Chap. XII. DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 193 
understand that I could not obtain permission 
from the officer in charge of the Legation to visit 
the city. His Excellency Mr. Alcock has always 
shown every disposition to forward my views, and 
had he been here I have no doubt he would 
willingly have granted the permission I required. 
Under the circumstances I wrote to his Excellency 
the American Minister, and asked him to grant 
me that permission which I am sure I would have 
received from Her Majesty’s representative had 
he been in Yedo. Mr. Harris, in the kindest 
manner, invited me to his house as his guest, in 
order to enable me to accomplish the objects I had 
in view. 
“ With this explanation, I trust you will not 
insist on my leaving Yedo for a few days, as it 
might be a matter of public regret should I be pre- 
vented from adding to our home collection some 
new trees or other plants of much interest.” 
Having despatched this letter, and trusting to 
receive a favourable reply, I was furnished with 
the usual guard of yakoneens, and we rode out to 
visit the nursery-gardens of Sumae-yah and Dang- 
o-zaka. We took the same route through the city 
which I have fully described in an earlier chapter, 
and witnessed the same scenes. The Sumae-yah 
gardens, however, presented quite a different ap- 
pearance from what they had done in the autumn 
before. They had put on their summer dress ; the 
trees were covered with leaves, and many flower- 
