1845.] APPEARANCE OF BATTERIES. 3 



the Northern Cavallos in a convenient berth, and to remain 

 there until further notice." Our attention was now 

 directed towards the shores, under which we were to 

 anchor, and if suspicion of hostilities had been upper- 

 most in my mind, I could very readily have been per- 

 suaded that we were not welcome visitors. Every available 

 level was apparently studded with batteries and banners, 

 and our approach thus escorted, might have been deno- 

 minated an easy capture. It was rather too great a stretch 

 of imagination, however, to suppose that the Japanese 

 had turned pirates, and that they had sent out a letter to 

 seduce us into their port ; independent of the futility of 

 opening a quarrel with Great Britain. A slight glance 

 with the telescope discovered our mistake, for these ap- 

 parent lines of batteries were nothing more than calico 

 fences, the armorial devices of which we had mistaken 

 for embrasures. 



Nothing like surprise was exhibited, everything ap- 

 peared to proceed as if we had been expected, and thus 

 escorted by the mosquito fleet, we at length reached the 

 spot, where the harbour-master, or some such personage, 

 seemed, by his bawling and holding up his boats' grapnel, 

 to think, that we ought to obey his mandate, which 

 evidently meant, anchor instanter. Whatever courtesy it 

 may be proper to observe in our intercourse with remote 

 countries, my little experience in such matters, has taught 

 me that to yield to any inferior authority, especially of 

 the Tartar breed, is to reduce one's own standard very 

 materially in the estimation of demi-civilized nations ; it 

 was not my intention to do as my predecessors had done 

 at Japan, my visit here was an experimental one, and it 



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