XV,.] 



AUDIENCE OF THE MIKADO. 



G29 



into French by the interpreter, and of which, before we left 

 the place, a beautiful copy was given me. I then read my salu- 

 tation, on which our minister, van Stoetwegen, said a few 

 words, and got some words in reply. After leaving the 

 imperial chamber, we were entertained in the anteroom with 

 Japanese tea and cigars. The two princes who had taken 

 part in the entertainment of the 15th came and talked a 

 little with us, as did the minister of foreign affairs. The 



THE FIRST MKDAL WHICH WAS STRUCK AS A Ml MuRIAL OF THE VOYAGE OF THE - VEGA." 



Size of the original. 



Emperor Mutsuhito, in whose name reforms have been 

 carried out in Japan to an extent to which history can 

 scarcely show anything equal, was born the 3rd November, 

 1850. He is considered the 121st Mikado of the race of 

 Jimmu Tenno, the members of which have reigned uninter- 

 ruptedly in Japan for nearly two thousand years, with varying 

 fates and with varying power— now as wise lawgivers and mighty 

 warriors, now for long periods as weak and effeminate rulers, 



