200 
RUSSIAN GRATITUDE AND FRENCH PUNCH. 
more than even the most sanguine mind had reason to 
expect; and yet, from the utter faithlessness of the Ja- 
panese themselves, many of its articles are rendered null 
and void. The commodore will have to be sent back 
with a moderate force and full powers, and not with an 
overwhelming squadron and his hands tied with Govern- 
ment tape. 
And now let us return to our mess-room, where the 
Japanese, the nomadios, a Russian officer, and .“the 
mess,” were opening bottles of French punch, to the 
especial delight of the former. 
The Russian just spoken of had been left in charge of 
the temple with several men, when his companions had 
retired to the more secluded port of Iley-da, to avoid 
being discovered by the English and French cruisers, and 
he was now almost as delighted to see us as were the 
Americans themselves. lie spoke with great feeling of 
the kindness of the officers of the U. S. steamer Pow- 
hatan to his shipwrecked companions, in giving them 
clothes and provisions, and finally became so aflected by 
the combination of Russian gratitude and French punch 
that he threw his arms round Carnes, the master, de- 
claring, in broken accents, that ‘‘he never before saw 
such fine sailor-men, and that we must come on shore to 
his house at once.” 
This specimen of fraternizing was not lost on the 
Japanese portion of the assembly, who, having drunk at 
least double as much as any one else, \vere quite pre- 
pared to take advantage of any such demonstration to 
relax their sober countenances and assume a “hail- 
fellow-well-met” stylo of demeauour, more in keeping 
