MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



505 



tn^ the officers who remained on 

 board the Diana, and that I would 

 leave no officer as a hostage : 

 "upon which we rose to go away. 



The Governor, who had hitherto 

 conversed in a soft and gentle 

 voice, now altered his tone, spoke 

 loud and with warmth ; frequently 

 Kieniioned Resanolo (Resanoft) 

 and Nicoia-Sandrejetsch (Nicoiai 

 Alexandroivitsch, meaning Ciiwo- 

 stofF, the captain of the company's 

 ehip) and struck several times 

 on his sabre. In this manner he 

 made a long speech, of which 

 the terrified Alexei interpreted 

 to us only the following sentence : 

 — '• The Governor says that if 

 he let a single one of us out of 

 the castle, his own bowels will be 

 ript up." This was brief and 

 decisive ! We instantly made all 

 the haste we could to escape. 

 The Japanese did not venture to 

 close upon us, but set up a loud 

 cry, and threw oars, and large 

 pieces of wood at us, to knock us 

 down. On our reaching the gate, 

 they fired several times on us, 

 but without effect, though one of 

 their balls whistled past the head 

 of Mr. Chlebnikoff. We now 

 found that they had succeeded in 

 detaining Mr. Moor, the sailor 

 Makarotf and our Kurile Alexei 

 in the castle. We ran, however, 

 to our landing place; but on ar- 

 riving there, perceived with horror 

 that the tide had ebbed about five 

 fathoms and left the strand quite 

 dry. As the Japanese saw that 

 it was impossible for us to get the 

 boat afloat, and had previously 

 ascertained that it contained no 

 arms, they became confident, 

 advanced against us with drawn 

 «abres, which they held in both 

 liands, muskets and spears, and 

 «urrounded us beside the boat. 



I cast a look upon the boat, and 

 said to myself;— It must be so; 

 our last refuge is lost ; our fate 

 is unavoidable! — I surrendered. 

 The Japanese seized me by the 

 arms and conducted me to the 

 castle, into which my unfortunate 

 companions were also conveyed. 

 On the way thitiier a soldier 

 struck me several times on the 

 shoulder with a small iron bar, 

 but one of the officers said some- 

 thing to him, accompanied with 

 a look of displeasure, and he im- 

 mediately discontinued. 



From the incommodious place 

 in which they were first confined, 

 the captives were transferred to 

 the considerable town of Mats- 

 mai, in which the principal officer 

 bore the name of the Bunyo. 

 Their treatment here became 

 gradually improved ; but the de- 

 spair of regaining their liberty, 

 at length so far overpowered the 

 spirits of Captain Golownin and 

 his associates, that they made a 

 desperate attem.pt to set them- 

 selves free. This was near the 

 end of April 1812, and it is 

 related in the following narra- 

 tive : 



About half an hour before mid- 

 night, Simanoff and Schkajeff stole 

 into theyard, and concealed them- 

 selves under the steps. When 12 

 o'clock struck, and the Sangar 

 soldiers had gone their rounds, 

 they began to make a hole under 

 the fence through which we all 

 (Mr. Moor and Alexei excepted) 

 crept one after another. I stum- 

 bled in going out, slipped down 

 and struck my knee against a stake 

 which was sunk in the ground 

 close to the opening. The blow 

 was extremely violent, but the 

 pain soon diminished. 

 We found ourselves on a very 



narrow 



