Chap. XVIII. 
SUPPOSED ATTACKS. 
297 
CHAPTEE XYIIL 
rative 
visit — He inspects my collections — A question regarding my 
safety — A cautious and consolatory reply — Fences repaired and. 
spiked — Guards stationed round the foreign dwellings — My re- 
searches in Japan come to an end — Plants put into Ward’s cases — 
Curiosity of the natives — Kindness of Captain Vyse — Adieu to 
Japan — Arrival in China. 
Having thus endeavoured to give some descrip- 
tion of the climate, agriculture, productions, and 
trade of Japan, I shall now resume my narrative. 
It was now the middle of July, the rains were 
over for the season, and the days were sometimes 
oppressively, hot. The thermometer ranged from 
80° to 90° Fahrenheit. The foreign community 
were still in a high state of excitement, and 
rumours of fresh attacks from some source — no 
one knew whence — were freely circulated in Yoku- 
hama and Kanagawa. M. de Wit, the Minister of 
the Netherlands, was residing in the house of his 
Consul at Yokuhama, and had a guard of men 
from a ship of war then in the harbour. One 
morning we were told that an attack had been 
made on his house during the night by an armed 
hand, who, luckily for him, had been observed and 
