MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



527 



period in Japan, but you are now 

 to return to your native country 

 by order of the Bunyo. The 

 period of your departure is fast 

 approaching. During your long 

 residence here such an intimacy 

 has arisen between us, that we 

 cannot help regretting the neces- 

 sity of our separation. The dis- 

 tance between the island of 

 Matsmai and our eastern capital 

 is very considerable, and in this 

 frontier town there are many 

 deficiences. You have, however, 

 been accustomed to heat, cold, 

 and other variations of weather, 

 and are now prepared for your 

 happy voyage home. Your own 

 joy must be extreme ; we, on our 

 part, rejoice at the happy issue 

 of the affair. May God protect 

 you on your voyage, for that we 

 pray to him. We write this as a 

 farewell letter." 



The joy of the Japanese was, 

 indeed, unfeigned. We under- 

 stood from the interpreters, that 

 in consequence of an application 

 from the High Priest of the city, 

 the Bunyo had issued orders that 

 pra3'ers for our safe voyage should 

 be offered up in all the temples 

 for the space of five days. 



On the 6th of October, one 

 ^ of the officers, accompanied by 

 Kumaddschero, was sent on boai'd 

 the Diana, to inform Captain 

 Rikord that the orders for our 

 liberation had been officially an- 

 nounced by the Bunyo. At their 

 request, I wrote a letter to this 

 effect to Mr. Rikord. In the 

 evening, by the Governor's order, 

 a supper was laid out for us in 

 the upper apartment of our house. 

 This supper consisted of ten dif- 

 ferent dishes, containing fish, 

 game, ducks and geese, cooked 



in various ways. After supper, 

 some of the best Japanese sagi 

 was served out to us. Several 

 boxes, containinglackered vessels, 

 were afterwards brougiit in, as 

 presents from the interpreters, in 

 return for the books whicli, with 

 the consent of the government-, 

 they had received from us ; but 

 they had been ordered to accept 

 of nothing more. We were, how- 

 ever, very well assured that these 

 presents were sent to us at the 

 expense of the government. 



On the following day, the 7th 

 of October, we put on our best 

 clothes. The servants and guards 

 packed up our other clothes in 

 boxes, without omitting the least 

 trifle, and placed them in the 

 portico of the house. At midday 

 we were conducted to the shore. 

 Our clothes, the presents we had 

 received, and the provisions for 

 our voyage, were carried behind 

 us by a number of attendants. 

 On reaching the harbour, we 

 entered a building near the 

 custom-house, where Mr. Moor, 

 Mr. Chlebnikoff",and I were shown 

 into one apartment, and the sailors 

 into another. We had been only 

 a few moments in this place, 

 when Capt. Rikord came ashore, 

 accompanied by Mr. Saweljeff, 

 the interpreter, KisselefF, and 

 some other individuals. He, and 

 his two companions, were con- 

 ducted to the same apartment in 

 which, a few days before, my 

 interview with him had taken 

 place, and which Mr. Chlebnikoff, 

 Mr. Moor, and I, were immedi- 

 ately requested to enter. Sampey 

 and Chiogoro were among the 

 officers whom we found assem- 

 bled; they sat together on the 

 place which had formerly been 



occupied 



