734 The Dog Book 



species of spaniel which it is hard to distinguish from the Japanese dog. The 

 species sent as a present by the Emperor is by no means common in Japan. 

 It is never seen running about the streets, or following its master in his 

 walks, and the Commodore was informed that dogs of this kind are costly." 



Mr. William Speiden, a government official in the New York custom 

 house, is one of the few who went on that expedition who are still with us to 

 tell the story of what they can remember of incidents of the expedition. Mr. 

 Speiden's father was the fleet purser and the close intercourse between him 

 and Commodore Perry was reflected in the treatment of the son who had 

 many privileges extended to him by the Commodore. Mr. Speiden kept a 

 diary and has been good enough to give from it the following interesting 

 information: 



"In return for the large number of presents which we gave the Em- 

 peror from the President, a number were made in return, besides which 

 Commodore Perry and others received presents from the Emperor and also 

 from the Commissioners. Among the President's presents were four dogs 

 of the pug character but with beautiful long hair, black and white in colour. 

 The Commodore gave two of these dogs to Admiral Stirling of the British 

 Navy to take to the Queen of England. The other two were named Master 

 Sam Spooner and Madame Yeddo and were put on board the steam frigate 

 Mississippi, together with some Japanese cats. Quite a pretty little dog 

 was given me, which I named Simoda, that being the town where I received 

 it shortly before sailing on October i, 1854 for home. In January of the 

 following year and just before we reached Valparaiso, Sam Spooner died 

 and in February Madame Yeddo also died. My pet survived them about a 

 month. All three were buried at sea in sailor fashion, being put in shotted 

 canvas bags. These dogs were all of the most delicate build and had to be 

 handled carefully. 



"Two other dogs came home on another ship and were sent by the 

 Commodore for his daughter Mrs. August Belmont. We were given to 

 understand that the dogs we received were very rare in Japan and very 

 valuable. They were never allowed to run in the streets, but were carried 

 in beautiful straw baskets when they were taken out of doors. Many had 

 really attractive faces, almost human, especially in the females." 



Acting upon this information about the dogs sent home to Mrs. Belmont 

 we wrote the present Mr. August Belmont to find whether he knew of their 

 having arrived and his courteous answer is as follows: 



