1827. 



PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 1(55 



posed there must necessarily be much intercourse. 

 We rested awhile on the eminence that afforded this 

 agreeable view of a country but very little known, May, 

 and were joined by several persons whom fear or in- 

 dolence had prevented keeping pace with us. Our 

 guide now lighted his pipe and forgot his apprehension 

 in the consoling fumes of tobacco, while some of the 

 party amused themselves with viewing the capital 

 through a telescope, each preventing the other having 

 a quiet view by their anxiety to obtain a peep. Our 

 clothes in the meantime were undergoing an exami- 

 nation from the remainder of the party, who, after 

 looking closely into the texture of the material, ex- 

 claimed — choorassa, choorassa! (beautiful). 



While we sat here a Japanese junk bore down from 

 the northward, and according to the information of 

 those around us, which afterwards proved to be cor- 

 rect, she came from an island called Ooshimar, to the 

 northward of Loo Choo, and was laden with rice, 

 hemp, and other articles. Her sails and rigging re- 

 sembled the drawing of the Japanese junks in La 

 Perouse's voyage. She passed close to the Blossom 

 at anchor, and from the report of the officers her 

 crew had their heads shaved in the fashion of the 

 Japanese. Her arrival excited general interest, brought 

 all the inhabitants to the housetops, and a number of 

 canoes crowded round her before she reached the 

 inner harbour, where she was towed and secured 

 alongside several other junks bearing the same flag. 



On our return we passed through a village consist- 

 ing of a number of square inclosures of low stone 

 walls, separated by lanes planted on both sides, and 

 so overgrown with bamboo and ratans that we could 

 neither see the houses nor the sky ; several handsome 



