INTRODUCTION. 33 



construction. Its greatest length is about COO feet, and its greatest breadth about 240. A 

 small stone bridge connects it with the town of Nagasaki ; at the end of this bridge there is 

 always stationed a strong Japanese guard, and no one passes either to or from the island without 

 license. The whole island is surrounded with a high fence, on the top of which are jjlaced iron 

 spikes. Two water gates, on the north side of the island, are opened to let in the Dutch ships 

 when they arrive, and are at all times kept shut save at the ingress and egress of these vessels. 

 The Dutch are not permitted to build a house of stone on the island, and their miserable 

 habitations are of fir wood and bamboo. The island has on it, at all times, Japanese spies, in 

 the situations of interpreters, clerks, servants, &c., whom the Dutch are obliged to pay ; and is 

 beside subject at any moment to the intrusion of the police of Nagasaki. In short, a more 

 annoying and thorough system of imprisonment and espionage was never devised. 



When a ship arrives, the first act is to take out of her all her guns and ammunition. She is 

 then searched in every part, and an exact list is made of the goods and everything else she has 

 on board. The crew are then permitted to land on Dezima, where they are kept, as long as the 

 ship remains, under the inspection of guards. Every Japanese official, whose business is with 

 the Dutch at the factory, is bound twice or thrice in a year to take a solemn oath of renunciation 

 and hatred of the Christian religion, and is made to trample under his feet crosses and crucifixes. 

 It is not true, however, as has been stated, that the Dutch also are required to perform this act ; 

 but they dare not say openly that they are Christians. A story is told of one who, in the time 

 of the great persecution at Nagasaki, being asked by the Japanese poliqe "if he were a 

 Christian," replied : "No! I am a Dutchman." With such an exhibition of Christianity, who 

 wonders that the Japanese despise it. 



Formerly the chief of the factory, with the physician and some other officials at Dezima, 

 visited the Emperor at Jeddo annually, and made to him costly presents. The visit is now 

 quadrennial. On these occasions the Europeans had an opportunity of seeing and knowing 

 something of Japan ; and almost all they have published to the world has been gathered in 

 these periodical journeys to the capital. The story, however, is so uniform that we are 

 constrained to believe there is a well defined class of objects and subjects with which alone the 

 strangers are permitted to come into communication. 



Kfempfer says that in his time (1690-'92) the Dutch were allowed, while the ships were away, 

 once or twice in the year, to walk into the country in the neighborhood of Nagasaki ; but they 

 were always objects of suspicion and surrounded by spies. At present, (as we learn from 

 Siebold,) if a member of the factory wishes such recreation, he must petition the governor of 

 Nagasaki twenty-four hours beforehand ; leave is granted, but the Dutchman is accompanied by 

 a swarm of interpreters, policemen, (banyoos, as they are called,) and other official spies to the 

 number of some twenty-five or thirty persons. Each of these, too, may invite as many of his 

 acquaintance as he pleases, and the unfortunate Dutchman must entertain them all. This heavy 

 expense is doubtless designed by the Japanese to prevent the members of the factory from leaving 

 Dezima. Nothing is more obvious than that the Japanese, as a people, have but little respect 

 for the Dutch. Thus, when one of the factory goes out on leave, the boys follow him in a crowd, 

 hooting and shouting, Holanda! Eolanda! or, as they pronounce it, Eoranda! Horanda! The 

 gentleman, in pursuit of pleasure and the picturesque, is not allowed to enter any private 

 residence during his ramble, and he must be back at Dezima by sunset. If a Dutchman, at any 

 time, wishes to visit a private acquaintance, or is invited by an inhabitant of Nagasaki to 

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