124 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



it a strong rope whose other end is tied to trees, posts, or large 

 rings fixed to rocks. The wahus is then wakened by throwing 

 large stones at its head. In its attempts to escape it leaves its 

 hide behind. It perishes soon after, or is thrown up half dead 

 on the beach. He further states that walrus lines on account of 

 their strength are suitable for lifting great weights, and that they 

 are always on sale at Cologne. They were probably used at the 



JAPANESE DRAWIKO OF THE WALRUS 1 



building of the Cathedral there. Similar extraordinary rej)re- 

 sentations of the appearance and mode of life of the walrus are 



^ The drawing is taken from a Japanese manuscript bool^ of travels- 

 No. 360 of the Japanese Hbrarj' which I brought home. According to a 

 communication by an attaclie of the Japanese embassy wliich visited Stock- 

 holm in the autumn of 1880, the book is entitled Kau-kai-i-fun^ "Narrative 

 of a remarkable voyage on distant seas." The manuscript, in four volumes, 

 was written in 1830. In the introduction it is stated that when some 

 Japanese, on the 21st November, 1793 (?), were proceeding with a cargo 

 of rice to Yesso, they were thrown out of their course by a storm, and 

 were driven far away on the sea, till in the beginning of the following 

 June they came to some of the Aleutian islands, which had recently been 

 taken by the Russians. They remained there ten months, and next year 

 in the end of June they came to Ocliotsk. The following year in autumn 

 they were carried to Irkutsk, where they remained eight years, well treated 

 by the Russians. They were then taken to St. Petersburg, where they 

 had an audience of the Czar, and got furs and splendid food. Finally 

 they were sent back by sea round Cape Horn to Japan in one of Captain 

 von Krusenstern's vessels. They were handed over to the Japanese 

 authorities in the spring of 1805, after having been absent from their 

 native country about thirteen years. From Nagasaki they were carried to 

 Yeddo, where they were subjected to an examination. One person put 

 questions, another wrote the answers, and a third showed by drawings all 

 the remarkable events they had survived. They were then sent to their 

 native place. In the introduction it is further said that the shipwrecked 

 were unskilful seamen, by whom little attention was often given to the 

 most important matters. A warning accordingly is given against full 

 reUance on their accounts and the drawings in the book. The latter 

 occupy the fourth part of the work, consisting of more than 100 quarto 

 pages. It is remarkable that the first Russian circumnavigation of the 

 globe, and the first journey of the Japanese round the world, hapj^ened at 

 the same time. 



