequences of
* Most of the best specimens were stolen from me by the Japanese
on my return to Hakodadi. One good one which I saved, seemed to
be nearly pure lead, and contains also a portion of silver, of which
the Japanese take no account.
126 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
being reported by hurrying after me and returning
the coin. This is only one of many instances I saw
of the same thing during my stay in Japan.
The mineral, on being brought from the mine, was
broken up and sorted, only the richest pieces being
carried to the smelting room. Here it was crushed
by hammers, although a torrent was within a few feet,
whose power might have been rendered serviceable.
The smelting apparatus was a large ladle over a
charcoal fire, with heat just sufficient to drive off
the sulphur, and separate the lead from the dross,
which a man kept skimming off with an iron spoon.
The result was a cake of lead weighing about 40 lbs.,
and only one such was made at a time. I could not
believe that this manner of mining was the most
advanced in Japan, but the art is as yet in a most
primitive state. If European science could get admit-
tance, Japan would be found under European direction
to be one of the richest lands in the world for mining
industry.
On our return from the mine, the officer in command
had prepared a collation of cakes, sweetmeats, tea,
and saki, and having smoked a pipe, we set our faces
towards the town, as it was getting rather late. On´
reaching the village where we had taken our guide,
we entered the inn and set about preparing dinner,
part of which, consisting of preserved meats, we had
brought with us. The hostess supplied fish, eggs,
and rice, with other items of Japanese fare. Seated
in the fashion of the country in the interior of the
building, our repast formed a sort of theatrical repre-
sentation to the whole village. Men, women, and
JOLLY COMPANIONS: BONZE AND FARMER. 127
children crowded to the bars of the window to have
a good look, and, if their amusement might be judged
of by their laughter, they had plenty of it in seeing
the barbarians eating. Our dinner-party was pre-
sently increased by a bonze and a farmer, who sat
down without ceremony beside us, and held out their
cups to receive some of our potent whisky. This
soon produced a wonderful effect upon our guests;
the farmer began to sing; the little eyes of the
bonze rolled in delight, and he commenced helping
himself to the potted and forbidden beef, and that
in the presence of all his flock outside. Japanese
civilities were then exchanged. These consisted in
drinking out of one another's cup, or presenting an
egg or something with the fingers. But when the old
bonze did me the great honour of biting off half an
egg, and presenting me with the other half, it was too
much, and I declined the honour; but the reverend
gentleman was not to be done out of his politeness;
he bit out another piece and again offered the re-
mainder, with the same result. This he repeated
two or three times, and at last, seeing I did not
appreciate his civility, he tried to push the now dirty
fragment of the egg into my mouth. A retreat only
saved me from the choice morsel; and this winding-
up of the scene was followed by a roar of laughter from
the folk outside. The bonze, perfectly intoxicated,
now rolled homewards: the farmer staggered after his
horse. Ten minutes afterwards, as we rode up the
street, we saw the same old bonze, seated before his
drum, tapping and grunting out his prayers in the
house of one of his private connections.
128 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
The ride for the next eight miles was enlivened by
the Gilpin-like performances of the farmer, who had
overtaken us. His legs crossed over the horse's croup,
his arms embracing its neck, and his petticoat-like
garments floating behind, he rode on for a few mo-
ments at full speed; then pulling up suddenly across
the narrow path, he stopped our way, and wanted to
indulge in a show of maudlin affection towards us. We
lashed his horse with a whip, kept him on before us,
and after he had been once pitched over the animal's
neck, and another time swung round under its belly,
with the saddle girths, his horse turned into a court-
yard, and carrying him up to the terrace of the house,
threw him over its neck, and went its way to the
stable. Following him in, we watched his meeting
with his wife, who had sprung up from her seat,
and now knelt down beside him. The old lady,
his mother, however, showed no such affection; she
shook him, and slapped him, and when he stood on
his legs, pushed him into another chamber and put
him to bed. When she returned, she thanked us for
seeing her son safe home, and set saki and cakes
before us. In Japan, as well as in China, the duty
towards parents is considered superior to that towards
a wife; and a mother preserves her influence over a
man as long as she lives. In Japan, however, a wife
is an object of a man's affection, care, and kindness,
while in China her fate is more often slavery, cruelty,
and neglect.
On leaving the last inn, eight miles from Hakodadi,
it was already midnight, and we still had to cross a
plain cut about in all directions by ditches, besides
A TEA-HOUSE.
129
two rivers to ford. The little light which heaven gave
us to keep the path was neutralized by the millions
of fire-flies, which were darting about in all directions,
and quite dazzled the eyes. We lost the path-
stumbled into two or three ditches-came upon the
river where it was unfordable, and had at last to
retrace our steps in the direction we had come. Our
horses saved us from wandering about all night.
Accustomed to carry packs and march in single file,
no sooner did we tie the rein into a knot, and give
them liberty, than they followed their usual habits,
and leading us over a bridge instead of through a ford,
carried us like packs safely into town at nearly three
o'clock in the morning. In all the inns and places
where we had stopped, it was with the greatest diffi-
culty we could get the people to accept money for
their entertainment; in one or two instances they
would not take it at all. Whether it was hospitality
or fear of transgressing the law, I was not certain; in
all other parts money was taken for entertainment or
services rendered. But the people are naturally hos-
pitable; they are fond of strangers, and would willingly
enter into all the intimacy of pleasure, business, and
sociability, only they are held back by a fear of break-
ing the law; so that sometimes I have known them
hesitate to render the slightest service without first
asking the opinion and permission of one of their
superiors.
At a short walking distance from Hakodadi is a tea-
house with gardens, charmingly situated in an amphi-
theatre of hills, and surrounded by fir-trees filled with
cooing doves. Its gardens, in Japanese style, had many
9
130 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
dwarf trees, miniature rocks, precipices, and rills of
water feeding numerous pools, which were now covered
with lilies, in full bloom. A dozen cranes, some in the
water, others on the summits of neighbouring trees,
made the scene very characteristic of the country.
These gardens are the favourite resort of the good
people of Hakodadi. Vice and virtue seemed to fre-
quent them by turns. On one occasion, a party of
men, with their fair companions dressed in full array,
might be seen feasting, lounging about, or reposing
under the green mosquito curtains, with the slides of
the windows open, unconcerned by the gaze of the
passing spectator.
On another occasion it was a
juvenile feast of some hundred little girls, decked out
in blue or crimson, their black hair glistening from the
fresh toilette. Altars and images were placed where
the mosquito curtains had been formerly, and a dozen
bonzes conducted some religious service before their
young and merry little flock. The ceremony concluded
with a feast, after which the bonzes marshalled the
prattling little moosoome back to the town.
Near this tea-house was a porcelain factory, which I
visited. About twenty workmen were seated at as many
lathes, worked with the foot, making cups, basins, and
large dishes, and the evenness of their work and the
preciseness of the finish were admirable. In another
part of the building five or six more were employed in
painting the cups in the grotesque style of Japanese
art. When sufficiently dry, each article was placed
separately in a vessel of coarse earthenware, and then
submitted to the heat of the furnace. But the clay
was very inferior to that of Nangasaki, and the pro-
JAPANESE CURRENCY.
131
ductions, though good, were not to be compared to
the biscuit-like ware manufactured in that town.
The America steam paddle yacht, bearing the flag of
General Count Muraviëf, Governor-General of Eastern
Siberia, steamed into the bay on the 2nd of August,
and was saluted by the Rynda with nineteen guns. As
the yacht passed us, the officers, in full uniform, and
the men ranged in line, were hailed by the general,
and this was repeated with all the ships in succession
as she steamed up to her anchorage. The commodore
hastened on board, and, when he returned, was accom-
panied by the count, who proceeded to a general
inspection of the fleet.
Small round iron coins, pierced in the middle, and
strung by hundreds on a rush string, as the brass cash
are in China, are the chief money used among the
people of Japan. Their calculations among them-
selves are always in cash or ghe-ne. One hundred of
these are equal to an oval pierced copper coin of good
appearance and well cast; seventeen of which, or 1700
ghe-ni or cash, make an oblong silver coin, called an
i-tshe-boo. A quarter i-tshe-boo is a small silver coin of
the same form. Four of these i-tshe-boo make a rio or
coban, a thin oval gold coin. These cobans were
formerly a great article in the trade of the Dutch at
Nangasaki, and were debased several times to cheat
them, as I before related. A Japanese money table
may run thus :—
1700 Cash
4 boo
1 Itsheboo (silver).
1 rio or coban (gold).
9-2
132 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
"Itshee" in Japanese means one. They have two
sets of numbers up to ten. In telling you the price of
an article, a man would say Seboo, or four Itsheboo;
and if he wished to make it more intelligible, he
would add, Itsheboo yutz, or one Boo four times.
Itsheboo, however, is the word which foreigners have
adopted as the name of the coin, singular or plural ;
and although, like the word Japan, it is incorrect,
it will continue to be used, especially as the Japanese
shopmen have already got accustomed to the European
manner. This Itsheboo by assay is said to be worth
37 American cents, or 18ąd.
A Mexican dollar weighs 3 Itsheboos. All coined
silver of States recognized by treaty is taken for its
equivalent weight of Japanese silver coin, and it is the
same with gold against gold; but as an English sove-
reign is about the same weight as a Japanese coban,
the actual value which the owner would receive for it
if he wished to change his coban in Japan, would be
four Itsheboos in silver. Thus, a sovereign worth
4 Mexican dollars, is in Japan only worth 13 dollar
silver, if changed for Japanese gold and spent in the
country. Any traveller, therefore, proceeding to
Japan, would do well to provide himself with plenty
of silver. I may mention, however, that these cobans
are not to be purchased from the Japanese for four
Itsheboo. Their worth is much more, and the Chinese
in Nangasaki greedily buy up all they can get for from
eight to ten Itsheboo.*
Changing money weight for weight, if the metal is
of equal standard, must be a losing speculation to the
* See note, page 135.
JAPANESE CURRENCY.
133
Government, which has the expense of coining and
waste. This, added to the insufficiency of coin to
supply foreigners, may have induced the Japanese
Government to change their system at this time. For
the Itsheboo before mentioned, 3 to the dollar, they
substituted an Itsheboo of the same value and weight
as the Mexican dollar, in two coins of half an Itsheboo
cach. Their table would then have been—
1700 Cash
1 Itsheboo
1 Itsheboo
1 Dollar
Thus was the price of the iron cash raised 3, fold, a
most disastrous measure, and one which threw all the
poor tradespeople of the different parts into a frightful
panic. The firm protest of the consuls caused the
plan to be abandoned at Yedo and Nangasaki; but
short as was the interim during which it was in opera-
tion, much damage had been done to trade. Whilst
the new plan was abandoned at Yedo, orders had been
transmitted to Hakodadi to try it there, and the 3rd of
August was the first day of the change.
On going ashore as usual, I went to the comprador
to change dollars into Japanese money, was offered
the new coins, and refused them. I had given an
order a few days before, to the amount of some twelve
Itsheboos, and I wished to-day to fetch away my
purchase. An article in the treaty stipulates that all
sorts of coins are to be taken, and I knew perfectly
well that all sorts were taken; as almost every shop-
keeper in the open ports has a book containing
impressions of all European and American silver coin,
with their value in Japanese cash, or they weigh the
134
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
coin and calculate its value also in cash. I therefore
took up my purchase, and paid down four dollars,
thirteen Itsheboo. As I expected, the trader refused
to take them. Nothing could be done but refer the
matter to the Government officers, and I started off,
surrounded by a whole posse of the man's friends,
male and female, to the officer at the comprador's.
He grinned, was very polite, and told me that the coin
had been changed, that I must pay in the new coin,
which meant, that I must pay twelve dollars for what
I had a few days contracted for at the price of four
dollars. It was for the manufacture of an article, the
material for which I had myself supplied. Seeing
that the Government official was, after the manner of
his kind, and for his own profit, giving the cause
against me, I took the law into my own hands, forced
the four dollars on the man who refused to receive
them, and seizing my property, I walked out, followed
by officers and people. In the street, they attempted
to snatch the packet out of the hands of the sailor who
was carrying it, when I took it myself, and then laid
my stick heavily over the back of the first one who
tried to despoil me. This led to an uproar, but my
stick cleared me a way to the temple where the consul
resided. An hour afterwards, the man of whom I had
ordered the things, and whom I had beaten, came with
many bows to return me a string of cash, the change
of my four dollars, to express his sorrow for the mis-
take, and to tell me it was all right. I was glad I had
not hurt the poor fellow, as the fault was not so much
his as that of the rascally officials who misled him,
and I saw enough during the afternoon to convince
JAPANESE CURRENCY.
135
me they were all beside themselves with dismay.
They were hurrying in all directions, searching up their
debtors to get their money in the old coin; shops
were deserted, and nothing could be bought; the
possessors of dollars strove to get rid of them wherever
they could, giving them for one Itsheboo instead of
three, and if any of the European merchants had had a
quantity of the old coin, they would have made a pretty
thing by buying them up. Fortunately for the
Japanese merchants they had not. In a country like
this, where laws, manners, and life in general had
gone on unchanged for ages, it can hardly be imagined
what an effect this change had on the people. A little
schooner soon afterwards came in from Yedo, and
brought the order, which put an end to the system.
On my return from Yedo, the new half Itsheboo was
passing as half the old one, or three times less than
its intrinsic worth, and the people seemed glad enough
to get rid of the coin.*
* Since my return to England, I have read that the avarice of
Europeans in trying to buy up the gold coin from the natives was the
great cause of the ill-feeling between them. The truth is, that
Europeans very seldom got Japanese gold coin at all, except they
gave their own purer gold weight by weight for it. The people
knew long ago the difference in value between silver and gold, and
the Chinese have been for years in the habit of buying the gold
cobans for silver, nearly at the real value of the gold they contained.
A European trying to obtain cobans for four Itsheboos silver (for
which he only gave 13 dollar) of any of the natives at the ports, would
only be laughed at for his pains.
136 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND TIE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure from Hakodadi-Fishing-A storm-Bay of Yedo-Kana-
gawa and Yokahama-Trade-Deceit and unwillingness in trading
-Writing on fans Cranes-Tea-houses and their inmates-
Yedo; appearance from the Bay-Forts-Japanese Navy-Ship-
building-Visit of Governor of Yedo-Dilemmas of Japanese
officials-Making treaties with foreign powers-Preparations for
resistance-Discord among the ruling powers.
On the 5th of August, the Rynda, Gredin, and Plastoon
gunboat left Hakodadi in company, to proceed to the
general rendezvous in the bay of Kanagawa. The
Ascolde and America, with the Governor-General on
board the former, remained at Hakodadi to follow in a
day or two. Salutes were given and returned, in
number of guns according to the rank of each, the
Governor-General getting nineteen, and the Commo-
dore nine. A fresh S. by W. wind assisting our
steam, we made good way through the Straits, the
velocity of whose stream had been counteracted by the
strong N.E. winds of the previous days. We were,
therefore, soon on the bosom of the Pacific, or more
properly the great ocean, for it certainly does not
merit the former name, especially in these, its north-
western parts.
Light and baffling winds from S.W. prevailed for
some days; the weather was lovely: and the land,
wrapped in partial masses of cloud, or revealing its
A STORM.
137
rugged tops, was the point towards which every eye was
turned, as we approached or receded from it on either
board. One day, when about twenty-five miles from
shore, we came among a fleet of fishing boats, each
with a large rod fixed in the prow. They were fishing
for bonito. Long did the mat sails, with their long
apertures to let the wind through them, remain in
sight, until another object, the upper sails of a large
ship, appeared following our track. A signal made her
out to be the Ascolde, and over the wide waste of
waters was borne without an echo the loud ring of our
guns, as we again saluted. In the night she came up,
and communicated with us, but in the morning was no
more to be seen.
By that time, the barometer had suddenly fallen, the
horizon was covered with vapour; and the air, calm and
sultry, with a rising and angry sca, gave us notice of
the approach of a storm. Towards night, the wind
shifted round from S.W. to S. and S.E., accompanied
by fearful squalls, which sent some of our sails into
ribbons. So it continued during all the night and
next day, the wind changing round to the east and
north while the ship lay to under her storm trysails.
On the second morning, the wind had settled down
into a brisk northerly breeze, with bright weather,
which enabled us to regain our way, and stem the
strong current of the Japanese stream, which had set
us many miles to the N.E. The frigate was not to be
seen, neither was one of the corvettes, but the latter
hove in sight again during the day. This storm, so
violent about thirty miles from the land, was unfelt in
its vicinity, except by a strong swell, as the America,
138 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
which was steaming close in-shore, told us afterwards.
The frigate did not reach the Bay of Kanagawa until
three days after us, having been driven much farther
out, and her absence began to cause much uneasi-
ness. She had, however, only suffered some slight
damages.
The Bay of Yedo is one of the largest of the many
arms of the sea which penetrate into all parts of the
rugged coast of Japan. Its left side, along which we
steered, is indented by many beautiful little bays, sur-
rounded by villages embosomed in trees. Here and
there were seen the terraces of gardens, which form so
remarkable a picture in Nangasaki, showing the bee-
like industry of the people. Here and there also was
a neatly made fortification of earth, from which a boat
would push off as if to reconnoitre us. The banks are
from 200 to 500 feet high, of all form, regular or
fantastic, mostly covered with trees; and the little
capes were broken with many wood-topped rocks.
The Bay of Kanagawa forms a half circle of four
miles diameter, fifteen miles below Yedo, the capital.
Its shores, low or high, are covered with villages, and
the view is bounded inland by the magnificent cone of
Foodzee, the favourite subject of Japanese painters,
poets, and romancists. The town, or rather village of
Kanagawa, is at the bottom of the bay, directly facing
the opening. Here reside the vice-consuls of the
different powers, and the Governor of Yokahama,
which is the port open to foreigners, and is about three
miles from Kanagawa. It was built shortly after the
signing of the treaty by the Japanese Government,
expressly for the trade with the foreigner. A large

Hanhart hith
VIEW OF KANAGAWA.
Published by Smith, Elder C° 65,Carnhill, London; 1861.
KANAGAWA.
139
building or comptoir is in front of the landing-place,
which is a stone-faced pier with broad steps on either
side. One wide and convenient street of shops, with
another at the top at right angles, was all that was
finished at the time of my visit. The little houses of
the foreigners were around the Government building,
and near them, in continuation of the main street, was
another with gates at each end, enclosing the tea-
houses. In the spaces behind the principal streets
were a few buildings, saki houses, theatres and exhibi-
tions of wrestling, a favourite sport of the Japanese,
every great person of whom keeps several wrestlers
among his retainers. The houses are all of wood,
built in the usual style; and the whole village cost the
government one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, as
I was informed.
Hither the first merchants of Yedo had been
ordered to bring their produce and finest manufactures,
and certainly the array of the latter, in all that was
choice, curious, and beautiful, surpassed anything I
afterwards saw in Yedo. The merchants were very
obliging, bringing box after box and uncovering article
after article of unknown manufacture; the choicest
lac-wares of the country, fine painted porcelain, and
wonderful embroidery, silks, crapes, besides thousands
of various nic-nacs of which you knew neither the
name nor the use, but which were highly characteristic
of the arts of the country. The prices, too, were
then moderate; although, perhaps, a hundred per cent.
more than they had been a month before, yet, at least,
two hundred per cent. cheaper than they became a
month afterwards. Among the people, too, of all
140
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
classes, was discernible a courtesy unknown at other
more retired ports, and one or two most exaggerated
examples of polite attention came under my notice.
And yet, with all the desire of the merchants to trade
on a large scale with the shipping, this was almost
impossible. Every difficulty was thrown in the way,
directly or indirectly, by the Government officials.
Firstly, no business could be transacted at all without
their interference; secondly, no coin could be obtained
from the government to pay with, except a limited
quantity every day, and the merchant was forbidden to
receive foreign coin. Every project that could be
adopted to disgust the stranger was tried, and that so
indirectly that it was vain to complain to the consular
authorities. Conclusive reason could always be pro-
duced why this or that transaction could not take
place. One merchant I knew had bought a large
quantity of produce from a sample, and was to have
paid for it and taken it away on the morrow.
thought his bargain complete, but he could not obtain
the coin, and when at last he received it, at
the comptoir, he was informed with many regrets.
that the goods had been sold by mistake and
taken away. Complaints being made to the authori-
ties, the answer was, they could not compel the
merchants to sell their produce, and that the man in
question had not been aware that the goods were
already sold, when he made his bargain. And all the
while the produce was in the warehouse of the mer-
chant. Such was one of the thousand difficulties
that were daily thrown in the way of trade by the
Government officials of the place; for, of course, they
He
?

Hanhart, lith
VIEW OF
YAKUAMA
Published by Smith, Elder & Co 65, Cornhill, London; 1861.
YOKAHAMA.
141
were the contrivers of all such vexations. Trade in a
small way in curiosities and manufactured goods met.
with no hindrance, though sometimes many formalities
had to be gone through, such as giving your name,
and registering your purchase.
Between Kanagawa and Yokahama is a pleasant
walk, affording good opportunity to note the peculiar-
ities of the country and the industry of the inhabi-
tants. Two rather extensive streams, navigable for
boats, flow into the bay between the two places, and
several dykes erected along their banks and the shores
of the bay, show that much land has been reclaimed
from the waters, and converted into thriving rice-fields.
There are several pretty temples, and many large
black wooden buildings, store-houses, and depôts of
the Government. The inhabitants were obliging, and
though accustomed in a measure to strangers, were not
the less curious, and surrounded us immediately, if we
stopped for a short time. Being invited into her
house by an old lady, I was kept occupied for two
hours by her and her numerous friends in writing
mottoes and names upon fans, which were brought
forward in such numbers by different persons, that I
thought I should never come to an end. Writing on
fans is highly esteemed among the people, especially
in a strange language: many times I have watched
a caligraphist flourishing his brush, and thus orna-
menting these indispensable appendages of a Japanese
toilette.
One remarkable feature around Yokahama is the
immense flocks of cranes, both grey and quite white.
They are unmolested by the Japanese, and very tame.
142
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
The same feeling of reverence is shown towards these
birds, as is shown by the Dutch and North Germans
to the stork which builds upon their housetops. It is
said that one of these white cranes with a black head,
hunted by the Tykoon, is a customary new year's
present from him to his spiritual potentate at
Miako.
I mentioned that one part of the chief street en-
closed by gates, contained the tea-houses. In every
town in Japan are similar establishments, and they
may be considered in fact as the most frequented inns
in the country, though others of a more respectable
character are found. In no country in the world is
prostitution carried on to so great an extent, legalized,
provided for, and encouraged by the Government. In
Yedo there are similar houses adapted to the various
classes of the population, and some which are fre-
quented by the highest class only, where the most
beautiful women, the best educated and the most
accomplished in the arts that please, entertain their
noble visitors in their hours of relaxation.
I have already mentioned that the women who in-
habit these establishments are chiefly foundlings,
orphans, or others, whom a hard fate has thrown in
the way of the entrepreneurs. Add to these the women
put away by divorce, a very easy matter in Japan. I
myself knew in Hakodadi the wife of one of the mer-
chants there, who, I heard on our return from Yedo, had
been divorced, and was then an inmate of one of these
houses. Again, poor people having many daughters,
place them as children in these establishments, from
which they become emancipated after a certain time.
}
TEA-HOUSES AT NIGHT.
143
Many of them, when yet uncontaminated, are taken
away by visitors, whose wives they become.
It is a very curious, though at the same time a revolt-
ing sight, to pass through one of these streets in the
evening. A large room, the front one of each build-
ing, is only separated from the street by wooden rails.
in place of windows. Squatted down in a row, facing
these railings, may be seen some twenty or more
young creatures, dressed out in their gay robes, their
black hair filled with trinkets, coloured crapes, or
flowers, their faces, arms, and bosoms whitened with
rice powder, and their lips and cheeks dyed red with
the extract of the safflower. Before each of them
stands a little black lacquered tobacco-box, or a box
containing live coals, a place for tobacco-pipes, and a
bamboo сир for a spittoon. Every now and then they
take their miniature pipe, inhale once or twice, knock
out the ash in the bamboo cup, and lay the pipe down
for a minute or two. There is no indecency in their
appearance; quiet, almost modest, they talk and laugh
one with another in their childish manner, as though
quite unconscious of the lookers-on for in the
street, with their faces fixed against the bars, with
others leering over their shoulders of the first row, are
numbers of the shaven-headed, libidinous lords, search-
ing out their partners. One by one the girls get up
and disappear, till at ten o'clock perhaps only one or
two solitary creatures are left, half sleeping amid the
smoking lamps. Such examples of immorality give a
bad impression of the social and domestic life of the
people; but I have seen the other side of the picture—
the happy homes, the busy wife, numerous and smiling
144 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
children, fondly caressed by their parents, and all the
appearances of a thriving household. Adultery, at
least on the side of the woman, is seldom heard of,
for not only can she be immediately divorced, but she
most probably would be punished in a much more
summary and fatal manner. I was sitting one evening
with an American doctor in Hakodadi, when he was
called away to attend a woman, whom her husband
had almost cut to pieces on some slight suspicion of
her infidelity.
On the fourth day the gun-boat Plastoon left for
Yedo, with the Russian consul, to make preparations
for the reception of Count Muravief, who arrived the
same evening in the frigate. A general salute was
fired from all the ships, to honour him, and to make
an impression on the Japanese. The next morning
the whole fleet steamed up the bay and anchored about
four miles from the city of Yedo, the gun-boat having
already taken up her place closer in-shore near the
Japanese vessels. The squadron now consisted of the
frigate, four corvettes of eleven guns each, a gun-boat,
and the America steam yacht, mounting altogether
one hundred and five guns. Another corvette and
gun-boat joined soon after. These, with two more
gun-boats of similar armament, employed up the coast
of Tartary, two large steam transports, and a small
steamer, comprised the whole Russian fleet in these
waters.
From the anchoring place, a spectator would have
no idea that he was in the neighbourhood of one of
the most populous cities in the world. Vainly he
would look for wharves, lofty buildings, spires, or

Hanhart, lith.
VIEW OF YEDO.
Published by Smith, Elder & C° 65, Cornhill, London, 1861.
YEDO..
145
pagodas. None such exist in Japan; there is only a
low shore, broken by little eminences, and covered
with verdure, gradually increasing in elevation inland,
and a high range of mountains for a background,
conspicuous over which towers the magnificent cone of
the volcano, about 12,000 feet high, and distant
40 miles. A low line marks the head of the bay a
few miles farther up, and the opposite coast is quite
lost sight of over the broad lake here formed by its
waters.
But at night the truth would break upon the gazer
when he saw, for miles along the shore, light after
light peeping out from the darkness, or by day when
he marked through a glass the long unbroken line of
low houses along the shore, and the sharp roofs of the
temples amid the trees at a greater distance. Then
the numbers of junks coming and going, and the busy
fleets of fishing-boats scattered in groups over the bay,
would remind him he was in the vicinity of a largely
populated district.
Before setting foot on shore, I took a sail in the
cutter to visit the forts which guard the entrance to
Yedo. There are four of them, about a quarter of a
mile apart from each other, the nearest being half a
mile from the shore. They are nearly square in
shape, the side about 120 yards in length. Their
foundations are solidly constructed of stone, rising
twenty feet from the water; and surmounted with
earthworks, neatly covered with turf, on which a few
guns were seen, carefully covered up, but without
embrasures. The fleet, which was at anchor a short
distance from these forts, consisted of one pretty steam
10
146 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
corvette, mounting, apparently, 10 guns of 24 lbs., and
looking well fitted and in good trim. Two other screw
corvettes, one mounting 24-pounders and the other
small guns, and five sailing vessels of different rig,
having the appearance of old store-ships or worn-out
merchantmen, make up the fleet. The first, I under-
stood, was the yacht lately presented by the Queen to
the Emperor; the others were purchases made from
the Dutch or Americans. Besides these ships, the
Government possess a number of other vessels, mostly
schooners, which are employed in keeping up commu-
nication between the different islands.
Since the time when Admiral Putiatin lost his frigate
at Simoda, and built a schooner by the aid of the
Japanese, they have become forward pupils; and
though they most punctiliously follow the models they
have, and do not venture to exercise their inventive art,
they still have turned out some very creditable craft.
A revolution must soon take place in their naval
tactics. As yet the Government alone possess ships
built in European style; but, if it only be permitted,
the enterprise of the seafaring community will soon
change the open-sterned floating haystacks, with sails
formed of strips of matting laced together, for craft
more suitable to withstand the stormy winds and bois-
terous seas of their broken coast. Already Western
science has made great strides among them. Though
the lone fisherman or the coasting mariner may still,
while skirting the shore, look up with anxiety and take
warning by the light curl of vapour encircling the
heads of their revered and seldom-failing barometers,
the volcanic cones, yet they have begun to put more
GOVERNOR OF YEDO--TREATIES.
147
faith in a less erring guide, our mercurial barometer.
The compass they have long possessed, much longer
than their now more advanced visitors.
The day after our arrival, the Governor of Yedo,
informed concerning the high personage who had come
to visit the capital (for what purpose he knew not yet,
though no doubt both he and his fellow politicians did
not feel very well at their ease), hastened on board to
pay his respects to Count Mouravief. His Excellency
refused to receive him officially; nevertheless, all the
attention and honour due to his high rank was shown
him. I cannot help pitying the state of these unfor-
tunate officials, and the perplexity they must have
felt at each new arrival of fleets to make treaties, or
re-make them; for negotiating with foreign powers, a
new kind of diplomacy to the Japanese, had been
proved to be most disastrous to the ministers engaged
in it. With the best intentions, perhaps, they have to
cede to the force of circumstances and the power of
the stranger from without, to combat the opposition
of a powerful anti-progressive and anti-reform party
within, and run the risk of meeting destruction which-
ever way they act. Both are most hard alternatives;
and a Japanese statesman must have an extraordinary
quantity and quality of the duplicity which is charac-
teristic of his race and profession if he can steer clear
and turn to his profit the difficulties which attend all
diplomacy with the foreigners. If he refuse to grant
their demands he knows not how soon their cannon
may be thundering around the shores of his country;
if he grant too freely, or grant at all, he is never cer-
tain of the day when a small sword, presented to him
10-2
148
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
with the greatest respect, is to be the symbol of his
downfal, and the signal that he must use it on his
own person, to save his family from being involved in
the same disgrace. It is not, therefore, to be won-
dered at that procrastination and all sorts of excuses
should attend the making of a treaty, and that all
sorts of difficulties and falsehood should be made use
of afterwards to nullify it.
When stronger powers insisted that the ports should
be open, and that commerce should be established, the
Japanese Government granted as little as they could,
with the predetermination of fulfilling that little as
little as possible. To oppose these attempts by physi-
cal force was quite out of the question. The soldiers
and retainers of the crown or nobility were armed
only with bows and spears, and when we were at
Nangasaki the guard rooms contained only these
weapons. The Imperial Government, it is true, had
been purchasing cannon and small arms from the
Dutch, and latterly from the Americans.* The Prince
of Satzuma and one or two other Princes have done
likewise; but the men had to be instructed in the use
of these weapons. Again, there were few or no
fortresses, beyond a few mounds, which the first
broadside of a frigate would have demolished, or a
handful of marines taken at the bayonet. But this is
now gradually changing. Four large forts, before
Again,
*The supercargo of the brig Greta, whom I met at the Amoor,
sold, in 1855, at Simoda to the Japanese Government 10,000
muskets, at five dollars a piece. The bayonets, which were a dollar
extra, they would not take, and they are still at Simoda. They took
one, indeed, as a model, and soon afterwards manufactured themselves
as many as they required.

Hanhart lith
CEMETERY OF THE NOBLES & PRINCES AT
YEDO.
Published by Smith, Elder & C 65, Cornhill, London, 1861.
PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.
119
mentioned, are in front of Yedo; one still larger,
capable of holding several thousand men, and mount-
ing some hundred cannon, is now on the point of
completion at Hakodadi. Heavy batteries were in
course of construction to defend the entrance of the
bay of Nangasaki. Cannon have been largely pur-
chased, and companies of men instructed in their use;
the roar of these guns, and the continued rattle of
small arms, could be distinctly heard during our stay
in Yedo, the small arm practice being in close vicinity
to the temple where we resided.
More than half the feudal princes are said to be
against the new order of things, and to be dissatisfied
with even the temporizing policy of the Imperial ·
Government. They would willingly expel all foreigners
from their ports, and abide the consequence. But the
ruling men seem directed by a more acute policy; they
hope to weary the patience of the traders, increase
their expenses by delay, and so render all trade unpro-
fitable; meanwhile, by temporizing, granting only
what is absolutely necessary, fulfilling the words but not
the spirit of the treaties, to keep out of difficulties with
the foreigner as long as possible. At the same time
they seek to strengthen their own forces after the
manner of those they would have to oppose, in case of
necessity, and to prevent as much as possible the too
familiar intercourse of their own people with the
strangers. Lastly, when they consider themselves
capable of coping with their adversary, they will resist
all further encroachments by force.
And the Japanese have a most exalted idea of their
own courage and prowess. Their pageants and their
150 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
pictures keep in memory the deeds of their renowned
heroes of former days. Their literature abounds in
histories of celebrated men of battle, who fought bloody
fights in their own country or carried dismay and death
into remote regions. The Korea was conquered by
one of their most famous Emperors. Their fleets have
ravaged the coasts of China, and made descents and
founded colonies in the island of Luzon. A band of
their countrymen, hirelings and body-guard of a foreign
despot, usurped in his very capital an influence equal
only to that of the Prætorian Guards of declining
Rome or the Mamelukes of Egypt. "As brave, yet
as insolent as they, they at one time revolted, plun-
dered the treasury, and made their escape. Esteemed
for their courage more than either Mahometans or
Malays, the Kings of Siam always employed them as
their principal force. One King became jealous of
them, and put to death all of the nation who were
found in his kingdom."* All these events are known
and treasured in the mind of every Japanese, noble or
simple.
* Sir JOHN BOWRING'S History of Siam.
151
CHAPTER IX.
Landing in Yedo-The Temple Dai-ghoo-ghee-Carpenters-Removal
of the Bonzes—Fire-proof safes for Valuables-Assault on Russian
Officers-Stroll into the City-Manner of Buying-A ride through
Yedo-Passage of a Great Man-Shops-Wards and Wardens-
Curiosity and crowding of People-The two-sworded Boy-Objects
of Curiosity-Landing and reception of Count Muravief-A
Cyclone in Yedo-Murder of Russian Officer and Sailor-Causes
and Consequence-Prevarication and probable Connivance of
Authorities-Funeral-Remarks on the Murder-Correspondence
with Government-Probable Consequences of this Murder-
Americans in Japan.
No sooner had we landed in the long, narrow and dirty
street, which extends for a great distance along the
water's side, than the crowding multitude convinced
me that a foreigner was not a usual sight in the capital
of Nipon. Hundreds of men, women, and children,
all of the lower classes, followed us, laughing, chatter-
ing, and making remarks on our costume. If we
stopped, we were immediately hemmed in by a crowd,
which, however, was respectful enough, and made way
for us to pass. Proceeding up the street for nearly a
mile, we reached an open road through which a stream
flowed, and where apparently the better part of the
city commenced. Here was a temple beautifully
situated on a hillock, having a flight of stone steps
leading to its precincts. Not far off was another,
prettily placed in a little dell, with broad steps descend-
ing to it. This was the temple Dai-ghoo-gee, appointed
152
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
for the residence of General Count Muravief, during
his diplomatic stay in Yedo. It was a large and
spacious building, of the style already described,
elaborately decorated with fine wood work, copper-
castings, and curious carvings. Scores of half-naked
carpenters were busy in the yard, sawing up planks,
and transforming them like magic into various articles.
of European comfort, such as chairs, tables, &c., of
which they had models before them. They are, I
believe, the most expert joiners and workers in wood
in the world. I long watched them and saw with
pleasure their expertness in making chairs and tables,
and other things which they had never perhaps seen
before. Their tools, though differing from ours in
form, are the same in principle, and the steel of which
they are made could not be surpassed either in
Birmingham or Sheffield. The interior of the temple
was shorn of all its grandeur; altars and images were
being removed; and forty or fifty fat and bald-headed
bonzes were rustling here and there in their robes of
silk, superintending the displacement of their house-
hold gods. The gold, silver, and other precious articles
were taken to another temple, but the images, vest-
ments, altars, and all other paraphernalia were deposited
in a large safety-room in the temple itself. This
safety-room was built of solid cement, hardened like
marble; its walls were fully two feet thick, and its
large folding doors of the same material were nearly a
foot thick, and so heavy on their hinges that it required
the strength of a robust man to shut or open them.
They were fastened with a huge lock of ingenious
construction, and further secured by ponderous bars.
RUSSIAN QUARTERS AT YEDO.
153
The necessity of such strongholds and fire-proof
repositories will be manifest to the reader, if he
remember that all buildings are of wood, and that
fires are constantly burning down whole acres of build-
ings. Every temple, and every merchant's storehouse,
has one of these fire-proof compartments, in which
their most valuable articles are stored.
The temple was divided into forty compartments or
rooms, of different sizes, separated by sliding screens,
so that these being removed, the whole would have
formed one enormous hall. The floor was covered
with the usual mats; the gardens at the back of the
building were laid out in the usual style, with miniature
shrubs, cropped into different forms, rocks, grottoes,
dells, paths leading up tiny mountains, and limpid
rocky pools containing gold and silver fish. The out-
buildings in the courts were already occupied by
Japanese officers, who superintended the workmen,
and by another person, who established himself as a
money-changer for the convenience of the officers.
Most of my companions stretched themselves on
the soft mats, and after a regale on water melons and
fruit, fell fast asleep; but a party of three started for
an excursion into the interior of the city, and did not
return till long after midnight. They had ventured
some three or four miles into the heart of the place,
and entered what they considered several houses of
public resort, till at last finding the mob becoming
rather offensive, they endeavoured to retrace their
steps. After wandering some hours, they lost their
way; hundreds of Japanese pressed around and jolted
them, and at last a volley of stones succeeded. On
154 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
this they took refuge in what they thought the police
station of the district, but they were driven out. Most
probably it was a guard-room of one of the princes or
nobility. At last they entered a building, where some
Japanese officers welcomed them, dispersed the mob,
and brought them food. In the few words of the
language which they knew, they explained their
position, and having rested themselves, were conducted
back to the temple by one of the officers.
The next day the Russian officers made the affair
known to Count Muravief, who complained to the
authorities, and the officer of the district and his lieu-
tenant were, so it was said, degraded from their rank
and employ, as a punishment, according to Japanese
law, for the crime committed under their jurisdiction.
This proceeding was to lead in a few days to a still
more unpleasant and fatal occurrence.
The Russian consul kindly offering me a room in
the temple, I took up my abode there for a few days.
Towards evening I wandered alone for two or three
miles into the city, and amused myself in entering
shops and looking over the wares. On one or two
occasions I came across articles which I desired to
buy, but on a remark being made by some officer
among the crowd, the shopman refused to let me have
them, or rather he immediately asked such a ridiculous
price for the trifle, as amounted to the same thing.
The next time, therefore, that I saw anything I wished
to purchase, I carelessly asked the price, and on
getting an answer, put down the money, took up the
thing, and left the shop. This called forth opposition
from the same officer and the shopman, but to no pur-
A RIDE IN YEDO.
155
pose, and thus I was able to buy one or two curiosities.
I found the mob that crowded round me respectful,
and my manner of purchasing seemed to amuse them,
for they laughed heartily. Only on one occasion that
evening did I meet with anything like incivility, and
then I was not certain if it was intended as such or
not. Having entered a large building filled with men
and women, which I took for a saki or tea-house, I
received a quantity of water on my head, of which I
took no notice, but sat down with a party and drank
tea with them. When I left, it was quite dark, but
as the shops were still open, and the streets light, I
continued my walk, until two Japanese gentlemen
came up to me and advised me to return to the
temple, as it would not be prudent, they signified, to
venture any farther in the direction I was going.
Thinking this good advice, although I as yet knew
nothing of the violence used towards other officers, I
retraced my steps.
The next morning, I accompanied the consul on
horseback, palanquins following us after the fashion of
the great in Japan, to make a more extended visit into
the city. The horses here were different from those
of Hakodadi; fiery little compact animals, well
groomed and taken care of; with saddles of lacquered
wood ornamented with gilding, embroidered saddle
cloths, and large shoe-like stirrups of iron: a runner
accompanied each horse. On issuing into a main
street leading into the heart of the city, we were
obliged to draw up on one side, to allow the passage
of one of the ministers who was about to pay a visit
on board the frigate. The cortège of a great man in
156 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Japan forms quite a procession. First come lictors
with gilded spears and pikes, then men with great
black boxes slung on poles, resembling the milliners'
boxes one sometimes sees borne about London to the
abodes of fashion, but in Japan they contain papers,
documents, and such like. Then comes the great
man's horse, richly caparisoned in red and blue, with
silken bridle and gay trappings, led by two grooms;
more lictors, more black boxes, and at last the
palanquin of bamboo with bamboo blinds, through
which the great man peeps, if there happen to be
anything unusual in the road, such for instance as a
pair of barbarians on horseback; more black boxes
and more lictors bring up the rear. When the great
man issues from his abode, the lictors rush out first,
brandish their pikes, and cry, Suaro! Suaro! (Sit
down! Sit down!) Immediately the people, hearing
the well-known cry, squat down on the ground,
bringing their hams and thighs together, and throwing
all the weight of the body on the toes. The ordi-
nary mode of sitting is nearly the same, only the soles
of the feet support that part of the body which Euro-
peans deposit upon a chair. The same mark of
respect is shown the great man all along the road, and
on his leaving the palanquin.
After passing several palaces of the nobility, and
the beautiful residence of the governor, enclosed in
fine gardens, we reached a broad street, which extends
nearly the whole length of Yedo, broken by squares
and other open places, and by the bridges which cross
the rivers. This street contained some of the finest
shops in Yedo; one, a silk and stuff warehouse, was
YEDO-HOUSES-STREETS-WARDS.
157
twice the size of the large draper's shop in Waterloo
Place, London. A large mat-covered platform, on
which were piles of goods, shopmen seated and clerks
making up accounts, occupied the centre. On the
edge of the platform sat the purchasers, among them a
two-sworded gentleman here and there, but, as in other
lands, the ladies were the most interested in examin-
ing silks, crapes, and embroidery. The generality of
houses in the capital are little superior to those in
other parts; they are mostly of pine wood, of only
one story, and unpainted; many, however, in Yedo,
as in Nangasaki, are built of harder wood, have an
upper story to hold goods, and a few can boast of some
little external decorations. The tea and other large
houses of public entertainment are exceptions, having
generally capacious apartments above. Earthquakes
and fires are of such constant occurrence that great
stability, decoration, or loftiness is not considered.
The streets are divided into wards enclosed by gates,
on either side of which are little wooden guard-
houses, with openings so contrived that their inmates
have a clear view of all that passes in the street on
either side. All is under strict municipal law. Be-
sides the regular officers of each district, every inhabi-
tant must take his turn of duty as watchman, and
each ward is reponsible for all unlawful acts committed
within its boundaries. This is so throughout every
town and village in Japan, and it is very seldom that
crimes are committed without instant detection. In the
street through which we rode, these wards extended only
about one hundred yards from gate to gate, and the
side streets seemed portioned off in the same manner.
158
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
We rode too fast to permit of a crowd thronging
us; nevertheless our presence caused an unusual ex-
citement. The shop doors were crowded, grave two-
sworders stopped and even turned round to gaze after
us; a few old women hobbled away slightly alarmed,
and many young ones looked on with curious eyes.
But on our dismounting and entering a shop, a crowd
of some hundreds immediately collected round the
door, and as there were none of the officials present
whose ostensible duty it was to protect us, it became
at last very disagreeable. The shopkeeper, on one
occasion, made a barrier of rope around his house to
keep off the multitude; on another, at a china shop,
the master set two of his men to take our horses and
clear the crowd with their heels, which was done quite
efficiently. But at last a band of "gamins," like
mischievous little imps as they are in all countries,
began to hoot and cry, and throw little pieces of mud
at us.
The gesticulations of the shopmen were in
vain; the fun seemed to spread from the boys to the
grown-up people; there was nobody near of sufficient
rank to influence the people, and we began to be
threatened with serious annoyance. But a little
champion soon rescued us. This was a little fellow
about fourteen years old; but his two swords, one of
which was almost as big as himself, and his silk and
crape dress, must have informed the mob of his rank,
for when he took up a stick and laid it about the
persons in the foreground, the whole mass fell back
without a murmur. They were as submissive to that
two-sworded child, as a flock of sheep to a shepherd.
He followed us into one or two other shops and pro-
RECEPTION OF COUNT MURAVIEF.
159
tected us from any further annoyance. In most of
the shops we were taken up into an upper chamber,
and after some fruit, tea, and sweetmeats were set
before us, and we were fanned cool by attendant boys
and maidens, we proceeded to view the wares. Any-
thing purchased was sent after us to the temple, and
in every transaction there always seemed to be some
combination between the merchant and an officer who
made his appearance at the moment. The compact,
as I afterwards heard, concerned how much of the
profits the latter should receive. We found all manu-
factures much dearer in Yedo than in Yokahama, but
there were many curiosities to be found in the former
place which the Japanese no doubt thought could not
be of any interest to Europeans, compared with silks,
lacquer boxes, porcelain, and such like. Among
these were ivory and wood carvings, objects made of
rock crystal, and numerous articles of virtu.
On the 22nd of August, everything being ready in
the temple for the reception of Count Muravief, that
personage and his suite left the frigate at 11 o'clock,
amid a general salute from all the ships. On shore a
battalion of seamen were drawn up to receive him under
the command of a colonel of the guards, his aide-de-
camp. The Governor of Yedo and other high officers
were also present to welcome him to their city. Horses
and palanquins had been provided for all the persons
of the suite. The procession was headed by an amateur
band of the frigate, then followed the sailors, then the
count and his staff, followed by all the officers of the
ships who could be spared from duty. Everything
was done to make the march and reception as effective
160 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and impressive as possible. Thousands of Japanese of
both sexes thronged the sides of the narrow street,
preserving perfect order. On arriving at the temple,
the men were formed in double line, the band struck
up a national air, the officers and men saluted, as the
count and his suite passed through into the interior.
Here a grand collation was offered him by the gover-
nor, consisting, as such repasts generally do, of various
sorts of fish, with soy, unpalatable jellies, divers little
pieces of vegetable substance, of which the most un-
usual were sea-weed and pieces of young bamboo,
either au naturel or as pickles; then fish-soups not
at all bad, rice jellies, sponge cakes, and a curious
collection of sweetmeats. For drink, there were little
porcelain bottles filled with different kinds of saki,
sweet like wine, or strong as spirit. All the meats
were served, as usual, on black trays, in black lacquered
bowls. Each person had his tray with half a dozen
black bowls to himself; knives and forks were not;
simple chop-sticks of deal or cedar supplied their
place. I, who had been running about the city, was
in no condition to present myself amid such glittering
company, so I viewed the whole proceedings at my
ease through an opening in the sliding panels which
divided the apartments. After the Japanese had
departed, the Commodore introduced me to the
Governor-General, who kindly invited me to take up
my abode in the temple during our stay.
The next day it came on to blow so hard that there
could be no communication with the shore. In fact,
it was one of those cyclones or circular storms which
commit such fearful ravages in the China seas and
A CYCLONE.
161
the West Indies. The evening before the weather
had been lowering, calm, and rainy, but the barometer
stood high. In the morning it had fallen nearly an
inch, the wind increasing, with deluges of rain. At
ten o'clock it was 29.22, and two hours afterwards it
was only 28.98. The air was thick with the sheets of
water which fell, and which the fast-recurring squalls
from the N.E. drove almost horizontally across the
bay. Meanwhile the wind veered round to east,
and at 4 P.M. was nearly south, the barometer being
28.71. It then suddenly fell calm for nearly three
hours there was scarcely a breath of air, and the
mercury began to rise. But at eight o'clock the wind
recommenced with such fearful gusts from S.W. that
although we had the two best anchors out with fifty
and seventy fathoms of cable, our depth being only
twenty-four feet, the ship began to drag. The waters
of the bay were lashed up into such waves as I should
have thought impossible in so confined a space. After
midnight the hurricane had expended itself, and the
wind had passed round thirty points of the compass,
being at last north. There is little doubt but that
about 8 P.M. the centre of the cyclone passed over us.
No injury was done to any of the European-built
shipping in Yedo, and no junks were near us; but at
Yokahama the United States surveying schooner
Fennimore Cooper, anchored in 3 fathoms, so it was
said, was so bumped on the bottom, that the officer in
command slipped the cable and ran her ashore, where
she was found to be too much injured for repair.
Every assistance was given her by the authorities,
and her chronometers and her valuable charts, the
11
162
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
labour of months of survey, were fortunately saved.
Houses were given to the officers and men, where we
shall presently find them. Numbers of junks were
here driven about and stranded.
We had felt several shocks of earthquake two or
three days preceding this storm, and the morning
following it another more severe, accompanied by a
rolling wave which advanced far up the beach and filled
the boats drawn up there with water and sand. The
whole bay for days after the cyclone was the colour of
chocolate, and quantities of fish were thrown up on
the shores. Some damage, but not very severe,
was done to the houses in the city. I mention this
storm the more particularly, because I have seen it
remarked in works of authority, that these disastrous
storms do not extend so far north as the latitude of
Yedo.
On the 26th of August, the doctor and myself had
just hoisted the sail of our boat, and were flying fast
towards the town, when a signal made us turn about
and return on board. A letter had just been received
with the melancholy information that a disturbance
had taken place at Yokahama, and that a sailor had
been killed, and an officer and another sailor badly
wounded. A boat had left the day before, with two
officers, for Yokahama, to buy provisions, and I had
been on the point of accompanying them, but was dis-
suaded from it. Our doctor was immediately ordered
off, and an armed boat's crew despatched to the spot.
Anxious to know the particulars, I joined the little
expedition. After a sail of two hours over the shallow
side of the bay, we reached the harbour of Yokahama,
MURDER OF RUSSIANS.
163
and on seeing the flags of the vessels half-mast high
our worst apprehensions were confirmed. The officer
had died at two o'clock the same morning. On land-
ing, we were met by the officer who survived, and by
nearly all the European inhabitants, armed with
revolvers. Gloom and horror pervaded every coun-
tenance; business was not thought of; all the shops.
were closed; and even the groups of natives in the
streets seemed mournful and horrified, as they held
aloof. On landing we all moved to the house where
the bodies lay. Of course the doctor could do
nothing. The wounded man was removed to the
boat, which was immediately despatched back with full
particulars.
These are as follow:-On the preceding evening, at
eight o'clock, a lieutenant, the commodore's steward,
and a sailor, carrying a canvas bag, containing dollars
and itsheboos, had just left a shop, where they had
been making purchases. Not twenty paces from the
door, the steward heard the lieutenant cry out, "Save
yourselves-I am murdered," or words to that effect.
The steward, looking round, saw his officer and a
sailor in conflict with a Japanese, and a sword up-
lifted to strike him down. He bounded
away, followed
by the Japanese. Feeling, instinctively no doubt,
that the man was making a cut at him, he raised his
arm to guard his head; the blow descended, was
turned aside by his cloth cap, which slipped off his
head, but struck the arm, and nearly severed the bone.
He had just time to rush into a shop as another blow
followed, but the master of the house pulled him in,
and so saved his life. A Japanese surgeon was sent
11-2
164
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
for, who sewed up the wound most scientifically, and
treated it as well, our doctor said, as could have been
done in any European hospital.
Some American sailors of the shipwrecked schooner
were near the spot at the time, and immediately gave
what assistance they could to the wounded. Presently
the Russian officer arrived, and his wounded comrade
was conveyed to a house. The sailor was dead already.
The wounds inflicted on them were most ghastly; the
sailor's skull was cleft in two places; both his shoulder-
blades cut through deep into the back; the joints of
the elbows severed; the thigh cut through to the
bone; and, not content with this, the miscreants must
have pierced him through the back when down. The
poor young officer, with whom I had been very inti-
mate, and who was universally loved for his amiable
disposition, was little less severely wounded, and it is
astonishing with what tenacity he clung to life. His
brain was protruding from a skull wound: he had
received the same sort of cuts in the shoulder-blades
as the sailor, so that the lung and (lower down) the
entrails were laid bare; and there were other cuts, not
mortal. He was, of course, unable to give any par-
ticulars of the attack; all his thoughts, poor fellow,
seemed centred in his mother and his home. An
American surgeon bound up his wounds, and paid him
all possible but hopeless attention, as did also all the
Europeans without exception. He preserved his
senses to the last, and expired about two o'clock in
the morning. This was the first murder committed
by Japanese on a foreigner since the opening of the
country to the latter.
MURDER OF RUSSIANS.
165
The steward affirmed that there were several per-
sons, six or eight, concerned in the murder; but he
was so terrified that he may have been deceived in the
number. That at least there were three, was evident
from the fact of our men being all attacked at the
same moment. The bag containing the silver was
carried off, and was found a few days afterwards in the
neighbourhood; the Japanese money only had been
taken, the dollars were left. A piece of a sword, about
four inches in length, a fragment of the over-robe worn
by officers, no doubt torn off by one of the unfortunate
men in his struggles, and a straw sandal, were found
near the spot. Unfortunately there was no badge or
distinguishing mark of clan upon the fragment of dress
which could give a clue to the wearer. On our visit-
ing the place a few hours afterwards, two pools of
blood, barely covered with gravel, showed that the
unfortunate men must have been struck down on the
spot, and lain there as they fell. Near where the
sailor fell, the post of a stall was daubed with blood,
and had a piece struck out of it by a descending
weapon; this was probably the way in which the
sword was broken. I have already mentioned what
formidable weapons these swords are heavy, and
sharp as razors, they sever all they come in contact
with, and the first blow is pretty sure to disable, if not
to kill outright.
The Governor was no sooner informed of the murder
than he hastened from Kanagawa to Yokahama, and
sent messengers to the Consuls of the three Powers, to
acquaint them with the event, and beg their imme-
diate presence. The English and Dutch Consuls were
166 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
immediately on the spot; the American Consul did not
arrive for some hours afterwards. The Governor re-
quested to know what steps were to be taken, when
the two Consuls informed him that the first thing must
be to catch the murderers; and to accomplish this,
the roads should be scoured by parties of police, no
junks should be allowed to leave unless visited, and all
the shops should be closed for the present. These
wishes the Governor promised should be strictly ful-
filled; but the promise does not seem to have been
kept. His Excellency, I was informed, treated the
matter with levity, and laughed at it; but I am
inclined to think that the Consuls were mistaken, as
that peculiar contortion of the mouth, and inhalation
of the breath, which is peculiar to a Japanese when he
listens attentively and has understood you, sounds and
seems very much like a giggle. Besides, his gravity
and good breeding, both of which are eminently cha-
racteristic of an official grandee, would have prevented
the Governor from showing any sign of pleasure, even
if he felt it. There is no doubt, however, that he neg-
lected causing proper steps to be taken to capture the
guilty parties. On the previous affair in Yedo being
mentioned to him, and the probability being suggested
that the degraded officers might be the guilty parties,
he affirmed that one or both of them had been seen in
the neighbourhood a few days before; but when, later
in the day, the same subject was mentioned, he denied
knowing or having said anything about these men, but
kept on averring, nevertheless, that all steps were
being taken to trace them.
The American Consul, on his arrival, made matters
STRANGE CONDUCT OF THE AMERICAN CONSUL. 167
worse, by informing the Governor that such murders
were of constant occurrence in Europe and America,
and that the murderer was often never traced-a gra-
tuitous piece of information which, however true it
might be as to parts of the United States, was cer-
tainly much out of place to relate under present
circumstances. He also objected to one proceeding of
the other two Consuls-viz. stopping the trade for a
time; and in this he was joined by many of his
countrymen. However allowable it may be in diplo-
macy to exalt oneself and one's country at the expense
of one's neighbour, still there are cases when opposi-
tion ought to be smothered by humanity; and this
was one in which all civilized powers should have
been of accord, as there could be no knowing on whom
of another nation the next barbarous act might be
committed, and it was essential to common safety that
the actors of the first atrocious deed should be brought
to condign punishment. Respected as the gentleman
of whom I speak is among all classes, I can but sup-
pose that his words were spoken inconsiderately; but
that they also had a bad effect, and even impeded the
course of justice, I can hardly doubt.
There were several Japanese present in the vicinity,
who were witnesses of the deed, but no serious attempt
was made to seize the murderers, who disappeared in
the darkness. One man related that he caught hold
of one of them, but that the fellow raised his sword to
strike him down, when he let him go.. The guardian
of the ward acknowledged seeing the whole trans-
action; on being asked why he did not interfere, he
replied that he had strict orders, on any disturbance
168 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
between Japanese and foreigners, not to do so, but to
report the circumstance directly to the officer at the
Comptoir or Government-house. If the parties had
been all Japanese, he said, he should have interfered;
but as there were foreigners concerned, he had obeyed
the orders given him by his superiors. A few days later,
the Government offered to condemn this man to capital
punishment as an atonement; but, of course, this was
flatly refused, as he had evidently only obeyed orders,
and his chief fault was the omission to watch the mur-
derers. The general opinion was that the murderers
must have been recognized by some of the bystanders,
but that the Governor either would not or could not
have them arrested, and that they were permitted to
escape.
Later the same day, the young officer and I waited
upon the Governor to make arrangements for the
interment. We saw the second Governor, an acute-
looking fellow, with a little black eye that sparkled
with wit or cunning. He listened to all we said,
assured us that strict search was making to appre-
hend the criminals, and that he would make every
arrangement for the funeral on the morrow in a spot
where some Russian sailors had already been buried.
Then, after expressing his own and the Governor's
great pain at having such a crime committed under
their jurisdiction, he requested that the corpses might
be visited by a party of Japanese surgeons and law-
officers to draw up a report. Then, after many com-
pliments and regrets, we took our leave. During the
whole of the day, and till late at night, interpreters
were constantly arriving with letters or messages of
SEQUEL OF THE MURDER.
169
condolence from the Governor, and polite inquiries as
to the state of our feelings and health, which the
interpreter expressed in most droll but execrable
English, literally translated from his own flowery
language. Baskets of fruit and sweetmeats were also
sent to us, and the same to the guard which had been
placed over the corpses.
Most of the European merchants were aghast at
this murder: they declared that none of their lives
were safe, and few went abroad without a revolver.
Each had his own plan of what ought to be done:
some were for burning the town down, others for
attacking Yedo; one or two sensible ones proposed
that the authorities should forbid their officials to
wear their swords within the districts opened to
foreigners. All expected that some severe act of
retribution would, of course, be inflicted on the mur-
derers if caught, but if not, on the Government, by
the large Russian squadron in the neighbourhood, as
a warning and a lesson that it would be called to
account for the life of every foreigner by all European
governments combined. All were anxious, therefore,
to know what the Russians would do, to punish this,
the first murder committed on one of their subjects,
an unoffending officer in his uniform, peaceably walk-
ing along the street.
During the next night the Governor of Yedo arrived.
He had been despatched by the Council immediately
on the news of the murder being known in Yedo.
The greatest alarm was manifested by all the Ministers
as to what steps the Russian Governor would take.
Two of the Japanese steam corvettes before mentioned
170
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
went off for a voyage during the night, as though the
government thought they were not unlikely to be
seized. Double attention was paid by all ranks of
officials; matters which were difficulties before were
now rendered quite easy; things were supplied which
had before been refused. Meanwhile it was thought
among the squadron that the affair would bring all
diplomatic arrangements to a speedy close.
The following morning a corvette was found anchored
broadside on, in front of the Government-house.
Commodore Popoff had been sent to inquire into the
affair, and to pay the last honours to the dead. The
Governor was soon on board, and in an explanation
which took place between them, the Governor men-
tioned that very often murders were never discovered in
Japan, that his own brother had been brutally assassi-
nated a few years before, and that up to that time
nothing had ever been heard of the perpetrators. The
Commodore remained more than a week in Yokahama,
in the hope that the murderers would be caught, and
that their execution on the place where the murder
was committed would be an efficient example to the
Japanese.
During his stay he received every assistance possible
from the three Consuls. The services of Heko, a
Japanese who had been in America, and was officially
attached to the U. S. Consulate, were particularly
valuable, as those of a faithful interpreter; for little
dependence for accuracy or truth could be placed on
those of the Japan Government. But the murderers
were not discovered, and the opinion of all the
Europeans who inquired into the affair was, that the
+
FUNERAL OF THE MURDERED RUSSIANS. 171
Governor was culpably negligent of the proper steps
to bring them to justice, that most probably he knew
who the guilty parties were, but that either he could
not or would not produce them, for he was known to
belong to that party of the nobility which is the most
hostile to European ingress.
The
The funeral took place in the afternoon.
authorities had only provided cumbersome deal boxes
for coffins, and the whole morning we had been
occupied in covering them with silk, to make them as
decent as possible. Two priests of the Greek Church
were present; one hundred and thirty men were
landed, with all the officers from the corvette. The
Consuls or their representatives, the officers of the
wrecked U. S. schooner, and the sailors, as well as
nearly all the foreign residents, were present. The
ceremony of the Greek Church is impressive. The
priests chanted the service, and the sailors outside
chanted the responses; each mourner held a lighted
wax taper in his hand. The mass being finished, the
Commodore entered the room, knelt for a moment by
the corpses, and kissed the cold lips of each; all the
late officer's comrades followed this example. They
then bore the coffins themselves, the Commodore sup-
porting one side, and the mournful procession took its
way through the pretty village amid crowds of squatting
Japanese, who had been ordered to attend. Many of
the little moosoomee I saw were much affected,
wiping their eyes and cheeks on their little pieces of
paper, taken from the sleeve of their robes. All were
very grave, and seemed much impressed by the cere-
mony. At the gates of a temple which we passed,
1
172 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
the corps of holy men, dressed out in their best
raiment, lifted their joined hands as we passed. The
Governor of Yedo and Kanagawa, and many of the
chief officers in palanquins, were present. On the
side of a little mount covered with trees, two shallow
graves had been dug. The rest of the funeral service
was here chanted, one last look given at the dead, the
coffins were nailed down, and the unfortunate victims
were soon covered up by the numerous Japanese who
had till now been concealed behind the brushwood.
Three volleys of musketry were then fired in the air
by the sailors who were stationed a few paces off;
minute guns had been all along fired from the corvette.
I heard that after our departure, the bonzes of the
neighbouring temple visited the graves, and prayed
over them. A subscription was made to erect a
becoming monument upon the spot in memory of the
young officer and his companion in death.
Many causes have been assigned for this murder,
both in Japan and in other countries; some even went
so far as to make out a pretty little tragedy of love,
jealousy, and revenge. Nothing of the sort; there
was some likelihood in the report that the degraded
Japanese officers, incensed at the loss of their position,
had come to Yokahama with the intention of taking
revenge on the first Russian they met; but had it been
these men alone, the Government which had degraded
them for a slight offence committed by others under
their jurisdiction would not have hesitated to deliver
them up for a murder committed with their own
hands; or at least, if not given up alive, they would
have been forced to execute justice on themselves, and
CONJECTURES AND SUSPICIONS.
173
their bodies would have been shown as those of the
murderers. That the Japanese are jealous of their
honour and rank, and prone to revenge real or imagi-
nary insults, is beyond a doubt; but only one or two
were degraded, and there were at least five or six
among the assassins. Robbery could hardly be the
incentive, though the money-bag was taken off. The
most probable explanation that can be given is this,
that some personage, high in power, and adverse to
all commerce with strangers, was at the bottom of the
whole business; that the men who had been degraded
were perhaps enlisted in the project, and other retainers
added to them to commit the murder, in the hope that
it would result in a rupture with at least one power
among the foreigners. Had ordinary persons alone
been implicated, they would soon have been brought
to justice; but the suspicion that men of higher mark
were concerned seems strongly confirmed by the
prevarications of the Governor of Yokahama, who was
well known to be inimical to strangers. This man
had some time before intimated to the Consuls, that
it would be better that their countrymen should not
stir out after dark, and the reply was that if the
Imperial Government could not protect them, they
would find means to protect themselves.
The Governor-General of Eastern Siberia being
* I have seen another reason given for the assassination, viz. that
it became known that the Russians wanted to take Sagalien, and that
the murder was an exhibition of popular fury. The conferences with
the Government were only opened on the day of the murder, and it
was then first that the Japanese Government knew the object of
General Muravief's mission.
174 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
present, the affair was quite taken out of the hands
of the commanders of the fleet. Nothing was done to
enforce satisfaction, and I very much doubt, even if
those in command had the power to proceed to ex-
tremities, that they would have been justified in so
doing; for there is every reason to suppose that if the
murder was a political one, those charged with the
administration of government were not privy to it, or
had their hands completely tied from bringing the
parties to justice. And if to enforce this the Russian
Governor had burnt the town, taken the ships, or
done aught else, some one or two inferior persons
would have been obliged to rip themselves open, or
three or four poor guiltless men would have been
publicly executed, after the manner of Chinese justice.
It is hard to say what more could have been done than
was done. The Government professed regret and
willingness to search out the murderers, redoubled its
politeness, humbled itself a little, and all was finished.
Brutal retaliation could not be practised by a civilized
power, however much civilized men in the heat of
their fear and horror may have advocated it. But it
is no less certain that such a crime, the first one too,
remaining unpunished, will be a bad precedent, and
that others of a similar nature are likely to follow,
which will lead to a general retaliation at last.*
* Since my return to Europe, I find that this has actually come
to pass. In the beginning of the present year (1860), two captains
of merchant-ships were also murdered in Yokahama, and the rela-
tions of foreigners with the Japanese were daily becoming more
hazardous. The captain of the Russian transport Japonitz wrote
home, that he had been obliged to send on shore every day an armed
patrol to protect foreign residents, and that he had done so at the
AMERICANS AND JAPANESE.
175
To finish the sad story, when we left Yedo nothing
had been discovered, and the frigate Ascolde remained
behind for awhile to further investigate the affair, as
well as to afford protection to foreign residents, who
considered their lives and property in danger, until the
arrival of a French man-of-war in the port enabled the
Ascolde to sail for Europe. Still, a feeling of the
greatest insecurity prevailed, and for more than a
month afterwards all foreigners went fully armed, with
the exception, I heard, of Americans. The English
Consul, it is said, ordered all English citizens to go
armed, as threats had been made against them by the
Japanese. Both the English and Dutch Consuls also
appeared armed in all their interviews with the autho-
rities, implying thereby their feeling of insecurity.
The Americans, however, so they say themselves,
would not follow this example, and gained thereby
much favour both with the authorities and the people;
but on the arrival of the frigate Powhattan shortly
afterwards, a fight took place between the Japanese
and American sailors, who also were armed, and one
of the former was killed. This circumstance must
have wrought a change in the feelings of those most
cunning of all hypocrites, the Japanese officials, to-
wards their good friends. Americans may write home
reports, and American newspapers may spread them—
request of the Governor himself. The Consuls, who ought, under
such circumstances, to reside near those whose interests it is their
duty to protect, live some five miles away from Yokahama, at
Kanagawa, where the Governor also resides, so that some hours
elapse before any of them can be on the spot, in case of serious
disturbance.
176 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
reports of the love borne by Japanese and Chinese to
American citizens personally, and of the great diplo-
matic success of the latter; but the fact is, that they
and their diplomacy are as much hated by both Chi-
nese and Japanese as are those of any European
nation.
177
CHAPTER X.
Return to Yedo-Manner of Fishing-Ride through Yedo to the
Village of Oodzee-Visitors and their Escort-Moveable Houses
and Shops - Tea-House at Oodzee-A universal Pastime
Walks in the City-Wardens - Dangerous Streets-Guard
Houses-Houses of Feudal Princes-Temples-Christianity in
Japan-Missionaries, and their probable Success-Shopping-
Strolls Population estimated-Life in the Temple-Sketch of
the Inmates, &c.-Anecdotes-Result of Mission-Departure
from Yedo-Storms and Winds on Niphon Coast- Straits of
T'zugár-Great Japanese Feast-Processions, &c.-Ainos or
Hairy Kuriles-Public Music and Dancing.
WE returned to Yedo in the middle of the night that
followed the burial of the murdered men. The morn-
ing broke without a breath of wind, and found our
cutter near the low sandy banks which line the shore
between the bay of Kanagawa and the imperial city.
Hundreds of the sharp-prowed, wide-sterned, flat boats
of the fishermen were busy along the coast; some
shooting through the water, propelled by their naked
crews, to distant fishing-grounds; others stationary,
and occupied in paying out their nets.
Their mode of fishing was curious. The water on
the bank over which they worked varied from some
three to five feet in depth. Two boats, containing
between them one net a hundred fathoms in length,
started from one point, each giving out the net as they
diverged from one another in a circular direction.
When they had completed about half a circle they
12
178 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
stopped; some twenty men, up to their necks or
chests in water, formed a half circle before the open-
ing of the nets, and advanced towards it, beating the
water with bamboo poles, and driving the fish before
them; the boats then payed out the rest of the circle of
their nets, and the draught of fishes of all sizes was
abundant. The chief among them was a large species
of prawn, which, cooked in the Japanese manner, is
of delicious flavour, and forms a favourite dish in their
repasts.
The following morning I accompanied a large party
on horseback to visit the village of Oodzee, situated
on the opposite side of the town. A larger guard of
Japanese officers had been placed at the temple, and,
as I expected, orders had been given that a native
officer should accompany any one of us who wished to
enter the town. Our cavalcade was therefore attended
by three officers dressed in blue and puce-coloured
silk, and military hats of black lacquered paper, in
form something like a Roman shield, and ornamented
with gilding. Conspicuous among our party was the
giant frame of Prince D——, a Circassian prince,
aide-de-camp of General Muravief. He was dressed in
the costume of his country-a long robe of white silk,
with the bandolier for ball cartridges descending from
the shoulders on either side to the waist; his broad
chest was like that of a Hercules, and his head the
noblest type of physical beauty of all the human race.
He was, indeed, the finest specimen I ever saw of the
animal man. He excited as much the astonishment
and awe of the Japanese crowds through which we
passed, as he did the admiration of his own race.

Hanhart, lith.
EMPEROR'S SPORTING QUARTERS, AT ODJI.
Published by Smith, Elder & C° 65, Cornhill, London, 1861.
STREETS OF YEDO.
179
The Japanese officers had hard work to keep under
their eye the wild flock which was given them to
guard. Put a sailor of any nation on a horse, and it
would require much exertion to keep him quiet; so no
sooner had we entered the long street before mentioned
than half the party had disappeared far in advance.
Myself and one or two others lingered behind, entering
shops, seeking curiosities, and examining everything
that had a novel appearance. The Japanese are fond of
building little moveable wooden houses, varying in size
from a box capable of holding two or three persons to a
four-roomed cottage. If a police office, a guard-room,
or anything of the sort, is required at a moment's
notice, one of these little houses is transported or
rolled to the spot. Pedlars' stalls, cake shops, tra-
velling hostelries, where saki, rice, or macaroni, fish
soup, stewed fish, seaweed, and bamboo, are always
ready served, may be seen in most of the large towns
and great highways. The street through which we
were passing contained many of them, whose owners
dealt in tobacco-pipes, pouches, pocket-books, needzgee,
and other articles of use or curiosity. Examining the
varied contents of these stalls, we were soon left far
behind, but met with perfect civility everywhere.
We crossed one or two more bridges, of simple wood-
work, which spanned muddy rivers, busy with life.
Their banks, as far as the eye could reach, were
covered with wharves or timber-yards, where boats
were built and boards cut for the construction of
houses. We skirted the moat and walls which sur-
round the inner city, the residence of the Tykoon and
his clan, whose palace-roof was said to be of pure gold,
12-2
180 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
while in truth the building is of wood, with plenty of
copper about it, and is more remarkable for size than
for any external beauty. But we were not allowed to
enter the precincts of his Japanese Majesty's walled
city; so we passed on, through street after street, over
bridge after bridge, for about twelve miles, when the
city seemed to terminate in a long, shady street, with
fields on either side. A few miles farther on, having
mounted an eminence, we saw a stream flowing through
a beautiful valley, and on its banks, embosomed in
trees, a few temples and houses. This was Oodzee,
and there we were conducted by the Japanese officer
into a large commodious tea-house, inhabited by some
thirty young girls. The establishment was thrown
into confusion by our unexpected arrival, and mes-
sengers were sent off for fresh fish and other pro-
visions. Meanwhile the handmaidens officiously
pulled off our boots, fanned us cool, brought in water,
saki, or whatever else they could, and then retired to
help the elders in the cooking department, or to attend
to some Japanese company who were regaling behind
one of the paper partitions.
Beneath the balcony of our saloon flowed the
stream, in which a few youthful Japanese of both sexes
were floundering about. "Throw some money in the
water and let them hunt for it," said one of the party;
and then commenced that edifying mode of killing
time, which seems universal, whether in the mud of
the Thames, the crystal rivers of other countries, or
on the coral ledges of the great ocean. Scores of
young and old speedily gathered to the spot; splashing,
shrieking, laughing; all was merriment and good-

Hanhart, lith.
PUBLIC GARDENS AT ODJI.
Published by Smith, Elder & Co 65, Cornhill, London, 1861.
VILLAGE OF OODZEE.
181
humour, till the arrival of some man sent them flying
in all directions. But like birds about a field of
newly-sown grain, they had only gained the next
cover, to rush out again to their sport, as soon as the
man's back was turned. Several grave Japanese
looked on with most profound disgust at seeing officers
so familiar with those beneath them in rank; for in
Japan class means caste: none can be trespassed on by
the other; the inferior must be servile to his superior;
the superior never familiar with those beneath him.
After a dinner of mixed Japanese and European
cookery, we rambled about the pretty village, visiting
temples and private houses, in which the usual pipe
and tea were offered. From the top of a grassy mound
we saw a broad plain stretching miles away to the
mountains, covered with fields of grain and rice,
sheltered by hedgerows and shrubs, many of which
were probably the varnish-tree and the tea-plant. In
the cool of the evening we rode back through the city,
and I took up my abode in the temple during the rest
of our stay.
Every day I made some excursion in different direc-
tions of the town, either alone, or attended by an
officer. If alone, I never proceeded many yards before
a crowd collected and followed my steps. When I
entered a street or ward, the wardens on duty came
out of their houses, marched before me jingling their
iron rods of office, and conducted me thus to the next
ward or street, where others took their place. The
wardens are shopkeepers or others, taking their turn
of duty in rotation, and responsible for the time for
the good order of their ward. Their badge of office
182
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
is an iron bar five feet long, haying two rings at the
top, which make a loud jingling as they strike the rod
on the ground at every step, warning all evil-doers of
their approach. The little guard-house at the gates
of the ward are occupied by men with two swords,
officers either of the police or of the imperial army.
There they sit on their soles, before their tobacco-
boxes, smoking a little, nodding a little, drinking now
and then a little cup of tea, or writing down the reports
of messengers, the transactions of their post, or what-
ever they may observe, ordinary or extraordinary, in
the street. I have often entered their little boxes,
taken a cup of tea, smoked a pipe, and amused them
and myself by the various methods we took of under-
standing one another. Sometimes I found one surly,
and perhaps not desirous of my company, but it was
very rare.
What ceremonies, prostrations, etiquette
I there observed! What bending of backs, rubbing
of knees, strong whistling inhalations of the breath,
and untiring jabber of tongues! The change of guard
was a long job, each party trying to outdo the other with
obsequious politeness before they came to business;
when that was completed, the raiment had to be
arranged, the two swords placed jauntily in the obe or
silk scarf worn round the waist, the various under
dresses folded more gracefully over the naked bosom,
the target hat placed on the head, or the fan out-
spread; and then the gallant gentleman would take
up his book, spend another five minutes in parting
salutations to his successor, ere he shuffled off to
report, and then home, or to the tea-house.
Conspicuous among all the buildings of Yedo are
HOUSES OF PRINCES AND NOBLES.
183
the houses of the feudal princes and high noblemen.
They seem to be situated in every part of the city,
sometimes two or three adjoining, sometimes far apart
from each other. Some I saw covered three or four
acres of ground, and most of them were in the form of
a square. Dirty ditches varying in width surrounded
them, filled with black filth from the houses, and
giving out an intolerable stench in warm weather.
Their contents are from time to time emptied into
casks, as is all other domestic refuse, and conveyed to
the rice-fields and plantations. In Japan no fertilizing
principle is thrown away; chemical agriculture, though
perhaps unknown in theory, is largely practised. The
outer walls of these buildings are of stone at the base,
but have the upper parts of wood. Barred windows
are placed at intervals, where men, women, and
children may be seen gazing abroad. These exterior
buildings would seem to be the dwellings of the
retainers and servants. The gates are of massive
hard wood, ornamented with copper bolts, the deco-
rations and fastenings being of the same metal.
Inside are two little boxes, guard-houses, in which
the swords of the officers are neatly arranged on racks,
and pikes, bows and arrows, and sometimes muskets,
along the walls. Here I generally found an officer on
duty, as in the public guard-houses of the city; but
he would be an officer of the nobleman, and not of
the crown. All retainers, whether officers, doctors,
wrestlers, soldiers, or serfs, wear the coat of arms of
their lord printed on their dress, be it the silk or crape
of the two-sworded follower, or the coarse blue cotton
of the inferior caste. In the interior of those noble-
184 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
men's houses which I saw, was a large quadrangle
resembling a barrack yard, in some part of which was
a building of better construction, probably the resi-
dence of the lord when in town, and of his hostage-
wife when he is absent on duty in other parts of the
empire. I made many attempts to penetrate into
these, but was always most politely refused admittance.
They allowed me, however, to look over all other
portions of the building. There seemed to be an
immense number of retainers with their wives and
children living in these barracks of the nobility.
There are many very interesting temples in Yedo,
situated in little nooks or on shady mounds, and free
admittance into them all was granted us.
It was
only necessary to put off the shoes from your feet, not
at all on account of the sanctity of the place, but to
avoid soiling the mats. The bonzes mostly were bare-
footed. Many of the altars were most richly decorated.
Idols wrought out of the precious metals; images cut
in curious stone highly polished; slabs and globes of
rock crystal; rich embroidery in gold, silver, and
coloured silks, were tastefully arranged on the altar
pieces of grotesquely carved wood. Here and there
around the walls were huge and hideous deities, and
sometimes there were near the door posts with little
racks containing slips of paper covered with written
characters, apparently the offerings of anxious votaries.
Behind the temple resided the bonzes attached to its
service, and what a listless lazy existence theirs must
be! It may be with some that in their contemplative
repose, their minds are concentrated in trying to fathom
the unfathomable; yet with the greater part of them, I

Hanhart, lith
EMPEROR'S TEMPLE AT YEDO.
Published by Smith, Elder & Co 65,Cornhill, London, 1861.
PROSPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN. 185
should imagine, their repose is but torpor and forget-
fulness, the dozing effects of a slow and easy digestion.
I was informed that a short time before our arrival,
emissaries had been sent from the Mikado, or spiritual
head of the church, throughout the parts frequented
by foreigners, to warn the bonzes against any attempts
of the Christians to convert the natives; for Chris-
tianity is to the Government synonymous with rebellion.
The intrigues of the Spanish and Portuguese, and
the revolt of the Christian population in the Island of
Kiusu in the sixteenth century, are not forgotten.
The rebellion in China, of men professing some faint
and distorted copy of our faith, must have been
followed with eager minds by the Japanese Govern-
ment. Well may the prospect of any social revolution
be dreaded by men whose greatest virtue is the
reverence for antiquity; and since Christianity is now
more than ever blended with their ideas of revolution,
the Government will do its utmost to keep it out.
Yet Christian missionaries have already entered the
field. An American gentleman accompanied us to
Yedo from Yokahama, but was advised to return to
that place by his Consul, as by the treaty the capital
city would not be opened generally to foreigners until
the 1st January, 1860. Others, I heard, were soon to
follow him from St. Francisco.*
The Société pour la
* A few months later at San Francisco, I attended a lecture given
by an intending missionary, who was accompanied by a poor ship-
wrecked Japanese. His lecture commenced, secundum artem, by
well abusing the Romanists. He thence proceeded to a relation of
his own call. He had been a foremast man of Perry's expedition,
and on his return felt that he had received a call to preach the
186 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Propagation de la Foi will, no doubt, not be long absent,
and adventurous priests, having learned the language,
will endeavour to penetrate in disguise into the heart
of the country. It will be, I am afraid, a repetition
of the Chinese missions-persecutions, imprisonment,
and death, expostulation and retaliations by European
Governments, and not enough good done to compen-
sate for the evil. But if missions are to be established
in this country, and the pious of Western countries are
to support them, it is to be hoped for their success
that only one denomination of Christian missionaries
will be employed; for if Puritan and Papist come
together on mission ground, it will be a commingling
of fire and water. In Japan especially, where all
classes except the lowest may be said to have no
religion at all, and where all are educated, sceptical,
and sarcastic, any rivalry between those who attempt
to introduce a new religion will at once preclude
whatever chance there possibly might be of con-
version.
Although the temple was every day crowded with
merchants who brought beautiful specimens of their
wares, in lacquer, china, or tapestry, to sell at extra-
Gospel to the Japanese. His logic was sublime. "I waited," said
he," till I received promises of support to the amount of 1,000 dollars
a year, and then I started off." His unfortunate follower then sang
a song in Japanese, and he himself related a few half-fabulous anec-
dotes about the Japanese. Now faith may work wonders, but in our
age it must be accompanied by high capabilities and arduous training,
and to convert Japanese to Christianity requires powers superior to
those needed for camp-meetings or tea-party preaching. And, I
think, it is due to those charitable persons who give their money and
prayers towards a good object, that suitable persons, at least, should
be chosen to carry out their intentions.
SHOPPING IN YEDO.
187
vagant prices, I always preferred a stroll into the city,
and a visit to the shops, not always to purchase,
but, after the manner of idle people in all civilized
lands, to look and admire. The Japanese shopmen.
seem so accustomed to that practice, that, like our
Londoners, "it don't at all matter" with them whether
you buy or not. As yet that feeling is genuine
enough in Yedo. They will set their little ones to
fan you as you sprawl on the mat of their warehouse,
themselves will present you tea, sugared water, melons,
and slices of their tasteless pears floating in a bowl of
water, and all for the mere pleasure of admiring you
or criticizing you at their leisure. To examine your
buttons or your watch, the cloth of your dress or your
heeled boots, the shortness of your hair or the length
of your beard, was a much greater treat to them than
offering their wares for sale. How much did I desire
to know their opinion of such a costume-to know
whether, when any novelty struck their fancy, it was
in praise or in raillery they begged the observation of
their neighbour! On one occasion I could not mis-
understand the opinion of the people on European
costume; this was on coming on shore for some
official visit in a tail coat and a hat, a small curly-
brimmed specimen of London industry, which would
have been fashionable in the Botanic Garden on
Wednesday, or in Kensington, but was greeted with
loud laughs of derision and pointed fingers in the
capital of Japan. I could imagine those sensible people
asking one another, if that black-looking apparatus
was to guard the head and shade the eyes, or if it was
a mark of high rank in the wearer. The Japanese
188 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
seldom wear any covering on the head, with the ex-
ception of the military; a fan held over the head, or
a paper umbrella, serves to protect it from the rays of
the sun.
Once or twice I made excursions of some six miles
into the heart of the city under the escort of an officer,
one of the three who had accompanied us on horse-
back a few days before; but there were several streets
into which I could not prevail on him to conduct me.
On my attempting to go alone, he implored me by
words and gestures to refrain. I had remarked on
former visits that several streets crossing the thorough-
fares we passed were closed up by strong bars of
wood and guarded by wardens, who allowed none to
pass. Crowds of people were in these streets pressing
on the barriers. I was now given to understand by
this officer that there were many districts in the city
where the feeling towards all foreigners was very
hostile, and that those streets had been closed by order
of the Government; the streets where they opposed my
entrance were of that class.
Fabulous tales have been told about the population
of Yedo. A high officer informed M. Gaskewitch that
it contained a million houses, which by the usual
computation would make the population over five
millions. This is perfectly extravagant. Kaempfer
stated that it took twenty-one hours to make the
circuit of the city. On foot from sixty to sixty-five
miles would be accomplished in that time. In order
to judge what accuracy there might be in this state-
ment, I asked the officer who accompanied me, how
large his city was. He thereupon drew me an irregular
COMPUTED POPULATION OF YEDO.
189
four-sided figure on the dust of the open place where
we were standing, and said that the extremes of length
and breadth were respectively about five and four
Japanese ri or ki. Now a ri is 4,275 English yards, or
about 23 miles, and this would give the length and
breadth to be about twelve and ten miles. And the
distance I traversed on horseback from one side to the
other was about that length. Not more than one
third of this ground is covered with houses, the
intervening space being taken up with gardens, open
places, rivers, and roads. The greater part of the
houses are very small, containing, perhaps, five souls
each, while the temples, of which there are some
hundreds, contain from twenty to thirty bonzes, and
the dwellings of the nobility from fifty to three
hundred persons or more. Supposing, therefore, the
ground occupied by these temples and houses of
princes and nobility to be covered with the small
houses of the common people, and to contain the
same number of inhabitants each, an approximation
to the space covered with houses in the whole city
would be about forty square miles, or one-third of the
whole area. Supposing, again, each dwelling to
occupy a space of five hundred square yards, there
would be nearly 248,000 houses; and, estimating
each house to have five inmates, the population of the
whole city would be about one million and a quarter.
This computation is made with much diffidence; but I
think it will be found much nearer the truth than
many accounts I have read and heard, which made
out the population to be in numbers between eighty
thousand and five millions.
190 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
When the business of the day was over for the
diplomatists, and the sight-seers had returned from
their rambles, all the residents of the temple met
round the hospitable table of Count Muraviëf, where
there was every day a place for any officer on shore
for his pleasure, whether a captain or a garde marine.
And around it were representatives of all the people
comprised in the vast Empire of all the Russias.
He
General Count Muraviëf had been for fifteen years
Governor of Eastern Siberia, which, from its proximity
to China and Japan, is the most influential of the two
governments of that region. He is about forty-five
years of age, short in stature, with rather red yet
agreeable features, and great suavity of manners.
is said to be a man of few words, but of great prompt-
ness of action, and to have a manner peculiar to
himself in making treaties with Oriental powers.
While a Russian admiral was still negotiating in the
Peiho, he is said to have concluded in three days in a
small town on the confines of Siberia, the treaty
which brought to Russia a great part of the valley of
the Amoor and the whole coast of Tartary northward
of the Corea. He is ever on the move; the summer
may see him at Irkutsk or in Japan, and the winter in
the saloons of Paris or Petersburg. The colonization
of the Amoor valley has been his great aim; that it is
proceeding so slowly cannot be his fault, when the
first means—namely, colonists-are wanting. What he
can do, he does, by encouraging officers to marry and
remain in the country, even going so far as to provide
them with wives. I heard an amusing example of
this, and saw myself the chief actors. Naval officers
A MATCH-MAKING GOVERNOR.
191
sent out from Russia under the condition of remaining
seven years are granted a step in rank, increase of pay,
and a pension at the expiration of the term. A young
lieutenant received the command of some small vessel
and had the misfortune to run her on a sandbank in
the river, when she stuck hard and fast. Fearing,
perhaps, to lose his command, and knowing the incli-
nation of the Governor, he left his vessel, obtained
leave, and went to Irkutsk, a journey of some thousand
miles. He presented himself to his superior, who
wished to know the cause that brought him there. He
wanted to get married. This was quite enough; he
was promised the first young lady who should leave the
"Institute;" a meeting took place at the Governor's
between the couple; the young lady was very pro-
bably delighted to be set free by being bound; and
shortly afterwards they were married. The officer's
error was forgotten in the atonement he made for it;
he kept his command, and was promoted, as he
deserved to be, for taking such a vigorous step to pro-
mote the population of the colony.
His Excellency was accompanied on this mission by
a select suite. Among these were his two secretaries,
a dignitary of the Church formerly at the head of the
college in Pekin, and four aides-de-camp. His first
secretary was a remarkable man, and had experienced
a hard fate. Educated at one of the chief German
universities, he had imbibed from the eminent philoso-
phers under whom he sat philological and political
opinions, in which he found ready sympathy among
the youth of young Deutschland. But although he
may have found much the same sympathy among his
192
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
own countrymen, he had appeared rather too soon for
the free propagation of his ideas. One fine day saw
him and his brother patriots on the Kazanski doroghe,
as the route to Siberia is emphatically called, whither
he was sent, as many of his betters had been before,
to allow his enthusiasm to cool, and to mould his
mind to a state more suitable to those institutions
under which he was to live. He remained a long time
in the mines, working like a common felon, and
obtained his release only at the commencement of the
more liberal and mild government of Alexander. He
then received the post which he at present occupies,
and in which his talents, his varied knowledge, and
his power to make the best use of them may be of as
much service as they are agreeable to those who enjoy
his company and conversation. His junior was a
young gentleman apparently admirably adapted for the
light skirmishing of diplomacy in the saloon, the
closet, or the boudoir.
The bishop of the Greek Church had resided ten
years in Pekin, spoke and wrote Chinese with facility,
and was conversant with many of the Mongolian
dialects. He had accompanied the first Russian em-
bassy to Japan in 1853, and he and M. Gaskewitch,
the Consul, are the men perhaps the most conversant
of all Europeans with China and Chinese literature.
The aides-de-camp of the Governor were two
colonels of the guards and a captain of the fleet.
One was of the country and race of Armenia, the
other the Circassian Prince whom I before mentioned,
This person had been sent to St. Petersburg when a
boy, as the hostage of his clan, was educated there,
A LESSON AND ITS EFFECTS.
193
and made a colonel of the Circassian Guard; but his own
brother slew the Russian Commander, Prince Gargarin,
and after a short struggle he was taken and executed,
and the little principality was for ever subdued and
annexed to the Russian empire. The brother, brought
up under more civilized auspices, was not allowed to
return to his native mountains, but continues to enjoy
his rank, and a larger fortune than all his own country
could afford him, and seems perfectly contented.
Many were the anecdotes and adventures related
among the party after dinner in the large chamber of
that temple. The experience of nearly all had been
more in the east of Asia than in Europe. Among the
incidents mentioned was one about the little known
inhabitants of Corea. A few years ago, Admiral
Putiatin, with his captain and a few officers, landed on
the coast, and proceeded to a village, where instead of
being received with hospitality, they were greeted with
a discharge of stones and filth from the inhabitants.
Making a hasty retreat, they returned on board, and
immediately landed a hundred men who marched up
into the village. There the Admiral had the chief men
before him, all his sailors were ordered to take sticks
and form two lines, and through these the unfortunate
head man of the village had to run the gauntlet, after
the manner of Russian military punishments. When
this act of justice was accomplished, the Admiral and
his men returned on board and sailed away. A few
weeks before our arrival, Count Muraviëf visited the
same bay and village, and the first question the natives
asked, was concerning Admiral Putiatin.
"A great
man," they cried, "is Putiatin," and they behaved
13
194
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
with the greatest respect to their second visitors, and
supplied them with what provisions they could. The
severe lesson seems to have been of much service to
these slavish barbarians.
Our conversation, one evening, fell upon the over-
crowded state of China, and the difficulty with which
many of the inhabitants procure food to support life.
Both the gentlemen, who had resided ten years in
Pekin, stated that the Chinese eat anything they can
get. It is well known that mice, rats, cats, and
puppies are articles of delicacy to many of the people,
and here are two instances to show that they are often
forced by hunger to fill their bellies with the most
loathsome substances.
M. Gaskewitch one day saw a man cook something
at one of the public frying-pans in the streets of Pekin,
and afterwards eat it with considerable gusto. Being
asked what it was, the man told M. Gaskewitch it
was the only piece he could get of a donkey which
had died, and that piece was certainly the very last
which anybody, except he were ravenous, would ever
think of eating. Another time he saw the half-
rotten remains of a dog in the street. Presently a
travelling tinker passed that way, saw the dog, stopped
and examined it, and after smelling it well, wrapped
it
up in a
in a rag and moved away. Mr. Gaskewitch fol-
lowed, and asked him what he intended to do with the
putrid animal; his reply was that he and his family
would eat it. When such horrid want exists, it is
scarcely to be wondered at that the poor sometimes
sacrifice their infants, rather than see them starve; but
there is no reason to suppose that infanticide is ever
DEPARTURE FROM YEDO.
195
practised except in despair. On the contrary, the
Chinese may be said to be fond of their offspring in an
extraordinary degree; in China, among the islands of
the Indian Archipelago, in California, or the Sandwich
Islands, the traveller may remark this: as women hold
a degraded position in the community, it is to be ex-
pected that female infants do not receive so much of the
paternal fondness as the more favoured males; but on
the other hand, it does not appear that the mothers,
for all that, neglect their less favoured progeny.
On Sunday, the 4th September, a deputation of
grandees of the Japan empire paid a visit on board
the Ascolde, to present the excuses of the Government
for the late murder at Yokahama, according to the
stipulation made between Captain Unkofsky and the
High Council of the Empire. The same evening Count
Muraviëf left the frigate and returned on board his
yacht. The yards of all the ships were lit up with blue
lights, and a vast number of rockets were sent up into
the air as the boats conveyed him between the ships.
The Russian Commodore accompanied him, and early
the next morning the yacht sailed on her return to the
Amoor River.
The same day the rest of the ships left, with the
exception of the frigate, to return northward. On
quitting the Bay of Yedo we met for several days
nothing but baffling and contrary winds, so that what
little way we made was owing to the north-east set of
the great Japanese current, which is in the Pacific
what the Gulf Stream is in the Atlantic. In some
places this stream is so narrow and so strong that
it may be compared to a river in the midst of the
13-2
196 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
D
ocean. One day, during some hours at least, we
were urged on by it at the rate of four miles in the
hour.
In a few days we had another example of the fearful
storms which blow on this coast. The barometer fell
in a very short time half an inch, and the wind shifted
with the fall from north round to east and south,
blowing every now and then in frightful squalls. It
soon settled down at south-west into a fierce gale,
with such a heavy, confused sea, that for the first time
it was found necessary to batten down the hatches,
for we took on board a great many "whales," as the
French call shipping seas. The estimated height of
some waves, from the base, was at least forty feet,
much higher than we before experienced during a
week's gale in the Indian Ocean, or afterwards off the
stormy shores of Cape Horn, where all the mighty
strength of an ocean unbroken by land sweeps on the
dreary coast. The disasters among the cumbrous
Japanese shipping must be very great during these
storms, when they are not able in time to gain some of
the sheltered havens which line the coast. Instances
are known of a junk being blown ashore on the coast
of California, and of another cast on the coast of Oahu,
one of the Sandwich Islands. And this can be easily
accounted for. They must have been swept by the
furious gales from the S. and S.W., and by the cur-
rent to the N.E., till they encountered the prevailing
strong westerly winds of the higher latitudes, when
they would be either thrown on the American coast,
or, before they reached that, have encountered the-
northerly winds which prevail along those shores, and
PERILS OF THE PACIFIC.
197
so been driven into the north-east trade wind, which
would most probably bring them among the Hawaian
Islands. This happened to one of the junks before
mentioned, after it had been tossed about, from one
wind to another, during eleven months. The above
two instances are well known; but how many junks
have been driven from the shores of Nipon, and been
overwhelmed by the enormous seas which they are so
little able to resist? The storm we had just encoun-
tered caused much havoc among the native shipping in
the Bay of Hakodadi, as we found on our arrival a few
days later.
When off Osaki, the most easterly cape of Nipon,
we received a succession of fiery squalls from the land
at the opening of almost every valley. Fortunately,
the lighter sails had been taken in a few moments
before; as it was, the corvette was nearly laid on her
beam ends. Ships would do well, therefore, to take
great care in passing along under this coast, or to give
it a wide berth altogether, although those on board
may lose a view of the most picturesque coast scenery
which can possibly be imagined.
We were three days battling against the currents of
the Straits of T'zugár, between Cape Nambir and
Hakodadi, for the wind was also contrary, and our
steam power incapable of contending against both;
we had time enough; therefore, to observe the coast of
Yeso, which has a most desolate appearance, its peaks
and masses of lava and sandstone being unspotted by a
single speck of verdure. On the evening of the ninth
day from Yedo we again cast anchor in the Bay of
Hakodadi.
198 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
On going on shore the next day, I found it to be
the third and closing day of one of the greatest of
Japanese fêtes. All the goods had been removed from
the shops, most of which now contained a little altar,
with images and offerings of food before them; or had
been cleared to receive company. All the inhabitants
were dressed out in their best, and their hair freshly
combed and greased; the women were radiant in
scarlet and blue, and the officials in gray and black
silks and crapes. One of the dresses which many of
the officials wore was quite new to me it was a jacket
of grey or quaker-coloured silk, with a full flounce over-
lapping the shoulder, and looking like a pair of wings.
The streets were crowded with gazers, the temples
were crammed with strangers from the country, and
the bonzes must have reaped a rich reward by their
entertainment.
The most interesting of all the groups was a family
of Ainos, or Hairy Kuriles, as they are sometimes
called. They had come with many more from the
interior of the island, to witness the fêtes. The heads
of the males were shaved, and the hair arranged in
Japanese fashion; those of the women, so unlike
the Japanese, looked as if they had been dragged
through a bush. They glided
They glided timidly and swiftly
through the crowd, which jeered and hooted at them,
till they seemed frightened out of their wits, and
hurried into the temple which had been set apart for
them.
The procession was the great event of the day; and
the sight of it must have had a curious effect on any
European stranger who had witnessed in Catholic
FESTIVAL PROCESSION.
199
countries the long and solemn procession of the
Host, of virgins and saints in jewels and em-
broidery, and of bishops and priests in scarlet and
gold brocade. In Japan, and also in China, such
parades consist of equal parts of solemnity and
buffoonery. In the present case the column was
headed by a corps of bonzes, followed by men dressed
as harlequins, carrying large banners, pikes, or poles
having streamers of feathers, hair, or silk. These
men moved forward to very slow time, beat on a drum,
which was borne on the back of one man and beat by
another following him; and at every step they paused,
elevated the knee, jerked out the leg, and pointed the
toe, and then brought the foot to the ground. After
them came many officers with two swords, dressed in
light blue or grey, with the wing-like flaps on their
shoulders. A magnificent pavilion, rich in satin, silk,
and embroidery, beautifully carved, gilt, and polished,
containing various images of deities, and surrounded
by bonzes, was borne along by men on poles. Then
came another monster pavilion, of the same manufac-
ture, but thickly decorated with devices in copper.
On the top of this was seated a figure, a queen in
former days, who, in the absence of her lord, marched
out against his rebellious subjects, vanquished them,
and pacified the country. By her side was standing
an old gentleman, her prime minister and adviser. In
the body of the car were about a dozen little girls, of
about ten or twelve years, dressed in full costumes, and
playing on gongs and drums: and behind them several
men, playing on fifes, triangles, and clappers. This
monster car apparently representing the military body,
200 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
i
was drawn by 200 soldiers, in two lines, and harlequins,
tumblers, and actors performed all sorts of tricks be-
tween the lines of drawers.
The next link in the procession was a junk of polished
hard wood, worked with copper, and having a pavilion
cabin about fourteen feet high on the deck filled with
people. Before these, in front, sat another party of
little Japanese damsels playing on drums, and all
dressed in blue and rose with gold embroidery, their
hair decorated with bunches of flowers or crapes.
They were all very pretty children, so gentle in their
movements, and yet so full of self-possession that they
must have been subject to a long training. As they
played they raised, suspended, crossed, and waved
their graceful little arms in the air to a chorus of the
sounds, Ah! Eh! Hah! repeated over and over again.
This junk was drawn by seamen, and was followed
like the car by an assemblage of actors, priests, and
officers.
A second junk was of the same description in
build and decoration, except that its prow was formed
of a large phoenix, or some other allegorical bird with
green scales on the body, like a dragon. It contained
a pavilion like the former, and carried children,
musicians, flags, streamers, &c.; its sails, too, were
of silk, made in the Japanese manner, of strips laced
together, but leaving a space between to let out super-
fluous wind, and silk embroidery with which these
junks and the car were adorned, gave one a high idea
of the tastefulness and dexterity of the Japanese
women, who I suppose worked them. The figures
were those of dragons, tortoises, cranes, toads, butter-
JAPANESE FESTIVAL.
201
flies, and other animals which have either a my-
thological or an allegorical character among the
people.
After this junk came a rough plank cart, filled with
the productions of the earth; rice, sugar, seaweed,
fruits, vegetables, &c. Then followed several cars,
representing the different guilds of artisans, and the
arts most honoured in Japan, that of the carpenters
and joiners being the most conspicuous; and that
guild of all others in Japan, certainly merits a
presiding deity, for their handicraft is exercised
with more skill than in any other part of the
globe.
In the evening, stages were erected in the streets,
where musicians and dancing-girls performed to a
crowded audience, which was by this time in full
spirits, and for the first time in Japan I saw natives
drunk with saki, and that evening there were
not a few in that condition, but perfectly good-
humoured.
From what I could understand from a Japanese
officer, who was very anxious to explain, this was one
of the greatest fêtes in the Japanese calendar; all the
gods took a part in it, and all estates and callings of
the people were represented in the several portions of
the procession. I could not help thinking, if it
was displayed on so magnificent a scale in such a
small, and till lately insignificant fishing-village, with
what splendour must it not have been represented
in the capital, at Miako, or in any of the other
large towns?
The next morning all the street decorations had
202 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
been removed, the shops were again filled with boxes,
the silks and lacquer ware again removed from them,
the peon was again dragging huge stones towards the
fort, and Japanese life had returned to its customary
routine.
203
CHAPTER XI.
Departure from Hakodadi-T'zugár Straits-Matsmai-Gulf of
Tartary-De Castries Bay-Misfortunes of Russian Ships during
War-Incidents of that time-The Diana Frigate-The Yacht
America-Passage through the Amoor Liman, or Gulf-On a
Sand Bank—Difficulty of Navigation-Sagalien Island—A Cha-
racter, and his Adventures-Get off the Bank-Ghelak Settle-
ments-Mouth of the Amoor-Arrival at Nicholaivsk.
On Friday the 16th of September steam was ready,
and the anchor swinging from the cathead, when the
wind, increasing to a hard gale from the N. W., caused
us again to let it fall. Early next morning, however,
we were battling against the river-like current of the
straits of T'zugár. Our engine was almost useless
against its power from its own defects, combined with
the bad quality of the Japanese coal, which soon
choked up the tubes of the boilers. Beating out
against a westerly wind was our only chance, yet the
stream between Capes Nadejda and T'zugár was so
powerful, that we were quite unable to double the
former. The next morning found us about the same
spot, and the morning after just opposite Hakodadi,
into which we saw one of the other corvettes returning
in sheer disgust. Two days had been spent in alter-
nately visiting the shores of Nipon and Yeso, and if
our boilers had not fortunately been already cleaned
and repaired, another twenty-four hours would have
seen us again in the Pacific Ocean. Creeping in
20 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
close, therefore, under the shores of Yeso, we were
this time more fortunate, and had besides a fine view
of the marvellous effects of light on its barren broken
hills, of the sheltered fishing villages snugly lying
between them, and, on rounding Cape Nadejda, of the
romantic little town of Matsmai, the feudal residence
of a prince of that name, the most important in the
island of Matsmai, or Yeso, by both which names the
island is called. Flying before the increasing S. W.
wind, we soon lost sight of its white houses, and its
peaked-roofed temples embosomed in trees, now brown
with the tinge of autumn.
On the 21st we experienced more of the character-
istic weather of these seas. With the barometer at
29.14, thermometer 40°, the horizon white with haze,
and a pale blue sky above, over which the scud was
flying in fragments, pursued by others, blending and
disappearing, we lay to for hours in a rolling, angry
sea. Afterwards light and contrary winds rendered
our progress north very tedious. We sighted Cape
Disappointment on the 23rd, and beheld for the first
time the high, broken, and well-wooded coast of Tartary.
On the 26th, we again made the land to the north
of Barracouta harbour, and the next morning were
running through the fog by the lead at a short dis-
tance from the shore, till the high bluff of Gloster
camp being visible, we entered by the southern passage
into the bay of De Castries, and anchored behind the
Middle Island, the best ground for that purpose. A
steamboat entered the bay at the same time as we;
she proved to be the steam-yacht America, from
Nicholaivsk, and her object in coming was to take on
DE CASTRIES BAY.
205
board such of us as desired to visit that town and the
river Amoor.
De Castries Bay was discovered, and named by the
unfortunate La Perouse, and had since been but seldom
visited, until the Russian war. It forms a semicircle
of about twenty-five miles, and contains three estuaries
of little depth, into which are discharged the waters of
the mountain streams, and their mud which becomes
at low water the feeding field of thousands of web-
footed birds. Safe anchorage is to be found, in all
winds, behind the island facing the settlement. But
other parts are much exposed to winds from the
eastern quarter, of which we had melancholy proof,
in a fine ship lying mastless on the rocks on the
S. side of the entrance of the river at the head of the
bay. This ship, belonging to the Amoor Company,
and loaded with goods for the colony, had run aground
during a gale of wind a short time before, although
anchored in apparently safe ground of eight fathoms,
and having seventy and eighty fathoms of chain.
There she lay a total wreck, with but little chance of
saving much of her valuable cargo, a great part of
which consisted in small iron steamers, in pieces, and
their machinery, for the Russian Government. Two
other large ships belonging also to the Amoor Com-
pany, were lying in the bay, waiting to discharge some
of their freight in order to reduce their depth of water
sufficiently to proceed through the gulf or Liman of
the Amoor.
Many readers will not have forgotten the events of
which De Castries Bay was the scene in 1855. The
Russian fleet, after the unfortunate attack on Petro-
206 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
paulovsk by the allied forces, had quitted that place,
having on board nearly all its inhabitants, male and
female, and had run the gauntlet safely through the
allied squadrons into De Castries Bay. It is true that
from the time of leaving until they entered Perouse
Strait, they were enshrouded in fog, which prevented
them equally from being seen, and from seeing. Here,
then, in the summer of 1855, were united the Aurora
of 44 guns, the Corvette Aleoutza, of 20 24-pounders,
the Dvina and two other transports, a barque and brig
of two or three small guns, and the little steamer
Vostvell, which now formed part of our squadron.
Scarcely were the women and children on shore, and
almost before any means of defence could be taken,
when the harbour was visited by the squadron of
Commodore Elliot. The voyage of the Sybille in
this unfortunate campaign has been written by Captain
Whittingham, and I can bear testimony to the accuracy
of that gentleman's description. A shot or two fired
by the Hornet and answered by one of the Russian
ships, but which fell far short; a cheer from each
party-and all was over. The gulf of Tartary was
blockaded by two of the English ships, while the third
was despatched to Hakodadi for reinforcements. A few
days afterwards, the Commodore again visited the
bay, but found the enemy had escaped him, and
unaware of the passage into the river Amoor from the
south, he went southward in pursuit of them. I have
heard from many of the officers present that day on
board the Russian ships, that they had no doubt at
the time but that they should be obliged to burn their
vessels if they were vigorously attacked, as they were
DISASTERS OF RUSSIAN SHIPS.
207
almost totally unprepared for a lengthened resistance.
In their passage also through the liman of the Amoor,
the frigate and her companions remained for two weeks
sitting on sandbanks, and in such helpless positions
that had a small steamer visited the gulf, the whole
squadron must have fallen an easy prey. But no
steamer did visit it for some time after, when the
Russians were safe at Nicholaivsk and had the narrow
and winding channel of that river well defended by
heavily armed earthworks.
The adventures of the Russian fleet in these seas
during the last ten years, have been romantic and
unfortunate. The Pallas, in which Admiral Putiatin
visited Japan to make the first treaty, was long ago a
wreck in Barracouta Harbour. The Diana, chased
half round the world by English ships just after the
declaration of war, had taken her guns and men at
Simoda, and arrived in Japan, there to be shattered by
an earthquake and afterwards to sink in the depths of
the ocean, when being towed by the Japanese boats to
a sheltered bay for repair. The admiral, his officers,
and men, left in Japan, almost without the necessaries
of life and with none of its comforts, were forced to
submit to the hospitality of the Japanese Government,
which feared, while it grudgingly relieved its unfortu-
nate guests. They were, however, plentifully supplied
with provisions, but were afterwards charged most
exorbitant prices for what they had received. An
American brig safely conveyed part of the crew to the
Amoor. The admiral himself, a few officers and men,
ran up to Petropaulovsk, in a schooner he had built
with the assistance of the Japanese, and there narrowly
208 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
escaped falling into the hands of the English squadron.
Finding that place already abandoned, he retreated
towards the Amoor, and one day suddenly came upon
the Sybille (I think it was), and only just escaped her
clutches by the fog again interposing its impenetrable
veil. The schooner had, however, been seen by the
officer of the watch of the English frigate, but no
mention is made by Captain Whittingham of this little
episode of the voyage of the Sybille. Certain it is
that the watch officers of both English and Russian
ships met at the Cape on board the Sybille, as the latter
was returning home from her long station, and com-
pared notes on that rencontre in the sea of Okotsk.
The Aurora, too, just mentioned as having escaped
into the Amoor, returned to Petersburg after the
peace bandaged up with ropes to keep her poor old
timbers together, while the Ascolde, as we have said,
only just escaped destruction in a disastrous typhoon
off the coast of China. But to return to our voyage.
On the 28th, at break of day, our party was on
board the America, which immediately steamed out of
the bay by the passage between the middle and north
island. This paddle steamboat, built at Boston for
the Russian Government a year or two ago (as were
also the fine steam transports Japonitz and Mandjoor),
was a pretty fast vessel, carrying four small guns, and
had been busily employed all the summer in conveying
the Governor-General of Siberia on his diplomatic
tour. Swiftly she passed along under the high and
fir-covered coast, the lead with eight fathoms of line
finding no bottom, until the west coast of Sagalien
loomed through the misty air, when the depths
AGROUND ON A SANDBANK.
209
decreased to seven and six fathoms. A brig bound to
Petropaulovsk with passengers, passed us going south,
and then a tiny schooner for St. Francisco, tacking
round a sandbank, on which a few weeks before her
fellow had grounded and been broken to pieces. I
had often read during the voyage of the intricate
navigation of the gulf which we were approaching, of
the baffled attempts of the steamers of the allied
squadron to find their way through it either north or
south, and now we were ourselves about to experience
the truth of what we had heard. Having long watched
the high coast of Tartary, and the opposite low coast
of Sagalien, with its high mountains in the interior,
we went below, and heard as we sat at dinner the
monotonous tones of the man with the lead. Suddenly
he cried, Five fathoms;' a second more it was only
three, then fifteen feet; and before we had done staring
at one another, and just as the cry "stop machine
reached us, a sudden jerk nearly threw us out of our
seats. She had run on a sandbank, and the impetus
caused her unfortunately to stick fast amidships.
Added to this, it was just after high water, and a
strong south-west wind blew her only farther and
farther upon the sand. When low water came her
starboard side was nearly dry, while on the port side
there was eight feet of water or nearly the vessel's
draught.
C
",
The spot where we were hard and fast was near
Cape Lazaref, in the narrowest part of the strait, where
in many old maps is marked the isthmus, formerly
supposed to connect the peninsula of Sagalien to the
main land. The lake-like liman, or gulf, was before
14
210
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
us, through which the waters of the Amoor partly find
their way to the ocean by numerous narrow channels,
intricate, and hidden, of course, by the water which
covers both deep and shallow. In addition to these
there are many culs-de-sac, or false passages, inevitably
leading a ship bows foremost on a steep bank. The
channel through which we had entered was the one
conducting to the Amoor, and following the coast of
Tartary; but we had approached too near, and had
struck on its steep and, unfortunately, its leeward side.
The other channel, leading to the Sea of Okotsk,
follows the Sagalien shore. The least depth in the
Amoor channel is fifteen feet; but the greatest care is
needed by all ships, even of small draught, as there
are no buoys, and the landmarks deceive even the
pilots of the Russian fleet who are accustomed to the
duty.* Scarcely ever does a ship drawing over nine
or ten feet of water pass through the liman without
paying the penalty of delay, for hours, and sometimes
days; and a fleet of a few ships may always afford
amusement to the artist seaman, in sketching their
graceful forms as they repose in various positions on
the various sandbanks.
The Sagalien coast of the Amoor liman is so low
that it can hardly be perceived from the opposite
shore. It is composed of sandy plains, with salt pools
and incrustations, with a few clumps of trees, and
scanty vegetation, to which the deer resort by thou-
sands, affording a profitable quarry to the Ghelak
hunters. From the stag-horns I saw in Nicholaivsk,
* Vessels bound for the Amoor come first into De Castries Bay,
when a pilot is furnished to them by the Governor.
A KAMCHATDALE TAR.
211
which had been brought from there, I could judge ef
the enormous size of the animals. Their skins
form almost the only clothing of the inhabitants,
and are worn with the hair outside, and lined with
fur.
After successive attempts during six tides to get off,
which all proved fruitless, owing to the continued S.W.
wind, a boat was despatched to a bay a few miles dis-
tant, where a large cutter was lying, whose assistance
was needed for lightening the ship. She arrived the
same evening, and her commander, a weather-beaten,
rough, one-armed Kamchatdale, came on board, and
presented himself in the cabin, where he entertained
the party with a relation of his adventures and expe-
rience, on both of which he much prided himself. He
was, indeed, a curiosity to me, and though I only half
understood his language, it was fully explained to me
afterwards.
From being a common sailor in the Russian navy,
he had been promoted to the rank of under officer, for
his knowledge of the coast, and had been entrusted
with the command of the cutter, which was now
anchored near us. In it he had daringly dodged the
ships of the Allied squadron in Kamchatka and among
the Kurile islands; availing himself of the fog to
approach, and, concealing himself among the rocky
islets or under the high coast, he escaped detection,
although on one occasion, he said, some English
vessels passed very near to him, as he lay under the
shadow of the land. By these means he was enabled
to give such information as caused several Russian
ships to escape, particularly the schooner in which
14-2
212 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Admiral Putiatin had come up from Yeda,* to find
Petropaulovsk already deserted. For these services.
he had been promoted again, to officer's rank, below
that of master's mate; since which time he lived the
life of a "bold and hardy mariner," in keeping up
communication between the various ports in these
stormy seas, and in making little "forays" on his own
account among the inhabitants of Sagalien and the
Kuriles. Chart and compass were his guides; sextant
and chronometer were beneath his notice. Formerly
he had applied for and obtained two small cannon, but
they were soon taken from him when his semi-piratical
habits became more fully known at head-quarters;
for he seems to have landed at the different Ghelak
or Ainos settlements, and made the natives part
with their sables and beavers, whether they would
or not, at his own valuation, for tobacco, &c.,
beating and driving them off if they refused to
comply with his demands. The old rascal explained
to us that he did this to civilize them. The natives
were so exasperated against him, that they have
sworn to put an end to him with their knives if he
repeats his visits.
The old man was married, and his wife and only
daughter were living at Nicholaivsk. The latter was
known by the familiar name of "Little Sable," from the
dowry it was supposed she would receive on her mar-
riage, or inherit at the old man's death; for great was the
hoard of valuable skins he was said to possess. I may
* Yeda, or Heda (the first consonant being strongly aspirated), a
sheltered port, near Simoda, in Japan, where the shipwrecked Rus-
sians of the Diana were stationed.
AN INTREPID HUNTER.
213
here mention that the usual dowry of the daughters of
great people among the natives consists of 1,000 sable
skins, valued at about 3,000 or 4,000 silver roubles.
Such, at least, was the case in former times; contact
with civilization may have changed old customs. Little
Sable, however, will, no doubt, find that her father's
skins, whether real or changed into specie, will do
much here, as in other parts of the world, to get her a
husband.
"How did he lose his left hand?" I inquired.
66
Among his other accomplishments, he is a mighty
hunter," was the reply. "His cutter moored in some
unfrequented cove, he would shoulder his rifle, and
rarely did a stag or a bear cross his path but it fell a
victim. Last year, with Reaumur's thermometer 30°
below zero, he was in the act of firing at a bear, when
the barrel of his gun, made brittle by the extreme cold,
burst, and shattered his hand. The bear was, how-
ever, dead at his feet-shot through the eye, which
seems to have always been his point of aim. He,
nevertheless, skinned the enormous beast with his
other hand, and made his appearance at the next post,
thirty versts from the scene of action, enveloped in its
skin. His arm was then and there amputated below
the elbow, and it seems he is still as great a hunter as
ever.”
I could not help wishing to be his companion in
some hunting cruise. His being a Kamchatdale, led
me to make a few inquiries about the natives of that
country. At the beginning of this century its popula-
tion numbered about 70,000 or 80,000; but small-pox,
syphilis, and other ravages, have decreased their num-
214 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
bers to 15,000 or 20,000. This may be approximate,
but, like all roving or migrating people, their true
number is impossible to be obtained.
We, fortunately, did not require the assistance which
had arrived. After seventy hours' detention, the wind
hove round to the N.W., and blew hard. Setting sail
forward, and aided by steam, and three or four anchors
out on the opposite side of the channel, we swung off,
and left only her stern bumping on the sand, which I
thought would have injured her rudder, only I found
that it had been shortened from oft-repeated expe-
rience of similar disasters. We soon got quite free,
and anchored for the night in the middle of the chan-
nel, in five fathoms. The tide rises only two feet off
Cape Lazaref, and a few miles farther up becomes
quite counteracted by the stream of the river.
On Saturday, October 1st, we were once more under
steam, but the greater part of the day was lost in re-
covering the anchors. The general depth of the channel
between Capes Lazaref and Jowry, a distance of thirty-
five miles, is from seven fathoms to fourteen feet; and so
steep are the sides of the bordering banks, that we often
had seven fathoms on one side, and only ten feet on the
other--a warning which sent us farther out, sometimes to
find the same depths on the other side. The aspect of the
coast was that of vast sweeps of high and forest-covered
land, crossing each other at various angles, but few or
no peaks. Many large sandy bays indented the coast;
and at low water great sandbanks were visible about
the gulf, or showed their position by the ripples of the
shallow water. We anchored for the night off Cape
Jowry.
!
our way.
A GHELAK VILLAGE.
215
The next day, an autumn day of these climes, with
cold, freezing rain, and gusty wind, we proceeded on
At noon we anchored again, off Cape
Pronghe, to procure some fish from a Ghelak settle-
ment situated there, as the supplies of our entertainers
were falling short, owing to our delay on the sand-
bank. Taking advantage of the occasion, we manned
a boat, with the garde-marines for rowers, and pulled
ashore through the heavy rain and wind. The village,
if it may be so called, consisted of four or five miser-
able huts and sheds, of which one was the dwelling of
the family, and the rest store-houses for fish, or open
sheds for drying them. One shed contained the best
parts of the salmon, and two others the inferior parts,
for the dogs. A team of about twenty of these animals
were tethered to stakes beneath the shed, admiring the
tempting morsels above; our arrival called off their
attention, for they immediately set up a yell in concert,
which lasted, however, only a few minutes, when
they sat down again, and pursued their former
occupation.
The family consisted of eight persons only, who
seemed father, mother, five sons, and one daughter.
Of heavy Mongolian type of feature, small, yet robust
of limb, they were all clad in deerskins. The
The young
girl, about sixteen years of age, stood retired in one
corner, half covering her face with her dirty hands, yet
peeping out at the strangers with a kind of savage
coquetry, and smiles which had their charms; indeed,
she would not have been considered ugly in any coun-
try where her type flourishes, in spite of her full cheeks,
of a purply red hue, peculiar to high northern climes,
216 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and her coarse, black hair, uncombed and rusty
with dirt. Their dwelling was built of fir-bark, and
roofed with the same; fish and dirty skins hung in
all parts; the utensils were all made of birch-bark;
and their canoes, evidently shaped from a Japanese
model, were frail, leaky vessels. We procured thirty
or forty fine salmon from them, for a few pounds of
coarse, black bread-an article they prefer to any-
thing else.
Between Capes Jowry and Pronghe the river is
buoyed, and the general depth did not exceed sixteen
feet; in many places it was much less. At the latter
cape, the river Amoor properly commences, or rather
ends, its course of more than 2,000 miles of
navigable waters. Its width here is about three miles,
but the channel becomes very narrow. A desolate
scene is the termination of this mighty river. Pine-
covered slopes extend for miles, their colour one
monotonous brown, relieved only by the dark cold
green of another species of fir, which covers the
summits of the hills. Through the murky atmosphere
a dark patch on the waters revealed a flock of thousands
of geese. What is that, skimming over the horizon
like a white scud? A flock of noble swans flying low
over the water. They had been startled in their solitude,
though far away, by our splashing monster. A solitary
boat here and there showed that another Ghelak
settlement must be near, and as we advanced farther
up the stream, a peculiar form of some spot of the
shore, with a plot of cabbages growing near it, pointed
out the position of an earth battery, of which there
are several before arriving at Nicholaivsk. Crossing
THE AMOOR RIVER.
217
from the south bank of the river obliquely to the
northern, a short distance from the mouth, we kept
along that shore, and at 6 P.M. cast anchor before the
town of Nicholaivsk, the chief of the Russian posts on
the Amoor.
218
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XII.
Rise and Progress of Nicholaivsk-Climate-Buildings-Commerce-
American and Amoor Companies-Captain Vries and the Naviga-
tion of the River-Visit to Ghelak Village-Dogs and Bears—
How Bears are worshipped-The Natives' Manner of Living-
Port of Nicholaivsk-Amusements, Dogs and Sledging-A Ball—
The Vosmerka and Bear Dance-Departure-De Castries Bay-
A Wreck-Shooting Excursion-Siberian Forests, Animals and
Hunting-Arrival of Ships from Europe-Departure.
ON landing at the port of Nicholaivsk, we found,
thanks to the considerate attention of the commodore,
that the club had been given up for our use during
our stay. We immediately, therefore, pitched our
mattresses in the ball and reception rooms, throughout
which a large Russian stove threw an agreeable warmth.
A well-assorted library in all languages, with the latest
newspapers from Petersburg and Paris, was close by
us, and I began to entertain a more favourable opinion
of the place than its first appearance gave me. Anxious
to see more, I went out to look about me, but nearly
breaking my neck, I soon returned and left further
exploring till morning.
Nicholaivsk, situated on the left bank of the river,
about twenty-five miles from its mouth, was made the
chief port in these parts on the abandonment of
Petropaulovsk. Before 1855, it contained only a few
hundred inhabitants; its present population is about
66
CLIMATE OF NICHOLAIVSK.
219
3,500,* composed of one battalion of Cossacks and one
equipage" of the fleet, each numbering about 1,000
men, with civilians, peasants, and about 250 women.
Great have been the difficulties with which it has had
to contend. The unavoidable misery caused by the
arrival of a number of people, themselves in disorder,
for whom no provision, either of food or shelter, had
been made, led to a fearful mortality; scurvy, dysen-
tery, and other maladies, more than decimated the
troops, while the ladies and other women suffered in
proportion the horrors which war entails. The nature
of the soil, too, is most unfavourable. It consists of
a very thin stratum of humus over clay, and beneath
this trachyte and lava; such a surface must naturally
keep the place cold and unhealthy, which a system of
drainage, only just commenced, may partly remedy.
The climate is about as bad as in any part of the
world. The river is frozen over about the beginning
of November, and free from ice about the 10th or
12th of June. North-west winds blow down the river
with cutting force, and bear with them snow, sleet, and
damp; these prevail nearly throughout the year. For
a few days in summer, the wind veers round to the
south and east, and brings some hot weather, but not
Hard as is the task
enough to ripen grain or fruit.†
of man, with all his science, to subdue nature in any
clime, it is next to impossible under such circumstances
as these.
* This does not include the crews of ships on station which winter
here.
† Thermometer in winter, 30° R., and now, in September, snow and
sleet fell every day.
220
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
The town occupies a few hundred acres cleared from
the surrounding forest. It consists of the Bolshoe
Uletze, or High Street, with three or four crossing it at
right angles; one square in which are the church and
the government offices, and another surrounded by
barracks. The houses are all of block construction,
the trunks of pine being laid lengthways, and the
crevices stuffed with dried moss, which everywhere
carpets the forest. The church is of the same ma-
terial, and has a tower and a fine set of bells presented
by a rich merchant of Irkutsk. There are also govern-
ment schools for the children of soldiers and officers.
The interiors of the houses of the Governor, chief
officers, and a few merchants are fitted up with all the
comfort that European, or Chinese upholstery can
supply. Only one or two of them have more than one
story. The streets are rendered just passable by a
plank pavement, and all spaces not occupied by build-
ings or roads are covered by the still-rooted stumps of
trees.
In a small place like Nicholaivsk, it is not very
difficult to judge of its society, which consists of the
Governor, Admiral Kasakevitch, the officers civil and
military, and their wives and daughters. The Gover-
nor, an excellent man, and beloved by all, was the soul
of the place, and the promoter of all that was social
and amusing. There were one or two rather pretty
women, ten or twelve (the whole number), very
amiable (at least to us); but scandal and discord
(as in all other places cut off from the world-places
where nothing but charity should dwell) were busy
here. But scandal should be no part of a traveller's
TRADE OF NICHOLAIVSK.
221
theme, and to him all private and domestic scenes.
should be sacred. Let Mr. Iskander and the Kolokol
ring the changes on such subjects; let me rather make
known the open-hearted hospitality which we all
received from the inhabitants of that little place.
A few days after our arrival, the commodore, who
had accompanied the Governor-General, Count Mura-
viëf some distance up the river, returned, and with
him the Governor of Nicholaivsk, Admiral Kasakevitch.
We then were all presented to his Excellency. He
received me very affably, remarking that I was the
first Englishman who had visited Nicholaivsk, and
adding that he hoped to see them only as friends, but
no more as enemies. He invited us all to dinner that
day, and the invitation was repeated daily, and at these
meetings I had opportunity to converse with many
persons who had made long voyages on the Amoor
and its tributaries for scientific and other purposes.
Among the officers here, a few civilians were men of
great attainments, which made me wonder at their
being confined in such a remote spot, until the reason
was explained to me.
The commercial interest of Nicholaivsk is centred
in the North American Fur Company, having its head-
quarters at Aian, and the lately formed company of the
Amoor. To the former is guaranteed by the Russian
Government many privileges and monopolies, viz.
the timber and ice monopoly, and the exclusive trade
in furs with China by way of Kiachta, for which tea is
taken in exchange for the supply of Siberia and Russia.
This company possesses several steam sloops plying
between Sidka, Aian, and the fur trading posts of both
222 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
continents. I had the pleasure of making the ac-
quaintance of Mr. Elsburg, the Governor of Aian, a
lieutenant of the navy, and decorated with the cross
of St. George, an honour bestowed only for high
daring in the field. This gentleman obtained it at
Sebastopol, where he commanded a battery which
did good service, and led one or two successful night
sorties against the French lines. The Amoor Com-
pany, for forwarding the navigation of the river, and
commerce with the interior, has also several privileges
from the Government, and besides the vessel lost in
De Castries, we found on our return to that place
three more large ships of the company just arrived,
having on board the "matériel" for forwarding the
views of the company, as also two English engi-
neers to superintend the works, &c.
The rest of the
three or four
trading community is made up of
Americans, and a German merchant, Herr Lühdorf,
formerly the supercargo of the brig Greta, which he
hired to the Russians to transport the rest of the
shipwrecked crew of the Diana, from Simoda to the
Amoor, and which was captured by the Barracouta,
when near her destination. This gentleman had much
experience in commercial affairs in Japan from the
first treaty in 1853, and published a small work on the
subject a few years ago in Bremen.
A year or two ago, a certain Captain Vries and some
companions arrived here with a steamboat to run up
and trade on the Amoor. Although calling their boat
after the Admiral Governor, they were surprised to find
that the navigation of that river would only be the
privilege of Russian subjects. Nothing daunted by
ANOTHER GHELAK SETTLEMENT.
223
this, they applied for and obtained letters of naturali-
zation from the Government, and the grant of a large
parcel of land in the far interior. De Vries then
returned to America, and is to come back with a body
of free emigrants whom he will settle on his lands.
On the 7th October, I accompanied the Commodore
in a steam pinnace, to visit a settlement of Ghelaks
about five miles up the river on the south bank. The
river opposite the town is about one mile wide, the
southern banks rising high and precipitous, with many
chasms here and there forming natural docks for build-
ing ships, and I heard that they would soon be used
for that purpose. In a deep ravine, through which
trickled a small stream, about a dozen houses and
sheds comprised the Ghelak settlement. The buildings,
the dress of both sexes, and the numerous teams of
dogs, were just like what we had seen at Pronghe
Point, but there seemed to be more comfort and civili-
zation here. Three log cages attracted our attention,
and on approaching them, some angry growls, and
three or four painted muzzles protruding from between
the logs, told us we were before the half-worshipped
bears of the Manchoorian tribes. I asked, "Do these
tribes really worship the bear?" To a certain extent
they do, but the principal object is to fatten them for
certain feasts, when they are killed with much cere-
mony, a dirge being sung over them something in this
form:-"Do not think, dear bear, that it is we, the
Ghelaks, who are killing you; it is the naughty
Russians, and not we; take vengeance, therefore, on
them, but not upon us.
Formerly it was the Mandjoors, Tongoose, or some
224
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
other hostile tribe who were accused of killing the
bear, and the compliment was no doubt returned when
they killed their fatted beast. The two cages in this
village contained five of these animals.
These indigenous races do not seem in any way
interfered with by the Russians, at least officially.
Those in the neighbourhood of the posts or villages
bring in their fish and furs, and receive in exchange
bread, spirits, or silver, of which they well know the
value. If the spot of their summer settlement is
required for government, it is always paid for; and
they are never forcibly dispossessed, if from any custom
they are unwilling to move; but the greater part, I
was told, choose their summer settlements as far as
possible from their more civilized neighbours. I did
not hear that any means are used to convert them to
Christianity. In the winter all these tribes quit their
dwellings on the shore, pack their traps on their
sledges, and migrate to the more sheltered valleys of
the interior, subsisting on the fish obtained during the
summer, and on the plentiful produce of the chase.
This consists chiefly of deer, bears, foxes, sables,
beaver, &c., besides the "rabchick," or guinea-fowl,
and other birds, caught by numbers in nooses.
On returning from this village, I visited the port,
which is formed by a sandy spit stretching out into
the river. Here were already preparations for ship-
building, sawmills in full work, workshops, and, at
the extreme point, a battery of twelve guns, throwing
80-pound shot. All the engineers employed, of whom
there are three or four, were Americans.
Nicholaivsk is now the general winter rendezvous of
DOGS AND SLEDGING.
225
the ships of the Russian fleet on this station. Large
enclosures of timbers driven into the bed of the river,
are in front of the town, and afford protection to the
laid-up vessels from the large blocks of ice which usher
in and conclude the long winter. The officers and crews
live on shore; and as they are as much soldiers as
sailors, easily conform to the change from shipboard to
barracks. One or two vessels, however, have occasion-
ally wintered in the harbours south of De Castries;
one, also, is always stationed at Hakodadi, at the
disposal of the Russian Consul.
One of the chief amusements of winter, for those
who can afford it, is sledging. This is, of course, very
different from anything of the sort which the reader
may have seen in Europe, or even in America, where
horses are the moving power. Here trains of dogs,
from twelve to twenty, are harnessed to the sledge; no
reins are used, but the will of the driver is com-
municated by certain words to the leader of the pack.
These leaders, generally Kamchatka dogs, which, when
trained, fetch a high price, as much as 200 roubles,
become so experienced in their duty, and their fol-
lowers so expert in obeying them, that, though the
course may be through a pine-forest, where there is
scarcely room to pass, yet accidents seldom occur. If
an upset does take place, there is no help for it;
the dogs continue their career, and the unfortunate
sledge-wrecked people must find their way home on
foot, whither their dogs will have long preceded
them. Farther north, reindeer are also used, when
making the winter journey to Irkutsk from Aian,
which is the general route; in summer, the Amoor
15.
226 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
affords a slow but easy passage to the same desti-
nation.*
Our last night in Nicholaivsk was passed at a ball,
got up for us by the hospitable inhabitants. The
Governor was present, and all the chief persons of
the town. I here saw the ladies of Nicholaivsk assem-
bled-about fifteen in number: one rather pretty
Polish lady, the type of thousands of her country-
women; a Russian lady or two from St. Petersburg;
the rest young wives, and one spinster, fresh from the
Institute of Irkutsk.
It is only a pity, as I said before, that disunion exists
amongst so small a society in such a remote country.
But Hongkong and similar places are in much the
same state, if not worse; for there the entrance into
one coterie debars you from all the others, whereas the
Governor here does all he can to preserve union by
frequent convivial parties at his own house, and by
well-applied lessons of love and charity. He is
deservedly popular, and many an instance I heard of
his goodness to different families when distressed by
the non-arrival of provisions from the interior or of
ships from the exterior, and his freely distributing the
last of his own private stores to the most delicate part
of his community. He is a man about forty, rather
portly, and has resided some time in New York, where
he superintended the building of ships for the navy.
The ball was kept up with much spirit until mid-
night, in spite of the disproportion of the sexes. One
* No landway exists from Nicholaivsk to Irkutsk. Travellers by
land to the interior are obliged first to go by sea round to Aian,
except in winter, when they can go by sledge up the frozen river.
DEPARTURE FROM NICHOLAIVSK.
227
dance I saw for the first time; it was called the
Siberian Dance, and had this advantage, that you could
begin and finish when you pleased. It was graceful
enough, and seemed to consist in moving a lady round
and round, then throwing her into the arms of another
dancer, who in like manner had just delivered up his
fair burden; and so on, till every gentleman has danced
with every lady in the room. This is the national
dance of Siberia and Kamchatka, and is called the
Vosmërka. But I am no dancer, and my description
does not perhaps do justice to it. There is another
dance, a great favourite among the Kamchatdales,
called the Bear Dance; its poses, which are not very
delicate, consist in imitating the awkward gambols of a
male and female bear. At midnight the Governor left,
when the ladies followed his example, and the gentle-
men sat down to sup.
On Sunday, the 9th October, the whole company
met at the Governor's, after the Mass, and breakfasted
there; after which his Excellency wished us all a
happy voyage back, and we returned on board the
America, whose steam was already up. A few miles
distant we met a small fleet of ships, consisting of the
corvettes which had been our consorts in Japan, and
one or two ships of the North American Company; they
had all reposed few or many hours on the soft sand-
banks by the way. All anchored together for the
night, and I bade adieu to one or two fine fellows who
had accompanied us from Europe, and who would
remain here on station.
Our journey back to De Castries Bay was as before:
fogs compelling us to anchor; sudden decrease of
15-2
228 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
depths, which necessitated a boat's being sent to find
the true channel; but, more fortunate than before, we
never once touched the sand. The evening of the
11th we again anchored in De Castries Bay. The
distance is 130 miles, and the time of actual steaming
about twenty hours.
As our stay here was likely to be prolonged, on
account of the aid given by our crew in saving from
the wreck all that was possible, as well as by an inquiry
to be made as to the causes of the disaster, I deter-
mined to profit by the delay, and explore the country a
little. Accompanied by a sailor with provisions for
three days, and armed with a double fowling-piece, I
landed at the steps before the six wooden houses which
compose Imperatorsky Post. The old post, De Cas-
tries, stands some hundred yards farther back, and is
peopled by a few Cossacks, most of the houses being in
a ruined or unfinished state. A log road runs north and
south through it, and the whole looks like some idea
only half carried out and then abandoned. The space
cleared of wood may be about 500 acres. Vistas are
made through the surrounding forest, by cutting down
a single line of trees, and they all radiate from the
village. There is a captain of the navy, and a small
number of resident Cossacks under him.
A bridle-road, running north from the post, leads
through marshes, often impassable, to the Osero, or
lake of Keezn, which is rather a lagoon than a lake.
After crossing this in a boat, a short road leads to
Marinzky Post, on the river, 300 versts above Nicho-
laivsk, to which place you either descend in boats or
on sledge, according to the season. This is the only
SIBERIAN FORESTS.
229
landway between De Castries and Nicholaivsk; the
distance from the former place to Keezn is about
forty versts, or twenty-three miles.
Following the estuary at the head of the bay,
through pine-forests, grass-covered openings, and
marshy bottoms, marking the outlet of some moun-
tain stream, we reached the Salmon River-a pretty
stream, apparently the delight of trout and salmon;
but this was no attraction: in Europe I had spent
days beating unprofitable streams; in these parts
fish swarm, but the desire is wanting. Time is too
short to waste hours in one spot when thousands of
miles are before you, if you were only able to explore
them.
On this stream a few ruined huts mark the spot of
a former settlement of the natives, who have sought
more remote quarters, for in the whole circuit of the
bay I did not meet one. An almost imperceptible path
in the woods following the seashore, and made, no
doubt, by the natives in their hunting, led through
moss knee-deep, over trees rotting below and others
just fallen (with the chance of one crushing you, on a
windy day or in winter), across deep ravines, in which
clear, cold streams rushed over blocks of lava, and where
large pieces of ice were already formed, or through
mossy morasses through which the stream spread till
it trickled over the trachyte cliffs of the bay,—such
was the ground I trod. Above was the cold green of
the fir, or the now brown foliage of the pine, with a
thin skirt of beech-wood by the edge of the cliff, from
which the gray squirrel bounded on our approach.
Below, everywhere moss, the hiding-place of the rab-
230 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
chick; and creeping over that, a berry-bearing shrub,
affording its fattening food. Gloom and silence,
broken only by the sharp rap of the woodpecker, the
rustle of the squirrel, or the flutter of some fowl you
have been nearly treading upon, are the characteristics
of a Siberian forest. Now and then a falling tree,
killed by its too crowding progeny, startles you with
its crash; or the murmur of an unseen rill insensibly
soothes the mind to a few moments of empty reverie.
What a contrast these cold, monotonous, empty woods
of the North, to the teeming and variegated forests of
tropical climes! Yet both, when once you have seen
them, lose their greatest charms, as the mind recals the
beech-covered slopes, the stately elms, and the oaken
glades of one's dear old native home.
Our camping-places at night were the open log huts
erected by the grass-cutters at the head of the estuaries
-the only place where fodder is to be obtained. A
blazing fire of pine-wood, broken up, and dried by
exposure, was made in the middle of the hut; around
the walls a couch of dried grass, a foot thick, afforded
a good bed; and a blanket was small protection
against the sharp, cold air of night. Two sailors, who
had been sent out to shoot game for the cabin, came
in shortly after we had taken up our quarters the first
night. A rabchick, roasted on a ramrod, and a cup of
tea, restored weary nature; and as I lay back on the
soft grass, and smoked my manilla, I could not help
thinking that romance-reading of Western American life
was the reason why I was lying there in the almost open
forest, instead of sleeping in my warm cabin on board.
That imagination is much more pleasing than reality
RUSSIAN PEASANTS.
231
has, no doubt, been the feeling of many an enthusiast
pioneer or adventurous gentleman hunter in the wilds
of India or of Southern Africa.
Half lost in the smoke, the three Russian sailors
were preparing their soup from rabchick and wild
ducks. Roast game had no attraction for them, but a
soup made savory with onions and garlic is their
delight. I could see and hear that they were now quite
in their element. The Russian peasant has much of
the character of a backwoodsman. Give him an axe
in the middle of the forest, and in a day or two he
will show you a neat log hut; in a few more days
stools, tables, eating utensils, &c., the whole the work
of his axe and pocket-knife, will give an air of rough
comfort to his abode. Two of these men were from
the Ural mountains, inured to rough life, to hunting
the bear and the wolf. To them the sea and its life
were unnatural. Here in the midst of the forest they
were perfectly at home. They could imitate the cries
of the different birds and animals, and with such good
effect too, that it brought a number of the former with-
in range of our guns. I distributed the contents of
my brandy flask among them, and left them recalling
to one another the scenes of their village life as I fell
asleep.
The next day I met with a little accident which
might have proved serious. I had separated from my
sailor to beat down both sides of a small river, and
on arriving at its mouth, sat down to wait for the
appearance of my man on the other side. Presently I
heard his musket discharged about 100 yards to wind-
ward of me, and a few seconds after the long angry
232 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
growl of a bear which seemed much nearer. It imme-
diately struck me that the man had fired at the
animal, and that as it takes many balls to kill it, if they
are not properly applied, it had attacked the sailor
before he could load again. I scrambled quickly
through the rocky bed of the river, one step scarcely
covering my foot and the next plunging me up to my
waist, till I pitched head foremost over a rock, and
only saved my gun from getting wet at the expense of
splitting the stock. Splicing it in haste with my pocket-
handkerchief when on the other side, I rammed a
ball down over the shot, but, misfortune on misfortune,
the barrel was foul from much shooting, and the
bullet stuck in the middle. Vainly I tried to send it
home, my ramrod snapped under the attempt, and the
only chance then was to put half a dozen revolver
balls in the free barrel, which I immediately did, and
set off full speed through the brushwood for the shore,
from which it had seemed to me that the noise came.
On coming to the spot, where I supposed the animal
to be, I saw traces of its presence, in a quantity of
half-crushed crawfish among the lava stones at high-
water mark and the newly scratched sand, which had
fallen as it scrambled up the cliff; but not a sign of
its being wounded. I came to the conclusion that it
had heard the report of the sailor's gun, which had
disturbed it in its meal, when it had, most wisely for
itself and fortunately for me, taken its departure.
Nevertheless, I mounted the cliff, and shouted with the
hope of bringing the sailor to the spot, but without
effect. As night was drawing on, I returned to the hut,
and sat down by the fire to await his coming, but my
{
SIBERIAN BEARS.
233
anxiety was not relieved until three hours after nightfall,
when he made his appearance. He had neither seen
nor heard anything of the bear, nor of my shouting, as
he was to windward and a fresh breeze was blowing.
The whole country swarms with these animals,
except in the immediate neighbourhood of the posts,
and they were met with two or three times by our
men when in the woods or on the shore; but they
invariably got away as fast as their slouching quick
walk would let them, and the men, not having balls
with them, thought it prudent not to follow. Some
are of very large size, of a rusty black or brown,
and subsist on shell-fish and the wild berries and
honey of the woods. In spite of the wonderful tales
of some travellers, they are not dangerous, unless
wounded or brought to bay, when one hug is generally
enough for man or dog. I certainly would not have
shot at one if alone; but with four barrels, and knives
to fall back on, the temptation of having a skin under
those circumstances would have been too great to
resist. For an amateur hunter, whose nerves have
not been already proved by a ten-feet encounter with
some ferocious beast, it is much better to leave Bruin
in peace. The officers of the Voyavoda, who ventured
in Olga Bay farther south, related that bears might be
seen walking by dozens over the ice of the bay, and
the pertinacity of one enormous fellow in visiting the
ship every morning earned him the name of the Port
Admiral. The Cossacks in the interior shoot a great
number during the winter. They go out early in the
morning, and the thin curl of blue vapour from the
bear's breath in the frosty air discovers to them the
234 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
lair of the beast. Resting their long heavy rifles on
cross-sticks, they rouse out the animal with dogs, and
shoot him through the brain as he comes out of the
darkness into the light.
Among other quadrupeds, foxes, deer, and hares are
abundant at some distance from the posts. The
celebrated blue fox, whose skin fetches such a
fabulous price in Petersburg, is only found farther
north. Beaver and sable skins are also brought from
the interior or from Sagalien. If bought from the
natives, silver only will be taken; tobacco and rum
attract no more, except in remote parts, where no
intercourse exists with the posts. Dollars and roubles
are as much appreciated in these parts as in Canton or
Shanghai. Sable skins fetch from five to twelve silver
roubles, while beaver skins cannot be had for less than
from twelve to forty roubles, and fetch four times as
much in Petersburg. Gray squirrels abound in the
woods, and I shot several. Their skins may be had
for about ten to fifteen roubles a hundred; one officer
bought a lot of three hundred for thirty roubles. Seals
are numerous, and the sea-otter is a valuable prize for
its beautiful skin.
Frequent mention has been made of the rabchick.
This bird is much like a guinea-fowl, its flesh white
and delicious. They are so abundant, that you may
almost trample them under foot; and so tame and
stupid, that shooting before a barn door may afford as
good sport in Europe. One bird actually flew up and
seemed inclined to perch on the barrel of my gun as I
was in the act of firing at another. Another time I
had fired both barrels at some ducks, and was quietly
SIBERIAN WILDFOWL.
235
loading again, as my eye caught sight of a bird not
ten feet from me, evidently interested in my proceed-
ings, for he was watching me with his head on one
side. When I had finished loading, I walked back
forty paces, and shot him as he was continuing his
previous occupation of eating pebbles to assist his
digestion. There was much dire necessity, however,
for such downright murder; tough salt beef and in-
sipid preserves were not to be compared to the tender
and delicious flesh of the rabchick. We shot numbers
during three or four days. The great difficulty is to
find them in the deep moss, as you may walk over them
without knowing it; if I had had a dog, the veriest cur
that could run and yelp, I could have shot hundreds.
My sailor, with his quill whistle imitating their cry,
shot many more than I did.
The other birds I met with were two or three species
of snipes, ducks, and teal. Wild swans and geese were
also plentiful in more retired spots, but required a
boat to get near them. Thousands of ducks fed in the
estuaries of the bay at low water, and their splashing
and cackling could be heard miles off. Teal I found
abundant up the rushy rivulets, and their pursuit led
me to many a beautiful spot, generally our halting
place for dinner. On one of these occasions, I was
surprised at the sudden appearance of another sports-
man, whom I recognized immediately for a Yankee.
This gentleman I found to be the chief engineer of
the Russian transport Japonitz, and he joined me for
a more extended excursion, till a tumble down thirty
feet of cliff sickened him from further search, and
obliged us to return home.
236
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
On the following days I explored all the north
shores of the bay through the forest, returning by the
beach. The whole coast is composed of trachyte and
black lava cliffs, veined here and there with red lava,
and hollowed out in places by the surf, forming caverns
with pillars of nature's architecture. Fresh water
everywhere filtrates from the base of the rocks; quan-
tities of oysters and other shell-fish cover the base of
the cliff, and it seemed to be the resort of the bear
and the fox for feeding. The only other objects of
interest I saw were two weather-bleached skulls of
white men lying in the thick moss. Not having the
poetical desire to convert the seat of thought into
drinking-cups, I placed them on young fir-stems, and
left them there nodding in the haze, and grinning
their ghastly smiles.
On the 21st of October, everything that was pos-
sible had been got out of the wreck.
An inquiry
had been held, and no blame attributed to the captain,
who, finding a sandy bottom, had let go his anchor;
the ground, however, was interspersed with lava
rocks, and on these his anchor dragged. More blame
was due to those on shore, who gave him no warning,
and did not point out a proper anchorage.*
* But the month of October is altogether too late for ships to
arrive from Europe, as, especially if they be deep in the water,
they must be lightened in De Castries Bay before proceeding into
the river; and when arrived there, before the cargoes can be got out,
they are already locked in for the winter. These store-ships, by
arriving so late, were obliged to winter in the Amoor, besides keeping
the Government steam transports constantly employed in rendering
them assistance. The weather is also then very boisterous, and
much risk is incurred on entering the river.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
237
Early in the morning we steamed out of the bay,
and the same evening were beating down south against
strong winds. The end of our voyage had been
reached, and we were now homeward bound.
238
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XIII.
Russian Colonies of the Amoor-Description-Boundaries-Island
of Sagalien-Bays on the Coast-Usuri River-Capabilities of
Country-Cossacks and their Difficulties-Difficulties of Coloni-
zation-Future of Nicholaivsk-Remarks on former Writings
about this Country-Utility of these Colonies to Russia-Return
to Hakodadi-English and French Consul-Disputes with
Governor-Farewell to Japan.
THE vast river Amoor, according to Maury the seventh
in size of all the streams of the earth, drains regions
583,000 square miles in extent. It commences at the
confluence of the Argoon and the Shilka, both of
which drain extensive water-sheds. At their point of
junction stands the Cossack post of Ost Strelka.
From here to the mouth of the river is 3,000 versts,
or about 1,700 miles, navigable for boats of not more
than eight feet.* Besides one or two unimportant
streams from the north, it receives from the south two
considerable rivers, the Sungari and the Usuri. In its
course it flows first to the S.E., making a broad
sweep, then to the N.E. at 200 miles from its mouth,
and turns suddenly to the N.; afterwards it bends to
the E., and enters the gulf or liman of the Amoor,
opposite the N.W. side of the island of Sagalien.
The whole left bank of the Amoor is now Russian
territory. On the right bank all that region bounded
* Smaller boats of iron to draw only eighteen inches, or two feet,
have lately arrived, and will soon push their way up the smaller
streams into the very heart of Asia.
ISLAND OF SAGALIEN.
239
by the Usuri as far as the lakes of Khinka, by the Gulf
of Tartary, and by a frontier line not yet defined
between the lakes of Khinka and Passette Bay, or
Napoleon's Bay, about the forty-second parallel of
latitude, belongs also to Russia. The treaty which
added the greater part of this territory to Russia was
negotiated during the past year at Aigunt, an ancient
Chinese town near to Sagalien-Dla-Choton, by the
Governor-General, and completed in the three days in
the business-like manner said to be peculiar to that
statesman in his relations with Oriental powers.
Opposite, and extending nearly parallel to this coast,
lies the island of Sagalien, the northern part being
Russian, the southern Japanese. In the northern
part, Ghelaks from the main land form the bulk of the
inhabitants; in the southern part are the Ainos, from
the Japan islands. Posts of Cossacks are stationed
in the one part, of Japanese in the other, to keep
possession, and control the inhabitants. The boun-
dary line, about 48° parallel, is at a place called
Suconai, where both Russians and Japanese are posted
within a short distance of each other. The Russians
have another post at Douaï, or La Perouse Bay, where
there is a bed of coal of excellent quality, if taken at
a little distance from the shore. The chief Japanese
establishment on the island is at Aniwa Bay.*
* The late visit of the Governor of Siberia to Yedo was to demand
the cession to Russia of the southern part of the island, the posses-
sion of which is considered necessary to the integrity of the newly-
formed Amoor territory. The Japanese, after much procrastination,
refused to give it up. I have heard, however, since my return to
Europe, that they had consented to cede it, reserving the rights of
wooding and fishing. It is from the settlement at Aniwa Bay that
240
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
The right bank of the Amoor between the Argoon
and the Usuri is inhabited by the Mandjoorians, who
have one city of about 20,000 inhabitants, Sagalien-
Dla-Choton, on the river.* North of these are the
Tungoose. Around the mouth of the river the inhabi-
tants are called Ghelaks, while southward along the
coast of Tartary are found various tribes of Mongolians,
with a few Chinese, settlers or refugees. The Russian
posts on the river are from twenty to fifty versts apart;
most of them comprising only a few huts and a small
space of land cleared from the forest. The settlers are
called without distinction Cossacks. The chief settle-
ments are Blagovéschensk, opposite the town of
Sagalien-Dla-Choton, Marinsky Post, near De Castries
Bay, and Nicholaivsk, a short distance from the mouth
of the river.
Of the bays on the Gulf of Tartary, many were
only lately discovered by the steamers of the English
squadron during the war. Vladimir Bay was discovered
by the yacht America, in 1857, when conveying
Admiral Putiatin on his diplomatic mission to China.
Passette Bay was entered by the Pallas frigate in
1854, and good coal has since been discovered there.
The chief ports on the coast of Tartary are De
Castries, Imperatorsky Bay, Ports Olga, Vladimir,
and Passette. I here give the Russian names;
the Japanese have always drawn their supplies of wood, fish, and
furs. If the report I heard be true, the change cannot but be
beneficial to the Ainos, who are kept under most iron slavery by
their Japanese conquerors.
* This region includes all that country watered by the Sungari, a clas-
sical land with the Manchoos. The founders of the Manchoo Dynasty
were born on the banks of the Sungari.
GULF OF TARTARY.
241
others were given to them by the English naval
officers, and are marked on the English charts. Many
more are still, no doubt, to be discovered, as the
coast is only half surveyed. These harbours, whose
shores are destined one day to become the sites of
towns, are sheltered and safe resorts for ships. Only
one or two are blocked by ice during the winter.
Those most to the south are surrounded by a beau-
tiful country, totally different from that around De
Castries and Barracouta harbours to the north.
Around Olga and Vladimir bays, the oak, beech, and
the walnut have taken the place of the fir and the pine;
and the vine grows wild, and covers the ground with
its creeping foliage. The summer is longer, and,
although the winter is severe, still the cold does not
exceed that of the northern part of Central Europe.
The inhabitants, numerous around these southern
posts, are known by the name of Mansa and Tarsa.
They are a race between the Chinese and the Tun-
goose; abhor the Mandjoors, who border on them
towards the interior, and subsist by hunting, fishing,
&c. A great number of Chinese refugees are mixed
with them.
About 150 versts from Nicholaivsk, the Amoor
makes its broad sweep to the southward, and then,
again, a better climate already begins; but the country
bordering the Usuri, and that on the Amoor far west-
ward, to the provinces called Trans-Baikal from the
lake of that name, will be the home of the future colo-
nist. On the Usuri magnificent timber, of oak, cedar,
and pine, unlike the useless stunted trees farther north,
is abundant. Canoes of the natives, forty feet long and
1
16
242
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
five feet wide, hollowed from a single cedar tree, were
seen by a gentleman lately returned from surveying the
river. The soil is also more fertile, and vast plains of
fine pasture may become the roaming place of thou-
sands of cattle and sheep. Flax grows wild; so do
grapes, and I tasted some in Nicholaivsk which were
like the outdoor grapes in England; also nuts of dif-
ferent kinds. The summer is long, but the winter is
severer than near the coast, the thermometer descend-
ing then to 40° of Reaumur, but the weather is clear
and more free from wind. Corn, hides, tallow, and
timber could be produced in any quantity; and when
water communication becomes more extended, they
may be shipped for the markets of China. But the
hand of man is wanting, and is likely to be so for a
long time; Captain Vries and his band of emigrants,
whom I before mentioned, may no doubt do well,
assisted as they will be by mechanical inventions for
clearing and improving land. This information I ob-
tained from gentlemen, some of whom had visited the
country as explorers for the Government, others as
hunters or amateur travellers; and although it is the
opinion in Western Europe that nothing good can
come out of Siberia, yet nature there has been as
liberal in many parts as elsewhere.
But as yet there is no chance of its colonization to
any extent. The whole population of Siberia does not
much exceed two millions. That on the river, scat-
tered in small villages of a few houses, does not, at
the greatest possible stretch, exceed ten thousand; and
this includes the military at the different posts. Many
are criminals from Europe, others former settlers from
IMPEDIMENTS TO COLONIZATION.
243
Western Siberia, to whom the Government has given
land and assistance during the first year or two of their
arduous task. A small patch of land cleared from the
forest is all that they are able to reclaim. These
people are all called "Cossacks," though not really
so, and are under military law, to be embodied in case
of necessity. Their settlements may be seen from
thirty to fifty versts apart, and their only communica-
tion with each other is by the occasional steamboats,
or cattle rafts, that pass up and down the river.
Anxious as Russia is to populate these her colonies,
years and years must elapse before her object can be
attained. In Europe her millions are too few for her
home territory. Her government is no longer what it
was, to banish without cause; and Western Siberia and
the mines will still receive her criminals. Some thou-
sands of soldiers, condemned by military law for dif-
ferent offences, were distributed not long ago in the
various provinces; and about fifteen hundred women,
foundlings, prostitutes, and other offenders, I heard,
had also lately been sent. The immigration of Chinese
is naturally closed for political reasons; Germans and
other colonizing peoples find too much attraction in
Australia and in the different provinces of the vast
American continent, to seek their home in Siberia.
The name is too ominous; and though they know that
the Russian Government would afford them every pro-
tection, and even assistance, still they know that they
might at any time be subjected to thousands of vexations
from subordinate officials in so remote a district.
Nicholaivsk, under present circumstances, can never
be more than it is-a military post-and must procure
16-2
244 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
its supplies from the interior, or from the shipping.
The long transit each way causes everything to be ex-
cessively dear; if any delay occurs, dearth and suffering
ensue. When the interior shall have been made
productive, and the difficulties of navigation to it shall
have been diminished, then may Nicholaivsk become a
place of commercial importance, at least for four
months in the year; but whispers were afloat that
it was to be almost abandoned for a more favourable
spot. De Castries Bay, free from ice all the year
round, was to be connected with the Amoor by a short
line of railway to Marinsky Post, already mentioned;
or the bay of Olga, 600 miles farther south, was
spoken of as the future position of the chief settlement.
This bay would be put in communication with the
river Usuri by road or railway of 150 versts, and the
country about the river and its capabilities had already
been studied by engineers. Port Olga, being just
opposite to Japan, and much nearer to China, would
seem to have the preference.
A few more words before I bid farewell to the
Russian settlements of Eastern Siberia. They seem
lately to have become a cry of terror to newspaper
writers. Special correspondents from St. Petersburg
wrote home that railways were in contemplation from
Moscow to Nicholaivsk, and that public subscriptions
were on foot throughout all Russia for that purpose.
So much amusement did this intelligence create on
board, that the extract was forwarded to St. Petersburg
to be laughed at there. The difficulties to be over-
come in making a railway over thousands of miles of
desert, forest, morass, and mountain, through a country
VISIONARY PROJECTS.
245
which produces nothing, and where commerce is at
present but limited, are so great, that years must
elapse before such an attempt could even be seriously
contemplated. The great benefit of the Amoor navi-
gation is to open a way into Central Asia from the
Pacific by water, to supply its inland towns by sea
instead of by the present expensive land conveyance,
and to establish a power on all available parts of the
coast, not so much, perhaps, with a view to immediate
colonization, as to keep out other nations, which, if
they formed settlements there, might become disagree-
able frontier neighbours.
Again, I have read reports of thousands of men
having been marched through Siberia with as much
ease as they could be from Petersburg to Odessa.
The writer could never have known what a Siberian
forest is, nor have thought a moment how so many
men could be supported. At the settlements the
Cossacks are not even able to grow sufficient food for
their own wants. A traveller by sledge in winter can
never be certain if he will find food for himself and his
dogs. One instance of the march of a small body of
men will suffice to show the difficulties to be contended
against. During the war a battalion of about 1,000
men was sent from Irkutsk to the shores of the Pacific.
They entered the gloomy forests and marshes; soon
their provisions fell short; all their cattle and horses.
were killed. Added to these miseries they lost their
way; the path became strewn with corpses; advance
was slow, some four or five versts per day, and that
only made by cutting a way through the wood. Re-
treat soon became almost as impossible as an advance
246
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
At last, reduced to starvation, they dug up the bodies
of their dead and devoured them. Lots who should
die were cast among the living, and some forty or fifty
poor wretches of all the battalion were saved. Now
that steamboat communication has been established
on the river, small bodies of men might be conveyed
during four months of the year, during those months
when the river is free from ice.
The author of The Chinese and their Rebellions
has also drawn a terrible picture (flattering to those
whom it most concerns) of Russia's vast armaments in
the East, of the future conquest of China by them,
when the harbours of that country are to be turned
into war ports, and its long-tailed boatmen into sailors,
-to do what?-to carry the Russian arms over the
Pacific, and turn the fat lands and gold-fields of Cali-
fornia and Mexico into a Russian colony. Verily, that
gentleman must have looked with such a strong glass
into the long vista of time, that a thousand years must
have appeared to him but as a moment. The future
is a subject hard to grasp; and the most that wise
nations can do is, to judge by the experience of the
past, study well the condition of the present, and keep
themselves well prepared for any emergency of the time
to come.
The work which the interest of Russia
seems to have marked out for her for many years to
come lies clearly in the centralization of her power,
the exportation of her industry, the reform of her
political economy, and, above all, the controlling of that
social revolution out of which will proceed the class
known in Europe as the middle class. Such changes,
when not brought about by the plastic hand of time,
RETURN TO HAKODADI.
247
but by sudden revolution, are quite sufficient to exert
the whole energy, and call forth all the anxiety, of any
government; but when once they are accomplished,
and the nation remains consolidated under the influence
of a clear guiding mind and strong will, then such
a nation as Russia must greatly be feared, especially
on any disturbance of the balance of power in Europe.
As regards the naval establishments of Russia in
Eastern Asia, they are looked upon as an excellent
school for the instruction and training of the navy, by
means of the voyage there and back to Europe, and
the three years' station of most of the ships which go
thither. Many naval officers, I am aware, consider
the ports there as convenient for the sending out of
privateers in case of any war with a sea-going power;
but they are also quite aware that for every Russian
ship on station on the coast of Tartary, the English
would consider it necessary to have two about China
or Japan. Such being the case, I do not consider
that our Indo-Chinese possessions would have more
reason to fear an attack in case of hostilities, than we
should at home fear an invasion from our neighbours
over the water.
A few days' sail from De Castries brought us for the
third time to Hakodadi.
In addition to the Russian and American flags we
now saw the English and French colours flying from
one of the temples. The Consul, who represents both
nations, had arrived only a few days before, and was
already in hot dispute with the Governor. To such a
pitch had it arrived that the Consul, in the joint names
248 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
of England and France, requested Commodore Popoff
to delay his departure for a few days. When the
Governor was informed of this, he gave in; the usual
mode of acting when affairs assumed a serious aspect.
The dispute arose about the changing of money, and
the manner in which supplies were furnished by the
Comprador. According to the treaty foreigners were
to trade with the natives without the intervention of a
third party. But nothing could ever be obtained, not
even provisions, except through the Comprador, who
charged extravagant prices, the profits from which
went into the pocket of the Governor. The Consul
demanded that full freedom should be given to pur-
chase directly from the country people.
The Consul had also brought up with him 80,000
itsheboos from Yedo for the Governor of Hakodadi.
A few days afterwards, he sent his servant with a
thousand dollars to be changed into Japanese coin and
was refused. This was a second point of dispute.
The night before we sailed from Hakodadi the Consul
wrote to the Russian Commodore that everything had
been amicably arranged with the Governor.
This is another example of the manner of dealing
with foreigners by the Japanese authorities, and the
arrival of our Consul was very much needed to put a
stop to much insolence and double-dealing on the part
of the authorities; for the American trade agent was
too little respected to have that influence which his
position entitled him to. M. Gaskewitch, on the other
hand, did not feel disposed, without a sufficient cause
being given him, to enter into disputes, or to make
any change in the system which had existed since the
DEPARTURE FOR ST. FRANCISCO.
249
port was opened; but the English Consul, with great
energy and wisdom, as soon as he commenced his
official duties, demanded that the articles of the treaty
should be fulfilled to the letter, and it would seem he
gained his point, at least for a time.
The houses in Hakodadi, on this our third visit,
were adorned from top to bottom with the huge white
radishes of the country, which were being prepared
for winter use. Horses laden with wood, deerskins,
and fruits, were constantly arriving by piles, and the
streets were busy with men and women, packing or
unpacking, washing or cutting up vegetables, making
soy, and pickling sea-weed.
And we, having made our last purchases, took leave
of Japanese land, and returned on board.
The next morning I was to
gunboat Plastoon to Olga Bay.
have proceeded in the
That vessel had taken
on board most of our guns, and was going to mount
them on the batteries lately erected in that port. But
the plan was changed, and the two corvettes left for
St. Francisco, the gunboat receiving orders to join us
in Honolulu after she had accomplished her task.
250 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XIV.
The
Gale-Arrival in St. Francisco-The Town and its Inhabitants-
Mixture of Nationalities-Newspapers-Theatres-Fast Living of
Americans in California-Editors -Visitors on Board
Rowdies and the Irish-Dark Side of St. Francisco-Fire Com-
panies-Suggested introduction into England-Public Honours-
Popular Feeling.
THE track between Japan and North America has
only during the last few years become one of the
highways of the ocean, and consequently little is
known of its navigation, winds, &c. We had left the
coast of Japan about a hundred miles behind, when a
violent gale from the western quarter came down
upon us, and continued for eight days without abating,
and every hour or two increased by furious squalls,
accompanied with sleet, hail, and rain. Flying before
this gale under close-reefed topsails, the two corvettes
sometimes sailed as much as fourteen knots the hour,
and while it lasted we lived the life of ducks; there
was not a dry inch below or above, and though I had
become pretty well hardened, I began to wish for more
moderate weather even at the expense of a longer
voyage. Yet it is a glorious feeling when, in health
and strength, you find yourself thus borne on before
the tempest. Those vast waves, which, if the ship
were stationary, would crush her beneath their weight,
i
HARBOUR OF ST. FRANCISCO.
251
roll beneath you from stern to the bows, elevating
each part in turn. Sometimes the cone of a wave full
forty feet from its base would form by the stern or on
the beam, and pour down its cataracts of foaming
water on the deck; or another would culminate a few
yards from the ship, the foam on its crest reflecting all
the colours of the prism, and then fall like a torrent
down into the valley of the waters, making the ocean
look on a clear day like a broken field of azure,
covered with snowdrift. During this storm we were
between the parallels of 41° and 44°.
When the weather abated, it became as baffling as it
had been boisterous before. Light contrary winds, fogs,
and damp accompanied us to our destination. For
days guns had to be fired at intervals, to keep the
corvettes together, and the mingled sound of bell and
trumpet was not the most delicious music to have
ringing in one's ears night and day.
On Sunday, 11th December, we made land, and a
fine pilot schooner coming off to us we were in the
evening anchored off the Golden Gate, waiting for the
flood to help us in, as we found Japanese coal, as usual,
worse than useless. Late the same night we were
anchored before St. Francisco, the Queen of the
Pacific.
The entrance of the harbour has been compared to
the "Goulet" of Brest, and is certainly one of the
finest ports in the world. The only thing against it
is that during S.E. winds, which blow stormily during
the winter months, the entrance is difficult, owing to a
bar from which the waves rebound to a height often
dangerous to ships. The two arms of the bay are the
252 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
outlets of two large rivers, and many smaller ones, a
circumstance which causes the ebb to run longer and
with more force than the flood tide.
The town is built on several hills, its streets laid
out at right angles, designated in the European fashion
by names and not by numbers, as in most of the new
American towns. Its houses are like its population--
an aristocratic-looking pile overtops a poor diminutive
little wooden hut; a ready-made, zinc-topped, iron
house, remembrancer of former times, is thrown in here
and there; the majority of the houses, however, are
of wood. One street of large buildings, parallel with
the sea, seems devoted to wholesale trade, the others
are filled with hotels and shops. The hotels are nearly
all very large; the shops display a luxury which is
hardly to be equalled in London or Paris, especially
those of the jewellers and other dealers in costly
superfluities. There is a Broadway; a large govern-
ment building containing the post-office, custom-house,
&c.; and churches enough of all denominations to
contain all the sinners of California. The click of
the trowel, and the noise of the pick, are heard from
morning till night; brick and stone edifices in all stages
of construction meet the eye, and St. Francisco is
slowly putting off its chrysalis crust of former days, to
emerge as one of the most beautiful cities of modern date.
And what of its cosmopolitan population? I had
not been on shore two hours before I had conversed
with members of every European nation, who had
become blended into the heterogeneous mass of Ameri-
can citizenship. Prominent-nosed persons, with dark
eyes and resplendent chains, were first and foremost;
MOTLEY POPULATION.
253
they were from Posen chiefly, but their numbers were
swelled from every clime. The Jews have brought
their old predilections into the New World, and are
quite in their element among piles of ready-made
clothing and boxes of cigars. But to their credit be it
said they have brought also with them their industry,
perseverance, and love of order which make good
citizens. Germans abound here; they have their beer
cellars, their Schiller-feasts, their lieder-tafelen, and
sing-vereine, when roher schinken, lager bier, and
bumper-nickel are consumed amid the sonatas of Beet-
hoven and the chokingly pathetic lieder of Schubert.
Laughed at, as I have seen him here, it is no less
true that the presence of the German, with his inborn
poetry, his music, his love of art, is a most civilizing
element among a rough and turbulent population,
whose summum bonum is gold, and whose every
thought by day, and dream by night, is the means of
acquiring it.
་
The French form also their part of Californian
society. They are vendors of French wines and
keepers of restaurants, of course with chambres à part.
Swiss and Bohemians are busy with their watch-
making; Chinese are washing and ironing in their little
houses; Mexicans and Spanish Creoles wander about,
doing God knows what; while Russians, Poles, and all
other white nations occupy themselves as they can.
The negro race is also well represented in the shape
of waiters, shoeblacks, and vendors of fruit.
Every nationality has its newspaper of course, some
two or three. Not to speak of some twenty in the
English language, there are French, German, Italian,
254 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Spanish, and Chinese. What they found to write
about, except when the mail arrived, I could not at
first imagine, but on taking the trouble to look through
them, I satisfied myself. The English ones, I soon
saw, had plenty to do in recording the squabbles of
party and their own; here a "Democrat" pitching
into an "Independent," and there a "Liberal" hurl-
ing defiance at the "Friend of his Country." Another,
edited by an Irishman, was calling up all the wrongs
his country had suffered since the days of Henry, and
breathing out fire and brimstone against England;
while in one column was a subscription list, to which
poor good-natured Pat had been contributing for the
purchase of the ingredients. Some of the journals had
glowing accounts of new mines, which would send
thousands flocking to the spot; of duels between
honourable members, and street fights between editors;
here a jury burnt in effigy, because it would not do as
the people, the sovereign people, wished; and there
two judges sitting on the same bench, both elected,
talking each other down, and all but coming to blows.
Murders filled up all the little corners. "Lo, the poor
Indian," stolen from Pope's Essay on Man, mockingly
headed a paragraph recording the last struggle and
the expulsion from their plains or hills of some rem-
nant of an Indian tribe. Then followed columns of
advertisements, in which every act of friendship and
love was offered to the public, with most incredible
generosity, by men who were ruining themselves just
for the pleasure of supplying their neighbours'
wants.
Several of the papers, however, are well conducted,
DUELS-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
255
and try, after the spirit of true journalism, to guide
the public taste instead of pandering to it, and to
uphold the good work by which social order has been
evolved out of the chaos which existed here from the
beginning; for order does exist, and is supported in
downright earnest. If crime is committed, the penalty
soon follows. Though duels are of frequent occur-
rence, they are not the less condemned both by pulpit
and press, though the gentlemen of the latter are often
the chief transgressors. A senator was killed in a
duel, a short time before our arrival, by a judge of the
Supreme Court; several minor duels in various parts
took place during our stay. The law forbids, but public
opinion upholds, the practice.
As there are newspapers in all tongues, so there are
theatres of all nations-English, German, French,
Spanish, Negro, and Chinese, and, to crown all, an
Italian opera.
Their merits consist, as a laughing
Frenchman told me, in the quantity rather than
quality of their entertainments, an opinion which I can
endorse.
Out of the 80,000 inhabitants of St. Francisco, I
heard that not more than 10,000 were native Ame-
ricans. All kinds of institutions of the East, schools,
asylums, prisons, &c., are here established, or on the
point of being so; indeed, St. Francisco is already far
ahead of many of the older towns in her institutions,
and immeasurably so in the liberality of the ideas which
govern them. It has overland communication twice a
week through a country filled with predatory Indians,
steamboats via Panama bi-monthly, telegraph com-
munication, and local railways, and preparations are
256 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
on foot for the great Pacific Railroad, the hope of Cali-
fornia. In projects of possibilities and impossibilities,
new ideas for himself or his country, sane or insane,
Cousin Jonathan is inexhaustible. Restless, nervous,
selfish yet generous, liberal yet borné, he can do every-
thing and be anything, except be quiet, and that is
not in his nature. He has finished his five or six
courses at dinner before a European gets through his
soup; and an Italian gentleman, after dining for the
first time at an American table-d'hôte, gave me this
account of the experiment:-"I sit down with seventy
or eighty persons, I take a piece of bread and a radish,
I put my napkin on my knees, and when I eat my
soup, I look up and see I am quite alone." Drinking
is despatched in the same fashion,-cognac, cobblers,
cock-tails, mint-juleps, lager beer, and smashes, are
taken at flying visits, washed down by glasses of iced
water; while a "keep your head clear," taken the
first thing in the morning, is recommended as a capital
anti-headache preparation to banish the effects of yes-
terday, and prepare for the coming campaign. The
agile citizens behind the bar resemble apothecaries
mixing up antidotes for poison, with such agility do
they dispense their medicines from the different bottles,
pounding, shaking up, and giving directions (to the
stranger) how the mixture is to be taken. Smoking
(the best Havana cigars in the world are to be had
in St. Francisco) and using tobacco (chewing) seem to
be the most congenial joys, as they can be exercised
in a state of locomotion. The national weed, made
up into cakes like preserved vegetables, and called by
all sorts of enticing names, from Jenny Lind down to
EDITORS ON BOARD.
257
the latest discovered, the Rose of California, is in
general request. Spitting, of course, is the natural
result; but as Dickens, and latterly Mackay, have
written largely on the subject, I will only mention that
our Secretary having gone one night into the first
row of stalls at the theatre, he assured me that the
water was trickling down in rills over the partition
dividing them from the orchestra, and that the deal
boards had from frequent staining become like imita-
tion mahogany.
We are going on too much ahead; we are living
too fast!" a sensible American said to me one day.
"This constant dram-drinking, everlasting smoking,
chewing, and, worse than all, spitting, are gradually
consuming those who indulge in them. They beget a
restless disposition, thirst after excitement, and mor-
bid feelings, which too often lead to those acts which
foreigners reproach us with."
A day or two after our arrival the corvette was
visited by a body of five or six persons, editors and
reporters of the Alta California newspaper, who had
come in search of news. Before this, many of the
officers on shore had been pounced upon by news-
greedy reporters, and bled of all the information they
had to give about the countries we had just left.
After our visitors had spent half the day on board, and
explored every part of the vessel, there appeared next
day a long notice, critical and complimentary, on the
Rynda in particular and on the Russians in general,
and the article wound up by giving the public a
general invitation on board; so that the next day, and
every day as long as we remained in port, we had
17
258 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
visitors of all degrees, male and female. Fortunately,
boat hire was very expensive, or our decks would
have been covered; but extreme delicacy was not the
failing of many, who coolly expressed a wish, and, I be-
lieve, expected it would be gratified, that boats should
be sent from the ship to convey them on board-a duty
which would have kept the crews pretty well occupied.
Among the visitors one day, when I was on board,
were an officer of the Government, his wife, and
another lady; the younger and unmarried lady I
judged, from her conversation and manners, to be one
of those "strong-minded women" who abound in the
States. After I had listened for some time with much
amusement to her opinions and exalted ideas, she
began to talk about the English.
"I do detest the English," said she.
The officers present gave me a sly look and a smile;
but I had not spoken a word as yet.
"Do you?” said I, laughing; "I am sorry to hear
such hard words from so pretty a mouth. What has
given you cause for such hatred ?”
"You've put your foot in it now, my dear," said the
gentleman.
66
They are all so proud and haughty when they
come among us," continued the young lady.
"But there are plenty of them here, and they cannot
be all so."
"But I mean those one cares about knowing."
"You forget that gentleman the other day who was
playing the amiable with you, and how surprised you
were when you heard it was Lord G " said the
gentleman, quietly.
DE NOBIS NIL NISI BONUM.
259
"And they are so spiteful in England, and write
such satirical things about us," remarked the other
lady.
I remembered to have read some notes on American
ladies, wherein they were somewhat ridiculed, and
especially a remark made, that though generally pretty
when young, they lost both their beauty and their
health after they once became mothers. Finding she
had also read this, I at once accounted for her feelings
-her self-love was wounded. Yet she must have felt
herself an exception, for she was what would be called
in England a "splendid woman.'
In fact, jealousy and wounded vanity seemed to
make up the ill-feeling towards England of Americans
whom I met; that is, of those who had any self-
respect. "Don't say a word against us and our
glorious institutions, and you can think, say, and do
what you like in America," said a red-hot patriot to
me one day.
"Damn that fellow, Dickens," said another; "and
there's your Dr. Mackay crowing the same song over
again."
And what nine-tenths of the people know about
the remarks of either of these gentlemen is from
paragraphs copied into the newspapers, insidiously
contrived to enumerate all the foibles, but none
of the good qualities, which those writers ascribe
to Americans. Yet the lash is applied still more
vigorously by their native authors. It is the old
story of the man who suffered his own wife to
whip him, but felt dreadfully indignant that any-
one else should try to do the same.
The hatred
17-2
260 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
#
of the rowdies and adventurers is of quite another
kind it is a cry with them to further their own
interest. They would all become firm supporters of
glorious British constitution" to-morrow if
it would gain them a dollar more than their present
occupation.
the ((
"You're an Englishman!" said a well-dressed
fellow to me one day, in the bar-room of an hotel.
"Am I?"
"Curse the English!" said he.
"There is as
much difference between them and an American
as there is between a Missouri man and a New
Yorker."
I did not well understand whether he put the New
Yorker or the Missouri man in the same category with
the English.
As he turned away the landlord whispered to me in
German :
"Der Kerl ist selbst ein Engländer!"
is himself an Englishman.)
A likely volunteer for St. Juan!
(The fellow
Poor Pat is the most consistent of them all. He
hates, without knowing why; he's used to it. The
priest tells him it's all right, and he's quite satisfied.
He gives a yell of delight and his vote to the mob-
orator who deals most in blood, murder, and extermi-
nation against the object of his hatred; but, except
when he is drunk, which is only too often, he is
industrious, willing, good-hearted, and not at all
disposed to the indulgence of any blood-thirsty pro-
pensities.
And the night-side of St. Francisco society-the
PROFLIGACY-FIRE COMPANIES.
261
polluted, yet glittering dregs of a cosmopolitan popula-
tion! Nowhere in Europe, not even at Hamburg, is
there such a traffic in vice, and nowhere does it
make such a display. The importation of women
from New York forms a branch of commerce; and if a
pamphlet, written by a physician, on the women of
California, be in the least true, wives and matrons do
not hesitate to follow such examples of former days as
Suetonius describes, and Juvenal satirizes in his sixth
Satire. Woe, it would seem to be, to the unfortunate
husband who should refuse to his spouse the gratifi-
cation of any wild whim, the indulgence of any coveted
luxury! It is to be hoped that, for the honour of
St. Francisco's future, many of that doctor's remarks
are without foundation.
In all that regards mutual aid rendered to general
interests, no land can surpass America. The volunteer
fire companies are an example of this. St. Francisco
has been three times thoroughly destroyed by fire, in
1850 and 1851. Even now two or three fires in one
day are no extraordinary occurrence; but no sooner is
the bell heard announcing a fire, than the citizens
may be seen hastening from all parts, merchants or
rowdies, in evening dress or in flannel shirts. One
night I witnessed this system at work. Twenty
minutes after the alarm, a dozen engines were in full
play on the building and those adjacent to it, and
at the end of half-an-hour the blazing mass was
extinguished. Most of the houses being of wood,
insurance can only be effected at a very high rate; and
many is the honest man, still struggling on in this
country, who lost his all, and his opportunities, in the
262 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
most palmy days of gold, by fire. Every little town-
ship throughout the State has one or more of these
volunteer companies, between which all rivalry and
jealousy turn to public advantage. The engines are
well made, slight, and drawn by men. They are well
kept; and the building where they stand forms a club
or place of resort for the members of its company;
debating is allowed on every subject, with the excep-
tion of religion, which is forbidden under a penalty
of five dollars. Each company gives its balls and
entertainments occasionally. I should like to see
something of the sort established in every village in
Great Britain. There could not be a more useful
manner of bringing men of all classes together, and it
could not but tend to keep up a kindly feeling among
them. A building should be erected in every district,
in the lower part of which a fire-engine should be kept
with a few stands of rifles, the whole under the guard
of a responsible person, In the country districts
sets of harness should also be provided; horses could
be procured readily enough. Thus, in case of fire,
instead of having first to rouse up some sleeping
parish clerk, or doting sexton, to get the keys, and
then to run to the parish house for the engine, often
a poor old leaky tub-like machine,-a bell would
ring, the volunteers of the district would hasten to
the rendezvous, and be ready in a few moments for
action.
A newspaper writer had informed the people that
the Russians felt the greatest interest in Americans
and American institutions. What civilities could be too
great to compensate for such an announcement? But,
AN ENTERPRISING MANAGER.
263
unfortunately, there were no established authorities in
St. Francisco to set an example (the seat of Govern-
ment is at Sacramento); so the newspapers became
the organs of the people in returning their own com-
pliment.
But I must not forget the enterprising manager of
a theatre, who invited the Commodore and his officers
to a representation. No sooner was it accepted,
than enormous posters headed "EXTRAORDINARY
ATTRACTION " were set up all over the town,
and copies of them were inserted in the papers, to
inform the public that Admiral Popoff (in largest
letters) accompanied by his officers, all in full uniform,
would be present on such a night, and that, as a large
attendance was expected, tickets should be secured as
soon as possible. On the appointed evening, the box
containing the guests was decorated with the flags of
the two nations, and on the appearance of the commo-
dore and his suite, the orchestra struck up the Russian
national hymn, when some of the audience stood up
and uncovered, and some did not do either; the Rus-
sians standing uncovered the while. "Yankee Doodle"
followed. I do not know if the Russians were much
flattered; but they were excessively amused at the
whole affair.
Perhaps the following may give some idea of popular
feeling here. When the news of the fall of Sebastopol
arrived, the English and French inhabitants had a
meeting to celebrate the event. A party, however, to
prove that such proceedings did not accord with the
national taste, broke in upon the meeting, and forced
it to separate. The rowdies then marched in a body
264
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
to the Russian Consul, and in their own vagabond
persons informed him of the national sympathy for his
country's cause. A little speech was made from the
window thanking them for their good will, and they
dispersed.
265
CHAPTER XV.
American Steamboat-Make Acquaintances on board-Dinner—
Sacramento-The City of the Plain-A civil General-Dock-
yard in Mare Island-Appearance of Mining land in California-
Placerville, or Hang Town-Mining Districts-Modes of Mining
formerly and now-Mining Life-Trough Washing and Hy-
draulic Mining-Quartz-Appearance of Country around Mines----
Search of a Miner for "Claims"-Hotels-Carston Valley Mines-
Visit to different Claims-An Intelligent Miner-First Discovery
of Gold-Return to Sacramento-American River-All not Gold
that glitters-Indians-A Conversation with Enlightened Ame-
ricans-Scenes on Steamboat-A Model Editor for California-
Sail for Hawaian Islands.
THE steamboat for Sacramento was to start at 4 P.M.
Opposition boats were running, which had reduced the
fare from ten dollars to two for the cabin, and half-a-
dollar for the deck. The rivalry was bitter; only a
day or two before a touter for one boat had shot the
touter for another boat dead in some dispute about a
passenger. Accompanied by the doctor and secretary
before mentioned, I stepped on board the boat of the
company, which was better fitted up and larger than
that of the opposition.
An American steam river boat has been often enough
described, and no doubt caused many a shudder to the
nervous reader, at the thought of safety valves fastened
down, pitch and pork stuffed into the furnaces, and
other dangerous expedients for overtaking a rival
boat, and keeping up a due excitement among the
266 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
passengers. In the boat on board of which we found
ourselves there were about three hundred passengers,
of all classes of a motley community.
Americans in St. Francisco had kindly furnished me
with introductions to the places we were about to visit.
These were to a general, a colonel, two judges, and a
captain; besides, I had one to the captain of the
steamboat, whom I found to be a liberal-minded, gen-
tlemanly man, who had long resided in the State. He
after a time introduced me to a judge, who took me
into his cabin and began a long speech, flowery and
forensic, one half made up of scraps of poetry, the
other half in the style of charging a jury. Numerous
words and phrases taken from the poets, and which
one never hears in common conversation, were brought
forth in giving me a description of the country; the
forensic style was employed in speaking of the state of
its society. This introduction led to several more,
mostly carried on in the following manner.
Mr.-Judge, Captain or Colonel So-and-So-
"Happy to make your acquaintance, Sir."
Well, come and let's take a drink.'
And down the whole party would go to take a drink.
This is sometimes varied by "Come and take a
smoke." These oft-repeated invitations become rather
too much for one unaccustomed to the practice, but a
refusal would give offence, and as it is the custom to
help oneself to everything, the dose can be regulated
ad voluntatem. A chat with one or another of these
gentlemen made the evening pass over very plea-
santly.
At six o'clock the dinner was announced by a most
SACRAMENTO.
267
discordant hammering on gongs, when a general rush
took place below. Perfect order, a desire, at least, to
show good-breeding at table, even if they did not
know the last fashion of exercising it, prevailed. But
haste was the order of the day; five minutes were the
very maximum of time that any set remained at table.
We saw some dozen parties make their appearance
and vanish. This, with our drinking wine at dinner,
while all the others took only water or milk, betrayed
us as strangers, or at least as non-conformists to Ame-
rican habits.
Sacramento, the city of the plain, where we arrived
about two o'clock in the morning, is situated 100
miles from St. Francisco, at the confluence of the
American river with the Sacramento. It is the official
residence of the Governor of Upper California and his
suite, and is second only to St. Francisco in popula-
tion. It contains 18,000 inhabitants. Fire and flood
have been its chief enemies. The danger of the one
has been lessened by building in brick instead of wood,
which soon becomes like tinder beneath the scorching
sun. A levée, or dyke, bounding both rivers for some
distance, and an embankment connecting the two,
preserve the town from the floods. The streets are
wide, at right angles; those parallel to the Sacramento
being numbered, while the intersecting streets have
letters of the alphabet to distinguish them. There is
a Capitol, the residence of the Governor, and a few
hotels, large and well-erected buildings. The rest of
the houses are low, and the environs for some distance
are covered with cottages and little gardens, a distinc-
tive feature among which are numerous small windmills
268 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
for pumping water for irrigation during the dry
season.
Two miles from the town are the ruins of Sutter's
Fort, so called from an old Swiss officer of the French
guard of Charles X., who obtained a grant of land
from the Mexican Government, built a mud, or adobé,
fortified house, and made it the centre of his agri-
cultural pursuits and his trade with the Indians.
Before the Mexican war American squatters had set-
tled in all directions around this fort, and they gave
good aid to the invading force. On the discovery of
gold (by a man in the employ of Captain Sutter) this
fort became the chief trading post of the mining dis-
trict around it, and from this beginning arose the city
of Sacramento. The continued influx of strangers,
via St. Francisco, all passed through the place for the
diggings; the still greater immigration of miners from
the Eastern States, coming over the mountains, made
it their home during the season when mining was
impossible. All the supplies of provisions passed
through it from the one side, and all the gold sent for
shipment from the other.
Situated between the 42nd and 35th parallels of
latitude, having the ocean as one boundary and high
mountains and waterless plains for the other, California
is as favourably placed as any country in the world,
not insular, for becoming the theatre of great events.
Its seaboard contains magnificent harbours; the passes
of the mountains to the East are few and easily de-
fended. Every mineral lies concealed within its
bosom; the land is on the whole fertile, and though
somewhat subject to drought at times, to floods at
NAVAL DOCKYARD.
269
others, could be easily irrigated or drained according
to circumstances. Magnificent timber in the north,
⚫ fruitful vineyards in the south, add to the riches of
the land. China and Japan are a few weeks' sail from
its shores; the island world of the Pacific is preparing
to become its protegé. And as years roll on, and the
giant republic breaks down beneath its own weight,
California, as a republic, kingdom, or empire, will be
one of the great powers, perhaps the France of Ame-
rican destinies; and that, as queen of the Pacific, she
intends to assert her sway over those broad waters, is
evident in the enormous docks lately finished at a vast
expense at Mare Island, on the Sacramento, and
whence the first man-of-war had just been launched.
The Russian Commodore and a large party of his
officers visited these works, and were present at the
trial trip of a fine frigate lately built there.
The general to whom I had a letter was, I found,
the proprietor of one of the first hotels in the city,
and I could hardly realize his position as he stood
smiling at the door of the dining room (it was dinner
time) to welcome his guests. He seemed a worthy
old fellow, and, after a chat together, he gave us over
to his black waiters, with injunctions to turn his esta-
blishment upside down to serve us; so we fared
sumptuously. I do not know how the gallant general
appeared when in uniform at the head of his army,
but he certainly was the picture of a good burgher,
as, in quaker hat, and sleek black broadcloth, with a
pen behind his ear, he moved about, directing his
establishment. Although living in another hotel we
always dined with the general, with whom my com-
270 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
panions were much amused. Their ideas of a general
were so totally different, that they could not help
looking astounded as they saw one in such a novel
light
A short line of railway conducts to Folsom, a small
place, twelve miles from Sacramento; but such a dense
fog hung over the whole plain that it was impossible
to see what sort of a place it was. On our arrival there
at seven o'clock one morning, cars were in waiting to
convey passengers to Placerville, which was the spot
we intended to visit. These were long carts, contain-
ing four parallel seats, for twelve passengers, with one
outside, beside the driver. This was such an inde-
pendent citizen, that he did not trouble himself in
the least for his freight. Four fine horses completed.
the equipment. We three occupied the most back-
ward seat; next to us was a rather smart young lady,
with a fellow passenger, who seemed to be an acquaint-
ance; then a boy Frenchman, his wife, and baby; and
lastly, two rowdy-looking fellows, with large bowie-
knives and revolvers. A second car followed us at
some distance.
On mounting the hills, we lost at the same time the
fog and the mud, which had been some foot deep; the
sky came out palely blue, and the masses of vapour
were beneath us, covering the plain, and lit up with
the rosy glow of the sun. Traces of mining were soon
evident: valleys and watercourses were cut up in all
directions, and water like pea-soup was rushing down
every gulley; here and there an aqueduct, formed of
wooden troughs, was carried across the road on piles to
some mining-works on the hills. Presently, a party
MINING LAND.
271
of five men, shovelling the earth into a long wooden
trough, were the first evidences of actual mining.
We passed them; not a look from one-intent on
their work, I do not think they even saw us. One
was bending over a stream, and washing out a pan of
earth; as we passed he was looking earnestly at the
result in the bottom of the pan. All that earth, those
heaps of clay and sand, those holes filled with muddy
water, those broken pieces of timber, showed that all
these parts had been thoroughly delved, though not
exhausted of their precious metal; for such was at first
the imperfe manner of working, that, when labour
becomes cheaper, it will yield good profit to wash all
over again.
The cars stopped at a small inn, twelve miles from
Folsom, and the passengers had half an hour for
breakfast. This was despatched with the usual
celerity; and, with fresh horses, we proceeded. The
country was very beautiful-a succession of rounded
knolls, with oaks and cedars scattered over them. The
land seemed all taken up, though little of it was culti-
vated. A shallow trench, or a single bar fence, alone
marked it as reclaimed. But this was not the agri-
cultural district and most of the land, I heard, had
been taken or bought up by speculators.
does all it can to stop the practice.
Yet the law
When the land
an upset price.
comes into the market, it is sold at
In all lands not yet surveyed any squatter has the
right to take 160 acres, if single; double that quantity,
if a married man. But all good land near the towns
has long ago been taken; the rich alluvial valley of
the Sacramento was all bought up before the discovery
272 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND TIE PACIFIC.
of gold. Already everywhere may be seen the change
from the exciting search for gold, to the stower, but
far more humanizing occupation of agriculture.
Passing through a small village, inhabited mostly
by Chinese, who cultivate large market-gardens, we
came successively to two villages, called Mud Spring
and Diamond Spring. Here were rich "placers" in
former days; but nearly all the claims have long ago
been worked out, or the "tailings" are being here and
there worked in a more scientific manner, and were
yielding, I was told, good returns.
About four o'clock we arrived at Pcerville, or
Hang-town, as it was formerly called, from a noted
incident in the life of that apocryphal Californian judge
-Lynch. Three men had committed a murder, with
robbery, and, being caught, were hung up without
mercy on trees which were then standing in the middle
of the canvas town.
Placerville extends through a long and picturesque
valley, watered by a stream, once, no doubt, limpid
and sweet, but now running with liquid mud. It was
in former days one of the parts most frequented by
miners; and the high road through it, made from the
"tailings," or leavings of the miners, would, I was
told, furnish thousands of dollars, if it could be re-
worked. The town is very clean, and agreeably situ-
ated; the houses surrounded with pretty little gardens,
where ripe strawberries were now growing in Decem-
ber. It is the centre of a district, where every kind of
mining is carried on.
The mining parts of California extend in length
nearly 500 miles; in breadth, from 40 to 50; chiefly
GOLD MINING TEN YEARS AGO.
273
on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. But
there is no doubt that the whole chain of moun-
tains and connecting ranges, from the British settle-
ments of the North as far as the Isthmus of Panama,
is one vast field of mineral wealth. It is truly
astonishing that these regions had been explored by
the men of science of Wilkes' expedition, by Sir George
Simpson, by Fremont, and others that hunters and
trappers, not to mention the Indians, had ranged over
valley and mountain-and that this golden wealth was
not discovered, until the accidental washing away of a
mill-dam revealed the glittering treasure.
The mining of the present day is very different from
that of ten years ago. Then it was carried on simply
by washing the auriferous earth in a pan, or more
often in a closely woven Indian basket. An instru-
ment was also used called a cradle or rocker, which
required men to work in company. Another method
called "dry washing" was shaking the earth in a
cloth, by which the stones came to the top, and so on
till only heavy sand and gold remained. This was
again shaken, and winnowed, so that the sand was
blown away, and the gold dust from its gravity fell
back in the cloth. A jack knife or a piece of iron was
often the only instrument with which the miner went
probing in the crevices of the slate-like rock, or
delving about in the cañons or gullies of the hills,
often to be rewarded by finding pieces of solid gold.
Many were the rich " placers" which yielded their
thousands of dollars to a few days' labour. Those
were the days of murders, rapine, and riot, of poverty
suddenly enriched, followed by extravagance, of disap-
18
274 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
pointment goading to crime. Gambling was the
amusement of the night, to dissipate the earnings of
the day. Broils followed, and wounds and death were
dealt with bowie-knife and revolver. Coined money
was almost unknown; payment was made in gold
dust, from a pinch between the fingers to a handful.
The gold was spent as recklessly as it was easily
obtained, and when the first palmy days were gone,
many a miner found himself penniless in pocket, and
ruined in health. The shopkeeper who pandered to
his vicious tastes, had made a fortune; the man who
had toiled up to his waist in the cold water, his body
exposed to the broiling sun, had nothing left him but
his rheumatism and shattered health. The first rich
"placers
were exhausted or abandoned for others
more rich; miners swarmed over the country; good
"prospects" became every day more rare-till at last
the fever for a time subsided, and slower but more
certain systems were adopted to arrive at the precious
metal.
The principal methods now in use are the simple
trough-washing, hydraulic washing, and quartz mining,
all of them carried on in companies of three or four,
thirty or forty, as the case may be. As water is
indispensable in all sorts of mining, companies have
been formed for keeping up a constant supply. The
whole country is intersected by aqueducts of wood,
which bring down the water from the higher parts of
the stream, care being taken that the source is suffi-
ciently high to allow the water being used in the
higher cañons of the lower regions. The miners who
make use of this water pay so much per cubic inch of
TROUGH-WASHING.-HYDRAULIC WASHING. 275
trough per diem. The trough washing is carried on
both in cañons or gullies, and in the valleys. These
troughs are divided into sections by narrow pieces of
wood on the bottom; the dirt is then shovelled in and
carried down by the rushing water, leaving a deposit of
gold dust and other heavy matter in the different
sections at the bottom of the trough. The water is
generally let off once a week, when the residue is
washed in pans, or amalgamated with quicksilver.
Robbing these troughs during the week is no un-
common occurrence. The average earnings per man
at this labour are from two to ten dollars a day.
By the hydraulic system, whole mountains are in
process of removal, or having their entrails taken out,
to be left as hollow as a drum. A tunnel is first made
in the hill-side sufficiently low to allow the draining
power of the water, and worked through the exterior
formations until the primitive rock is reached, on
which the richest earth usually is found. Troughs are
laid on through the tunnel, as in the former system.
A shaft is then sunk from the top of the hill, through
which pass leather pipes enclosed in strong canvas.
On the pressure being applied above, the hose is
directed against the gold-bearing earth in the same
manner as that of a fire-engine upon a burning body.
Masses of earth thus tunnelled by the constant stream
of water, fall away, and are carried through the
troughs, in which the gold is deposited, as in the
former case. It is, in fact, the same principle of
mining on a much larger scale, by the mechanical
power of water, instead of shovelling the earth into
the troughs. The produce of metal is of course much
18-2
276 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
greater, but the preparatory expense of boring tunnel
and shaft is enormous.
Quartz mining consists in working the vast aurifer-
ous leads of that mineral, crushing it in mills, and
either washing or amalgamating with quicksilver, or
both.
Finding that the editor of the Placerville Democrat
to whom I had a letter, was busy in addressing copies
of his journal to his subscribers, I forbore to take him
away from his occupation to show us the mining
operations of the neighbourhood. We therefore set
out alone up the mountain to visit the Pacific quartz
mills, situated about half a mile from the town.
Pieces of broken quartz were scattered over the hill-
side, among which several were picked up, with the
gold plainly visible. These were "throwings" from
the different shafts which had been sunk in the moun-
tain. While occupied in examining various pieces of
stone for traces of gold, we were accosted by two men,
one a Polish Jew, the other a Prussian storekeeper.
The former, who professed to have been the discoverer
of the lead of quartz, offered to be our guide to the
mines and mills. He then pointed out the direction
of the "lead," rendered very evident by the cropping
out of blocks of quartz on the hill-tops, and running
in a northerly and southerly direction. Our guide
informed us that such was invariably the case; that
on a good "lead" being discovered, claims were
immediately taken up in those directions, as the true
course of the vein. The mills of these works were
not now in operation, owing to the scarcity of water,
but we visited the interior of the mine by two long
SCENERY OF A MINING DISTRICT.
277
tunnels, in which parties were at work blasting the
quartz, which was very rich, although no gold was visible
to the naked eye. It contained a large quantity of
different sulphates, among which that of iron pre-
dominated, giving in many places a green appearance
to the stone.
All the valleys around were torn up, heaped, jagged,
brown, and desolate. On the tops and sides of many
of the hills vast mounds of brown earth were thrown
up, contrasting with the green of the surrounding
vegetation, and looking like vast mole-heaps. Far
as the eye could reach the country had the same
appearance; and if the view of a mining district afford
an instructive lesson, it certainly calls forth mournful
thoughts at such desecration of the beauties of nature
for the purpose of obtaining that most debasing, yet
necessary article-gold. As the gamblers I have seen
at the baths of Germany have all their senses concen-
trated on one idea, so it was, and still is, with the
Californian gold-seeker. Instead of gambling with
gold for gold, he gambles with his labour and with
time. Did he bestow the same hard work, intentness
of purpose, thought, and perseverance, on any calling
of life, as is given to the search after gold, success
could not fail to crown his endeavours. Throughout
the whole mining state, men are labouring thus to
gain only one or two dollars a day, sometimes not
that, while the ordinary wages of the country for
labour are the same, and the fatigue much less. If
you ask a miner why he prefers this, he will tell you
it is because he feels more independent so, not that he
is living in the hope of finding a rich "prospect."
278 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
The simultaneous ringing of about twenty bells
informed us that it was dinner-time, and that we must
descend if we did not wish to fast for the rest of the
day. Most of the inhabitants of all the towns of
California dine in hotels or restaurants, and rooms in
many are not to be obtained without board. The
price at this time was about three dollars per day for
room, breakfast and dinner. A dollar was the price
for every meal on the journey, whilst the payment for
the slightest refreshment, or for the least service per-
formed, was the smallest coin in circulation, a quarter
of a dollar. Quarter-dollars are found only in San
Francisco. Here, in these parts, as might be expected,
the society was not very choice, consisting chiefly of
miners, while the accommodation and arrangements
for eating seemed to be prepared expressly for people
who either did not know what better living was, or
who were so occupied and intent on more important
matters, as to be perfectly indifferent to such animal
requirements. Small scraps on greasy plates were
pitched down all at once before the guest on the dirty
cloth by gentlemen waiters, who seemed to think those
they served beneath their notice, who looked upon
themselves as insulted if they were required to do their
duty a little more as they ought. The sleeping-rooms
were at least clean, and the service upstairs being per-
formed by negroes, it was not beneath their dignity at
least to do their best to please you. The inn, the
largest in Placerville, was crammed with miners hasten-
ing to, or returning from the newly discovered mines
of silver in the Carston Valley, about fifty miles farther
on, beyond the Nevada mountains.
66
A SILVER TOWN.
279
Valuable silver leads had lately been discovered
there, and with the quickness and precision with which
such matters are arranged in California, a length of
more than fifty miles in claims was immediately taken
up. A plot was then marked out in squares for the
future city, and though but a few weeks had elapsed
since the finding of the ore, more than a hundred
shanties," or huts, and a few adobe, or mud houses,
formed its skeleton streets, with here and there board-
built hotels without furniture, and with straw strewed on
the ground for beds, upon which hundreds of people
slept, wrapped up in their blankets; and this accommo-
dation could only be obtained at a large price. For a
little shelter, and some barley for a horse, the sum of
five dollars was charged. Eating-houses, gambling
hells, disorder, scarcity-the days of 1849 were being
acted over again on a small scale.
Such was the account of a miner who sat next to me
at dinner, who was returning from the place, having
taken up a claim. A hundred gaping faces of men on
their way thither were turned to the man as he spoke,
expressing all the phases from greedy hope to blank
disappointment, as at one moment he spoke of the
wonderful richness of the ore, at another of the diffi-
culties to be encountered, and the impossibility of doing
any good whilst the ground was still covered deep
with snow. But this did not seem to deter them from
their plan,—on they went to the goal of their hopes,
and the next day their place was taken by others, all
bound to the same destination. From some specimens
of the ore which were given me, there is no doubt of
its richness; from 3,000 to 6,000 dollars a ton, I was
230
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
told, had already been got from it. The finest claims.
belong to a Mr. Davidson, of San Francisco, who has
sent a large quantity to England for crushing and
smelting. In the Spring it was expected there would
be some 50,000 people present in that district.
+
After dinner we proceeded to see the other kinds
of mining. In the street itself, by the side of the
stream, and in a hole as deep and about as large
as an ordinary grave, three men were busy sluice-
washing. They had already reached the bed of
primitive rock, and were cleaning out with the greatest
care all the mud and dirt which remained in the
crevices and indentations of the bottom. In answer to
my question, one of them told me he was the owner of
the claim, and that he paid daily wages to the other
two. The claim, he said, was rich; but as its position
prevented him from extending it in any direction, it
would soon be exhausted. Seeing I was a stranger
and a traveller, and knowing perhaps from experience
that such persons delight in dabbling a little in all
they see, he offered me a panful of dirt to wash out,
and the result, after a few minutes, was a number of
spangles or little flakes of pure gold, worth, he told
me, about half a dollar. This was pretty well for one
pan, but it must be remembered that the earth was
taken out of a crack on the surface of the primitive
rock, where the richest deposits are found.
Toiling up another mountain covered with a shrub
resembling the Euphorbia, and with bushes covered
with red berries, formerly the food of the Indians, we
came upon several hydraulic workings. One, called
the Dew Hill Mine, was worked by a company of five,
DEW HILL MINE.
281
all Americans. A large hole descended 120 feet into
the heart of the mountain, and from the bottom, a
tunnel of 400 feet in length, and in which were the
sluices, led to the side of the mountain. This tunnel,
and other works, had taken two years to bring to the
present state of forwardness, and the gold already
obtained had not even paid for the water rented from
the Company. The owner, meanwhile, lived on credit,
and the Prussian storekeeper, who acted as our guide,
was the chief creditor.
Such was, I heard, the universal custom, to give
credit, long and large, to the owners of likely claims;
a hazardous, but I have no doubt, a profitable invest-
ment of money. 66
But," said the owner to me,
pointing to a mass of earth at the bottom of the shaft,
resembling decomposed clay slate, mixed with a black
stony cement,-"there is some stuff which I trust
will make a return for all our labour, pay our debts,
and make us rich men besides. We are only waiting
till the landslips cease from above to turn on it the jet
of the hydraulic machine." Later in the evening,
when I met the same man dressed neatly in black, he
had to remind me himself of our having met, such a
change had taken place in the dirty, unshaven, half-
naked, mud-besmeared person I had been talking to
in the afternoon. He had found, after I had left him,
a small nugget adhering to a piece of black cement,
which he gave me to recal my visit to his claim. This
find had cheered him, and increased his hopes of the
richness of his mine. He was altogether an intelli-
gent fellow, a good, practical miner, and what pleased
me most in him was, his hankering after a home and
282
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
family he had left in the east, and to see whom again,
and to benefit them, seemed his only motive for desiring
wealth. It was good also to remark that on Saturday
afternoon the miners had all flocked in from the
neighbourhood to spend their Sunday, even if they had
no better home than the reeking rooms of grog-shops,
and the sulphur-breathing bars of so-called hotels.
Rarely is mining continued on Sundays, unless at the
stern promptings of hunger.
About four miles from Placerville is Sonoma, near
the Northern fork of the American river. It was here
that in the winter of 1847-48, a man employed by
Mr. Sutter in constructing a mill-dam discovered the
golden treasure. Although they agreed to keep the
affair secret, it soon became known to the Mormons,
of whom the finder was one, and all the then scanty
population of California flocked to the spot. Sonoma
is now becoming the centre of a wine-growing district.
The grape juice is manufactured into all kinds of
wines, from port to champagne, and a great deal of the
latter finds its way to China and other places, and is
sold as. French champagne. The district of Los
Angeles, farther south, is where the greater part of the
Californian wines is grown, and although the present
season is reported to be the worst known, still the
produce, as stated by official report, amounted to
187,710 dollars, at 60 cents the gallon, exclusive
of the brandy made from the lees. Indeed, California
seems to possess a climate similar to Spain and France
taken together, and able to produce all the necessaries
and luxuries of those lands.
On our return journey to Sacramento, the cars were
REVOLVERS.
283
filled with men, every second among whom was formi-
dable with a revolver. What was the use of carrying
such a weapon I could not imagine, unless some law-
less deed was premeditated, or a childish vanity had to
be gratified. Among a not over conscientious popu-
lation, to go armed may be necessary for the protection
of life and property, but in these parts it seemed to be
only a habit, the evil effects of which presented
themselves nearly every day. One of the grand juries
in the neighbourhood remarked that more than half
the crimes of homicide and wounding were attributable
to it, which is easily understood amid gambling, high
political discussion, and those assaults on self-love
called insult. Of some forty or fifty of such cases I
saw in the newspapers, both parties, or at least the
offenders, were either British or American, to judge
from the names. Such a detestable practice must
cause California to be shunned like the pest, by all
peaceful, well-disposed emigrants. It was a boast I
heard that men who had gone through one Californian
campaign, were respected, i. e., feared and shunned
wherever they went.
Among the passengers was a man in the prime of
life, who formed a contrast to the rest. He was un-
armed, and had just travelled over half the American
continent. Formerly a trapper pioneer, he had seen
all the vicissitudes of the country during the last fifteen
years. He was now returning from the Salt Lake. He
described the Mormons as hospitable, quiet and indus-
trious, not the intriguing, bloodthirsty sect such as I
had heard many. Americans describe them. Putting
their Turkish propensities aside, I do not suppose they
284 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
are half so black as their enemies paint them. Asking
him what sort of women were there, he told me
he did not see many pretty ones. "The elder with
whom I stayed," said he, "had three wives, who
must have had some great unseen attractions, but I
couldn't find them out. Verily," he added, "I think
the Gentiles ought to leave them alone, for, most
probably, the greater part of them find that the sin
brings its own punishment."
We had left Placerville at four o'clock in the morn-
ing, and found, on arriving at Folsom, that we had three
hours to spare before the train left for Sacramento.
The interval was agreeably spent in a stroll on the
picturesque banks, or in the rock-strewn bed of the
American river. Enormous blocks of granite and
quartz were scattered in all directions. A solitary
miner was washing a pan of earth which he had just
dug on the side of the stream; I did not see what he
found, but amused myself with probing about in the
crevices of the rocks, till I came upon what I thought
a rich discovery; for in one deep little hole from which
I stirred up the soil with a stick, the earth seemed
glittering with gold; but alas! when I had washed it
in a pan, I found nothing. The shining particles had
been first of all washed away from the pan. It was
only mica. I had thus a practical exemplification of
the proverb that "all is not gold that glitters."
Pursuing my walk, I came upon two or three groups
of Indians. Poor, miserable, squalid, half-starved
wretches they seemed. Half naked, half clothed in
the filthy rags which even the lowest stage of civiliza-
tion had discarded, they were wandering, a picture of
INDIANS IN CALIFORNIA.
285
despair, on the sadly changed banks of their native
stream. Another group of women and children were
squatting round an imaginary fire; so utterly desolate
they seemed, you could almost read their instinctive
thought,—to linger on without hope and die like dogs.
And the look they give the passing stranger, how
meaningless,-how unlike the curious, laughing gaze
of the free or happy savage! or, if it have any expres-
sion, it is a look such as the dog gives to man when
he sees the arm upraised to smite him,—a mixture of
dread, despair, and reproach.
rum.
The change that has taken place in the country
during the last few years has been most destructive to
the native tribes. Under the Catholic missionaries
they were at least in a fair way towards improvement.
During the gold excitement, those who were at all
subdued became the slaves of the miners, working for
them, and receiving in return some clothing, but more
Those more remote resisted the encroachments
of the white man, and the most diabolical cruelties
were committed both on them and by them. The
poor wretches at home in their valleys, living on the
few roots, berries, and disgusting insects they found
there, naturally resisted the inroad of the gold-seeking
pioneers, and were hunted and shot down like dogs.
At the present time expeditions of volunteers, under
the sanction of the Government, are out hunting down
different tribes, and are driving them like sheep to some
66
reservations" hundreds of miles away from their
homes. While I was at Sacramento about 500 of
these poor outcasts were encamped on the opposite
bank of the river. Among them were about 200
286 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
warriors of the Pitt river tribe, the finest-looking of
all the Californian Indians. They had been marched
down through deep snow from the Sierra Nevada
mountains, and were on their way to St. Francisco,
thence to be shipped to some out of the way district
farther up the coast. Among them were a celebrated
chief, Shave-head, and his band. Their encampment
was visited by numbers of the curious, among whom
were many ladies, who exercised their philanthropy,
and satisfied their curiosity, in distributing petticoats
and small clothes to the naked savages. I should like
to know if the American board of missions, who
send their emissaries to proselytize the Chinese and
Japanese, and can spend their hundreds of thousands
in trying to Christianize the interesting inhabitants of
the South Sea Islands, if the gentlemen who form that
board know anything of the state of the Californian
Indians; or among the hundreds of men of different
classes who receive a call to spread the Gospel among
the heathen, are there not a few who can so far enter
into the spirit of that call as to forego the delights of
climate and of interesting nature, animate or inani-
mate, and devote their time and energy to the ame-
lioration of the poor "digger?" Beetles and berries,
insects and acrid roots, may not be great inducements
to pass years among such tribes, but, as the prospect
is less cheering, so the devotion would be the greater.
And I am sure that such a field of useful exertion has
only to be known to be immediately occupied.
On our return to Sacramento we went to the same
hotel, but did not fail also to pay our respects to the
"General." One evening I found myself in a mixed
TAVERN TALK IN SACRAMENTO.
287
company, consisting of two judges, a doctor from the
Indian country, a militia colonel who had served in
the Mexican war, and an intelligent miner. The con-
versation was carried on, as it usually is, over the bar
of the hotel, with an oft-repeated compliment of "a
drink." The party was composed of men from the
Southern and Northern parts of the Union; all seemed
well educated, and the topic was of course politics.
The Charlestown tragedy came on the tapis; among
them, Northerners or Southerners, there was no differ-
ence of opinion; rebellion merited death; but on my
suggesting that a recurrence of such scenes might
endanger the integrity of the Union, I got laughed at.
"Both parties are like actors on the stage," said one;
66
they abuse, hate, and revile one another before the
public, but all for want of something better to do.
Each state knows that no other can interfere with the
internal arrangements of the other, and it is only
when private interest is touched that the interference
becomes dangerous, as now in the slave question."
We then passed in review newspaper politics, and the
ravings of the press against England. These, I was
given to understand, were rightly appreciated in Ame-
rica by all men of sense; that cries against England
were a good canvass for votes at an election, or for
subscriptions for a newspaper among the lower classes,
and that those who uttered them were often men who
had the strongest opinions the other way. But as to
the probability of such rants leading to a rupture
with England, the whole party were of opinion that
the few really honest and independent men who took
a part in politics, and the many who did not, but
288 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
whose influence was indirectly felt, would never permit
affairs to come to such an extremity. As to politics
in the pulpit (which in America seems to take the
place of religion in many churches), that took effect
only on the strong-minded women of the land, but
most men might sit under half a dozen political
preachers without being the least affected. Listening
to those gentlemen, I became half convinced that
everybody in the States spoke and acted just the
reverse of what he thought, in order to gain some
private end.
There is one subject of discourse which is the chief
delight of an American in California, and a fruitful
theme of many a scribbler: this is the glorious
attainments of the Anglo-Saxon race.
With some,
however, it is only the Anglo-American race,—a
race, in the opinion of the speaker or writer, far
surpassing in all sterling qualities anything the world
has ever yet seen. While one of the party was
in the midst of this tremendous topic, there entered
the bar a captain of the army, dressed out for a ball.
He was a handsome, jovial fellow, and quite agreed
there were no such people on earth as Americans and
English. All his ideas, however, were tinctured with
a most inveterate dislike to Frenchmen, Louis Napo-
leon in particular, a sentiment, he assured me, common
throughout all the American army. "If we could
only fight side by side in the war" (everybody seemed
to think here that such an event was inevitable), "if
you would only ask the assistance of the United States,"
and he put his hand on the hilt of his sword in a
most energetic manner, "but they won't do it, sir;
INVITATION TO A BALL.
289
you'd get thrashed first." Then drawing himself up
and standing erect before me, he asked me what the
difference was between an Englishman and an Ame-
rican. I burst out laughing at him, whereupon he
grasped my hand and offered me a ticket for the ball
to which he was going, adding that he would present
me to the Governor, and, as a still stronger induce-
ment, to the prettiest partners in the room. This
handsome offer I was forced to decline, as a costume
for the mines was not passable for a ballroom, and
for close contact with the "fixins" of a pretty girl.
(This word I had learned a day or two before, as
referring to the little bows and other decorations of
a lady's dress.) Assuring me that this did not the
least matter in California, he hastened away to escort
a lady, whom he must have kept waiting during the
last hour and a half.
Speaking of American slang terms, one of the party
told me that an English lord, who had lately been
travelling through the States, had been collecting and
compiling a vocabulary of those choice words; it is to
be hoped that it is only for private use, for if it be
published, and circulated among the long-tailed, peg-
topped, small-umbrella men, a most horrid nuisance
will thereby be inflicted on English society.
Flavus Sacramento! of all the rivers distinguished
by that muddy epithet, thou certainly deservest it best.
This river flows actually with liquid mud—a fact not
to be wondered at, if the reader will remember that
thousands of little streams are continually pouring
into it and its tributaries their offerings of dirt, washed
down from the different diggings. The effect of this
19
290 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
must ultimately be to block up the navigation of the
river; and banks of mud have already formed in dif-
ferent parts of the bay.
The whole valley of the Sacramento is generally
flooded during four months of the year. Immense
quantities of wild fowl haunt its banks; and fevers and
agues, to which the settler is liable, are a grievous
drawback, to set against the surprising fertility of the
soil: but a system of drainage will soon remedy this
evil.
The steamboat left Sacramento at two o'clock P.M.,
and arrived in St. Francisco about nine, performing
the journey of more than a hundred miles in seven
hours. There was the same mixed lot of passengers;
card-playing was the pastime of the cabin; those who
had no such amusement wandered restlessly up and
down. A party of three gentlemen, in clerical dress,
after conversing on the loveliness of charity, began
heartily to abuse some gentleman, apparently of the
same cloth, who was walking up and down the cabin.
On asking a stranger who he was, I was told he was
an Irishman, a Catholic priest, who had been the butt
of their slander. O charity! charity! thou lookest
through a glass often very darkly!
On going out on one of the balconies, to smoke a
cigar, I was accosted by a man, with little colourless
ferret eyes, sparse, unshaven beard, and careless dress,
who thus addressed me :-
"I guess you're a Britisher."
"You have guessed right."
"I saw you up in the mines, didn't I?”
66
Very likely I was there."
A SMART EDITOR.
"You wanted some specimens, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Did you find any?"
"Yes."
291
I then followed the custom of the country, and began
to ask him questions.
"And where have you been?"
"To Carston Valley."
"What have you been doing there?"
"Establishing a newspaper."
"But there is nobody to read it!"
"Oh! that don't matter, there will be plenty of
people next year."
"Then you'll have an opposition paper before long."
I shall never forget the glare of fury the man gave
me as he clutched my shoulder, and said:-
"Do you see this revolver?-if any other man tries
to take the bread out of my mouth, after all my
trouble, I'll horsewhip him in the streets, and then
shoot him like a dog."
"I only hope you'll be hanged, if you do."
After a few more words the man began to excuse
himself, as having expressed his feelings in a heated
manner. But the daily prints of California show only
too clearly that such threats as were uttered by this
fellow are often put into execution.
A few days after my return to St. Francisco we
sailed for Honolulu, where we arrived after sixteen
days' passage.
19-2
292 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XVI.
Approach to Honolulu-Description of Town-Schools-Honolulu at
Night-The Hula-hula-The Whaling Seasons-Constitution—
Kanakas-Population-Costume-Vices of Natives-Murders by
Foreigners-A Meli, or Native Chant-Newspapers-A Tragedy
in High Life-Official Visit to the King-His Palace and Guards
-Ministers-Insignia of Hawaian Royalty-Hon. Mr. Wyllie-
Saturday in Honolulu-Sunday-A Remark.
A WELL-KNOWN landmark to the native mariner in his
little schooner or canoe, and to the white stranger
in his stately clipper, is the old crater of Leahi, or
Diamond Head, on the south-east extremity of the
island of Oahu (Owhyhee). On nearing this, a white
line of breakers becomes visible, with here and there a
small space of smooth water between the sunken rocks.
Towards one of these openings we steer; the deep blue
of the tropical ocean is suddenly changed to a dingy
green, from the instantaneous decrease of depth; a
small boat, rowed by natives, darts alongside, from
which an American pilot steps on board. A short run
through the channel, marked on either side by stakes
fixed in the coral reefs, and the ship is in the small,
reef-locked harbour of Honolulu, moored only a few
feet from the shore, where a crowd of many colours is
watching the manœuvres.
Not many years ago Honolulu consisted, as most of
the little villages do now, of a few scattered grass huts.
The residences of the chiefs of Oahu was at Waikiki, a
HONOLULU.
293
A
village a few miles to the eastward, where Vancouver
anchored during his visit to this island. In the pre-
sent day the town of Honolulu is a picturesque and
neat little place, thickly built near the water, but
spreading over the adjoining plain and valley, with gay
and shady cottages. Most of the churches, the king's
palace, and the better class of houses, are built of
coral, quarried out of the reef; others are of wood;
while everywhere in the neighbourhood are seen the
haystack-looking abodes of the native kanakas.
square low building, a few hundred feet from the
town, is called the fort, and serves the purpose of a
common jail. This old fort was formerly mounted
with seventy still older cannon; but during the dis-
agreements of the Government with the French in
1849 they were all spiked, and tumbled about, since
which time only a few have been replaced. On a hill
at the back of the town, known as the "Puahi," or
Punch-bowl, is a battery, which is used for the pur-
poses of salutes, and which had just replied to our
twenty-one guns in honour of Hawaian royalty.
Among the other edifices are the Government-,
Court-, and Custom-houses, all of coral blocks. There
are six churches for whites and natives, Protestant or
Catholic, most of them built by the natives, under
the superintendence of the missionaries. One native
church especially is worthy of notice, as having been
erected entirely by natives, at their own expense, the
cost being upwards of 30,000 dollars. It will accom-
modate nearly 3,000 people. Another building, called
the Seaman's Bethel, has attached to it reading-rooms
for sailors, where they may also obtain, gratis, Bibles and
294 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
There
Testaments in different languages. Many of the Rus-
sian sailors applied for books in this way-not that
they could be of any possible service to them, but for
the pleasure of having them for nothing. There are
also several schools in the neighbourhood of the town,
among which the Royal School, so called from its dis-
tinguished patronage, is for the children of foreigners;
and those of Royal blood, and of the chiefs, male
and female, are educated under the same roof.
are other schools, besides, for natives and strangers.
But the chief educational establishment of the kingdom
of Hawaii is in the island of Manai, called the College
of Lahainaluna, founded by the American Board of
Missions, and formerly under the superintendence of
the Rev. Mr. Dibble, whose history of the Sandwich
Islands is well known. To see the programme of this
establishment, one would suppose it was Cambridge
or Berlin, so many sciences are taught to the in-
mates, who have to labour with their hands half the
day for their support, while devoting the other half to
study. The cost to the pupil is about twenty dollars a
year.
I had heard much of the quiet and order of the
streets of Honolulu by night, and of the strictness of
the police in putting a stop to the least amusement
attended with noise. I was, therefore, not a little
surprised to find one or two streets as gay as during a
fair. The sound of music proceeded from several
illumined houses, mingled with that of romping and
pattering of feet, and the laughter of men and women.
The assemblies were all composed of natives. In the
street, in front of the illuminated houses, was a line of
NATIONAL DANCES OF HONOLULU.
295
girls and women, sitting on the ground with wreaths
of flowers spread before them, and every young Kanaka
furnished his partner with a coronet before entering.
Perfect order prevailed; intoxicating drinks, such as
spirits, are prohibited by their price; a kind of beer,
however, is sold, which answers the same purpose.
The old native dances, the "hulas," have of late been
permitted by the Government to be danced in houses
licensed for the purpose, much to the horror of many
of the foreign residents. These licentious dances, the
national ones of nearly all South Sea Islands, thus
produced, are shorn of much of their immodesty; in
fact, as you see them danced in Honolulu, they are not
more indecent than some of the Spanish dances seen
at the opera now and then.
During our stay, one of these "hulas" was got up
for the amusement of the officers, at the instigation of
Kekuanaoa, the king's father, and Governor of Oahu.
Unfortunately I was not present, being absent on an
excursion round the island. The women on this
occasion were clothed in satin and silk petticoats, of
which they wore two or three; a tunic of velvet or
some other material encircled their waist. There was
not the least indelicacy in their costume, but the
voluptuous postures into which they sometimes threw
themselves, would be thought by many a breach of
decency.
The prosperity of Honolulu depends entirely on that
of the whaling season. The harbour, and that of
Lahaina, on the island of Mani, are the chief rendez-
vous of vessels of that class, which come to provision
and refit, being for the most part under the American
296 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
flag, and from the port of New Bedford. About the
middle of September they come down from the sea of
Okotsk, or from the sperm whaling grounds of the
Tropics, and from that time until the middle of
December, the two harbours above mentioned present
an animated sight. At the time of our visit there were
only two stragglers in port, the rest had gone to the
sperm whaling grounds of the Pacific or home. In a
couple of months would be a kind of second season;
the ships would again come in to take provisions for
the summer campaign in the Arctic Seas. The port of
Hakodadi, in Japan, was expected to be a most con-
venient touching place for whalers, but from what I saw
and heard there, Honolulu surpasses it beyond measure.
In this latter place provisions are cheaper, more abun-
dant, and better; native seamen are easily procured,
while none can be had in Hakodadi, and recruits are
only to be obtained from among the runaway seamen
from other ships, and at exorbitant prices. The
success of whaling expeditions has been gradually
falling off; the season of 1858 was the worst known
for years; many vessels entering this port during the
present year from cruises of three to five years, had
lost from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars by
the cruise.
The position of the Sandwich Islands, half way
on the track between St. Francisco and China, and
directly in the way of ships bound round the Horn, is
bringing them year by year more into importance.
From being only a kind of tavern or refreshment place
for sea-tossed travellers to recruit their strength, the
official reports show that Hawaii is fast becoming an
COURT CALENDAR OF HAWAII.
297
exporting state, and although the imports must for a
long time exceed the exports, the specie brought into
the country either in wages paid to native sailors, or
money spent by different kinds of visitors, goes far
towards making up the deficiency. The production of
sugar, coffee, pula and hides, have increased in a high
ratio during the last few years, and large plantations
are yearly coming under cultivation. The little
Hawaian kingdom seems on the high road to become
a field of success for all, except the poor unfortunate
aborigines.
The court calendar of Hawaii informs us that the
Government is a limited monarchy, with king, privy
council, cabinet, and house of nobles and of repre-
sentatives. There are three plenipotentiaries extra-
ordinary, of England, France, and the United States,
and sundry officers with consular powers. Then there
is a supreme court, a board of health, and societies-
agricultural, medical, ladies' benevolent, mechanic and
missionary, all under distinguished patronage; two
hospitals, a board of education, and lastly, two clubs.
The king, is his Majesty Alexander Liholiho Kame-
hameha the Fourth. He was born in 1834, ascended
the throne in 1854, and married in 1856.
The high officers of state are the descendants of the
old chiefs, governors of islands in the group, and a
few foreigners, all styled their Excellencies, or their
Honours, according to circumstance. The chief men,
however, who form the working part of the Govern-
ment, are Mr. Wyllie, Mr. Gregg, and Lot Kameha-
meha, respectively holding the offices of Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Finance, and the Interior.
298
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
I need hardly say that the Anglo-Saxons hold all the
responsible posts, and are, in effect, the ruling powers.
Their acts during the last eight years have been gene-
rally creditable to their good sense. They have done
much to improve the native race, and have avoided
a recurrence of the many disasters which the bigotry
of their predecessors brought on the country. It is
estimated that there are about 2,500 foreigners dis-
persed throughout the group of islands, the greater
number of whom are Americans, as might be expected.
In Honolulu, American customs prevail. There are
volunteer fire companies, and a volunteer rifle corps of
about thirty men, of which the king is the colonel.
The 4th of July is a great fête, and although the
anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth and the Fête
Napoleon are both set down to be honoured, the first
is the most energetically sustained. The national fête
of the Hawaians is on the 31st July, the date of the
restoration of the kingdom by Admiral Thomas in 1844,
after it had been ceded by the king under pressure
to Lord George Paulet. Poor Lord George's name
seems to have become a byword among the Kanakas,
while the memory of his admiral is still revered.
The house of representatives is composed of both
natives and foreigners; every male above the age of
twenty-one can vote if he has paid all his taxes; and I
see by the reports before me, that several white men
have been worsted at the poll by the Kanakas, who
elected their own countrymen. There are also many
natives scattered over the group as judges, preachers,
schoolmasters, most of them educated at the college
before named.
KANAKAS-PURE AND MIXED BLOOD. 299
Besides the pure Hawaians, there is a large number
of half-castes. Some of the women I saw were pretty
creatures, dressed in European style, with flounces,
crinoline, and small waists. Many were the wives of
native nobles; a few married to Europeans. It will
be for this mixed race to perpetuate Hawaian blood;
for another century will probably find few pure
Kanakas living. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish
the true native from the half-breed, for many of the
former are quite as fair; and I asked the question
several times of a native, if his father was not a white
man, and was told the contrary. Probably they did
not know themselves. On account of the promiscuous
intercourse prevailing in former days, succession to
rank came through the female line, or by adoption.
The present king was adopted by the late Kamehamea
III. I was told by many, and observed myself, that
there were apparently three races of Kanakas; one
much resembling a Mexican, or half Spanish blood;
another of the same type, but much darker in com-
plexion; and a third with much broader features,
somewhat bordering on the negro cast.
All the men,
especially the young ones, are great imitators of the
whites, both in dress and manners. One or two half-
breeds I met were the most insufferable puppies one
could imagine.
The costume of the women is very pleasing, and I
was agreeably surprised to find them so sensibly
dressed. Their only garments are a loose long gown,
and a similar one of calico worn beneath it. The
outer one is cut something like the graceful dress worn
in the reign of Louis XV. This loose flowing robe,
300
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
with the erect, yet indolent step of its wearer, is very
attractive, especially when the long black hair of the
woman has been carefully arranged, and encircled with
a fillet of flowers and green leaves. The hair is,
however, too often neglected, and resembles a brush;
otherwise it is not of a harsh quality, and when well
dressed has the pretty appearance of that of the Japa-
nese women.
While on the subject of the natives, I will note
down their chief vices, such as they present themselves
in a file of newspapers for the last year. First in
order is the old national vice, breaking the seventh
commandment, and what applies to it. Robbery is
very rare; you may travel throughout the islands with
your pockets full in perfect safety; the knowledge of
your possessing money will only insure you a more
hospitable reception, and cause your slightest wish to
be attended to, in the hope of getting a trifle. Ill-
treatment of women by Kanakas seems to be a very
prevailing crime, an old practice not improved by the
example of some of the reprobate foreigners who have
taken to themselves native wives. A new crime had
lately become very frequent, and is certainly one of
the effects of civilization. This is suicide. Three
instances involving the loss of five lives occurred in
one district in the island of Oahu. Love was the
cause of all. In two of these cases the pair died
together, murder being followed by suicide; in the
third the man hanged himself because his mistress
would not listen to him. One or two brutal murders
had been lately committed by Kanakas; but truth
compels me to state, that for every murder committed
A KANAKA LAMENT.
301
by them, two have been committed on them by
foreigners. Two such cases occurred shortly before
our arrival, in one of which a brutal officer of a ship
struck a Kanaka dead; and there was a third in which
two Chinamen were the murderers. In all these cases
the delinquents were either acquitted or allowed to
escape. This caused an outcry from the poor natives,
that their lives could not be protected by those who
had come to rule over them. A day or two afterwards
the following milé or native song was posted up all
over the town, and I give the translation as showing
the feelings of the people on the occasion, as also their
manner of composition.
The old men and the old women travelled upon the high ways and
slept.
This was through the benevolence of Kamehameha the First.
The rights of the chiefs are disregarded.
The natives of the land are trampled on.
The people of Hawaii are slain without cause.
The rights of the people are gone! the laws are powerless.
Rise! O Hawaii of Keawe! and take hold of the law; the offender
is allowed to escape.
Stand up! O Mani of Kama, and punish this great wrong; the eye
of justice is clothed with sleep.
Look! O Molokai of Hina! let us meet together in council; at
Honolulu the murderer is protected.
Purify yourself in the sea, O Ohau of Kuhihewa; the blood of one
of Papa has been taken.
Let thy waters gush forth, O Kanai of Mano; and cleanse this
foulness.
He, also, is to blame, who allowed the witnesses, who would have
told the truth, to go to a foreign land.
To him the blood that has been spilled upon the ground, is calling ;
Upon his head be that blood.
Rise! ye good children of Kamalalawalu.
Many of the white inhabitants, it is true, were as
302 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
much disgusted at the results of these trials as the
natives. They ascribed them to the limited number
of the community, in which impartiality and an
unbiassed judgment are almost impossible, and to the
fear of the native Government of again finding itself
involved with other Governments.
There are two newspapers printed in Honolulu, in
the English language, The Polynesian, the Government
organ, and an opposition paper. These two are of
course always abusing one another. Several publica-
tions in the Kanaka tongue are printed in Honolulu
and circulated among the islands. These, at least,
seem to be still under missionary influence, and in all
that refers to the natives, are filled with matter tend-
ing to improve their condition, both in morality and
in a worldly sense also.
I returned from my little tour round the island of
Oahu, just in time to accompany the Commodore on
his visit to the king. His Majesty Kamehameha had
just returned from Lahaina, where he had been to
visit his secretary, whom he had shot some time
before in a deadly fit of jealousy. The immediate
consequence of the act was, that rumours were afloat
of the king being about to resign the crown and
retire into private life. That he had thought better
of it, may be inferred from the fact that we were just
on the point of paying him a visit, more than four
months after the occurrence. A party of about thirty
officers in full uniform marched off to the office of the
secretary for foreign affairs, the Honourable Robert
Wyllie, who was waiting to receive us in court uniform,
three cornered hat and white feathers. Heralded by
PRESENTATION TO THE KING OF HAWAII. 303
Mr. Wyllie, we proceeded to the palace, and were
received with presented arms and a roll of the drum
by the native guard in their blue uniforms with their
officers in front. Somebody, I suppose the Lord
Chamberlain, met us at the door, and ushered us
into a saloon, while Mr. Wyllie disappeared, no doubt,
to repeat once more his instructions for the reception.
Everything was simple, and in good taste, and the
palace resembled the comfortable dwelling of a private
gentleman carpets were spread over the floors, capa-
cious sofas and arm-chairs were placed in different parts
of the rooms, and these, with a few books, composed
all the furniture. Large portraits covered the walls,
among which I noticed those of Louis Philippe, the
King of Prussia, and Blucher; two others were pointed
out as those of Admiral Thomas, who restored the
islands, and of Kamehameha the Great, who was
portrayed as a large, fat man, of bloated features, the
colour of chocolate.
Mr. Wyllie having introduced the Commodore to
the King, the latter severally introduced his officers,
and all the strictness of a parade presentation could
not have been more exactly adhered to at St. Peters-
burg than was here done in the little Hawaian Court.
The King, who looks about his age (twenty-six), is a
handsome man, with a somewhat sad cast of coun-
tenance, which the late unfortunate circumstance may
perhaps account for. He is of middle stature, of good
figure, and was dressed in the uniform of the volunteer
rifle corps, of which he is the colonel. A sofa,
raised a little above the ground against the wall in the
middle of the room, represented the throne. In front
304 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
of this he stood, having on one side his brother, Prince
Lot, and on the other Kekuanaoa, the Governor of
the island and father of the King. The rest of the
half circle flanking his Majesty was composed of chiefs
in Court dress (blue, with gold epaulettes), several
rifle volunteers in uniform, Ministers, and other func-
tionaries. His Majesty, who speaks English very
purely, after listening to a little speech made by the
Commodore, on the proximity of the Czar's dominions
to his kingdom, and the probability that his ports
would often be visited by the Russian flag, replied in
the usual manner in a few chosen words, evidently his
own, that it would give him great pleasure, &c., and
that he trusted soon to have a representative of the
Czar at his Court. When this was over, all retired
from their positions, and mixed together through the
rooms. I then had an opportunity of having a little
talk with the King, during which he asked me the
particulars of my trip round the island. His whole
appearance and manner make a very pleasing impres-
sion; and I heartily wish him and his family success;
and, though the hope is a despairing one, that they
may not only reign long, but have a native population
to rule over.
The Governor afterwards showed us the celebrated
feather cloak and tippets, the insignia of Hawaian
royalty. This cloak belonged to Kamehameha the
Great, and he is represented wearing it in his portrait.
The feathers composing it are of a bright yellow or
golden colour, and were plucked from under the wing
of a rare bird found in the mountains of Hawaii, and
called by naturalists the Melithreptes Pacifica. These
MR. WYLLIE-HORSE-RACING.
305
feathers were prized by the natives at an exorbitant
sum: the cloak itself is computed to have cost some
hundreds of thousands of dollars in its manufacture.
I afterwards had the pleasure of a chat with the
Hon. Mr. Wyllie. He said the King much regretted
we were leaving so soon, as he wished to come on
board, and also to see us at dinner with him, that he
might make us acquainted with the Queen and other
ladies of the family. Mr. Wyllie is a Scotchman, a
man of liberal ideas, and has done much, by wise pro-
visions and good counsel, to improve the natives, and
steer the little royal bark clear of those shoals upon
which the short-sightedness and bigotry of his pre-
decessors had nearly wrecked it.* He was formerly,
I understood, a secretary in our Royal Navy, and came
to the islands as secretary to General Miller, the
British Consul, in 1844, at the making of the treaty.
Saturday afternoon seemed to be a general holiday
at Honolulu. After the visit to the King was over, I
rode out of the town to witness the favourite sport of
the Kanakas-horse-racing. In their estimation a good
horse and a pretty partner are the two highest prizes in
life, but the horse is the better thing of the two. They
show their affection for both by quite killing the one
with hard riding, and nearly killing the other by blows.
They are the most reckless riders I ever saw, and good
need there is for stringent laws against fast riding
in inhabited districts. The women, who sit astride
like men, with their legs enveloped in flowing material,
generally of some bright colour, are excellent riders,
and in the races I saw were disputing the prizes (if
* French attack in 1849.
20
306 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
there were any, but I think it was only for amusement's
sake) with the lords of their island creation. It is
known that there are more horses than human beings
in these islands, the descendants of stock formerly
introduced from Mexico and South America. In many
parts of the kingdom they may be bought almost for
nothing, for such is the wear and tear of these animals
that they are soon rendered fit for nothing; I heard of
one lot being sold at two dollars a head. A good
horse will always fetch a good price; and rather than
be without one, though only for the pleasure of spoil-
ing it as soon as possible, a Kanaka will sell wife, child,
or all that he has, to get the money to purchase it.
The Sunday morning of the last day of our sojourn
in Honolulu broke in uncommon splendour; and as
the tinkling of the bells of the churches came ringing
over the water, I could hardly realize the possibility
that the regions where I then was were unknown to
the civilized world less than one hundred years ago,
and that now, with an advanced civilization, the same
animosities of religion had here as well as there
distracted society, and rendered men unnatural one to
another.
As we were weighing anchor, the King's father,
Kekuanaoa, came on board, uninvited, to pay a fare-
well visit, and, perhaps, to receive satisfaction to
his vanity in the shape of a salute. I only mention
this incident to show the absurdity of missionaries
picking out these natives to parade to the civilized
world as models of piety and divine grace. A mis-
sionary writer lately described Kekuanaoa as such,
and related some very edifying reply he made to
EXAGGERATION CORRECTED.
*
307
an American officer who called on him on a Sunday
to make arrangements for the salutes. Now so far
from his being the immaculate and saintly personage
there portrayed, he is one of the most jovial of the
natives, got up for our entertainment the Hula Hula,
and paid us a visit on Sunday morning instead of
going to chapel. Is it not sufficiently praiseworthy to
have changed savage men into civilized members of
society, without exalting them into saints, at the risk
of making them appear hypocrites to travellers who
happen afterwards to come into contact with them?
* See Rev. R. CHEEVER'S The Island World. New York.
20-2
4
308
CHAPTER XVII.
A Tour round Oahu-Kekuanaoa and his Daughter-Valley of
Nuuanu-The Pali-Panorama-A Native Hut and its Inmates-
Kanaka Dinner—-Dwellings of Natives-Manner of Eating-Pet
Animals-A Night in a Hut—Gliding Sketch of Country and
Inhabitants-A Chinese Emigrant-Rest in a Kanaka Hut, and
a Scene of Morals-Progress of South Sea Islands in Christianity
and Civilization-Vices-Departure from Kanaka Hut—An
English Judge-Cattle-Exportation of Hides-Animals-Dis-
trict of Waialua-Ride to Ewa-Ewa-A Kanaka Family-
Kalo, and Manner of preparing Poi-Remarks on the Tour-
Leave Honolulu-Karakoa Bay-Lazaref Island.
On the 17th of January, at six o'clock on a most lovely
morning, the Doctor and myself started for a little trip
round the Island of Oahu. While we waited for horses
at the house of a German merchant, a low carriage,
drawn by a poor, bony anime, and driven by a gentle-
man Kanaka, stopped at the door. Accompanying him
was a tawny little girl in a round hat and black silk
cape, who held the reins when the old gentleman
alighted. This person was introduced to me as his
Excellency the Governor of Oahu, and the father of
the King, and the lady as his daughter the Princess.
While we were talking to him in the warehouse, the
chaise outside was besieged by a few good-looking
young Kanakas, who now and then passed a sly word
to the lady, which made her show her white teeth,
and return an answer with glances that must have
THE VALLEY OF NUUANU.
309
ravished the hearts of the ambitious young swains.
When the old man came out, however, they glided
away, and after telling me on no account to miss the
hula hula, he took his place again by the side of his
fair daughter, and drove away.
Almost every traveller who has visited Honolulu has
described the beauties of the Valley of Nuuanu, and
the celebrated pali, or precipice, of the same name.
As you ascend, the points of view are changed at each
moment: cascades like fillets of silver are streaming
down the foliage-clad precipice on either side of you;
light and shadow produce magnificent effects as they
are thrown upon the dark lava rocks, the water-
falls, or the emerald green of the trees growing
luxuriantly in the chasms; while the light clouds
driven over the brow of the mountain before the trade
wind are painted with one continued rainbow. One
end of the beautiful arc may be at your feet, the other
veiling in soft colours the opposite side of the valley.
The rider seems to pass through rainbows one after
the other, and during the whole trip there were not
two hours during the day that the rainbow was not
somewhere visible. Yet no rain fell; the rainy season
was just over, and there could not have been a more
favourable time for seeing the island, which at other
times does not present so happy an appearance.
Certainly the Valley of Nuuanu should be called the
valley of rainbows.
On reaching the top of the pass, the north-eastern
side of the island opens on the traveller's sight. He
stands as it were on the back-bone of the island; from
which, right and left, like the ribs from the spine, the
310 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
smaller spurs of hills extend towards the sea. On the
terrace of smooth lava, where he stands, he may (if his
head be not too dizzy) look down the pali, an almost
perpendicular precipice of more than 1,500 feet. Below,
at its foot, a Kanaka hut is embosomed in bananas, and
surrounded with kalo ponds; and if the eye slowly rise
it will rest on the magnificent panorama of the plains
of Kameoha, covered with herds of cattle, unremarked
in repose, but observed in their motion when pursued
by the well-mounted Kanaka, wielding and whirling the
dread lasso. The view is bounded by the village of
Kualoa on the sea-shore, the white line of breakers on
the coral reef, and beyond, in apparent rest, the dark
and liquid blue of the great ocean. This day there
was a lull in the trade wind, which usually blows with
terrific force through the pass, and the clouds were
lazily curling around the peaks on either side, the
Gog and Magog of the portals of the pali.
The present horse-path over the pali was made since
the country has been under the influence of foreigners.
Formerly there was only a "trail" by which the native
runner could pass. Some years ago the whole army
of an opposing chief was swept down this awful gulf by
the men of Kamehameha the Great, the Egbert of
Hawaii, who centred in his own person the sovereignty
of all his co-princes, and became first king of the
Sandwich Islands.
When once in the valley, it is with astonishment
you look up and survey the perpendicular height from
which you have just descended. At the foot of the
pass the land is broken by small ravines and grassy
knolls, across both of which the shallow trenches may
COUNTRY QUARTERS.
311
be seen which mark the boundaries of grazing grounds.
Once or twice we came across a white man, accompa-
nied by wild-looking natives, hunting down the cattle
with the lasso, and a hearty invitation was always
given to ride home with him and refresh ourselves.
Whatever such men were, whether peaceable settlers
or reckless adventurers, I know not; but every one
I met and some of them were as wild as the savages
themselves-was ready to devote whatever was in his
power, either to satisfy our bodily wants, or afford us
information.
The little native hut, embowered in foliage, which we
had looked down upon from the top of the pali, was the
property of a gentleman in Honolulu, and he had
placed it at our disposal. It was, however, rather
difficult of approach, the horses sinking up to their
knees in the deep black soil. About twenty men and
women, engaged in some agricultural pursuit, imme-
diately on seeing us threw down their implements and
ran up to the hut.
On our arrival there, mats were
already spread before the door, and pillows placed on
them, and, the whole party assisting, our traps were
unpacked, and the horses tethered in the rich grass.
Two of the girls allured one of their favourite cocks,
and wrung his neck; others went to pull the kalo or
gather the bananas; some of the men began to arrange
a stone oven in the ground, while the father of the
brood set about opening a cask which contained thy
grateful beverage, O world-renowned Bass! Uni-
versal as thy bitter beer is, and refreshing in every
clime, it was an unexpected treat to find it thus after
a hot and dusty ride in a Kanaka hut!
312 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Having bathed in a pretty little dell, we found our
dinner awaiting us on our return to the hut. Green
leaves of the banana were our table-cloth; the cock,
kalo, and sweet potatoes baked in the stone oven formed
the repast. Knives and forks there were none, but we
had been too long in the land of chop-sticks to make
that a difficulty. Five or six of the girls sat down
behind and beside us, with palm-leaves in their hands,
to fan us, and brush away the flies. The men all
seemed to have disappeared, except the old man who
was our Ganymede. He made an intelligible sign to
us, and a nod towards the girls, which, as I had been
informed of the customs of the people, we did not
choose to understand. After four hours' rest we
mounted our horses, and rode across the plain to
the district of Kualoa, a missionary station, the little
bell of whose chapel was tinkling as we slowly
rode by. Some distance farther on, amid a group
of native habitations, was another little chapel sur-
mounted by a cross; it was that of the French
Catholic mission. Here also there seemed to be a
religious service, as I saw several of the natives enter-
ing the doors.
As the sun sank behind the range of mountains,
and the short twilight was fading into darkness, we
were in a district where not a house was to be seen,
and began to inquire where we should spend the night.
A couple of natives, riding up, offered to conduct us
to the house of a Haouli (stranger), who lived some-
where up the mountains. But our plan was to see
native living and habits, and when the Kanaka, who
spoke a few words of English, offered us his own hut,
A KANAKA DWELLING.
313
we immediately accepted the proposal. Half an hour's
ride in the darkness through streams, old kalo
patches, and muddy holes, brought us upon a little
grassy and wooded knoll where stood the native's
hut.
I have before said that these huts resemble old hay-
stacks. In the interior is a grass partition, dividing
them into two unequal parts: the larger is devoted
to domestic purposes; in the smaller is a platform
covered with mats, the sleeping place of the family.
In one or two I afterwards entered I saw little holes,
where the younger girls slept apart from the males of
the family. This is one of the practical effects of
missionary teaching, though I am afraid it is not
always a virtue-preserving remedy; but that is the
fault of the pupil, not the teacher. The family of
which we were now the guests consisted of two men,
two women, four children, two pet dogs, and a sucking
pig, also a pet. After they had prepared us some
kalo, with which a traveller can always drive away
hunger, the whole party squatted down round the poi
calabash, and began their own meal. To judge of the
manner a native eats his poi, one must see him at
work. He dips his two forefingers in the mess, and
with an experienced turn of the wrist winds the stuff
round his fingers, conveys them to his mouth, and
after a hearty suck, withdraws them with a smack of
the lips. On the present occasion the elder woman,
after taking a mouthful herself, dipped again and gave
the dogs each a fingerful; the younger one did the
same to her sucking pig. Grandfather had the
younger baby in his arms, and fed the little urchin
314 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
from his own mouth, an occupation which seemed his
duty, for the women did not trouble themselves with
aught but the dogs and the pigs. This interesting
meal being finished, the young lady took down her
double calabash,* and, accompanying herself on it
with the palms of her hands and her elbows, favoured
us by singing a song. The raised platform was given
up for our convenience, and after an encounter with
several cockroaches of monstrous size, I fell into a
doze amid the buzzing of mosquitoes. How long I
lay thus I don't know, but I was aroused by somebody
creeping near me. It was my host, and all I under-
stood of his broken English was, "ten dollars," and
reference made to the girl who had been singing
the Ola Ola. Cursing him for his trouble, I went
to sleep again, and the next morning, looking, as
Narcissus did, in a running stream, I certainly
stood no chance of being mutatus in florem for my
vanity, as I did anything but admire myself after
the night attack which had been made upon me.
At sunrise we started off again, our horses refreshed
from the rich pasture in which they had passed the
night.
As the ground we now passed over has been several
times described by tourists, I will rather sketch than
describe. The features of the coast along which we
rode were lava-jutting promontory and shallow reef-
locked bay. Some hoary old rock, like an out-
picket, was receiving the boiling surf thrown over it
by the now fresh trade wind. Walls of coral, built
* A large gourd, trained to grow double, and from which the pulp
has been extracted.
WAYSIDE ENCOUNTERS.
315
across the shallow bays in former times by despotic
old chiefs, or rather by their retainers, enclosed vast
fish-ponds. Kalo patches in full produce; others all
dilapidated, bespeaking their necessity in former times;
small fish-ponds; herds of fine cattle ranging the
hills; the heavily-spurred Kanaka, lasso in hand, riding
over impossible spots in their pursuit; a few grass
huts in a grove of cocos; or a solitary tree, bowed by
the trade wind, lonely amid the lava rocks, looking as
though some wave had thrown the nut on the beach,
and left it to nature and man's neglect to germ and
thrive ;-such were a few of the panoramic pictures of
our ride. A lonely but loving pair, in some retired
spot, clasped arm in arm and lip to lip, started out
of their dream at the sight of the passing Haouli.
A lot of school-girls, women in growth, whose laughter
was heard long before they were seen, were recklessly
riding home from some missionary school. As they
passed us, they gave us a look of curiosity;-Aloha!
(greeting to you), and on they went again at full speed.
Once or twice on the journey an individual,
"Whose naked feet and neck, and sunburnt face,
Perchance inigau suit alike with either race,"
gave us a familiar good morning in English, that pro-
claimed him a countryman or a cousin. Here was a
party of men, women, and children, wading out on the
reefs, picking up clams and shell-fish; and there, in
some shallow brook, a group of native girls bathing,
and, dusky Naiads as they were, laughingly trying to
disappear under the water, which only half concealed
them, as our horses forded the stream. Again, we
316 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
would meet a party of three or four Kanakas, all
mounted, driving a fat hog to market, or a solitary
horseman, with a squealing pig before him on the
saddle, galloping to the same destination. From all
came a friendly "Aloha!" from a few, expressive signs
to stop and become acquainted.
66
We had passed a hamlet of straggling huts, called
Laie, and about midday came to the picturesque valley
of Kahana, where a hospitable Chinese settler invited
us to stop and refresh ourselves. His name was
Ahsing," and he had been for many years in the
island. His land consisted of about four thousand
acres of pasture up the valley, upon which fine herds
and flocks were feeding. The establishment was com-
posed of one of his countrymen, several natives, and
a very pretty little boy, whom he had adopted, after
the manner of his nation. He was the son of Kanaka
parents, so he told me; but there was a certain
obliquity of the eye which could not deceive one who
had made it a study to remark the modification of the
human type by intermarriage of different races during
a long voyage in different lands. Our host had been
suffering for some weeks from a gastric fever; his
residence was too remote to obtain proper medical
advice, so he was doctoring himself according to his
own ideas and those of his friends, of course with
little advantage. His medicine consisted of a number
of patent omni-curing drugs, sent out from America.
These he had tried, one after the other, with no
success; but the preparations must have been very
harmless, or they would long ago have killed him.
My companion examined his symptoms, and prescribed
A NATIVE DEACON'S FAMILY.
317
a course of treatment for him, after he had promised
not to make any more use of the patent trash. It
was evidently a case of abuse of opium.
That same afternoon, in one of the fairest spots of
the island, we stopped for a short time to rest at one
of the better sort of Kanaka dwellings, inasmuch as it
had a wooden porch and platform before the entrance.
Under this porch the family was assembled, consisting
of age, youth, and childhood. They placed mats for
us, and brought water. The father was engaged in
some occupation, the mother and two daughters were
sewing. I saw I was with a family of civilized natives;
the father, I soon heard, was a deacon, or something
in the church. We, of course, became the object of
their conversation, and many inquiring glances were
thrown upon us in between. The word Mitonari
(missionary) was repeated often, as also the word
Manuwa, which means man-of-war.
from Honolulu a little phrase book compiled by one
of the missionaries, and as the language, like the
Malay, is very simple, I was able to ask for what I
wanted, besides having learnt a few common words
by repeatedly looking through the book. My impres-
sion was that they took us either for missionaries, or
in some way connected with them, for on a word from
the father, one of the girls fetched a book, and the
other a slate and pencil; but these two girls merit a
short description.
I had brought
Both were very pretty; the elder, whose age was
seventeen, was already a woman; but the younger,
about fourteen, was the most perfect specimen of a
young civilized savage I had ever seen. Her com-
318 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
plexion, like her sister's, was of a light brown, and the
skin so fine that-
"Through her tropic cheek
The blush would make its way, and all but speak.
The sun-born blood suffused her neck, and threw
O'er her clear nut-brown skin a lucid hue,
Like coral reddening through the darkening wave."
The words of the poet are no exaggeration. The
blood mounted up in that girl's face from some emotion
of which I am ignorant, in a manner that astonished
me. As she stood leaning sideways against the wall
half crouching, one shoulder raised on which rested
her cheek, one finger in her mouth between her
glittering teeth, her dark liquid eyes in their large
orbits raised on the Haouli (such eyes I had never
before seen but once, and that at Singapore in a
Hindoo woman), I regretted that I had not the power
to throw her as she was on canvas-it was a model to
charm Carl Haag.
Whether it was the charm of her soft large black
eyes, or her timid and childish manner, I do not know,
but the girl interested me so much that I was curious
to know something more about her. I beckoned her
to come and sit down by me, which she did after some
hesitation, and for half-an-hour I occupied myself in
setting her little sums on her slate, and in hearing her
read. She added up numbers very well, subtracted
also, broke down in multiplying a few figures by nine,
but succeeded very well with more easy numbers. She
read pretty well, and worked neatly with her needle.
Both sisters attended the missionary school.
I do not know if our beginning to smoke caused any
KANAKA MORALS.
319
change of opinion among the party, but it certainly
changed their manner. A lively conversation ensued,
in which the word Manuwa (man-of-war) was repeated,
with the same sly glances at ourselves. One of the
old women at last came up, and pointing to me, said,
"Manuwa." I nodded yes.
I nodded yes. Immediately a weight
seemed to be taken off their minds. The man pulled
out his little wooden pipe; an old woman presented
me hers to take a whiff, which I pretended to do; the
girls, I was glad to see, would not smoke. After a
little while the mother of the girls made an unmis-
takable sign, first at her daughters, and then at the
interior of the hut. The elder girl, who, I am afraid,
was no novice, sat down by my companion, and having
heard the jingle of silver coin in his pocket, tried hard
to insert her hand therein. The mother made signs to
the younger one to do the same with me, but somehow
there was such a look of goodness and confidence in
her eye, as it was fixed on me, that I would not have
done the least thing to tempt that poor savage, in
whom I could almost read the struggle between her
half-retrieved nature and the good effects of the teach-
ing which she had received. Her sister, however,
seemed to have no such compunction; with her the
Rubicon between duty and desire had often been
crossed and recrossed, and she seemed perfectly ready
to enter into all the plans of her parents; and dollars,
dollars seemed to be the only object of those parents.
I do not hesitate for one moment in saying, from what
I saw and heard, that not amid the abandoned of large
continental cities are procurers to vice so numerous as
among this much-boasted Christian native population
320 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
of the Sandwich Islands, where mother and father,
husband or brother, with few exceptions, are ready to
act that part for the sake of a little silver. If Chris-
tianity has ever impressed on their hearts what virtue
is, the mark has been very light, and soon obliterated;
and what hope can there be for youth, when the good
they may have learned in the mission schools is coun-
teracted by the vice and bad example which surround
them in their parental circle?
That licentiousness is the deadliest failing of the
Hawaian has been told by all writers, lay or missionary,
who have had any knowledge of native character, and
their manner of living. Even the pet disciples of the
latter, whose letters and pious conversations fill mission-
ary books, and form important items in missionary
sermons, are often the first to fall away. Yet they
must not be accused of hypocrisy; they are only
savages, children of the world still. They look upon
their white teachers with respect, and fear them as
children of all other countries do theirs. Learning to
read and write, they know, and can repeat, a vast
number of moral verses; great imitators, and cunning
withal, they repeat back to their masters their own
phrases, which they have learnt from them, because
they see it gives them pleasure, just as children who
have learned their lesson well, take delight in repeating
it. The moment the constraint of their training is
lessened, and they are out of sight of their teachers,
they fall back into the old habits of their nature. Like
children again, they commit faults, lie to hide them
for fear of the consequence, but when their deeds are
actually brought home to them, they will confess them
THE OLD ADAM.
321
all, and many more, with apparent relish-weep-go
home, and in the instability and insincerity of their
nature, forget all about the sin and the repentance, and
commit the same over again, whenever the opportunity
or the desire presents itself. It is more than can be
expected of human nature that half-civilized people,
like these, should be able to control their wishes and
passions, and withstand temptation, when men in more
civilized lands so often yield to it, though they be aided
by the moral law and their superior endowments.
It is not hypocrisy, therefore, when in these islands
you find a man parading his religion one day to his
teachers and his fellows, and selling his wife or
daughter the next for a dollar, or bestowing them as a
duty of friendship and hospitality. Hypocrisy is a vice
of civilized communities alone, and must not be con-
founded with the cunning natural to all savages. And
a savage, with all his native cunning, would need a
long training to practise that vice to advantage, or to
avoid being discovered by those whose eye is upon him.
To return from this digression. The mother of the
girls used every persuasion to induce us to remain that
night, intimating by unmistakable pantomime that
the hut, her pigs, fowls, daughters, or anything she
had, were at our disposal. Making her a present for
the fruit we had taken from her, and another to her
good little daughter to buy her some books or a dress,
with an injunction to do what she was taught at
school, we rode off, leaving the worthy elders un-
decided whether we were really Manuwa or Mitonari.
The next district was that of Kaluuka. Here our
attention was arrested by a large hole in the bare black
21
322
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
lava, beneath which lay our road. A dirty piece of
cloth was waving to and fro before the entrance, which
was too high for me to climb with facility. Had I
then known what the cavern contained, I would have
contrived to find admittance. It was one of the old
burying places of the Hawaians. Some of these caves
were formerly shown by the natives to foreigners, but
such was the disregard of the latter to the feelings of the
people, that the desecration of the dead was nought to
the satisfaction of their curiosity. The situation of
many of these caves is, therefore, still a profound secret.
The same night we arrived at the extreme north end
of the island, where in an enclosure were several grass
huts, the residence of an Englishman, judge of the
district. Hospitality was with him a duty, if nothing
else, and one of the little huts furnished as a bedroom
was given to us. The fierce trade wind and the seeth-
ing surf on the reefs soon calmed us to sleep with
their music, a sleep uninterrupted by vermin. Our
host had been a resident for many years among the
islands; his lonely life was rendered supportable
by a well-selected library, and a collection of a few
curiosities of the country, among which were many
specimens of lava from the volcano, and tresses of
Pele's hair. This is vitreous laya torn from the mass
when ejected from the crater, and which, spun by the
wind which bears it along, falls at all distances around
like threads of the finest glass.
The next morning, as a native was about to saddle
our horses, they broke from their lassos and began a
regular stampede. Scouring over the plain towards
the mountains, I saw them fall into company with a
WILD CATTLE.
323
troop of half-wild animals, setting the whole in motion,
and their forms soon grew small and beautifully less as
they continued their mad career along the mountain
sides. The horrified native set off in pursuit, and we,
after staring for some minutes after the beasts already
long out of sight, turned and looked at one another-
one laughed and the other swore. No horses were to
be had in the immediate neighbourhood without catch-
ing them, and of that there seemed still less chance
than of getting our own back again. The native, how-
ever, after an hour's absence, caught one with a lasso,
and the other, in a spirit of true friendship, preferred
following his old companion back again into slavery to
remaining with his newly made and free acquaintances.
Vast herds of cattle belonging to the King roam,
half wild, throughout all this the most retired part of
the island. They form, indeed, the chief riches, as
there is no agricultural industry at all in Oahu. The
sugar, coffee, and other plantations are in the other
islands; but it is over the vast and waterless plains
of Hawaii between the great mountains, and among
their valleys, that the wild cattle roam. They are the
descendants of five cows and a bull put ashore by
Vancouver in Kealakekua Bay, and presented to
Kamehameha the Great. That chief tabooed them;
and when the taboo, which was faithfully observed,
expired, the above districts were overrun by them.
Vaqueros were brought over from Sonora to teach the
Kanakas the use of the lasso, to jerk beef, and cure
hides. At this day the pupil rivals his former master
in wildness, recklessness, and originality. The Govern-
ment and the King are the owners of all unmarked
21-2
324 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
cattle, and these, of course, are under that denomina-
tion. The right to hunt is leased out to farmers, who
engage the hunters at the rate of one dollar twenty-
five cents for each bull's hide, and one dollar for a
cow's. To show the enormous number which is killed
every year, it will be sufficient to mention that 222,170
pounds of hides were exported during the first two
quarters of 1859, their export value being 55,542
dollars. The same plan is pursued in hunting them
as in the plains of South America, driving them into
an inclosure, and lassoing and killing them at leisure.
The hides only are taken here, the rest being left for
hogs and dogs. There is the same want of forethought
for the future as in all kinds of hunting or fishing
where the gains are great. Young and old are
slaughtered indiscriminately, and in a few years they
will have totally disappeared.
When these islands were discovered by Cook in
1778, and for long after, the only animals were dogs,
pigs, fowls, mice, the snipe, duck, plover, and a few
peculiar varieties of birds. Now, in addition to
domestic cattle and fowls of all sorts, most of the
domestic quadrupeds are found wild in the larger
islands. Hogs are so plentiful as to afford good sport
to the amateur. Dogs roam in packs and hunt on
their own account. Wild goats browse on the lava
rocks, and cats find an excellent living on the mice with
which the country swarms. Of birds, the only two
varieties which have turned wild are the pigeon and
the turkey. Several species of common birds have
lately been introduced from America, which my host
of last night informed me were thriving.
CONTESTED ELECTION.-PETITION FOR BRIBERY. 325
A sharp ride over a flat country protected by sand-
hills from the sea, whose spray might be seen like a
blue cloud above them, brought us to Waialua, one of
the most picturesque as well as the most flourishing
districts of the island. Many foreigners had settled
here, exercising different useful employments; there
were both American and French missionaries, well-
built chapels for each, and altogether a remarkable air
of civilization about the place. There was even a
little shop, kept by the son of the missionary, who, I
heard, had been defeated a few days before by a native
at an election for the House of Representatives. I was
also informed that the return would be contested, as
the native had been guilty of bribery. Bribery at
elections in the Sandwich Islands! What storms
can there not be raised even in a pail of water!
The intelligent Kanaka, graduate in arts of the
Royal College of Laihananula and descendant of some
great chief, so he stated, gave me these particulars as
he was cooking some delicious mullet, just taken from
a neighbouring fish-pond. Thinking to relish this
repast with some other beverage than water, we
walked up to the little shop, to endeavour to get a
bottle of ale; but the native who served informed me
that I could not have either beer or other liquors
without the consent of the missionary, which I did
not take the trouble to go and ask for. He further
said that tobacco was not allowed to be sold at all.
This seemed very strange to me, as the man showed
me a drawer full of pipes, of which I did not perceive
the use without tobacco, unless the natives amused
themselves blowing soap-bubbles. It is perfectly just
326 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
to taboo all intoxicating liquors; but the native will
smoke, and I think it folly to continue to forbid the
use of what the native will indulge in, even if he lie
to hide it, and which, if moderately used, is not
baneful either physically or morally.
From Waialua to Ewa, across the island, is a road
capable of being traversed by bullock carts, if very
strong, and by this the producers at the former place
send their fruits to the market at Honolulu. On
horseback, it is a fine ride over a high table-land cut
up by a ravine, which has to be crossed several times,
and down in whose depths some of the most fairy
glimpses of scenery attract the eye. On either side
are high mountains; behind is the windward side of
the island, with its white line of breakers, and the
beautiful valley of Waialua with its winding streams,
looking like threads of silver amid the rich vegetation
around. Over this table-land, pent between moun-
tains, the trade wind blows with great force, and the
vapour attracted on each side by the mountains is
painted with rainbows. Hardly a tree is to be seen
except in the ravine, not one house the whole dis-
tance of twenty-three miles, and seldom a human
being, except a bullock driver, or a wild Kanaka hunt-
ing the cattle which roam over the plains. Most of
* The missionaries were of opinion that smoking tobacco leads to
acts of lasciviousness, and so tabooed its use. It is a pity some of
them could not read the controversy which took place a few years ago
in England among medical men, many of whom declared that its
effects were just the contrary. In the same manner ignorance
ascribes acts of desperation to the use of opium, when it is well known
that it soothes or stupefies the whole nervous system, according to
the quantity taken.
OWNERSHIP OF THE SOIL.
327
this land belonged, I was told, to the Princess Victoria,
a young lady twenty-two years of age, unmarried, and
a great heiress.
One of the greatest difficulties the young Govern-
ment of these islands had to overcome was in settling
the ownership of the soil. Before European ingress,
serfdom, similar to that in feudal Europe, existed.
Kamehameha, in possessing himself of the chief
power, concentrated, as it were, this system in him-
self, and the lower orders during his life were com-
paratively happy. But during the disturbed times of
his successors, the King and his favourite chiefs mono-
polized all the finest lands to themselves, racked their
serfs to the utmost extent for present gain, robbed
them even of their trees, their kalo patches, and the
fruits of their enclosures, until the unfortunate
tenants, finding all their supposed right to the soil
unheeded by their rulers, and incapable of resistance,
wandered away to wherever a greater chance offered
of begging, stealing, or working. The women at
the seaports reaped a harvest by prostitution, and
the men most probably lived on their gains. The
lands became deserted, kalo patches fell to ruin, and
the huts of the valleys were left tenantless. Much of
this land, the finest in the group, passed into the
hands of speculating foreigners, the chiefs being glad
to accept whatever was offered for it. In 1849, how-
ever, a land commission was established, before which
the native, on proving his right to the land which
he and his ancestors had cultivated, again received
possession of it in fee simple. The chiefs stoutly
opposed this; still greater was the difficulty in deciding
328 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
the ownership of the land, when often a dozen
claimants presented themselves for the same patch.
But it was brought about at last; and at the present
time, though chiefs and foreigners are the owners of
vast wastes of land, yet the man of the lower order
has his little home in the valley, his bed of kalo,
perhaps a fish-pond, and the means of making his
life an easy and happy one with but little exertion.
Most of the articles to sustain life are at his door; a
few dollars are all it is absolutely necessary for him to
earn, to pay his taxes and his teachers, and to provide
himself and family with their scanty clothing. With
a few this change has been the means of creating
something like enterprise in cultivating their land and
selling their surplus produce; but for the most part
the old habits of their indolent nature are too strong
to be thrown off, and they are content to get on with
the bare necessities of their easily procured existence
in the same slovenly way as ever.
At Ewa, where we arrived late one evening, we
entered the first Kanaka hut we found. The master
and his wife busied themselves in cooking a fowl,
some kalo, and sweet potatoes, and, having arranged
a mat for us on one side of their abode, themselves
lay down on the opposite side. The interior was very
clean, and divers household utensils of foreign make
were scattered about. The district of Ewa has not
much of the picturesque; but it has an air of industry
about it most creditable to the natives and to those
who have set the example. Ewa is only twelve miles
distant from Honolulu. Between the two places there
is nothing remarkable, except a salt lake, having an
A KANAKA FAMILY.
329
underground communication with the sea and the
lagoons, formerly the resort of pearl fishers. The
distance being so short to the end of our trip, we
determined to remain at some pretty spot on the
road, and enter Honolulu in the evening. A snug
little place, hidden in a grove of bananas, soon after
presenting itself, we rode up, and found a family
of Kanakas idling away time under the shade of the
kokai and young bread-fruit trees in front of their
hut. The horses were soon picketed in the grass
among the taro beds, and all the active members of
the family busied themselves in preparing a breakfast.
We took their places under the trees, on mats, and
in a state of dolce far niente passed nearly the whole
day watching the doings, or more often the lazy inac-
tivity, of a Kanaka family.
In that family there were five generations. A very,
very old woman, shrivelled in body, with a few scant
hairs white as snow, was wrapped up in tapa, and lay
just outside the door of the hut; she seemed quite
heedless of what was passing around her. Her daughter,
who looked almost as old as herself, except that she
had abundance of ragged hair of a dark grey, sat by
her side, and from time to time took the short wooden
pipe out of her own mouth to put it in that of her
mother, whose strength seemed hardly sufficient to
inhale the smoke. Her son, the head of the family,
a sturdy fellow about forty years of age, was busy
heating stones in the little cooking hovel adjoining
their abode. His wife was sprawling on the ground,
and their daughter, a girl of sixteen, was in the same
position, with her head pillowed on her mother's
330
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
body. One son, a soldier of the king's guard, had
come from town to see his family, and had brought
his two children to see their parent of four genera-
tions. Another son, dressed like a gentleman in
black, was loafing about, till a girl, one of the lookers
on, attracted his attention, and led him off to some
neighbouring hut.
After they had baked us our fish and fowl, ticalo
and sweet potatoes, the father began to roast the kalo
and make poi. This forms the national food of the
Hawaian islander, as the potato is that of the Irish
peasant, and rice of the Malay, Chinese, or Japanese.
No other article of food is to be compared to it in
their opinion, and it may be said that, with raw fish,
it is their only subsistence. Even the half-caste ladies
of the capital, who wear small bonnets, large crino-
lines, and opera cloaks, on visiting the home of their
childhood, do not disdain to dip two delicate fingers
into the parental gourd, as they did when quite young
children, before their fairer complexions and pretty looks
obtained them husbands among the dignitaries of the
island, or placed them at the foot of a European
board.
The kalo, or taro (Arum esculentum of botanists), is
planted in large patches, the bottom of which is well
beaten, to make them capable of holding water. In
these patches, small round beds of soil are pegged in
with stakes, a short distance apart, to allow the absorp-
tion of the surrounding water. The suckers are planted
in these beds, and the vegetable, when at its full growth,
is the size of a large turnip. Half a rood is sufficient
to nourish the most numerous family the whole year.
KALO PLANT.-MANUFACTURE OF POI. 331
The root, when taken from the stone oven, is of a
bluish-gray colour, of starchy taste, and often supplies
the place of the potato at the table of foreigners.
The process of converting it into poi, as I saw on the
present occasion, was this:-The women well washed
the baked roots in cold water, cleaned off the skin, and
threw them into the large wooden tray before which
the father was sitting. He pounded them with a stone
pestle, resembling an ordinary dumb-bell, until the
mass was kneaded into the substance of dough. This
is hard labour, so much so, that it has always formed
part of the man's duty to make the poi. When the
pulp was beaten sufficiently smooth, it was put in
lumps into little casks made out of the leaves of the
young banana plant, and carefully tied up. He then
took a calabash, and, mixing a portion of the paste
with water until it became like thick gruel, set it apart
for present use. This was the poi, which is either
eaten fresh, or after fermentation has commenced, in
which state it is preferred. Shortly after, seeing the
family disappear one by one, I found them on the
other side of the hut, feasting on sour poi and raw
fish, a species of mullet, kept always ready for use in
the fish-ponds.
Throughout this little trip, instead of accepting the
hospitality of foreigners, we had preferred taking up
our quarters among the natives, as the only means of
obtaining an insight into their habits. Three nights,
however, amid the vermin which abounds in their huts,
were quite sufficient. Although personally clean, their
domestic habits are disgustingly the reverse. Their
huts, strewn with grass, which is seldom renewed,
332
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
are as much the abode of dogs, pigs, fowls, as of
themselves; the floor becomes the lurking-place of
thousands of fleas, and the roof and sides the coverts
of enormous cock-roaches. Although we were re-
ceived with the greatest pleasure by the inhabitants,
it was with the tacit understanding on their parts that
they would be well rewarded for their pains. In no
other country was hospitality so profuse as it was here
in former times. Every means were adopted to enter-
tain a guest; and it was considered the greatest mean-
ness to refuse to grant any favour, whatever it might
be. But with the whites came the necessity, and with
the necessity the love, of money; and no people can
covet it more and yet set less value on it than do the
half-civilized South Sea Islanders.
In remunerating the natives at whose huts we either
spent the night or took anything, we always gave them
a certain sum, which was received without the least
mark of joy. Thinking they considered it insufficient,
we doubled the sum, but there was the same unconcern.
In fact, they have no word to express either thanks or
gratitude. "Aloha" means with them everything.
Not only the above words, but many others, expressing
good qualities, were wanting in their language, and the
translators of the Scriptures had actually to create
those ideas in the mind of the savage before they
found words to call them by a name. Only on one
occasion did a fellow ask me for money, some time
before I started. On most occasions, just before
mounting, I would put one, two, or more dollars into
the hands of my host; he would take them with un-
concern, sometimes I thought with disappointment;
66
DEPARTURE FROM HONOLULU.
333
but on our moving off, his face would put on a still
livelier look than the broad grin of good-humour
peculiar to his features, and often he would rush after
us to shake hands before parting. On one occasion
we purposely rode off without making any present
in return; there was the same indifference, the same
Aloha," and shaking of hands, and, on our return a
quarter of an hour afterwards and giving him some
money, it was all the same apparently to him as
regarded the money whether we had returned or not.
Before we gave him anything he offered to assist
me to dismount, thinking and hoping, he said, we
were going to stay another day there. This man
was altogether an exception to the generality of his
countrymen.
After leaving Honolulu, we were becalmed for three
days under the Island of Hawaii, in front of Karakoa
Bay, the scene of Captain Cook's death. Before us
towered the enormous dome of Mauna Loa, the most
extensive volcano in the world, and which had been
now for some months in an active state. Although it
is tedious to remain becalmed in any part of the
ocean, yet, in such a spot as this, amusement could
always be found in watching the ever-changing aspect
of this grand island, as the sun passed over it, or
as masses of clouds built themselves up around its
summits. The naval part of the squadron, however,
amused themselves otherwise, viz., in exercising with
boats, attacking the gun-boat, and in keeping up a
continual cannonade.
When, on the third day, the trade wind suddenly
334 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
blew home to us on rounding the south-west of the
island, we set studding-sails and proceeded towards
Tahiti. The wind came the whole time from due east,
and blew without intermission, so that we easily fetched
the most leeward island of the Pomoutou, or dangerous
archipelago. This island is called after its discoverer,
the Russian Admiral Lazaref. As the Russian Com-
modore had served long under him, a salute of thirteen
guns was fired from both ships, and a number of
rockets let off, as we passed abreast of the island at
midnight, as a mark of respect to the deceased Ad-
miral. A number of fires were seen on the island,
probably those of the natives, who visit the group for
collecting cocoa-nut oil and fishing the pearl oyster.
335
CHAPTER XVIII.
Arrival at Island of Tahiti-French Protectorate-A good Thing
for the Islands-Sketch of Tahiti-Divisions-Districts
Native Government-Laws-Commerce-Produce of Island-
Revenue-Papeete -Queen Pomare-French Newspaper- Its
Character.
ON Saturday the 11th February, the dark summits of
Tahiti were seen above the clouds which whitened the
horizon. Having shortened sail for the night, we
were the next morning well in with the island, and had
a fine view of it, and of the neighbouring island of
Eimeo, or Morea, the mother and daughter, as the
natives call them.
As we steamed up to the reefs, a pilot boat came out,
and we were soon at anchor within them before the
village of Papeete, the capital of the island.
The island of Tahiti is divided by nature into two
parts, the main island, and a pear-shaped peninsula con-
nected to the former by an isthmus about two miles wide.
The inhabited parts are on the sea-shore, or extend a
short distance into the valleys, which all radiate from the
centre of the island. The leeward side of the island
is the most populated and fertile, as rain falls there
oftener than on the other; it is also more barred by
coral reefs, through which openings are found in front
of each valley, which contains a stream. The eastern
or windward side is more rugged, with precipitous
.336
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
rocks washed at their base by the unbroken flow of
the ocean. Only here and there are reefs; but I
remarked on the north-east side a long white strip of
colour in the blue water, evidently caused by the coral
working slowly upwards. The interior of the island is
composed of rocky eminences and deep and wild gorges,
in one of which is the remarkable lake of Vaihiria.
Vegetation extends to the very heads of the valleys,
wild fruits grow in abundance, which are seldom
gathered by the indolent population unless they are
pressed by want.
Each of the fourteen districts into which the island
is divided has its chief male or female, a judge, minis-
ter, schoolmaster, and chief mutoi, or policemen, with
subordinates.* Only in one district is there a European
Protestant minister; there are two French Catholic
priests, in addition to Monseigneur Jaussen, bishop
and apostolic vicar. In Eimeo there is only one
minister, Mr. Simpson, the superior of the Protestant
churches of all the islands. This gentleman, and
Mr. Darling in Tahiti, are the only two remaining of
all the English missionaries who did so much to
christianize these isles.
The Government of the island is called a native
Government, but, of course, it is under the absolute
control of the French commandant and imperial com-
missioner. Each department of the executive is pre-
sided over by French officers. The legislative assembly
is composed of natives chosen by each district, and
* The judges received 300 francs a year; the ministers and school-
masters, 240 francs.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
337
comprises fifty-nine members, besides the Court of
Toohitus, or high chiefs, with a commissioner, orator,
and another, all Frenchmen, who propose the laws,
but have only a simple vote like the rest. All acts are
issued in the name of the Queen Pomare, acting in
common accord with the Imperial commissioner. All
crime and disputes among the natives are judged by
the native district judge, from whom there is right of
appeal to the high court of Toohitus, in Papeete.
This court also settles all cases concerning divorce and
the ownership of land, the latter an affair of no little
difficulty, so uncertain and contradictory are the ideas.
of most of the natives as to the boundaries or extent of
the land possessed by their ancestors.
All cases wherein a foreigner is concerned, and all
crimes committed by them, are tried by foreigners
according to French law; and all disputes between a
foreigner and a native are tried by a mixed court of
natives and foreigners. Here especially may be seen
the advantage of a strong Government protecting the
native population. In my sketch of the Sandwich
Islands, I mentioned one or two instances of murder
committed on natives by foreigners, wherein the guilty
were acquitted, or allowed to escape, either through
the unjust pity of the foreigners who tried them, or the
timid desire of the authorities not to encounter the
interference of the Government to which the prisoner
belonged. In looking through the registers of the
island of Tahiti for the last two years, I found that all
foreigners guilty of any offence against natives had
been inflexibly punished.
The code of laws, printed in French and Tahitian,
22
338 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
are just, mild, simple, and apparently suited to the
nature of the people. They are founded on the regu-
lations in use before the French occupation, of which,
however, many were expunged or modified, and very
properly so, because they were directed, not against
social offences, but against purely personal failures in
morality. To enforce the observance of moral duties,
the code gives certain directions for the guidance
of the judge, and the mutois, or police, but the penalties
are chiefly in the shape of public reprimand, and
the disgrace attending it. Habits of industry, domestic
virtue, education and so forth, are strictly inculcated,
and the neglect of them is punished. For example,
the old custom of begging, plucking the bread-fruit, or
fei, on the ground of another, and not cultivating one's
own ground, are punished by a small fine, which goes to
the district the party belongs to. Rewards are given
to those whose grounds are in the best order. The
neglect of any domestic virtue is also to be publicly
reprimanded by the judge; refractory children are to
be confined for a day or two in the house of the chief,
and perform some slight task. Neglect of children, or
of infirm parents is punished by so many days labour;
prostitution, or flagrant immorality, is punished on the
complaint of parents, by hard labour for the man, and
for the woman, by the task of making so much straw
plait.*
The law of February, 1859, says that the punishment awarded
to females for any crime is not to be by fine, because they get the
money so easily by prostitution, that such punishment is not only
in effectual, but even an incentive to vice. Also, for the same reason,
the mutois shall receive no premium for the conviction of male
offenders as formerly.
AGRICULTURE-REVENUE.
339
However much the rule of the French may have
been protective and perhaps preservative to the natives,
all their attempts to promote industry and commerce
have brought nothing but disappointment. In spite
of much encouragement given to industry, by pecuniary
assistance and by security of property, plantations
which some years ago were rich with sugar cane and
coffee, are now deserted, and grown wild with guavas
or orange trees. One plantation cultivated by two
Europeans gained for the first time the prize of 6,000
francs given for the production of 50,000 pounds of
sugar, besides a privilege for the distillation of rum, on
which a duty of 2d. per litre (little more than a pint)
was to be put. Had this not been won, the proprietors
would have lost by the production. To any native who
can show his plot of ground well planted with cane à
reward of 300 francs is given; but it seems all in
vain; the European finds the native labourer not
worthy of his hire. The Government has lately strongly
recommended that the natives should pay more atten-
tion to the breeding of cattle, in order to ensure cheap
and plentiful supplies to whale ships, and so entice
them to the island, and this occupation seems more
compatible with the feelings of the Tahitians.
The revenue of the Protectorate Government for
1859, derived from a business tax, the customs, dues,
fines and penalties, amounted to the sum of 208,439 f.
85 c.: while the cost of carrying on the same was
530,000 francs. This is only the cost of the native
Government, and of course does not include the pay
of the French officers and troops.
The village of Papeete is beautifully situated in the
22-2
340 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
One
midst of cocoa-nut, orange and citron trees.
street forms the quay, another parallel to this is the
celebrated Broom Road, bordered by gardens, groves
and huts, lost amid the vegetation. To the Broom
Road, the French with execrable taste have given the
name of Rue de Rivoli; the other streets they have
called Quai Napoleon, Boulevard de la Reine, &c. The
Government building, the residence of the commis-
sioner, the barracks, and a few houses of merchants
are built in European style, chiefly of coral blocks, but
one or two are of brick imported for the purpose.
There is also a Roman Catholic cathedral so called, a
Protestant chapel, schools of both denominations, the
Roman Catholic being under the superintendence of
the "Dames de St. Joseph de Cluny," of whom there
are eight sisters with the lady president. I saw about
one hundred young girls one Sunday walking in pairs
to mass, and that was the number, I heard, which
received instruction from those ladies. Fronting the
village are two quays where ships may be hove down
with all the necessary conveniences for repairs. The
rates, which are moderate, are fixed by the Government,
whose workmen are also employed.
In a field in the Broom Road is a small low building,
half European, the residence of H. M. Pomare, when
in town. Here the visitor may have an opportunity of
visiting and conversing with her if he can speak
Tahitian, for although she understands a very little
French and English, she will speak no other language
but her own. Pomare Vahine (woman) as she is
commonly called, is now forty-eight years of age, and
succeeded her infant brother in 1829. When only
QUEEN POMARE AND HER LADIES.
311
nine years of age, she was married to Tapoa, King of
Borabora, who separated from her in 1831. She then
married her cousin Ariifaaite, and has had seven
children, of whom five are living. Two of her sons
and the only daughter have been adopted by the kings
of the Leeward or Society Islands, and will succeed
them on their death.
We had many opportunities of seeing the queen
during our stay. At one time at a ball given by the
resident, which she attended, she was accompanied by
her aunt, and by several young girls. They were all
dressed in loose robes of the fashion worn by the
women in Tahiti, but made of silk. One lady, especi-
ally, whose acquaintance we had already made, was a
pretty creature, timid, gentle, graceful and interesting,
and did the honours of her house and table in such a
pleasing, unaffected, yet attentive manner, as would
charm even in Europe. She was the daughter of an
Englishman married to Ariitaimai Vahine, a cousin of
the queen, and herself was married to the first
merchant in Tahiti, also an Englishman. She was
about twenty years of age and already the mother of
three children, who promised to be admirable specimens
of the commingled European and Tahitian blood.
On another occasion Pomare was present at a dinner
given in the open air in front of her palace. Instead
of instrumental music, we then had a chorus of women
and men, who squatted in groups, and sang their
national songs with a strongly marked nasal twang.
But the best moment for a visit was, when Pomare and
her royal consort, imitating the times of le Grand Louis,
were put to bed. This was about nine o'clock in the
342 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
evening, at which time their residence was surrounded
by their lazy hangers-on, male and female, who sang
the royal pair to sleep, which did not take a long time,
to judge by the deep sounding snores which through
the open window broke on the silent air of night.
Pomare is at the present time forty-nine years of age,
tall and stout, of extreme good-nature, and much
beloved by her subjects in general.
There is a small Government newspaper in the
French and Tahitian languages published in Papeete.
Its columns, each language alternating, are chiefly
filled with instructions to the people, the new laws,
easy and useful hints for the promotion of industry and
comfort among the natives, rebukes for neglect of
duties, with official, local, and shipping intelligence.
Simple tales are sometimes inserted, and during the
last year a lengthened description was given of the
campaign of the French armies in Italy, and accounts
of the battles of Magenta and Solferino, with a descrip-
tion of the tour of the Emperor and Empress through
parts of France, showing with what love and enthu-
siasm they were everywhere received by their people.
These warlike narrations have not been without
result on the imagination of the people. Indeed, the
well-known instinct of the French nation seems to
have been long ago communicated to their swarthy
protegés, whose amusements are stamped with a
military character.* Many have made themselves a
* Martial games, naval reviews, manly sports, such as hurling the
club or the spear, and archery, and also it must be added, cock-
fighting, were among the chief amusements formerly. They were
all discontinued when Christianity was introduced.
PLAYING AT SOLDIERS.
343
kind of uniform; epaulettes in imitation of the French
they carve with great skill out of palm wood, and dye
them of a golden yellow with turmeric; they plait
their aiguillettes, tassels and shoulder knots from the
inner fibres of the cocoa-nut tree; and they have all
the instruments of military music which can be imi-
tated with bamboo. When dressed in their mock uniform
and accompanied by their mock band, the natives strut
along with delight to the sound of a kettle drum.
344 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XIX.
A Tour round Tahiti-Nature versus Art-Aspect of Western side
of Island-Houses-Pictures by the way-A remarkable Cavern
-Schoolhouses-Protestantism-Departure of Missionaries-
Public Instruction--Dress-District of Papara-French Soldiers
-Traffic in Spirits-Night in the South Sea-Catholic Priests-
European Settlers-Cultivation of Vanilla-Lake of Vaihiria
Outlet of Lake Subterraneous-Bishop Jaussens-Papoari-A
Night in the Minister's Hut-An Outcast-Road to Taravoa-
Misfortunes by the way-Fort of Taravoa-The French Officer
in Command-Prisoners: a Naughty Pair-Windward side of
Tahiti Matavia Bay and its Souvenirs-Point Venus-A Native
Family-Return to Papeete.
A FEW days after our arrival at Tahiti I set out to make
a short tour round the island. Although the sun was
at this time almost vertical at noon, yet I did not start
before that hour, for then the trade wind had gained
force, and in some measure counteracted the heat.
Englishmen in all hot climates are most eccentric in
the choice of their hats; some wearing utensils in
form between a helmet and a tea-kettle, with numerous
pipes to let in air to the head; others sporting large
shovel hats enveloped in muslin, turban fashion; for
my part, I always found that the best and most con-
venient way to keep the head cool was to cut the hair
tolerably short, and wear an ordinary cap of light
material and large peak, with a white handkerchief
pinned over it in such a manner as to leave a portion
of it hanging down as a curtain over the nape of the
WESTERN SIDE OF TAHITI.
345
neck. By putting large leaves in the cap, and renew-
ing them now and then, the head is kept continually
refreshed.
Ariitaimai, the lady chief of the district of Papara,
kindly gave me a letter to the principal resident of
her district, ordering him to put her house at my
disposal as long as I chose to stay. The distance
thither was about twenty-two miles; but as my way
lay through such scenes of novelty I did not arrive till
after sunset.
The western, or leeward side of the island is entirely
reef-locked, with openings more or less large opposite
each valley. Viewed from an eminence, the surf
seems like a white frill around the shore; within this
is tranquil blue water, and scarcely a ripple beats the
beach of the island itself. Here is a safe channel for
boats of all sizes, and, in many parts, for ships.
From the sea-shore to the base of the mountains
extends a belt of land, varying from a quarter of a
mile to two miles in width, burdened with vegetation,
and containing here and there the enclosures and
houses of the inhabitants. The numerous valleys,
spreading out as they approach the sea, are there
separated one from the other by the tails of the moun-
tain ridges, so that the traveller, in making the tour
of the island, is continually crossing spurs of hills and
the teeming and picturesque valleys between them.
Between Papeete and Papara there are at least a dozen
such valleys, and from Papara to the Isthmus of
Taravoa more than twenty. Fruit trees and an under-
growth of dense vegetation extend up these valleys
to the very chasms of the mountains above. The
346 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
decomposed lava and other volcanic earths blown
down by the wind, or swept down by the streams,
have formed over this belt a soil so fertile that the
quantity of vegetation perennially sustained by it is
amazing.
When I was about eight miles from Papeete, and full
on the western part of the island, the clouds of the
trade wind, arrested by the summits of the interior,
poured down densely over the western slopes, and
discharged their copious contents. Before and behind
the sky was without a cloud, and the mountains in
those directions were in full sunshine; but in the spot
where I was it rained a little deluge. This district
and the isthmus are the parts wherein the most rain
falls, which is easily accounted for by the local position
of each with respect to the direction of the wind and
the influence of the mountains. Having remained
under some orange trees till I was drenched, and
seeing no signs of abatement in the rain, I did what
I ought to have done at once-took refuge in the hut
of a native.*
*The abodes of the Sandwich Islands resemble, as I before said,
old haystacks. In Tahiti they are of a totally different construction.
Most of them are oval or oblong in form; their sides formed of bamboo
stems planted upright in the ground about an inch apart, to allow a
free current of air from all directions to penetrate. When the air is
too keen, the natives hang mats around the interior to shelter them
from the wind. The roof is thatched with palm leaves, and lined
with boards of the bread fruit tree. The floor is strewed thickly with
dry grass, which is seldom changed, and soon becomes filled with
vermin. Near the residences are generally other smaller huts for
cooking, &c. The missionaries persuaded the people to built them-
selves houses after the European fashion, with separate rooms,
boarded floors, and plastered walls, but those which were built were
soon abandoned. Many writers, among whom is Ellis, speak of these
THE GUAVA TREE.
347
Five or six men and women, and a few children
sprawling on their low bedsteads or on mats, leaped
up as I entered and bade me welcome. One of the
men soon climbed a cocoa-nut tree, and threw down
the young nuts to be emptied of their refreshing con-
tents. A Bible, in Tahitian, was lying open on the
bed; also a hymn book, out of which one of the
women read me a few verses, and all sang one of the
hymns. Three married pairs lived in that hut; three
bedsteads, covered with dirty mats, seemed the actual
home of each, while in all utensils there was an entire
communism. After half an hour, finding the rain did
not cease, I again mounted, and soon rode out of it
into sunshine.
The path now led through forests of guavas, orange,
and citron trees, and the still green fruit hung over
my head in clusters as I rode. Except in the little
villages, there is everywhere the same thick wood of
these trees, with now and then a small grove of cocoa-
nut, bread-fruit, or iron-wood trees. The guava tree,
introduced in the beginning of this century, has over-
run not only the islands of Tahiti and Morea, but
also the Marquesas and other groups. It has become
the bane of the islands, for its growth is so quick, and
its propagation so easy, that wherever seed falls the
whitewashed huts as beauties in the landscape and an evidence of
civilization; but, in reality, they were a great disfigurement to the
scene, uncomfortable, stifling, and altogether unsuitable for the
natives. In the present day these European buildings are met with
as the residences of the chiefs, but few live in them, preferring their
open, bamboo, leaf-thatched habitations, which generally stand with
them in the same enclosure. Both in Tahiti and Morea I saw num-
bers of these whitewashed cottages roofless and tumbling in ruins.
348. JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
ground is soon covered with young trees. In many
retired parts the road was choked up by shoots about
two feet high; and two years is enough to convert
them into a bearing tree. The fruit, when ripe, is like
a mellow apple, the inside being red and pulpy, of an
insipid taste, and containing a number of seeds.
Thousands of hogs live beneath the trees, and eat
the fallen fruit. The seeds being indigestible, are
thus conveyed from place to place, and wherever
they are deposited, the forcing climate develops them
into trees. When they are left undisturbed, which
is generally the case, the valleys soon become impas-
sable from their intricate growth. Large tracts of
ground, whose broken-down enclosures show that they
were formerly under cultivation, are now hidden by
them. Their only use is to afford food for swine
and wood for burning. Introduced in a spirit of
kindness, they have become the curse of the cul-
tivator. Mr. Ellis, in his work, merely mentions the
tree by name, as a novelty in the flora of the country;
were he again to visit the islands, spots familiar to
him and to others would scarcely be recognized, so
great a change have they caused in, the aspect of the
land.
The Tahitians, men and women, are exceedingly
clean in their persons, and bathe many times a day
in the running waters of their valleys. As the streams
are shallow, holes are made in their beds, or the
natural holes are made use of. It is all the same to
the natives whether the bathing place is in the depth
of the guava wood, or in an exposed position by the
wayside; in fact, they seem to prefer the latter.
A
REMARKABLE CAVERN.
.349
short distance from Paca two young girls came to
bathe in the stream close to the little wooden bridge
which I was crossing. They entered the water in
their robes of cotton, crouched down, slowly drew off
their dress, and then, standing up in the shallow
water, commenced splashing it one on the other. I
stood on the bridge admiring their dusky limbs, supple
motions, and frolicsome manner, and thinking that
they and the surrounding scenery formed a picture
that Etty would have travelled thousands of miles to
copy, when they politely made me a sign to come and
join them in their naiad sport. But I contented myself
with beholding the picture rather than becoming one
of the models.
At a place called Maraa, where the road passes
under a dark lava precipice, there is a remarkable
cavern or grotto. Its situation is gloomy enough, and
may well awaken feelings of superstitious awe in the
breast of the native. All around it the overhanging
rocks and thick creeping vegetation shut out the rays
of the sun; through the stony ground above great
drops fall into the black water of the grotto; rills
were trickling out on all sides from below, rendering the
spot delightfully cool. The grotto itself is interesting
from the extraordinary delusion of sight which the
spectator experiences. It seems to extend back into
the rock about fifty yards, but on hurling a stone with
full force, one is surprised to find that instead of
striking the end of the vaul it falls into the dark
waters at about only one-fifth part of the distance.
The real depth of the pool is estimated at about 300
yards. Many attempts have been made to explore it ;
350 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
but, I was told, the natives could never be persuaded
by any hope of reward to launch a canoe on the water ;
to them it is the habitation of evil spirits, and like
most caverns in various parts of the world, it has a
string of legends attached to it. I was not informed of
this until after my return to Papeete, or I would have
found means to measure it, if the atmosphere within
the cavern would have permitted me to enter. Further
along the coast are similar grottoes.
As I passed through each district I stopped for a short
time at its Purera, or meeting house. Generally the
chants of the inmates guided me to the spot. In the
first I entered, young and old, mostly women, were
seated in rows on the ground; a few men were placed
here and there; Bibles and hymn books were in their
laps or by their side; a few of the women were plaiting
the bark of the cocoa into hats, and some were smoking
cigarettes. The Orometua, or native minister, was
fast asleep on the bed, and by his side lay an old
woman also asleep. My presence interrupted their
singing for a few moments, and they employed them
in making their remarks on me. The minister had
by this time been roused from his nap, and, inviting
me to sit down, told his pupils to sing the Hallelujah
for
my edification. They sang this and some other
hymns in a very pleasing manner, in spite of the nasal
twang which is peculiar to the voices of the women.
Some of the hymns were sung in division, one party
taking up the strain as the other ceased. Most of
these meetings exhibited the same character, both
as to their members and their manner of singing or
praying. If there was little devotion among the
2
NATIVE PROTESTANTS.
351
company, there was at least no indelicacy of manner.
The meeting house was their rendezvous every day, to
pass away the time, to chat with one another, to make
their straw-plait or their dresses, to hear a chapter or
two of the Bible read by the minister, and to practise
their hymns. On Sundays the whole district assembles
in the meeting house, or in the front of it, and a
service is performed similar to that of the Wesleyans
and Congregationalists of England. The minister or
one of the deacons offers up a prayer, a chapter of the
Bible is read, a hymn sung, and a discourse delivered
by the minister.
The Protestant Christians of these islands having
been from the time of their conversion under the
guidance of English missionaries, are now nearly
thrown on their own resources to govern their little
churches. They are indeed in the position of sheep
without a shepherd, and were it not that they have the
Bible translated into their mother tongue, a few years
might find their Christianity curiously degenerated into
a mixture of truth and old superstition. Of all their
European teachers but two remain, Mr. Darling in
Tahiti, and Mr. Simpson in Eimeo, and they have the
entire supervision of the Protestant congregations. Both
are now old, and when they pass away from the scene
of their long labours, the native Protestants will be left
entirely to their own guidance. The last of the other
missionaries quitted the Island in 1858. They and the
Missionary Society in London considered they could no
longer conscientiously continue their work under the
French Protectorate.
The reasons which were given me as having caused
352
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
their departure were as follows:-By the Act of Pro-
tectorate, in 1842, it was expressly stipulated that the
English missionaries should not be molested in the
exercise of their functions. The reader is aware that
in France the ecclesiastical polity is much under the
control of the civil power, and that the pastors of all
denominations are paid by the State. The Protectorate
Government resolved to exercise the same rule in
Tahiti, and ordered that the Protestant missionaries
should settle each in his district as pastor, and should
receive a fixed salary from the State, instead of
wandering from district to district, and receiving con-
tributions from the natives as a part of their means of
support. They were to be put on just the same
footing as the Romish priests. All except two refused
to submit to these terms, and left the island for other
fields of labour, wherein they could perform their
work after their own manner. If the above was their
real and only reason for quitting their flocks, I cannot
help thinking that as ministers of religion they might
have remained for the sake of those whom they had re-
claimed from heathenism, and reared and educated to the
observance and profession of a purer faith, even though
it might have caused them a struggle to submit to the
control of a civil power, alien both in race and religion.
But considering the race from which they sprung, one
cannot be surprised that they came to the determina-
tion they did.
In conversations I had with two or three native minis-
ters I was much pleased to hear with what feelings of
affection and respect they spoke of their late teachers, and
the regret they expressed at having been left by them.
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
353
*
The Government is as tolerant and protective to
Protestants as to Catholics, and the priests, with the
bishop at their head, are apparently still more so.
They tell the natives that both forms are the same
thing; that the object of both is to make men good
and happy. They make no open efforts to convert;
they visit, take interest in, and even advise the native
Protestant minister. And such is the surest means of
attaining their end, if that end is the Catholicizing the
native Protestants; and, of course, every Protestant
reader will believe that it is. But, to judge from the
little I saw, and much that I heard of Bishop Jaussens
and his vicar, I think they are both good and liberal
men, and am sure they are clever ones—if only in this,
that they do not make half-civilized men the be-
wildered arbiters of dogmas which, after all, are totally
unnecessary to the practice of pure Christianity.
Attached to each district, and co-operating with the
minister, is a schoolmaster for the children; and the
school-house generally adjoins that of the chief. Some
are Catholic, some Protestant. By the law, every
parent is bound to send his children to school until the
age of fourteen; neglect of this is punished; and the
insubordination of the children, if made a subject of
complaint, is referred to the chief or judge, and
*The grant of a plot of land to Mr. Darling, as a reward for his
long services (40 years), was hotly opposed by certain Catholics,
white and native; but the influence of the Governor, Bishop, priests,
and residents, caused the grant to be confirmed. The affair led to
a great deal of dispute. In an address to the natives, the Govern-
ment thus spoke :-" Catholics and Protestants, you are both equal
before the law; there is equal protection for you both: treat with con-
tempt all those who try to spread discord among you." March, 1859.
23
354 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
punished by him. Rewards are given by the Govern-
ment to both schoolmasters and pupils as a stimulus.
Every year, after the inspection, sums varying from
50fr. to 300fr. are presented to those teachers who
show the best order in their establishments, and great-
est progress in their pupils. They are also required to
give the names of their best pupils, to the number of
four, who are publicly rewarded in presence of the
whole district.
The big, unclouded sun sinking in the ocean was
pouring its rays through the orange and citron trees
as I rode up the avenue of the district of Papara. The
residence of the lady chief where I was received was a
coral and wood building, half European, half native,
delightfully cool, and furnished with good beds, &c. &c.
While they were cooking me a fowl and some bread-
fruit, I went out to bathe in the beautiful stream which
entered the sea close by. A group of young natives
were plunging about in the water, but on my approach
they were out in an instant, and dressed.
The only garments worn by the Tahitian men is a
fold of print wrapped round them from the waist
downwards, like a petticoat; and over this a European
shirt, hanging loosely round them, in the same
manner as with the Tajals of Manilla. Wishing
to see the diving of the natives, I threw a few coins
into the deepest part of the river, when not only the
children who had been bathing before, but, to my
surprise, half the adult bystanders, threw off their
garments, and joined in the hunt. It is no wonder
that the natives of all ages are continually washing
themselves, sitting, reclining, or rolling about in the
A FRENCH CORPORAL.
355
streams; it is the greatest luxury, also, that a
European can indulge in, and I shall never forget
the pleasure with which each morning as I rose, once
during the heat of the day, and again at the end of
the journey, I sought out some retired and deep pool
of water, and rolled about in the cool element.
At Papara was a small post of French soldiers, and
on my return to the chief's house I found the corporal
in command had brought some bread and a bottle of
wine, which he begged me to accept, as he had heard
that I had brought none with me. In fact bread was
scarcely needed where "itself is gathered as a fruit," and
bottles were too cumbersome. My whole stock consisted
only of a small flask of brandy, in case of accidents,
and that returned with me nearly as full as when I
started. Nevertheless, the delicate attention of the
corporal not only pleased me, but his bread and wine
were no bad addition to the Tahitian-cooked fowl and
bread-fruit. I afterwards went over to the corporal's
hut, and found him to be one of those intelligent, well-
educated, and enthusiastic young fellows of whom so
many are to be found in the ranks of the French army.
As he had been long in the island, and had mixed
much among the people, his remarks were not un-
worthy of attention. The only occasion, he said, when
the natives gave any trouble, or when he was required
to assist the Mutois, was during the season of oranges;
the people then fermented the juice into a sort of
wine, and, drinking largely of it as long as it remained
good, were very apt to become uproarious and practise
old abominations. Indeed, I afterwards saw the lists
of condemnations for drunkenness, in which was a
23-2
356
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
long array of names for every district. The punish-
ments were fines of from 20fr. to 40fr., or labour
for the same number of days for males, and the
making of from ten to twenty fathoms of pia for
females.
To the honour of the French rulers, the traffic in
spirits is strictly prohibited to the natives; no dealer
is allowed to supply them without a permit from a
French official, and the secret sale is punished by a
very heavy fine. Many small craft visit the secluded
bays during the orange season, to take in the fruit
for St. Francisco and South America; but before
permission is given for this, the captain must deliver
up all his spirits at Papeete, or take a Government
officer on board to see that no illicit traffic is carried
Were these prohibitions not strictly put in force,
I believe the natives would kill themselves quite out
by intoxication in two or three generations, so fond
are they of strong drink.
on.
In no part of the world are the nights so soothing
and refreshing, the land and sea so beautiful, and the
vault of heaven so glorious, as in these South Sea
Islands. At least, so I thought that evening, as I lay
on a mat spread on the soft grass by the seaside, and
watched the glowing firmament, one mass of sidereal
light from the southern horizon, to Orion, north of my
zenith. In the midst of this light was the Cross of
the south, and by its side that dark and starless patch,
black in the midst of surrounding light, which is one
of the most curious phenomena of the southern chart
of the heavens. I had often spent hours while traversing
the ocean in watching these superb constellations, but
VANILLA CULTIVATION.
357
never did I see them in greater brilliancy or in greater
beauty than on that evening.
The next morning, after a breakfast of fowl, bread-
fruit, bananas fried in oil, and other fruits of the
country, I rode forth again. The aspect of the
country continued much the same, except that the
valleys became more marshy, and here and there the
mountains extended to within a few fathoms of the
shore, terminating in dark, broken precipices of lava.
At Mairipehe was a small, but neat Catholic chapel,
built of wood, a school-house, and the residence of the
Rev. Père Colette. Some distance farther on a Por-
tuguese called me to his house, as I was riding by, and
introduced me to his native spouse, his cattle, and his
plantations. What was most attractive there, were
several plots of vanilla, a plant lately introduced, and
whose culture seems likely to lead to a small, but very
profitable commerce. The Government published
directions for its cultivation, and offered to supply the
natives with the means of beginning their plots; but
as it requires excessive care and constant watching for
years, I am afraid they are too impatient and unsteady
to do any good with it. Several European colonists,
however, had already met with success, and realized a
good price for their produce in Valparaiso.*
* The cultivation of vanilla is curious. It is planted by slips
which must, to be fruitful, have three buds, two to be buried, and one
left in contact with the air. It requires a humid soil, and much
shade, and to be trained on a low trellis of wood. After eighteen
months it begins to flower, the flowers being white and in bunches.
To fructify these requires the hand of man, and a delicate touch
must unite the pistil and stamen of the flower, for without this opera-
tion, the ovarium withers away. Soon after this, the fruit pod begins
to develope itself, but takes still twelve or fifteen months to acquire its
358
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
I stopped for a few hours to rest my horse at a
native hut in one of the most lonely parts of the dis-
trict of Papeuriri. Through this district flows the
river which issues from the celebrated mountain lake
of Vaihiria, situated six miles up the valley at an
elevation of 432 French metres above the sea level.
Most of the way up to it was now practicable for a horse,
since Pomare had lately made two or three excursions
thither. Where the path becomes too steep, the horses
must be picketed, and the fatiguing ascent made on
foot. In going up the valley, the stream has to be
crossed no less than sixty-seven times. The tourist
with plenty of time generally takes one day for the
ascent, sleeps in the mountains, and descends the next
day; but from the mouth of the valley the journey
may be accomplished between sunrise and sunset.
The path is delightfully shaded by guavas, orange,
tamanu, and purao trees, and a variety of magnificent
ferns and creepers afford amusement to the lovers of
botany. For the night a hut is soon constructed by
the natives, with branches of purao and leaves; sub-
stantial food must be brought by the traveller, but
abundance of wild fruits, such as fei, cocoa-nuts, &c. &c.,
are to be gathered on the way: and when night sets
in, bamboos filled with cocoa-nut oil, or flaming torches,
light up a scene of wildness and grandeur. The lake
has nothing interesting in itself: there is no animal
full size and maturity. When quite brown and wrinkled, the bunch
begins to exhale that delicious perfume which is peculiar to vanilla.
According to its size and aroma it fetches a high or medium price; as
much as fifteen dollars per pound being given at Valparaiso for the
best quality.
SUBTERRANEOUS OUTLET OF LAKE. 359
life, with the exception of a few wild ducks. Several
of the Russian officers made an excursion thither,
whilst I was making the tour of the island.*
On the seashore, near to the valley of the lake, are
two phenomena worthy of mention; one is a cavern
or grotto, filled with water, deeply penetrating into the
precipice; the other, a spring of crystal water, spout-
ing up about a foot in height from the ground. The
inhabitants affirm that this is one of the outlets of the
lake, and that the water comes through a natural tube
in the rocks from a vortex in its depths. Cocoa-nuts,
they say, thrown into the lake, have been known to
come out in the gush of waters below. If this be
really so, the tube must be very leaky, for the spout of
the fountain is very small, when the pressure, caused
by the difference of level, is taken into consideration.†
It was already late as I rode forth from Papeuriri,
with the intention of proceeding as far as the French
port, on the Isthmus of Taravoa. But after riding a
couple of miles, I suddenly, in the midst of a wood,
came upon the French bishop and Père Colette return-
ing from their inspection, who dissuaded me from
making the attempt. The bishop invited me to return
* Near the lake, however, are the remains of a native fort, one of
those wide fortresses in which the vanquished formerly took refuge,
after the battles fought in the plains.
† Near the Teutoburger Wald, in the Principality of Pyrmont, in
Germany, I visited four years ago several water ponds, or earth-
slips filled with water, of great depth. The people related that simi-
lar subterraneous passages extended from the bottom, and that
objects thrown in had been known to come out in a small stream near
Paderborn, in Westphalia, the distance between being more than thirty
miles.
360 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
with him, which I would willingly have done but that
my time for the journey was limited. As I did not
accept his invitation, he recommended me to pass the
night at Papoari, and wrote a few lines in pencil to the
native minister of that place, which, he said, would
insure me unbounded attention. "It's all the same
that he's a Protestant," broke in Père Colette; "it's
the same thing here, you know, Catholic or Protestant."
A white man happening to pass during our conver-
sation, the bishop requested him to conduct me to the
house of the minister; so bidding his Eminence
good-bye, I accompanied my bare-footed guide, who,
to judge from the tools he carried, was a carpenter or
shipwright.
Roapohe, the minister of Papoari, a fine-looking
'native, upwards of six feet in height,* and stout in
proportion, received me with outstretched hands at the
gate of his enclosure, and set his whole family (wife
and seven children) in motion to perform various
behests for my service. A few women of his flock
were already squatted down on the grass before his
door, and my arrival soon brought many more to the
spot. While supper was preparing they intoned several
hymns for my edification; at sunset they all went off
to their respective homes.
I asked the American (for such I found him to be)
* The men of Tahiti, especially the chiefs, are very superior to
the men of the Sandwich Islands, both in size and bearing. The
women, on the other hand, are much alike. Both sexes are the
same cheerful, good-natured, always smiling, false, fickle, and
inconstant people as in the other islands; and more confidence must
be put in the effects of their pride or their cupidity, than in their
affection or their promises.
AN AMERICAN OUTCAST.
361
to stay and spend the evening with me, and we ate
together our Tahitian supper-an oven-baked fowl,
bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut poi, sweet potatoes and
feis (wild hawanas). A sop of sea-water was the
only condiment; the natives use it instead of salt.
The pastor's utensils consisted only of a cracked
European dish, a knife, and a fork with one prong
still left; but he had plenty of well-polished clean
cocoa-nut shells, and a primitive use of fingers made
up for many deficiencies. We made some tea in a
cocoa-nut shell, and drank it out of another. During
supper, in which our host would not join, the wife and
children chanted some native songs in a low and soft
strain.
My companion, a man far in the decline of life,
rather from a wasteful expenditure of it than from
actual age, was one of those discivilized wanderers of
whom so many are to be found in the islands of the
Pacific. His declining years seemed to be filled with
a gnawing regret for a youth recklessly, and perhaps
criminally, spent. He had received a good homely
education, had abandoned his quiet home, and had
since been a wanderer and an outcast. He was now
unfit, he said, to return to the haunts of his fellows;
his lot was cast with the natives, to whom, though he
spoke their language and lived as they, he was still a
stranger. He had had several wives and many chil-
dren in the islands where his life had been spent, but
they had all died one after the other, by pestilence,
disease, or accident. He was now all alone, and had
natives in building boats and
they could not do themselves,
to labour for the
other work which
362 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
to earn the means of dragging on his miserable
existence.
At eight o'clock my host intimated that they were
about to perform their evening devotion. With a clear
and well-accentuated voice he read aloud a portion of
Scripture, and afterwards, the whole party kneeling
down, he offered up an extempore prayer for the space
of about ten minutes in a solemn and impressive
manner. I was never so gratified by any little family
scene before, the more so when assured that it was
not because a stranger was present, but that in most
huts family prayer opened and closed the occupation of
each day.
After prayers, the family sat down to supper. The
mother and children formed two rows on the grass-
covered floor; the father sitting at the head, and two
or three greedy and ugly curs thrusting in their heads
between. Their food consisted of the remains of my
supper with a large supply of fresh feis; the whole
served in gourds and eaten out of thin, transparent,
and nicely polished cocoa-shells. The minister said
a long grace; gave to wife and children a chicken
bone, and a bowl full of feis; the dogs received also
their portion, and after a few moments of vigorous
application of fingers and muzzles, the whole party,
human and canine, finished about the same time.
me.
There was only one bedstead, or something that
resembled one, in the hut, and this was given up to
It was covered with mats and had a clean cover-
let of calico. When I lay down, the whole party
began to sing with low plaintive voices the evening
hymn (or something like it), hallelujah and other
1
ROAD TO TARAVOA.
363.
hymns to soothe me to sleep; but sleep-giving as
the effect might otherwise have been, the counter
irritation was too great; for presently I was so assailed
by a legion of animals from below, and by buzzing mos-
quitoes above, that I tumbled and tossed for many a
weary hour, and was at last fairly driven out. Looking
around me by the dim light of the cocoa-nut lamp,
the interior of a Tahitian hut presented a curious.
aspect. Father, mother, children, half naked, or
rolled in their tapas, were lying in all directions and
in all positions on the dry grass that strewed the floor
of their hut. All were sound asleep, and the elders
continuing their music, only in another and less agree-
able key.
On the morrow by sunrise I was again in the saddle.
The distance from Papoari to the Fort at Taravoa was
only five miles, yet I thanked my happy meeting with
the bishop, which prevented my attempting it the
night before. The road followed the direction of the
indentation of the sea called Port Phaeton, leading
to the isthmus, over abrupt hills and down through
the darkest and deepest dells. The bared lava rock
which formed the road over the hills was so greasy
from the dew, and so steep that it was only just
possible for the horse to mount it, and he had several
falls in doing so. In the dells there was hardly any
road at all, so overgrown was the land with guava
shoots; but the trenches on either side, into which we
floundered occasionally on the least deviation, were
still a sufficient guide. But the deep and miry-mar-
gined streams at the bottom of each dell were the
worst obstacles. There were, indeed, bridges of a
364 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
few logs thrown over them, but many of them were
missing or broken; the alternatives were generally
three or four feet of mud, or a single rounded log.
At last I was brought to a standstill. My horse, in
crossing one of these bridges, broke one of the logs
beneath him and fell, badly grazing the inside of the
leg. He could neither get up, nor fall through, but
hung with his shoulders on the logs above the remains
of the bridge, and his hind quarters in the water.
He was, moreover, much hurt; his eyes became glassy,
and I thought the poor beast would die. Nothing
was left for me but to jump up to my neck in the
mud and water and demolish the bridge, when the
animal fell helplessly backwards. After taking the
saddle off him, I was compelled to stand nearly two
hours in the water, supporting his head till he re-
covered sufficiently to move, and it was an hour more
before I got him safe on dry ground. For the rest of
the way I mended the bridges myself before crossing.
The chief of that district did not certainly attend to
the duty of keeping his roads in order. About eleven
o'clock I arrived at the fort in the middle of the
isthmus, and found its commander sitting on a bench
among his men, chatting with them in that familiar
manner which Frenchmen seem to know how to adopt,
without the conversation degenerating into too much
freedom on the one hand, or disrespect on the other.
My appearance must have surprised him, as there was
certainly no mistake as to where my last quarters had
been; but on reading my letter, he warmly welcomed
me; his men set about doctoring my horse, and him-
self took charge of me.
FORT OF TARAVOA.
365
The fort is a coral building, mounting a few small
cannon sufficient for the purpose of awing the natives.
There is besides the residence of the commandant, a
building for official purposes, and quarters for fifty
men and for prisoners. It forms now in times of
peace a little penal settlement, where the breakers of
the law undergo their period of labour. Among the
number of these at the time of my visit were several
New Caledonians, prisoners of war. A good military
road of grass-covered coral runs across the isthmus
from Port Phaeton to the eastern side. On either
side of this elevated road the land is all morass, in
which, a short time ago, a French naval officer lost
his life, while out shooting. All around, both on the
peninsula and the main island, are numbers of un-
marked and wild cattle, asses, and swine, nominally
the property of the Government, but which are hunted
by the natives, who receive a premium on their
captures.
My hospitable young host insisted on my remaining
with him two days, declaring that the rain, which fell
in torrents after my arrival, would so swell the rivers
on the eastern side as to render them unfordable.
I took him at his word, the more readily because he
was an agreeable fellow, well acquainted with the
natives, and a thorough Breton.
During our breakfast on the second morning the
chief mutoi of the peninsula arrived with a report
from the native judges of the condemnations during
their little assize, and the list of prisoners who were
to be sent to the fort to suffer their penalty. Among
others were a naughty pair, sentenced to a fine of
366 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
200 francs or three months' labour, for a violation of
the marriage tie. On inquiring of the mutoi into
the particulars, I found it was only a common instance
of its kind-a husband cognizant of his wife's infi-
delity for a length of time, but living on terms of
friendship and in conjugal communism with the other
man, until they unfortunately quarrelled, when the
husband denounced the friend. The crime was not
hard to prove, and the unhappy pair were sentenced.
But the husband, though he wanted to revenge him-
self on his former friend, did not at all wish his wife
to be included in the punishment. It seemed, also,
that there was a child, whose paternity the two men
disputed, and the learned judge decided that as the
prisoner had been declared guilty of the crime, he
ought to have the fruits of it, which, though bad law,
was tolerably good logic. The prisoner also wrote to
the commandant of the fort, to state that he was
going to Papeete to try and get the money, and
that if unsuccessful he should return to the fort
and undergo his term of punishment.
The com-
mandant informed me that this case might be
taken as an example of all that came under
his observation-complicity, a quarrel, and denunci-
ation.
But in this the people are not worse than they
formerly were; and the penal laws against adultery
certainly have the good effect of preventing married
women from prostituting themselves to the first comer.
There is seldom a case where the husband is not
privy to his dishonour. Formerly, by the mis-
sionary law, persons separated for this crime were
WINDWARD SIDE OF TAHITI.
· 367
not allowed to marry again while either was alive, a
piece of legislation which nearly made the marriage
ceremony a dead letter. The law of 1858 repealed
all former ones, and declared that all divorces pro-
nounced by the Court of Toohitus rendered both
contract a new marriage, the man
immediately, the woman after the lapse of ten
months.
parties free to
The commandant of the fort, on my leaving him,
ordered one of his mutois to accompany me on the way,
as far as a river which he thought had become unford-
able. As the man was on foot I soon left him
behind, and on coming up to the river tried to ford
it alone, by making a curve seawards at its mouth,
where the water is generally more shallow; but a
woman with a child in her arms came at that
moment out of a hut and called me back. Laying
her baby on the bank, she swam over,
swam over, holding
my horse by the reins, and I swam behind him,
holding on to his tail, when the water took him off
his legs. My guide, who had borrowed a horse of
a friend, came riding up just as I arrived on the
opposite side.
The windward side of Tahiti is much wilder than
the western side. The path was here through mag-
nificent gorges, and over mountains precipitously
facing the sea, up which a zigzag road had been
made. In many parts it was only a few feet wide,
with the wall-like mountain on the left side, and
twelve to fifteen hundred feet of perpendicular cliff
on the other. The ground was also so slippery from
the rain that it was dangerous to pass it on horse-
368
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
back. A number of birds, large as a rook, but of
snow-white plumage, with long black beaks and legs,
hovered round my head, and made a pounce now and
then at my horse and myself. Two or three I knocked
down, but they fluttered over the edge of the cliff
into the sea beneath. Looking from some of these
heights, it was most interesting to mark the girdle
of coral, which seems to be slowly growing up.
Lines in the blue ocean were white with their reflec-
tion. Deep soundings are everywhere marked on the
charts at the spots where I saw them; even in the
French survey map lately made no notice is taken
of them, though the approximate limits of the reefs
not yet raised in other parts are there distinctly marked.
I noticed them chiefly on rounding the eastern point
of the island.
Fewer guava, orange, and citron trees are to be
seen on this side; but the magnificent tamanu (Calo-
phyllum inophyllum), the purao or hibiscus, and the
pandanus were growing in full perfection. The popu-
lation is also much more sparse till the north-eastern
side is reached.
I spent the night at the house of the chief of
Tiarei, who was absent; but the minister, his deputy,
entertained me very hospitably. The evening was
spent pleasantly enough, as my host spoke a few words
of English, which, mixed up with a few Tahitian
words, formed our medium of conversation.
The next day there was a similar crossing of steep
mountains, the last of which, One-tree Hill, looks down
on the pretty and well-known Bay of Matavai, in
which Wallis, Cook, Bourgainville, and other cele-
INTERVIEW WITH THREE TAHITIAN DAMES. 369
brated navigators of the last century, anchored their
ships, and beheld for the first time those curious
scenes, the descriptions of which are so familiar to
every ardent schoolboy. On descending the hill, I
rode up the avenue which leads to Point Venus,
and lingered long about the spot which, from the
recollections it awakens, has become the pilgri-
mage of every mariner or traveller who visits the
island.
In the neighbourhood of Matavai Bay, I entered a
native hut to rest, after asking permission of the in-
mates. The inhabitants are generally pleased to
receive strangers who are travelling about, as much
from the pleasant excitement their visits cause, as for
the profit they expect to get from them. This dwel-
ling, one of the better sort, and standing in a neat
enclosure, was the residence of three married, but
childless couples. The three young wives whose hus-
bands were absent at the house of the chief, were
lounging on the ground, lazily occupied in making
straw plait, as I entered. They were tolerably good-
looking, dressed in loose robes of muslin, and wore
wreaths of flowers entwined in their black tresses.
One took my horse, another went to make ready some
food, while the third took me into the hut, and spread
mats and herb-stuffed pillows for me to rest on. The
arrangement of the interior would give a stranger a
pretty just idea of how the natives herd together.
The three nuptial couches of the three pairs were in
three corners; by the side of each was the family
trunk containing the dress of the husband, and the
finery of the wife, which latter the three women took
24
370 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
great trouble in spreading out before me. They
seemed to have as many dresses and imitation trinkets
as a fashionable beauty, while the poor husbands
seemed to have very few shirts, and those in a ragged
condition. I could only surmise whether all this finery
was derived from the liberality of their husbands,
from their own industry in making plait or pia, or
from the economy of their maiden days; and I was
forced to conclude the latter was the case, from the
conversation of these young ladies. They made use
of many English words, the only ones they knew,
which showed that the European society they had
kept had left a blight upon them, for they were such
as are only heard from the mouths of dissolute seamen,
but which these women, conscious or not of their
meaning, uttered with the pertinacity of parrots.
Another circumstance did not heighten my opinion of
either their past or their present virtue. On taking
the saddle off my horse, they had seen a travelling
flask hanging to it, and were most desirous to drink
off the contents. But as I did not allow this, they
probably, judging from experience, thought I set a
price on the gift, and thereupon offered me straw hats,
pieces of tapa, and lastly, by unmistakeable signs,
themselves, if I would only give them the brandy.
They no doubt thought very badly of me for refusing,
for they showed their vexation by frowns at me, and
most voluble chattering among themselves; but their
eagerness only proved to me the iniquity of foreigners
secretly supplying the natives with the means of intoxi-
cation, when they will make such deplorable sacrifices
to possess it.
VISIT TO PAPEETE.
រ
371
In the evening I rode on to Papeete, passing
through the district of Papaoa, of which in former
times Pomare was only the chief. The tour round
the island had taken six days, the distance being about
120 English miles.
24-2
372
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XX.
Island of Moria or Eimeo-Desertions-The King, Minister, and
Admiral on Board-Their Distinguished Qualities-Bay of
Opunopu-Falling away of Population and Industry-District of
Papetoai-An Old Missionary-Voyage Southward-Winds of
high Southern Latitudes-Mercy Bay-Shipwrecks-Magellan
Straits-Bay of Pleya Parda-Chilian Settlement at Punta Arena,
or Sandy Point-Climate-Patagonians-Aspect of Shores in
Strait-Pampas-Gregory Bay-Possession Bay-Current of
S. Atlantic Ocean-A Pampero.
ON the 23rd February, we steamed over to the
neighbouring island of Eimeo, and anchored in the
deep and lovely bay of Opunopu, in the district of
Papetoai; for three of our sailors, seduced by the
native women, and by the charms of Tahitian life, had
deserted. This was the first instance during the
voyage, of pure Russians deserting. In California,
where crimps and Jews speaking Russian abounded,
we only lost one man, and that a Pole, for there is
great love of home in the Russian peasant, and in his
ignorance, the charms of his village far surpass for
him all he sees in his travels. When we returned after
a few days to Papeete, two of the men had already
been found in the woods, where they were living com-
fortably, with what nature there affords.
During this little trip we had the King Consort on
board. A matrimonial discussion, ending in a warm
display of feminine superiority, was the cause of his
KING, MINISTER, AND ADMIRAL.
373
taking this little voyage, to allow the anger of his
royal spouse to cool. The king was formerly the
handsomest man in the islands, but is now fat and
heavy, like all his race in advancing years. He was
accompanied by two other natives, one called his
minister, and the other an admiral. They all dis-
tinguished themselves on board, in two ways; by
vigorously shaking hands with everybody many times
during the day, and by clearing the table of all eatables
each time they sat down to any meal. None of them
knew a word of either French or English. The most
unfortunate part of their visit was, that their departure
from the ship cost us a man. A parting salute being
given for the king, one of the gunners had both his
arms blown off, and his life was with difficulty
saved.
This Bay of Opunopu is one of the most fairy places
which I saw during the whole voyage. The shores
are of the same character as I have described for
Tahiti, being covered with guavas, oranges, and citrons;
but the mountains around, and especially those at the
head of the bay, have such fantastic shapes, that on a
moonlight night the effect is magical. Every evening
during our stay we passed the hours on shore beneath
the mountains, supping there, and making a sort of fête
for the natives, who come from all the villages around,
and amuse themselves in singing, dancing, and
admiring the fireworks we displayed from time to time
for their entertainment. The population of this island
has become miserably thinned during the last half
century. Before it was estimated to contain about
2,000 persons; now there are little more than 800.
374 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
Industry has likewise fallen away; all the low land
bordering the bay once contained extensive enclosures
of sugar-cane, and one mill had been set up in the
neighbourhood; but the trial was unprofitable, the
expense of hiring natives, who did nothing, far exceed-
ing all the profits.
On the western extremity of the entrance of the
bay is the village of Papetoai, celebrated as the first
spot where Christianity was established, for the par-
ticulars of which the reader may refer to Mr. Ellis'
Polynesian Researches. The large coral chapel built at
the time is still standing by the water's side, but the
population which should have filled its extensive space
has dwindled away to a miserable remnant who still
come to sing and pray. Near the chapel is the resi-
dence of Mr. Simpson, a veteran missionary of the
year 1828. When I called upon him, he was in
Tahiti, but his wife, in her simple manner, entertained
me, and gave me much information about the people.
When her husband returned, accompanied by his son-
in-law, Captain Vallis, of the French army, I had the
pleasure of making his acquaintance; Mr. Vallis I had
already known in Tahiti.
On the 26th we steamed out of the bay, and the
whole day was spent between the islands, waiting for
the gunboat, which had taken back the King, and was
to bring on the deserters. When together again, we
hauled up the yards for our southern voyage.
We kept the trade wind only to 25° S., and then
experienced much unsettled weather, till we met the
westerly winds, which sent us flying through that part
of the Pacific called the "desolate region," from the
WINDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC.
375
few birds ever seen there. If the reader would judge
of the force of these winds, and of the sea they drive
before them, let him look at a map, and remark the
shattered south-west coast of South America, and
compare it with the unbroken shores of lands lying
between the tropics, where few bays of any depth are
found. Steam can never compete with wind for ships
sailing in these high latitudes from west to east.
Two examples will show the speed with which sailing
vessels fly before these almost perennial winds: the
Sovereign of the Seas in 1853 made good 5,391 knots
(6,245 English miles) in twenty-two days; for eleven
of these she averaged 354 miles daily; for four days,
399 miles; for one day, 419 miles; and in one hour
her speed was twenty-one statute miles, or as fast as
an ordinary railway train. Another vessel, also sailing
east, and so lessening her longitude, made 402 knots,
or 465% statute miles, in twenty-four hours, being 193
miles per hour.
*
I shall never forget the grandeur of the scene, as,
driving before this wind, with no canvas except half
the fore-stay-sail, at the rate of eight knots, we
approached Desolation land, at the south entrance of
the Straits of Magellan. Not an indentation could be
seen on that dreary coast through the blue haze which
shrouded it; and to a stranger, unaware of his posi-
tion, it would have seemed that the vessel and himself
were rushing on to destruction; but when within 500
fathoms of the shore, we pitched on the huge waves
over the belt of kelp which encircles the whole coast
around Cape Horn, and in a few minutes more were
* Lieut. MAURY'S Sailing Directions.
376 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
in comparatively quiet water. Here we cast anchor
in the bay called Mercy.
This bay is marked in all books as a safe anchorage,
but the first object which met our view was a stranded
ship in a cleft of the rocks at the head of the bay. On
visiting it, she proved to be the Seine; part of her
cargo had been recovered; traces of the shipwrecked
crew were visible, in the fresh cutting of the stunted
shrubs for firewood, in the bones scattered about their
camping place, and in a quantity of shells, from
which the fish had been taken. Through the cleft of
the rock where she was fixed issued a stream, and a
few fathoms beyond was a small mountain lake. The
mountains around were covered with a mossy verdure;
in the indentations were a few fir-like shrubs; snow
had already fallen, and filled the higher cavities; while
not a living creature, except a small, silent bird, broke
the monotony of the scene.
I afterwards heard that the wreck of this ship was
the third of a series of disasters. An English ship
was first wrecked in the Straits; a steamer was de-
spatched from Valparaiso to remove the cargo, but she
struck on a rock, and sank almost immediately; the
Seine was then sent for the same purpose, but she
dragged her anchors in Mercy Bay, and went on shore
where we found her.
Mercy Bay is, indeed, better than no shelter at all,
but it is far from being safe. Two rocks, off Cape
Pillar, protect it from winds to the westward of north-
west; but should a gale of wind come from the north-
ward of this, such a sea would be thrown up that few
cables could withstand it.
MAGELLAN'S STRAITS.
377
We remained for two days, during north-westerly
winds; but on the fourth night of our stay the strong
south-west squalls, coming through a break in the
mountains, caused the gunboat to drag her anchors and
run foul of another ship; when clear, she put out to
sea, and the next morning we followed her, proceeding
through the Straits.
The second night from this we came to the Bay of
Pleya Parda, and moored in a dock-like cove, with
cables to the trees. Here we remained four days.
The country about was little more hospitable than our
last stopping-place. The hills are of slaty formation,
with white quartz cropping out in all directions. A
cascade of some 200 feet in height falls into the
cove. Trees, called the Patagonian beech, birch, a few
stunted firs, and a shrub resembling box, of yellow,
hard wood, were, with moss, and a low, berry-bearing
plant, the only vegetation; a few small land birds, and
numbers of ducks, the only living creatures.
On the 6th of April we were at anchor at Punta
Arena, or Sandy Point, where is a Chilian settlement,
consisting of about twelve houses, fifty ragamuffin
soldiers, and a few civilians. A few miles to the east-
ward is the boundary between Chili and Buenos Ayres,
which two states have nominally taken possession of
the whole of Patagonia and its wandering inhabitants.
The Chilian post is to establish the boundary. Six
years ago this post was at Port Famine, more to the
westward, which was also a penal settlement; but
the convicts rose on their guardians, massacred the
governor and soldiers, seized an American vessel, and
returned to Chili or Peru, where they could mix again
378
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
}
with their countrymen, without fear of detection by the
indolent authorities. After this event the settlement
was removed to its present site-the most healthy, the
Governor told me, of all in the Straits.
This Governor was a Dane, a man fond of science
and study. His lonely and perilous life was rendered
bearable by a good library. He had made a small
collection of the interesting things of the country, and
possessed also a few live guanacoes in an enclosure
near his house. The following statistics of climate he
gave me, from observations during three years :-
Mean temperature of year + 8°, Celsius' thermometer.
Greatest heat in summer + 20°,
do.
Greatest cold in winter
8°.
Mean temperature in winter
4°.
The settlement is visited several times annually by
tribes of Patagonians, who bring in their horses,
guanaco, skunk, and ostrich skins to exchange for
woollens, sugar and arms. These skins can be ob-
tained of the settlers by passing travellers by barter;
spirits, sugar, and shoes, powder and shot, being pre-
ferred. Money is not cared for, and rum is forbidden
by the Governor. There were two or three Patago-
nians present during our visit; they were men who
were refugees from their tribe, of middle stature, and
clothed in the skin of the guanaco.
Eastward of Sandy Point, the shores of the Straits
totally change their appearance. At the western end
there is precipitous, broken mountain scenery, with
little life, animal or vegetable. Here on the contrary
begin the Pampas, one unbroken plain covered with
CURRENT OF SOUTH ATLANTIC.
379
tall grass, extending hundreds of miles north in the
American continent, and filled with animals. More-
over, at the western end, the water is deep up to the
very shore; here sandbanks extend in all directions.
The opposite shores of Terra del Fuego match the
shores of the Continent in the same manner as the
coasts of England do those of France and Holland.
We left Sandy Point on the 9th. During the day,
in the Narrows, we perceived a herd of guanacos
bounding through the high grass. A troop of mounted
Patagonians also followed us for miles along the
shore, one of them waving a small flag at the end of
a pole. Knowing that several disasters had lately
taken place in the neighbourhood, the Commander
sent a boat to communicate with them, but with no
satisfactory result. We anchored the first night in
Gregory Bay, the second in Possession Bay. From
the latter we were soon borne out to the Atlantic
Ocean with a fresh north-west breeze.
When in lat. 42° and long. 521° W., we expe-
rienced one of those heavy gales of wind peculiar
to this part of the ocean. The rapid, warm current
which flows down from the equatorial regions parallel
to the coast of South America, set us in two days
more than seventy miles to the south-west. The
temperature of the water was well observed; for
several days it exceeded that of the atmosphere by
6° Reaumur.
Finding that the clipper Plastron, owing to some
former injury, was unable to continue her voyage
without going into dock, the Commodore determined
to proceed to Monte Video. After the storm above-
380 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
mentioned, we had beautiful weather, until we reached
the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, where we had an
example of the phenomenon of the country- the
Pampero, or south-west gale, which lasted about nine
hours. This was followed by that remarkably pure
sky and clear atmosphere which is also peculiar to
this part of the South American coast.
381
CHAPTER XXI.
Monte Video-Town-Ladies-Society-Education in Buenos Ayres
and Monte Video-City of Buenos Ayres-Rivalled by Monte
Video-Aspect of City-Rides in the Vicinity-The Saladeras
and Mataderas-Destruction of Horses-Commerce of Hides,
&c.-Election of President-Markets-The Gaucho-Population
-Foreigners-Climate-Viente Norte-The Pampero-Mor-
tality of Children-Diseases-Progress of Provinces during
Peace.
ON Sunday the 22nd April, we anchored in the Bay
of Monte Video, and found there English, French,
American and Brazilian squadrons, with single ships
of other maritime powers.
Santo Felipe, Monte Video, is a pretty town situated
on a small cape, and washed by the river on three sides.
One or two batteries, and a large custom-house, are
the chief objects seen from the harbour. On the other
side of the Bay is the Island of De la Liberdad, on
which is the Quarantine, and beyond that the conical
hill, Monte Video, whence the city derives its name. Its
streets are built at right angles, and the houses seldom
more than one story high, with terraces at the top,
on which water (a scarcity) is collected for domestic
purposes. The larger houses have little turrets, or
pleasure-rooms on these terraces, from which a fine
panoramic view may be obtained of the city and ship-
ping in the bay. In the Plaza is the Cathedral; plain
outside, but richly decorated in the interior; besides
382 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
this there are four other churches in the city. There
is also an opera, and another smaller theatre for
Spanish plays and masquerade balls. The market is
well supplied, and offers a curious picture to the
voyager as he watches the country people bringing in
their produce, and the city dames making their pur-
chases, mass-book in hand, having just said their
prayers.
The streets are badly paved, and have narrow walks
on either side, so narrow indeed that the wide spread-
ing crinolines of the ladies of Monte Video are quite
out of proportion to them. It is, of course, the
custom to give the lady the wall, so that the men are
continually hopping on and off the pavement, and the
rencounter of two ladies leads to extraordinary efforts
to pass each other. One day a Russian officer, struck
by the beauty of an approaching señorita, stood still
in the middle of the pavement, and constrained the
ladies to go outside, for which he was greeted by such
a scowl, and the exclamation of " Que indecente!"
which, however, he did not understand.
In the evening at dusk it is the time for the ladies
of Monte Video to come abroad. They may then be
seen in every costume, mantilla, round hat, or French
bonnet, entering the shops, turning over the goods,
laughing, chattering, coquetting, but doing everything
very prettily. Then the evening bell calls them to
vespers, and they disappear. A Prussian who visited
this country a few years ago, says, "The early mass
is attended mostly by old women, who cannot sleep;
the evening mass by young ones, who there meet their
friends (female), and above all their friend, and have
THE LADIES OF MONTE VIDEO.
383
nice little kneeling rendezvous." But the best way to
judge from outward appearance, is to attend the mid-
day mass on Sundays in the Cathedral. The nave is
then like a parterre of flowers of many colours, but
perfect equality among them all, between the negress
with a bandana round her head, and her aristocratic
sister in mantilla, wide-awake, or chapeau de Paris. The
aisles are filled with dandies in primrose gloves, honest
artisans, and gentlemen of colour, all apparently there
with the same object in view. I never saw anywhere
a finer display of black eyes, well-booted little feet,
and tiny well-gloved hands, than in the Cathedrals of
Buenos Ayres and Monte Video. If those eyes were
not for ever bent on the brass-clasped mass-books, but
now and then flashed their glances right and left, it
was but a token of recognition, asked for beforehand,
and did not of course interfere with devotional feeling.
One custom I remarked that I had never before seen
in any
churches. Between the prayers all the ladies in
the nave sat down on the carpeted floor, like the
Japanese. When the little bell tingled all were alert
on their knees in a moment. On leaving the church
the porticoes are generally filled with dandies, and the
ladies pass out in the avenue formed by them before
the door. Each awaits a look, a smile, a token from
her who occupies his sensitive heart, and, this received,
he lights a cigar and strolls away happy.
So may a passing stranger catch a glimpse of the
Argentine ladies; if he resides in either city for any
length of time it will be his own fault if he do not
become better acquainted with the society of which
they form part; for the natives are most hospitable
384 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and open-hearted towards strangers, and in that
respect form a most pleasing contrast to their neigh-
bours the Brazilians, between whom and the Monte
Videans and Argentines no good feeling exists, as I
before said. The ladies of both Monte Video and
Buenos Ayres have been much extolled for their
beauty. Some few I saw certainly deserved to be so,
for regularity of feature, colour, expression, &c., as
well as for good figure, as far as one could distinguish
it from the mass of artifice which surrounded it. But
in general they charm more by their vivacity, their
natural coquetry, their amiability, and the contrast
altogether between them and the etiquetted ladies of
Europe. Although, compared with European ladies,
their education is neglected, and their freedom in
society is such as would excite the horror of prim old
governesses, yet most of them are able to speak either
English or French, have a smattering of music, dance
admirably, and their freedom is but the result of
hopeful and joyous feelings, natural to their age and
sex, far more natural, indeed, than the demure, well-
schooled hypocrisy prescribed by etiquette in some
other more advanced societies. As wives and mothers
they are both virtuous and affectionate, and hundreds
of foreigners of different nations marry ladies of the
country, and form happy households.
"
During the month of our remaining at anchor before
Monte Video, almost every evening was spent at some
tertulia," or in one or another of the families whose
acquaintance we had made. Music, dancing, laughing
games, tête-à-têtes in which the conversation chiefly
ran on the corazon, i. e. the heart, were the chief
EDUCATION AMONG THE ARGENTINES.
385
amusements. On two or three occasions we had a
whole troup of the young fair sex on board, under
the conduct of some mamma, who acted as dueña-
general for the occasion. The effect of this life was
shown on our departure in sighs, dreaming, and soli-
tary reveries among the officers, till a stiff gale of
wind, twenty-four hours after we put to sea, fortu-
nately blew the tender ideas out of their minds. Their
remembrance, however, of Monte Video will last, for,
of all places visited during a long voyage, it was the
one where they were the most hospitably and cordially
received.
The general education of the people has made great
progress during the last few years. Those to whose
lot it fell to govern were soon made aware that repub-
lican institutions can never prosper amid an ignorant
folk. The Porteños, as the burghers of Buenos Ayres
are called, as well as the upper classes in Monte
Video, are generally well educated, and speak one or
two European languages. Many parents, too, send
their children to the United States or to England for
instruction. In Buenos Ayres there is a university,
in which, by the last reports, were 445 students of
the liberal arts or sciences. A public library seems
well attended, as also a museum of natural curiosities.
The system of national education for Buenos Ayres
consists of thirteen schools in the town, with 981 girls
and 1,767 boys; in the campaña, of thirty-eight
schools, with 681 girls and 2,050 boys, giving a total
of 5,479. A similar system of public free education is
carried out in Monte Video. There are also schools
for the foreign population, wherein are 345 pupils—
25
386
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
214 boys and 345 girls.* In the widely dispersed
districts of the campaña, education is with difficulty
attainable, and the Gaucho grows up like the cattle
he tends. To ride the wildest horse, to throw the
lasso and the bolas with the most unerring aim, and
to understand the topography of the pampas, form
his ambition, his education, and the subject of all
interchange of ideas.
There is communication between Monte Video and
Buenos Ayres three times a week by steam; between
those towns and the provinces of the Parana and
Paraguay, once or twice. The fare between the two
cities is eight patagons, or dollars; and the arrange-
ments for sleeping and eating (included in the above
sum) are both comfortable and liberal. In the tour I
made to Buenos Ayres, we started at four o'clock P.M.,
and were at anchor in the inner roads before that
place at four the next morning, the distance about
120 miles.
The harbour, or rather roads, of Buenos Ayres is
most inconvenient for a commercial port. The outer
road, for ships of any draught, is from six to eight
miles from the town; the inner road has an intricate
entry for vessels drawing more than eight feet. Land-
ing is made in boats; but as even these cannot approach
within some hundred feet from the shore, horses and
* The sources from which these and all other statistics concerning
the provinces are taken, are the Registro Estadistico del Estado di
Buenos Ayres por Justo Maeso, and Almanaque de Escritorio, Com-
mercial y Estadistico para 1859. Besides, I consulted the Spanish
translation, with copious notes by Maeso, of Sir Woodbine Parish's
History of Buenos Ayres, brought down to 1856. Also, an excellent
German work on these provinces by André, of Leipsic.
MONTE VIDEO-BUENOS AYRES.
386
carts are further used for embarking and disembarking
passengers and merchandise. Two long wooden jetties
have lately been erected, but they cannot be reached
by any except very small boats at low water. It is
easy to understand the importance attached by Rosas
to the possession of Monte Video, which, with the
deeper water and the proximity of its bay to the city,
is so much more favourably situated for commerce
than Buenos Ayres. Monte Video has already won-
derfully improved since the settling of the La Plata
question, and must eventually become the great empo-
rium of trade for all the upper waters of the La
Plata. At the present time foreign flags, covering
more than 200 tons, are only permitted to mount the
Parana, and as the navigation is both tedious and
dangerous, the produce of those parts is brought
down in small craft, and reshipped in Buenos Ayres
or Monte Video. Large vessels, therefore, to be
freighted with the produce of those parts, save both
expense and risk by taking their cargo on board in
Monte Video.
The city of Buenos Ayres rises only a few yards
above the river level, by a gradual ascent. It re-
sembles Monte Video as to its streets and buildings.
The objects worthy of interest are the Plaza de la
Victoria, with a statue of Liberty in the midst, the
Cathedral being at one angle, the "Cabildo," or town-
house, with the prison (in which revolts occur. almost
periodically), at another. On the east side, a triumphal
arch separates it from another Plaza, that of the 25th
of May, where there is a kind of fortress looking on the
river, in which the viceroys formerly resided. There
25-2
388 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
are, further, two more large squares, in remote parts of
the city; a good opera-house; a Spanish theatre ;
markets; comfortable and cheap hotels; well-furnished
shops; an exchange, where money is made and lost in
threepenny bank-notes; a club for foreigners, and one
for the Porteños; three hospitals, a public library, and
a museum.
In the streets you come in contact with men who
are amiable, if you address them; with women, who
are young and beautiful, and whom you would like to
address, only they are followed by others, old and ugly,
their dueñas, whose sour looks soon neutralize that
desire; with soldiers, black and white, in tarnished
and tattered uniform; with priests, in long black gar-
ments, and broad, shovel hats; with an occasional
Gaucho, out of his element in the town; with num-
bers of horses, standing still, or hopping about with
their fore feet strapped together, while their masters
are visiting or trading; but not once did I see
a beggar on horseback, as some travellers have
mentioned.
The Gaucho lives on horseback, and what he does
by nature the foreigner is compelled to do by circum-
stances. So I hired me a horse, and had the luxury
of an English saddle, the use of which I had almost
forgotten, from long riding either with Japanese sad-
dles, or on bare-backed horses, or with divers imitations
of horse-trappings, to which I had been obliged to have
recourse in my previous excursions. And in this man-
ner, either alone or accompanied, I explored the country
for miles round the city, and if the reader accompany
me, he will, I hope, have an idea of as much as I saw.
RIDES ABOUT BUENOS AYRES.
389
66
The roads in the vicinity of the city are tolerable,
especially that leading to the Pueblo of San Fernando;
but beyond, and, indeed, in all the La Plata country,
they are mostly straggling tracks, worn bare of verdure
by the tramp of man or beast, and deep with either
dust or mud. One league from the city is the
Quinta" of Rosas; a low building, now mildewed
and neglected, but which in the days of his power
resounded with the voice of gaiety. Here he was
accustomed to give his fêtes to the Porteños and fair
ones of Buenos Ayres, and the surrounding gardens,
moats, groves of orange and lemon trees, avenues of
willows, and half-finished fountains, all wild in neglect,
exhibit a wilderness, where once was an Eden. In one
part of the ground was formerly a brig, thrown about
half a mile inland by a rising of the waters of the river,
and of this Rosas made a summer-house and ball-room;
since his overthrow it has been removed.
The country around the city is monotonous in the
extreme, although one or two eminences, the hedges of
cactus, or some pretty quinta enclosed in trees, give a
little variety to the scene. Farther out, one unbroken
plain, the vast Pampas extends for hundreds of
leagues to the Cordilleras of Chili, and to the shores
of the Straits of Magellan. There, often leagues from
each other, are the "estancias," or cattle-farms, where
the Gaucho grows up as wild as the cattle he tends;
these become more and more remote, till the roving
tribes of Indians are encountered and a life of frontier
warfare begins.
The chief place of interest for a stranger is the
"Saladeras," or establishments for curing hides and
390
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
beef. These are situated in the Pueblo of La Banaca,
on a small navigable river, which enters the La Plata
not far from the city. On the road thither are the
"Mataderas," covering about two acres, where corrals
of strong, crooked stakes are filled with cattle. Early
in the morning this place presents a busy scene: the
butchers from the town choose a bullock or two, as
required, from the corrals; a lasso is thrown over their
horns by the mounted Gaucho, who spurs his horse,
and drags the unfortunate animal into the open space;
another Gaucho whirls the bolas round its hind legs,
and brings it to the ground; another man is then
ready, who gives the animal a stab in the neck; and
five minutes after, its flesh is already packed in the cart
to convey it to the city. Meanwhile the mounted
Gauchos have ridden back to the corral, to recom-
mence. As many as eighty or a hundred oxen are
thus killed every day, for the consumption of the city.
There are groups in all costumes: "Estancieros," from
the Pampas; the proprietors of the Saladeras buying
droves of oxen; men, women, and young children,
bathed in blood,"pools of which and carcases of animals
are scattered about over all the space, while the stench
of blood is sickening.
But this is nothing compared with what is seen at
the Saladeras. Those we first visited belonged to
M. Cambacières, whom we had already seen buying oxen
at the Mataderas. This well-informed Porteño, who
spoke French exceedingly well, showed us over his
establishment, and explained its details. They were
that day killing mares, more than five hundred of
which pretty creatures were penned up in a corral.
SLAUGHTER OF MARES.
391
These corrals communicate one with another, a port-
cullis door being between each two. The last is in
the shape of a pear, strongly boarded in, and sur-
rounded by a platform; in the narrow end is a truck,
which moves from it on iron rails up and down a long
shed; a strong bar of wood crosses the opening where
the truck fits into the narrow end of the corral, and on
this bar is a block, through which the lasso runs,
having one end fastened to the saddles of two Gauchos,
while the noose remains in the hands of the Matador
on the platform. When all is ready, the Gauchos ride
into the farther corral, drive the animals into the pear-
shaped one, and the portcullis is dropped. The Mata-
dor whirls his lasso sometimes over the heads of three
or four mares at once, gives a signal to the mounted
Gauchos, who spur their horses, and the mares are
dragged on to the moving platform, with their heads
against the bar; the Matador then strikes them on the
head with a heavy iron hammer, the truck moves up the
shed, and another mounted Gaucho with a rope drags
them off the truck on either side of the tramroad, when
other men are ready to skin and cut them up. The
same mode is adopted with oxen, only they are killed.
by a stab of a knife in the neck, which divides the
spinal marrow. The first stab is generally sufficient;
the animal ceases to feel instantaneously. The only
suffering for the poor beasts is being kept long in the
corrals without food and water, sometimes for two or
three days.
Barbarous as it seems to a European to see horses
thus slaughtered for their skins, it is a painful neces-
sity. The Gaucho will never ride on a mare, and if a
392 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
stranger were to venture to do so he would be hooted
and jeered by every urchin he met. The Gaucho is far
from being like the Arab, who, it is known, rides only
mares, and treats them a little more kindly than
human beings. But the Gaucho will not only not ride
mares, but treats the horses he does ride in a most
barbarous manner: his spurs have points an inch in
length, and, on a journey, these are applied to the
blood-stained sides of the beast till he drops exhausted.
What does that matter to the rider? he easily finds
another; in fact, in the country they have hardly any
value at all. The rotting carcase or the skeleton of a
horse by the wayside is a usual sight, even in the
vicinity of the city of Buenos Ayres. Among the five
hundred mares above mentioned, three were saved from
the fate of the others by an English gentleman, who
had lately brought with him from England three fine
horses, and was about to try to improve the breed. For
these three mares he paid only sixteen shillings each.
The five hundred mares were killed and disposed
of in about six hours. In many establishments as
many as eight hundred horses or oxen are slaughtered
every day, and that nearly throughout the year. In
winter only, when the animals are not fat, is there a
little relaxation.
In the long shed above mentioned, the work of
dismembering the animals is going on, and the ex-
pertness with which it is performed may be judged of
by the fact that five minutes hardly elapse from the
time the ox leaves the corral before it is already cut
up and salted. The men employed in this work are
Basques, and often children with faces like angels
THE SALADERAS.
393
are among them deep in blood and revelling in their
disgusting work. When the hide, the principal object
of value, is removed, the flesh is cut in lumps off the
carcase, and removed to other hands, which slice it,
and throw it in brine, from which it passes to still
other hands which pack it in stacks with layers of
salt between. The flesh is turned every day for a few
days, until it is dried by the air, and in that state
forms the carne secco, which is exported in vast
quantities to Havana, the Brazils, Chili, Peru, and the
African coasts. The hides are salted in the same
manner, the superfluous brine running from the meat
to the reservoir which contains them. Most of the
salt used is brought from Cadiz.
The bones undergo a different treatment. Those
containing marrow are subjected to the action of steam,
and the fat thus procured is likewise largely exported
to the same places as the meat, besides being much
used as butter by the natives, who are excessively fond
of it. The rest of the bones, entrails, and all that
contains fat are steamed in another vat for tallow. The
tongues are salted and consumed at home. The
sinews, horsehair, &c. are also utilized, but still there
is an enormous waste, for everything is performed
a very rough manner on account of the high price
of labour. Formerly, only the hides were taken, and
the rest left to perish on the spot.
The mares are killed for their hides and hair alone.
The flesh is useless, and is either burnt or thrown
away. The proprietor pointed out to me a plot of
ground which he had formerly caused to be excavated
to raise the ground of his premises, and the holes had
394 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
been entirely filled up with mare's flesh. Most of the
men employed keep huge and disgusting swine, which
they fatten on the flesh and blood thus obtained with-
out stint. Thousands of sea-gulls whiten the air and
the ground, revelling on the disgusting remains. The
small quantity of fat procured from the flesh and
bones of the mares contains but little stearine or hard
fat. The refuse is strained from it by hanging it in
long bags, through which a clear though dark coloured
oil drips out. This is chiefly used for burning in
lamps.
The furnaces are fed entirely with flesh, bones, and
refuse, and the stench which is produced from the
reeking blood, the ammoniacal fumes from the scorching
bones and other substances are quite enough to sicken
the strongest stomach. The residue or bone ash has
lately become a valuable export to Europe, where it is
used as manure. Soap and candles are also made in
these factories for home consumption.
In the three “Partidos" of the province of Buenos
Ayres alone there were, according to the returns
of 1858, 3,875,742 horses, 8,672,675 oxen, and
1,385,280 sheep. In the year 1838, the number of
brned cattle did not exceed four millions, but since
the Pampas south of the Salado has been cleared
of Indians, and the country in general become more
settled, the above enormous increase has taken place.
The same with the sheep, the wool of which was
formerly so coarse, that it was only fit for carpets;
whereas since the improvement of the breed by a cross
with fine-woolled sheep, it is largely exported for finer
manufactures.
EXPORT OF HIDES, &c.
395
The exportation for 1858 consisted of 969,604 dry,
and 318,304 salted ox hides; 68,874 dry and 120,757
salted horse hides; wool to the amount of 37,423
fardos; tallow, 240,362 cwt. ; besides horns, oil, bones,
and hair. The number of ships in which these were
exported was 404.
If the returns given for 1851, the last year of Rosas'
dictatorship, be correct, the number of hides then ex-
ported exceeded by nearly a million those exported in
1858, and in other commodities the same difference
may be seen, on comparing the tables for the two
years. Thus what Rosas apprehended has come to
pass. The opening of the rivers in 1853 has caused
most of the export trade of the upper provinces to
pass through Monte Video. Maeso, in his statistics,
remarked already the same falling away in 1854.
Against 508 vessels of the coasting trade, of 7,352
tons, which entered Buenos Ayres, were 593 vessels, of
16,182 tons, which entered Monte Video.
During our stay in Buenos Ayres, took place the
election of the president for the next three years,
when General Mitré was chosen. As before said, his
policy is in favour of the union of Buenos Ayres to
the other thirteen States composing the Argenting
Confederation, but he seems to belong to the minority,
and was only chosen for want of somebody better.
The men who are really capable of holding such a
post with distinction to themselves and benefit to their
country, are the most unwilling to sacrifice their peace
in the seething vortex of Argentine politics, and so
refuse all the offers of their would-be partizans. On
the occasion of the present election, there was plenty
396
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
of patriotic oratory, promises, and pompous journalism,
yet very little public enthusiasm. The threepenny
bank-notes on the Exchange even decreased in value.
The next evening there was a representation, at the
Spanish theatre, of a comedy by a Buenos Ayrean,
and the newly sworn president attended in state. He
was received with respect by those in the corridors as
he passed through; in the house a few people stared
at him, but not a hum of enthusiasm was heard; the
national hymn was sung very badly by a young lady,
and loudly applauded, and the comedy, a very sopo-
riferous one, proceeded.
On another occasion much more public enthusiasm
was shown under far different circumstances. This
was the translation of the remains of some of the
members of General Urquiza's family from the
cemetery of Buenos Ayres on board a steamer for
Santa Fé, the present seat, I believe, of the Federal
Government. Urquiza, it will be remembered, was at
the head of the revolution which caused the downfall
of Rosas, and has, since that time, either as president
of the Confederation, or commander-in-chief of its
army, been obliged three times to blockade the rebel-
lious city of Buenos Ayres. The Porteños paid all
honour to his family; 125 carriages followed the
funeral cars; the streets were crowded with the
inhabitants; minute guns were fired, and a discharge
of rockets in broad daylight took place in the Plaza
de la Victoria.
The two large markets, one of the eastern, the other
of the southern district of the province, are well
worthy of a visit at early morn. Files of cumbersome
MARKETS OF BUENOS AYRES.
397
waggons are ranged along the open space, their
burden of wool roughly packed; piles of hides and
other skins are placed here and there. The pictur-
esque Gaucho and the town-clad merchant are convers-
ing over their horses' necks, examining the quality of
the wool, or galloping up and down from one group to
another. The "Capitaz," or conductor of a convoy
of waggons, and his peons, are stretched on the
ground beside the waggons, sucking up their maté
through a silver stem, smoking their cigarettes of black
tobacco, or sleeping. Now, and then may be seen
some specimen of the natural history of the southern
Pampas, a guanaco, an armadillo, some young ostriches,
or other animal, only to be seen in zoological gardens
in Europe. In these markets may be found instruc-
tion for the student of human kind, many a subject
for an artist's pencil, and, sometimes, in the wild song
of the Gaucho, an idea for the master of harmony of
the music of a people inhabiting the most dreary and
monotonous regions of our globe.
The "Gaucho," the man of the Pampas, is gene-
rally of pure Spanish blood, degenerated, if you will,
by neglect, by living in the solitude of nature and
continually combating with her. His physical intelli-
gence, so to speak, has been increased by the dangers
in the midst of which he lives, while his mental cul-
ture has been impossible, or has been opposed by
himself with an obstinacy which has become his pride.
His familiarity with blood and the death-throes of
animals dates from his early childhood, so that a man
expiring from his violence causes him no shock of
feeling. It is only when repeated bursts of passion
398 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
and murder have made him an outcast from his
brethren that he feels even the impropriety of his acts.
The inhabitant of the city, and especially the foreigner,
he regards as his enemy, for as he views the squalid-
ness of his own home and family, and the neatness and
well-being of the others, the contrast is too much for
his haughty ignorance. Education and town life he
despises, unless they are coupled with expertness in
riding, throwing the lasso, and chasing an infuriated ox.
On the other hand, he has the greatest respect for the
musician and the poet, the story-teller and the traveller
who can converse with him. His religion is a reflec-
tion of the Catholic; his passions are wayward and
strong, and in the hands of those who understand how
to control him and his passions, he is a useful and
even an affectionate follower. Rosas, and Rivera, his
opponent in Uraguay, were both pure Gauchos, who
passed the early part of their lives in the solitude of
the Pampas, in tending cattle, and not dreaming
either of them, perhaps, of the part they would after-
wards play in the political affairs of La Plata.
His national dress consists in loose white drawers,
sometimes embroidered at the bottom; a shawl of
some kind doubled corner-wise, two angles of which
are folded round his waist, the third passed between
the legs, and the whole confined by a girdle (a most
comfortable garment for riding a long journey); a
European shirt, and over all the poncho, a square
piece of cloth with a hole in the centre for the head to
pass through. Beneath the poncho across the back,
he wears his long knife, a formidable blade more than
a foot long, and which he is only too ready to use at
THE GAUCHOS-POPULATION.
399
the slightest affront. In the towns a high pair of
boots cover his feet, but in the Pampas, the skin from
the hind leg of a horse, drawn on wet and allowed to
stiffen there, answers the same purpose. A silk
hankerchief is mostly worn round the head, turban
fashion. In his fêtes he may be seen sometimes in a
short jacket with bright buttons. The ornaments he
wears, and the trappings of his horse, are of silver;
his large cumbrous stirrups and still more formidable
spurs are of the same metal, or plated. In general
all the Gaucho wears, his poncho, knife, and horse-
trappings, are all made in England, in imitation of
those formerly made in the country, and which have
become national.
But the "Gaucho" pur sang is now becoming a
rarity, for their numbers were terribly thinned by the
continued civil wars, and especially by the exhausting
conscription practised by Rosas. Their place is now
supplied by the immigration, and as the immigrants
immediately on their arrival in the country adopt the
costume of the Gaucho, they are often confounded
with the former by strangers.
As North America and Australia seem destined to
receive the surplus population of the Teutonic race, so
these States offer a home to the superfluity of the
Latin races. The State of Buenos Ayres, the most
important of them all, occupying a space of 5,160 square
leagues, had in 1824 a population of only 163,216.
The population of the city of Buenos Ayres alone
in 1858 was 119,886 souls, of whom 58,442 were
Argentines, the rest 32,855 foreigners, and 28,589
undetermined. In the four preceding years the differ-
'
400
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
ence between those who arrived and those who left the
province was 34,436, immigrants mostly, who were
soon dispersed in the campaña.
The total number of inhabitants of the countries of
the La Plata, Bolivia excepted, and the Indian tribes
not included, is about 2,100,000, scattered over a
country embracing 1,250,000 square miles. This
would give about 13 persons to the square mile. To
show the contrast with other countries, it may be
remarked that Brazil has 24, the United States 8,
Russia 28, and England 332 to the same space.
Maeso, in his copious statistics and remarks on the
state of Buenos Ayres, gives much information which
is also applicable to the other provinces, and which I
shall notice to give the reader an idea of the social
state of the country.
Of foreigners, the most numerous are the Spaniards,
including Spanish Basques; British, Italians, French,
Portuguese, and German, come next, in the order here
given. The British possess the bulk of the export
and import commerce, or are the proprietors of estan-
cias and sheep farms in the interior. The Spaniards,
Italians, and Portuguese are chiefly employed in the
navigation of the river, as small shopkeepers, cooks,
labourers, &c. Of the French, some are traders in
the productions of their country, but the majority, as
in other parts of the world, seem to be waiters in
hotels, barbers, milliners, &c. The Basques, French
and Spanish, who are settled here in large colonies
with their families and pastors, are the most hard-
working classes of the community, their labour being
brick-making, agriculture, mechanics, and the business
MARRIAGES OF FOREIGNERS AND NATIVES. 401
of the Saladeras. They are a most industrious, thrifty
race, save large sums of money, which they either
remit to Europe, or invest, by funding together their
earnings, in mortgages on the houses and property of
the natives. The Spaniards and Italians, mostly
Sardinians, seem also in these countries to be both
industrious and saving. The few Germans there are
occupy themselves principally with sheep farms and in
commerce.
I mentioned before that many foreigners have
married women of the country. In 1854, 892 mar-
riages took place in Buenos Ayres, and during a part
of that year, when a more correct account was kept, it
was found that out of seventy-nine marriages of native
women, twenty-six, or a third part, were to foreigners.
The same year, also, there was found, by census, to be
4,614 widows among a female population of 25,000
over twenty years of age, showing the ravages which
the wars of Rosas had made among the male popu-
lation of the campaña. In spite of this, however,
the male population exceeds the female by 25 per
cent., owing to the immigration being chiefly of young
and single men.
Experience has shown that the seducing title of
"Buenos Ayres," given by the first discoverers to
this country, is exaggerated, if not wholly undeserved.
The traveller would also bear away with him a false
impression, if he were to judge of the climate by the
gentle breezes, the more than Italian sky, and the
gorgeous sunsets, where the heavens, from the horizon
to the zenith, are painted with blended hues from the
darkest purple to the faintest tinge of yellow. Pro-
26
402
JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
perly speaking, the climate is the wind, the north and
the south-west prevailing, and the change from the
former to the latter not unfrequently lowers the
thermometer twenty or thirty degrees. The north,
the prevailing wind, traversing the marshy region
throughout the whole length of the La Plata rivers,
brings with it damp, in summer insupportable heat,
and excites in the human body a nervousness and
irritability often attended by fatal results. The effects
of the sirocco in the Levant, or the supposed baneful
influence of our own dog-days on animal nature, is
here more determined and deleterious. Sir Woodbine
Parish mentions in his work, that bloodshed, and
sudden outbursts of anger leading to it, are more
frequent during north winds, and quotes one or two
examples. The mysterious Dr. Francia, the Dictator
of Paraguay, was known to be more savage and eccen-
tric in his acts with a north wind, and was then
avoided as much as possible by his dependants. A
foreign physician at the hospital of Monte Video
informed us that many excitable people remain in the
houses during the time it lasts, and that colder-blooded
people then forbear by any means to excite the irrita-
bility of the people of the country. I myself saw a
negro, a Spaniard, and two Gauchos at a little village
a short distance from Monte Video, working under the
superintendence of an armed soldier. I could not
detect the least symptom of a ferocious or cruel nature
in their features, but, if anything, the reverse. I
inquired their crime: "Cuchillo e viente norte" (knife
and north wind). Besides these evils, fresh meat
becomes putrid after a few hours; wounds, even slight
ENDEMIC DISEASES.
403
ones, heal with great difficulty, and old ones reopen.
Tetanus is frequent from any tearing or wounding of
the muscles, and surgeons ascribe it to the peculiarity
of the atmosphere during north winds.
When these winds change, it is nearly always by
thunder-storms, as violent as in any part of the world.
The electricity then seems to centre itself over the
towns, whose buildings are nearly always the highest
points for leagues around in the treeless Pampas.
The wind shifts round to the south-west, and the
Pampero, the meteorological phenomenon of the
country, commences. In a short time the air is puri-
fied, the thermometer falls, animal nature respires,
and the atmosphere remains cool, elastic, and refresh-
ing, till the north wind again begins to blow down its
damp miasmata.
Yet intermittent fever does not seem to be as fre-
quent as might be expected from the causes above
stated. On the other hand, "Tetano," or "mal de
los siete dias," a complaint of childhood, hooping-
cough, phthisis, and pneumonia, are very prevalent.
From some returns which I procured in Buenos Ayres,
it would seem that nearly half the deaths are of chil-
dren under three years of age, chiefly from the "mal
de los siete dias" (disease of seven days), in which
the child expires in spasms and tetanus. What seems
the most inexplicable about this disease is, that the
infants of foreigners seem to be free from its attack.
Contagious diseases are rare, yet three years ago
the yellow fever was raging in Monte Video, and
destroyed a great number of people. Its cause was
ascribed to the effluvia from the gas, with which the
404 JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC.
town had lately been lighted up. The gasworks were
accordingly stopped, and since that time the streets
have been illumined by miserable oil lamps. The
true cause of the epidemic was afterwards found to
have been the evasion of some persons from Rio
from the Quarantine Island, who were either actually
sick or bore the germs of the complaint in them.
The town was again, I heard, to be lighted with gas.
The careless manner with which the records of
immigration are kept forbids me to give the number of
British who have lately settled in the country; I heard,
however, there were a great many. There is also no
doubt but that the resources of the country are becom-
ing slowly developed. In spite of the internal troubles
in Monte Video, land in that province which cost only
2,000 dollars the square league in 1852, cannot now
be bought for less than 8,000 or 9,000. Numbers of
British and Germans have established themselves as
wool-growers, and are realizing large profits. One
man, whose farm fortunately escaped the marauding
soldiers of either party, cleared 90,000 dollars in one
year by wool alone. The great drawback is the wanton
destruction of stock by these roving banditti during the
civil troubles; and although the foreigner is pretty
sure to be awarded compensation by the triumphant
party, yet the time which elapses before he receives it
is ruinous to his hopes of fortune. With ten years'
peace, a moderately well-stocked sheep-farm is pretty
sure to realize a fortune.
For an Englishman, so many countries peopled by
his own race are open, where a competence will surely
reward his labour, that few would be tempted to try
RETURN TO ENGLAND.
405
their fortune among an alien race. Yet it is just there
that an enterprising man of small capital is sure to
succeed, amid the idleness, apathy, and procrastination
which would surround him. To the mechanic, artizan,
or labourer, the country can offer few attractions; all
the skill of our surplus handicrafts or agriculturists can
be better expended in the improvement of our future
empires-Australia, the Cape, Columbia, or Canada.
We left Monte Video on the 20th of May, and ten
weeks afterwards we were anchored in Plymouth Har-
bour. The voyage of two years had been accomplished
under the most favourable circumstances, and only two
men had died from sickness-a fact to be attributed to
the excellent sanitary system adopted on board the
three ships.
THE END.
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