494 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



garrison. Atliought now suddenly 

 • came across my mind. I imagined 

 that by means of signs I might 

 make myself understood by the 

 Japanese. For this purpose, on 

 the 6th of July, I caused a cask 

 to be sawed in two, and set both 

 parts afloat in the water in front 

 of the town. In the inside of one 

 half of the cask were placed a 

 glass containing fresh water, a 

 piece of wood, and a handful of 

 rice, to denote that we were in 

 want of these articles ; the other 

 half contained a few piastres, a 

 piece of yellow cloth, and some 

 crystal beads and pearls, meaning 

 thereby to intimate that we would 

 give them either money or other 

 articles in exchange for provi- 

 sions. Upon this half of the cask 

 we fixed a drawing of the 

 harbour, the fortress and the 

 sloop; which was very skilfully 

 executed by the Midshipman, 

 Moor. In this drav.ing the sloop's 

 guns were very distinctly marked, 

 but fixed in the ports with their 

 tompkins in ; but the guns of the 

 garrison were represented as 

 firing, and the balls flying over 

 the sloop. By this means I \vished, 

 if possible, to make the Japanese 

 sensible of their perfidy. No 

 sooner had we set the cask afloat 

 and rowed away, than the Japa- 

 nese immediately seized it, and 

 carried it into their fortress. On 

 the following day we approached 

 within gun-shot of the castle, for 

 the purpose of receiving an 

 answer ; having, however, pre- 

 viously made every preparation 

 for an engagement; but the 

 Japanese did not seem to notice 

 us. No one appeared near the 

 works, which were still hung 

 round with cloth. 



I reflected seriously on all the 

 circumstances that had occurred, 

 and was convinced that I had a 

 right to demand an answer of 

 some sort or other from tlie 

 Japanese. Out first intercourse 

 with them had been purely acci- 

 dental ; the chief with whom we 

 communicated had voluntarily 

 given us a letter to the governor 

 of a town, in order that we might 

 be supplied not only with wood 

 and water, but likewise with pro- 

 visions. Relying on this assur- 

 ance, we had sailed lo Kunashier, 

 and lost a fortnight, during which 

 time we might have returned to 

 Okotzk. Our provisions having 

 in the meanwhile greatly diminish- 

 ed, we hoped to obtain a fresh 

 stock from the Japanese, who, 

 however, did not regard our 

 proposal as worthy of an answer. 

 In this critical situation, I re- 

 quested that each officer should 

 draw up a written declaration of 

 his opinion respecting the course 

 which ought to be adopted. 

 They all agreed that nothing but 

 the utmost provocation could jus- 

 tify us in proceeding to hostili- 

 ties, until the command of the 

 monarch authorized us so to do. 

 In this particular, the opinions of 

 the officers coincided with my 

 own, and we moved farther from 

 the castle. 



I now dispatched a well-armed 

 boat, under the command of 

 Captain-Lieutenant Rikord, to a 

 fishing-village on one side of the 

 harbour, directing him to take 

 the necessary quantity of wood, 

 water, and rice, and to leave pay- 

 ment either in Spanish piastres 

 or merchandize. I remained on 

 board the sloop, which I kept 

 under sail at a short distance 



from 



