Chap. XII. ARRIVAL AT AMERICAN LEGATION. 
191 
young gentlemen of the English Legation going 
out for a ride in the country, followed by a large 
number of yakoneens. This was rather an un- 
lucky meeting, as it afterwards turned out, although 
I had no idea at the time that I had done anything 
wrong. A few words were exchanged with those 
of them whom I knew, and we parted apparently 
good friends. Some one told me afterwards that 
the only gentleman in the party unknown to me, 
and who it seems had been left in charge of Her 
Majesty’s Legation, looked very indignant ; but as 
I did not observe his countenance, I was left in 
blissful ignorance of the wrath which he was 
“ nursing to keep warm ” until some hours after- 
ward. 
We arrived at the American Legation between 
five and six o’clock in the afternoon, where I was 
most kindly received by his Excellency. Like all 
the other foreign ministers in Yedo, Mr. Harris 
occupies a large and roomy temple. An avenue 
leads up from one of the streets of the town to the 
temple. Two noble trees of Salisburia adiantifolia 
guard the entrance, and one of them is the largest 
specimen of the kind I have yet met with. Its 
circumference, about six feet from the ground, is 
twenty-eight feet, and it is fully a hundred feet in 
height. On one of the sides of this temple there 
is the usual cemetery, and behind it is a hill 
covered with lofty trees. Then there are the usual 
guardhouses filled with armed yakoneens, and a 
small, quiet-looking place, which is said to be the 
