498 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



during the attack made upon 

 them by the Company's vessels. 



On the morning of the 10th of 

 July we filled our last cask with 

 water; which business and the 

 state of the wind did not permit 

 us to approach the castle. In the 

 meanwhile the Japanese sent out 

 a boat, and made signs that they 

 wished to speak to us. We im- 

 mediately rowed towards them, 

 and as we approached, I observed 

 that the persons in the boat threw 

 a cask into the water and imme- 

 diately put ashore. We found 

 that this cask contained all the 

 articles which we had left in the 

 village as payment for what we 

 had taken, and likewise all that 

 we had placed in the cask which 

 ■we had first sent off. I now put 

 into it eighteen piasters and some 

 East-India silks, and was pre- 

 paring to row on board, when 

 the Japanese began to beckon to 

 us with white fans, and to make 

 signs indicating that they wished 

 us to land. This invitation was 

 given when we had no longer 

 need of any thing from them, and 

 when we had obtained so abun- 

 dant a supply of wood, water and 

 provisions that we might have 

 continued two months longer at 

 sea, prosecuting our observations, 

 and then have sailed back to 

 Okotzk. 



I wished, however, to commu- 

 nicate with the Japanese for other 

 reasons. I considered it my duty, 

 as an officer in the service of the 

 Emperor of Russia, to assure 

 them, if possible, that our govern- 

 ment had taken no part in the 

 outrages comni'tted on their 

 coasts by the Company's vessels; 

 that the directors of the Ame- 

 rican Company, were not persons 

 of great consideration in Russia, 



but even they had never sanc- 

 tioned that illegal proceeding, 

 which was wholly attributable to 

 the captains of the vessels, and 

 that his Imperial Majesty had 

 ever entertained a wish to esta- 

 blish friendly compacts and com- 

 mercial relations between Russia 

 and Japan. I reflected that my 

 duty to my native country re- 

 quired that I should, in such a 

 case, lay aside all consideration 

 of personal danger. I therefore 

 ordered the sailors, of whom I 

 took four with me, to conceal 

 their arms by wrapping sail-cloth 

 about them, but to be careful to 

 have them in readiness in case 

 of an attack, and we landed at a 

 distance of from sixty to eighty 

 fathoms from the gates of the 

 castle. The Kurile Alexei, one 

 of the sailors and myself stepped 

 ashore : I ordered the rest to 

 keep the boat afloat, not to 

 permit any of the Japanese to 

 get on board of it, and to keep 

 their eyes constantly fixed upon 

 me in order to watch any signal 

 I might make to them. We were 

 met on the shore by an officer, 

 called an Oyagoda (a term nearly 

 equivalent to our commander of a 

 district), two inferior officers, two 

 privates and upwards of ten Ku- 

 riles. All the Japanese, though of 

 different ranks, were dressed in 

 costly silk garments, and were 

 completely armed ; each had a 

 sabre and poniard fastened in his 

 girdle, but the Kuriles, on the con- 

 trary, were without any arms. I 

 had only a sabre by my side, but I 

 had taken the precaution of con- 

 cealing three pair of pistols in 

 my pockets and my bosom. The 

 Oyagoda received me with the 

 utmost civility and politeness, 

 and requested that I would wait 

 •J- on 



