YOKUHAMA. 
29 
Chap. II. 
very few native vessels or fishing-boats, such as 
may be seen crowding the waters of the Chinese 
coast. In so far as sea-going vessels are con- 
cerned, I was quite prepared to see but few, as the 
Japanese are not a maritime nation, and do not 
send ships to foreign countries; but I fully ex- 
pected to see fleets of fishing-boats along the shore, 
and their absence leads me to doubt whether the 
Japanese islands are as populous as they are gene- 
rally supposed to he. 
We anchored abreast of the town of Yokuhama 
at eight o’clock on the morning of the 30th of 
October. This is one of the ports opened by treaty 
to foreigners, and it is the one nearest to the 
capital. It was here that in March, 1854, Com- 
modore Perry, of the United States Navy, con- 
cluded his treaty with the Japanese. At one of 
the interviews presents were delivered from the 
American Government. These consisted of Ame- 
rican cloths, agricultural implements, firearms, and 
a beautiful locomotive,, tender, and passenger car, 
one-fourth of the ordinary size. The latter was 
put in motion on a circular track, and went at the 
rate of twenty miles an hour. The Japanese, we 
are told, were more interested in this than in any- 
thing else ; but, Chinese-like, concealed all expres- 
sions of wonder or astonishment. 
The town of Kanagawa, on the opposite or 
northern side of the bay, is the place named as the 
port in the treaty, but it was found unsuitable 
owing to the shallowness of the water all along 
