VISIT OF THE PREFECT AND INTERPRETER. 355 



Mr. Jones read the service of the Pi'otestant Episcopal church, and while he was offici- 

 ating the Buddhist priest sat near by on a mat, with an altar before him, on which was a 

 collection of scraps of paper, some rice, a gong, a vessel containing saki, and some burning 

 incense. The service having been read, the body lowered, and the earth thrown in, the party 

 retired from the grave. The Buddhist priest then commenced the peculiar ceremonies of his 

 religion, beating his gong, telling his rosary of glass and wooden beads, muttering his prayers, 

 and keeping alive the burning incense. He was still going through his strange formulary when 

 the Americans moved away, and crowds of Jajianese continued to linger in tlie neighborhood, 

 about the crests and acclivities of the hills which bounded the scene. Mr. Williams, the 

 interpreter, who had lived long in China, and was familiar with the Buddhist worship, recog- 

 nized its peculiarities in the precisely similar ceremonies performing at the grave by the 

 Japanese priest. A neat enclosure of bamboo was subsequently jjut up about the American 

 grave by the authorities, and a small hut was erected near, for a Japanese guard to watch the 

 grave for a time, according to their custom. 



On the same day the prefect, Kura-Kawa-Kahei, and the chief interpreter, Yenoske, came on 

 board the Powhatan with a copy of the Imperial reply to the President's letter, duly certified 

 and signed by the four commissioners. The two Japanese officials subsequently repaired to the 

 Mississippi, where they conferred for some time with Captain Adams. They appointed the 

 Monday following (March 13th) for the reception of the presents, and it was arranged that those 

 persons who had the supervision of the telegraph, the Daguerreotype apparatus, and steam 

 engine, should land on the previous Saturday, to arrange a place for their suitable exhibition. 

 The Japanese stated that two of the commissioners would be in attendance, with a scribe, to 

 receive and record the various presents, and the names of the persons for whom they were 

 intended. Upon Captain Adams saying that all the presents received by the officers of the 

 United States were, by law, the property of the government, Yenoske remarked that a similar 

 law existed in Japan. To the inquiry of the Japanese as to when the Commodore's reply to the 

 answer to the President's letter would be ready, it was promised for the subsequent Saturday. 



Captain Adams now asked what ports the commissioners had selected for the trade of the 

 Americans, and where they were, and remarked that five years, the time appointed for the 

 opening of them, was deemed by the Commodore much too long, and that he would never 

 submit to having a place so restricted as Dezima for the use of the Americans. The prefect 

 waived all immediate consideration of the subject, saying that it was one upon which the 

 commissioners would negotiate and deliberate, and that it would necessarily require time. 

 Yenoske, the interpreter, was then told that he could forward the purposes of the ex^Dedition, 

 since he was familiar with them ; he promised to do so to the utmost of his power, but he 

 declined, although a map was placed before him, to name the ports for American intercourse, 

 saying, as he refused, that the whole matter was so new, and so opposed to the laws of the 

 Empire, that time would be required to bring matters to such an issue. In regard to the 

 question of going ashore, which had been submitted to the commissioners. Captain Adams asked 

 for some explicit reply, stating that the surveying party, which was at the time at work in the 

 bay, would require to plant signals along the shore, but would not go into the interior. To 

 this the prefect answered that the views of the commissioners had not been yet fully matured, 

 but seemed to concur in the necessity of the signals, if the Commodore had so ordered it. He, 

 however, expressed his fear of trouble and confusion, if the officers, engaged in their duty. 



