328 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



anchorage." It is within the hight embraced within two hokl headlands, about twelve miles 

 distant from each other, on the western side of the Bay of Yedo. The anchorage was about 

 twelve miles beyond the town of Uraga, and about twenty miles from the capital city of Yedo. 

 The island which had been called Perry's, and which presented such a picturesque aspect during 

 the summer with its pleasant groves, was seen as the squadron passed up, and the fort which 

 covered its summit could be more distinctly traced through the trees, which had been stripped of 

 their foliage by the frost and winds of winter. 



The villages of Otsu and Torigasaki, no longer embowered in green growth, stood out from 

 the land a mile or so distant, in all the sharpness of outline and staring surface of their peak- 

 roofed and boarded houses. The anchorage, though protected by the bounding headlands and 

 the curved shore, had less of that sheltered look which it had previously presented. 



The squadron had hardly come to anchor when two of the government boats, which had fol- 

 lowed rapidly in the wake of the ships, came alongside the Susquehanna. The Japanese officials 

 requested to be admitted on board, but as the Commodore had caused the extra or captain's cabin 

 to be removed from the steamer Susquehanna to the Powhatan, in view of changing his flag to 

 that ship preparatory to the return of the former to China, and as in accordance with the system 

 of exclusiveness which it was thought politic still to continue, the Commodore could not admit 

 them, as they were of subordinate authority, into his own cabin, he directed Captain Adams to 

 receive the officials on board the Powhatan. 



Captain Adams, having been charged by the Commodore with precise and special instructions 

 to hear all the Japanese had to say, but to give them no unnecessary information, nor to promise 

 anything, proceeded to the steamer Powhatan, accompanied by the interpreters, Messrs. Williams 

 and Portman, and the Commodore's secretary, Mr. Perry. 



The government boats followed and the Japanese deputation came on board the Powhatan. 



It consisted of a high dignitary, who was announced as Kura-kawa-kahie, the two interpreters 



who had formerly officiated, three grey-robed individuals, who seemed to be making excellent 



use of their eyes, and turned out to be metske dwantinger, literally cross-eyed persons, or those 



who look in all directions, in other words spies or reporters. They were all received with one 



ceremony and ushered into the cabin, where the object of their visit was set forth at lengthy 



Some preliminary conversation took place, in the course of which inquiries having been made 



about Yezaiman, the governor of Uraga, who had taken so prominent a part in the negotiations 



on the previous visit, the Japanese stated tliat that dignitary was unwell, but would probably 



soon pay his respects to the Commodore. Questions were also asked and answered in regard to 



the ships, their number, names, and those that were to come. The usual compliments, of which 



the Japanese officials seemed never weary or forgetful, having passed, they stated that their 



business was to endeavor to induce the Commodore to return to Uraga, where, they said, there 



were two high Japanese officials, in waiting, and that more were expected, who had been 



appointed by the Emperor to meet and treat with the Americans. Captain Adams replied that 



the Commodore would not consent to go to Uraga. And upon the Japanese rejoining that the 



Emperor had appointed that town for the place of negotiation, and that it could, in consequence, 



be nowhere else, he was told by Captain Adams that the Commodore was willing to meet the 



commissioners on shore, opposite the present anchorage of the squadron ; but if the Japanese 



government would not consent to that, the Commodore would move his ships higher up the bay, 



even, if it should be deemed necessary, to Yedo itself. The interview was conducted in the most 



