101 



The first settlement of the Dutch had been on the Island of 

 Firando, but in the year 1638 they were commanded by the 

 Emperor to demolish their factory and warehouse, and this for. 

 no other reason, says Kaempfer, than that "they were of hewn 

 stones handsomer than the buildings of the country and because 

 the year of our blessed Saviour's nativity was engraved in the 

 front." With this unexpected order they were obliged to comply, 

 '• not only without showing the least mark of dislike but even 

 with seeming satisfaction " ! Soon after the expulsion of the Por- 

 tuguese, the Dutch were ordered to their abandoned site on the 

 little island of Desima in the harbor of Nagasaki. Kaempfer 

 gives a lucid description of this island or "prison" as he calls it. 

 " In shape it nearly resembles a fan without a handle, being of an 

 oblong square figure, the two longer sides whereof are the seg- 

 ments of a circle. It is joined to the town by a small stone 

 bridge at the end whereof is a strong guard-house where there 

 are soldiers constantly upon duty. Just before the bridge towards 

 the town is a place built of square stones where they put up the 

 Imperial Mandates and Proclamations and the Orders of the Gov- 

 ernors. Two orders of the Governors are continually to be seen 

 there on so many boards ; one of these relates to the regulation 

 of the Guard, and the other is directed to the street-officers of 

 Desima, and to all persons who have any business there and are 

 on this account obliged to go in or out." 



Once a year the Dutch ships put into harbor and the men 

 were allowed to remain on the island for the two or three months 

 of their stay. Then the director with a small number of men, 

 only seven in the time of Kaempfer, remained on the island, where 

 at all times they were watched by guards and inspectors. That . 

 there might be no occasion for the Dutch to acquire the Japan- 

 ese language, the government insisted upon a body of one hun- 

 dred and fifty interpreters. 



Once or twice a year, the few Dutchmen who remained were 

 permitted to take a walk into the adjacent country, particularly 

 to view the temples. This privilege was more frequently granted 

 to physicians and surgeons under pretense of going to search for 



;xpensr 





