494 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



these sentences were rigorously executed, although the authorities solemnly promised the 

 Commodore that they should be. 



The Commodore^ however, ordered the trial by a court martial of the two surviving 

 Americans, who commenced the disturbance, and they were dealt with according to their 

 deserts. The whole affair was a subject of deep regret to the Commodore, and was the only 

 instance of any seriously unpleasant occurrence during the whole intercourse of the Americans 

 with the Lew Chewans, in their five visits to the island. 



It may not be uninteresting to lay before the reader the forms of a Lew Chew judicial 

 proceeding, as the customs of a country, in so grave a proceeding, are necessarily illustrative of 

 the national character. The flag-lieutenant, Mr. Bent, and Mr. Williams, the interpreter, had 

 been selected by the Commodore to attend the trial, in accordance with the request of the Lew 

 Chew authorities that some of our officers should be present. These gentlemen, on reaching 

 the hall, were furnished with seats at the head of the room, immediately opposite to the regent 

 and treasurer ; on their left sat three of the judges on mats ; and opposite to them, on a line 

 with the regent and treasurer, were the three other judges similarly seated. The prisoner on 

 trial knelt on the ground outside of the hall, (which was open on that side,) with his head just 

 above the flooring of the balcony, and facing the interior of the hall. Questions were put to 

 him by the judges, and if he proved intractable or stubborn in responding his elbows were tied 

 together behind his back, and, on the slightest hesitation, a policeman on either side of him 

 punched him severely in the ribs with large sticks about two inches in diameter and four feet in 

 length. These never failed to loosen the fellow's tongue, but whether to utter truth or 

 falsehood was, to our gentlemen, very questionable. This, if not equal in severity to the old 

 ^' peine forte et dure" of our ancestors, proceeds on the same principle. 



On each successive visit to the island the gentlemen of the expedition gathered additional scraps 

 of information as to customs, one of which is so similar, in the feeling which prompts it, to our 

 own new year's congratulations, that it is worthy of a passing notice. In the spring, when 

 the new year opens in Lew Chew, and perhaps in Japan also, (though of the latter we cannot 

 speak certainly,) the usage of the islanders is to ofl"er the expression of their good wishes and 

 friendly feelings in the form of inscriptions attached to the houses of each other, or sent to the 

 inmates. Mr. Williams translated several of these, a few of which we subjoin as specimens : 



" Gay clouds meet the rising, gloriotis sun ; ten tliousand joys greet the opening spring." 



" Let all sing these days of general peace, and rejoice together in the opening spring." 



" May all joys clamber about your happy abode; may a thousand lucks collect at this gaie." 



"■ May every door have luck and joy, and every land be blessed tvith peace." 



" May your felicity be as broad as the eastern sea; your age enduring as the southern hills." 



" The peach tree in fairy land ripens in thirty centuries; may the seaside house be blessed with 



ninety more autumns. 



" We joyfully hope the brightening year tvill meet a flourishing time, as the bloom ofsjyring begins 



to shine upon this humble door." 



" 3Iay the three stars, peace, office, age, enter your door; and sons, riches, honors, bless your 



gate." 



" Happiness descends from heaven." 



" As the ivind and light go their circuits through the world, so does the gladsome spring from 



heaven ffi us come d.num." 



