PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 173 



the servants were regaled upon the floor in the inner 

 room, while we were seated at a table in the outer 

 apartment. Our table, which had been made in Japan, 

 was nicely lacquered, and had Chinese characters gilt 

 upon its edges and down the sides of the legs, record- 

 ing the date and place where it was made, as well as 

 the name of the workman, &c. It was covered with 

 dishes containing a variety of eatables, principally 

 sweetmeats, and two sorts of spirits, sackee and moo- 

 roofacoo. The former resembles the samscheu of 

 China, and the other is a dark coloured cordial pos- 

 sessing a bitter-sweet taste. We were seated on one 

 side of the table, myself in an old-fashioned chair, 

 and the other officers upon camp-stools with japanned 

 backs, and the host, Jeema, and the other mandarins, 

 on the other side : and each person was provided with 

 a small enamelled cup, and a saucer with a pair of 

 chopsticks laid across it; the crowd all the while sur- 

 rounding the house, and watching through its open 

 sides every motion we made. Pipes and mooroofacoo 

 were first offered to us, and then each dish in succes- 

 sion ; of which we partook, according to our different 

 tastes, without being aware of the Chinese custom of 

 giving the sweets first, and reserving the substantial 

 part of the dinner for the last. 



Among the dishes, besides some sweet cakes made 

 very light, were different kinds of pastry, one of a cir- 

 cular form, called haiinaburee, another tied in a knot, 

 hard and disagreeable, called ?)iatzakai, and a third 

 called koomhig, which enclosed some kind of fish. 

 There was also a mamalade, called tsheeptang, a dish 

 of hard boiled eggs without the shells, painted red, 

 and a pickle which was used instead of salt, called 

 dzeeseehedakoonee ; besides a small dish of sliced cold 



