430 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



peaks in tlie interior covered with snow. The atmosphere was fresh and invigorating, the mean 

 temperature of the air being 59° of Fahrenheit, and that of the water 55°. The water was 

 perfectly smooth, with an oily aspect from the surface, being covered with a substance which 

 was supposed to be the excrement of wliales, of which large numbers of various kinds, as well 

 as of porpoises, were seen. At daylight, on the 16th, the course was shaped at an angle 

 approaching the coast, and although the land had been for awhile out of sight, it was now again 

 made and traced along until the ships reached the northeastern extremity of Nippon, called by 

 the Jajianese tSirija Saki. The southern and eastern coast of Japan from Cape Sirofama, as far 

 as was observed, is not so high as that on the western side of the Grulf of Yedo. It is, however, 

 of sufficient height to be observed, in tolerably clear weather, at a distance of forty miles. On 

 getting abreast of Cape Sirija Saki, the Strait of Sangar, which separates Nippon from Yesso, 

 was full in view, with the high land of the latter island distinctly visible ahead. The course 

 was now steered directly for Hakodadi, but on getting into the middle of the strait a current or 

 tide was encountered, which probably accelerated the eastern one, until the two reached a 

 combined velocity of six knots. This powerful current prevented the steamers from reaching 

 port that night, and it was thought advisable to put the heads of the steamers seaward. This 

 would not have been necessary if any reliance could have been placed upon the continuance of 

 clear weather. The engines were so managed as to expend little coal, and still to retain the 

 position of the vessels ; consec[uently, on taking the cross-bearings at daylight, it was found, 

 notwithstanding the current, that the ships had not shifted their places a mile from where they 

 had been when night set in. 



Scarcely, however, had the steamers stood again for their destined port when a dense fog 

 came on and obscured every object from sight, so that it was found necessary to head the 

 steamers towards the east. The sun, however, on approaching the zenith, cleared away the fog, 

 and fortunately bearings were distinguished which served as a guide to the port. As the cape, 

 called by the Japanese Surro-kubo, and which the Commodore named Cape Blunt, in honor of 

 his friends Edmund and George Blunt, of New York, was approached, there could be discerned 

 over the neck of land which connects the promontory of Treaty Point * with the interior, the 

 three ships of the srj[uadrou which had been previously dispatched, safely at anchor in the 

 harbor of Hakodadi. At the approach of the steamers, in obedience to the previous instructions 

 of the Commodore, boats came off from the ships with officers prepared to pilot in the Powhatan 

 and Mississippi, which finally came to anchor at nine o'clock on the morning of the l^th 



of May. 



The spacious and beautiful bay of Hakodadi, which for accessibility and safety is one of the 

 finest in the world, lies on the north side of the Strait of Sangar, which separates the Japanese 

 islands of Nippon and Yesso, and about midway between Sirija-saki,t the northeast point of the 

 former and the city of Matsmai. The bay bears from the cape N.W. | W. distant about forty- 

 five miles, and is four miles wide at its entrance and runs five miles into the land. 



The navigation of the Strait of Sangar, as far as it was examined by the officers of the 

 expedition, proved to be safe and convenient, and the entrance to the port of Hakodadi as 

 accessible as that of Simoda, which is saying everything in its favor. Like Simoda, Hakodadi 

 has an outer and inner harbor, the former being formed by the bay, which is somewhat of 



* So called on the American charts. 



t Saki, in the Japanese language, means "capo;" consequently it sliould more properly be called Cape Sirija. 



