3Gl cook's voyage to oct. 



offshore ; upon which, fearing that we should alarm 

 them by the appearance of a pursuit, we brought the 

 ships to, and she passed ahead of us, at the distance 

 of about half a mile. It would have been easy for us 

 to have spoken with them ; but perceiving, by their 

 manoeuvres, that they were much frightened, Captain 

 Gore was not willing to augment their terrors ; and, 

 thinking that we should have many better opportuni- 

 ties of communication with this people, suffered them 

 to go off without interruption. Our distance did 

 not permit us to remark any particulars regarding the 

 men on board, who seemed to be about six in number, 

 especially as the haziness of the weather precluded 

 the use of our glasses. According to the best con- 

 jectures we were able to form, the vessel was about 

 forty tons burthen. She had but one mast, on which 

 was hoisted a square sail, extended by a yard aloft, 

 the braces of which worked forward. Half way 

 down the sail came three pieces of black cloth at 

 equal distances from each other. The vessel was 

 higher at each end than in the midship ; and we 

 imagined, from her appearance and form, that it was 

 impossible for her to sail any otherwise than large. 



At noon the wind freshened, and brought with it 

 a good deal of rain ; by three it had increased so 

 much, that we were reduced to our courses ; at the 

 same time, the sea ran as high as any one on board 

 ever remembered to have seen it. If the Japanese 

 vessels are, as Kaempfer describes them, open in the 

 stern, it would not have been possible for those we 

 saw to have survived the fury of this storm ; but as 

 the appearance of the weather all the preceding part 

 of the day, foretold its coming, and one of the sloops 

 had, notwithstanding, stood far out to sea, we may 

 safely conclude that they are perfectly capable of 

 bearing a gale of wind. Spanberg indeed describes 

 two kinds of Japanese vessels ; one answering to the 

 above description of Kaempfer ; the other, which he 

 calls busses, and in which he says they make their 



