602 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



a hundred large fish on board. 

 When they were informed that 

 they might expect me in the 

 morning, they expressed their 

 hope that I would not fail, and 

 their wish to see some of my 

 officers along with me. I must 

 confess that this invitation ought 

 to have excited some degree of 

 suspicion, but I was led into the 

 error of disbelieving Jakuschkin. 

 As an officer, this midshipman 

 was zealous in the performance 

 of his duty, but his curiosity was 

 insatiable ; he wished to be every 

 where, and to see every thing 

 with his own eyes. I, therefore, 

 conjectured that it was not agree- 

 able to him to see me go ashore 

 by myself, and that he had in- 

 vented this invitation, in order 

 that I might be induced to take 

 him with me next day. What 

 confirmed me in this notion was, 

 that at the same moment he asked 

 leave to make one of the party ; 

 this I was, however, under the 

 necessity of refusing, as I had 

 previously promised to take mid- 

 shipman Moor and Mr. Chleb- 

 nikofF, the pilot. 



Next morning, July 11th, at 

 eight o'clock, I landed with the 

 above-named officers, the Kurile 

 Alexei, and four seamen. I was 

 so fully persuaded that we stood 

 on a friendly footing with the 

 Japanese, that I had not ordered 

 the seamen to arm themselves. 

 The officers, three in number, 

 including myself, had each a 

 sword, in addition to which Mr. 

 ChlebnikofF brought with him a 

 pocket pistol, more for the pur- 

 pose of making ;i signal in the 

 case of a fog, than for defence. 

 On passing the cask which we 

 had sent on shore, we looked into 

 it, and found all the things we 



had placed there unremoved. I 

 again recollected what had hap- 

 pened to Laxman, and ascribed 

 this circumstance to the Japanese 

 practice of accepting no presents 

 while a negotiation was pending. 

 At last we landed close to the 

 fortress. The Oyagoda, and two 

 officers whom I had seen the day 

 before, came out to meet us, and 

 begged that we would wait a little i 

 until every thing was prepared ' 

 for our reception in the castle. 

 Wishing by my confidence in the J 

 Japanese to extinguish any suspi- ' 

 cion they might yet entertain, I 

 ordered the boat to be hauled up 

 on the shore until it was half out 

 of the water, and left one sailor 

 with it. The other seamen I 

 directed to follow us, carrying 

 seats, and the presents which I 

 destined for the Japanese. We 

 walked from ten to fifteen mi- 

 nutes on the shore, during which 

 time I conversed with the Oya- 

 goda. I made inquiries respecting 

 the coast of Matsmai, of which 

 we had a view, and the trade 

 between their island and the pe- 

 ninsula of Niphon. 1 remarked, 

 however, that he answered my 

 questions with reluctance. Fi- 

 nally, we proceeded to the castle. 

 On entering the castle gate, I 

 was astonished at the number of 

 men I saw assembled there. Of 

 soldiers alone, I observed from 

 three to four hundred, armed with 

 muskets, bows and arrows, and 

 spears, sitting in a circle, in aii 

 open space to the right of the 

 gate : on the left a countless 

 multitude of Kuriles surrounded 

 a tent of striped cotton cloth, 

 erected about thirty paces from 

 the gate. I never could have 

 supposed this small insignificant 

 place capable of containing so 



many 



