TOWARDS STRANGERS. 133 



dered immediately to put to sea, and to inform 

 his countrymen, that except in cases of the 

 most urgent necessity, they were not permitted 

 to approach the Japanese coast under pain of 

 death ; nor was it at all just to carry on a fish 

 ery on their coast, without the permission of the 

 Emperor. The interpreter had brought a num 

 ber of people with him, who assisted in ship 

 ping the provisions and water : the captain was 

 then immediately obliged to weigh anchor, and 

 the Japanese boats towed the vessel out to sea, 

 after she had been scarcely twelve hours in the 

 bay. On taking leave, the captain wished to 

 make a present to the interpreter, but he hast 

 ened out of the vessel in alarm, declaring that 

 his acceptance of the smallest trifle would cost 

 him his head. Europeans are not so scrupulous. 

 Soon after this, another whaler, knowing no 

 thing about the affair in Jeddo, sent a boat 

 ashore, a hundred miles farther south, to a little 

 village on the coast, to try and purchase some 

 fresh provisions. The sailors, on landing, were 

 immediately seized and imprisoned, and their 

 boat placed under arrest. The ship, having 

 waited a long time in vain for the return of her 



