Chap. I. 
ISLAND OF DESIMA. 
selves at tlie guardhouse to prove that they had 
really left the Factory. The only individuals 
exempt from leaving the island at sunset were 
women who had forfeited the first claim of their 
sex to respect or esteem, and no female of good 
character was permitted on any pretence to set 
foot upon Desima. A placard set up near the 
bridge-gate announced this in the plainest and 
coarsest terms. 
When any member of the Factory wished to 
visit the town of Nagasaki, or the country in its 
vicinity, for a little recreation or amusement, he 
was obliged to send in a petition to the Governor 
twenty-four hours beforehand. Leave was usually 
granted, providing the captive was accompanied 
by a certain number of officials, police-officers, and 
a compradore. These again had their servants 
and friends, so that the attendants and hangers- 
on of one unfortunate pleasure-seeker usually 
amounted to some twenty or thirty persons, all of 
whom he was hound to entertain. 
On entering the town of Nagasaki the pleasure- 
party was soon surrounded and followed by all 
the boys and idlers within reach, who shouted 
“ Holanda / Holanda'." or " Holanda Capilain !” 
in the Dutchman’s ears, and rendered his walk 
anything but an agreeable one. The excursion 
into the surrounding country must, however, have 
fully repaid the unfortunate captive for the dis- 
agreeables of the town. The scenery amongst the 
hills is of the most charming description, and 
