MEETING WITH THE JAPANESE COMMISSIONERS. 255 



documents together with its seal, was placed in a box of rosewood about a foot long, with lock, 

 hinges, and mountings, all of gold. On either side of the Commodore marched a tall, 

 well-formed negro, who, armed to the teeth, acted as his personal guard. These blacks, selected 

 for the occasion, were two of the best looking fellows of their color that the squadron could 

 furnish. All this, of course, was but for effect. 



The procession was obliged to make a somewhat circular movement to reach the entrance of 

 the house of reception. This gave a good opportunity for the display of the escort. The 

 building, which was but a short distance from the landing, was soon reached. In front of the 

 entrance were two small brass cannon which were old and apparently of European manufacture; 

 on either side were grouped a rather straggling company of Japanese guards, whose costume 

 was diflerent from that of the other soldiers. Those on the right were dressed in tunics, 

 gathered in at the waist with broad sashes, and in full trowsers of a grey color, the capacious 

 width of which was drawn in at the knees, while their heads were bound with a white cloth in 

 the form of a turban. They were armed with muskets upon which bayonets and flint-locks were 

 observed. The guards on the left were dressed in a rather dingy, brown-colored uniform turned 

 up with yellow, and carried old-fashioned match-locks. 



The Commodore having been escorted to the door of the house of reception, entered with his 

 suite. The building showed marks of hasty erection, and the timbers and boards of pine wood 

 were numbered, as if they had been fashioned previously and brought to the spot all ready to be 

 put together. The first portion of the structure entered was a kind of tent, principally 

 constructed of painted canvas, upon which in various places the imperial arms were painted. 

 Its area enclosed a space of nearly forty feet square. Beyond this entrance hall was an inner 

 apartment to which a carpeted path led. The floor of the outer room was generally covered with 

 white cloth, but through its centre passed a slip of red-colored carpet, which showed the direction 

 to the interior chamber. This latter was entirely carpeted with red cloth, and was the state 

 apartment of the building where the reception was to take place. Its floor was somewhat raised, 

 like a dais, above the general level, and was handsomely adorned for the occasion. Violet- 

 colored hangings of silk and fine cotton, with the imperial coat of arms embroidered in white, 

 hung from the walls which enclosed the inner room, on three sides, while the front was left open 

 to the antechamber or outer room. 



As the Commodore and his suite ascended to the reception room, the two dignitaries who were 

 seated on the left arose and bowed, and the Commodore and suite were conducted to the arm 

 chairs which had been provided for them on the right. The interjjreters announced the names 

 and titles of the high Japanese functionaries as Toda-Idzu-no-hami, Toda, prince of Idzu, and 

 Ido-Iwami-ma-kami, Ido, prince of Iwami. They were both men of advanced years, the former 

 apparently about fifty, and the latter some ten or fifteen years older. Prince Toda was the 

 better looking man of the two, and the intellectual expression of his large forehead and amiable 

 look of his regular features contrasted very favorably with the more wrinkled and contracted, 

 and less intelligent face of his associate, the prince of Iwami. They were both very richly 

 dressed, their garments being of heavy silk brocade interwoven with elaborately wrought figures 

 in gold and silver. 



From the beginning, the two princes had assumed an air of statuesque formality which they 

 preserved during the whole interview, as they never spoke a word, and rose from their seats only 

 at the entrance and exit of the Commodore, when they made a grave and formal bow. Yezaiman 



