HOW WE ARE COUNTED. 
207 
These informers no sooner saw ns all inside of the gate, 
than they made a note of our number with their paint- 
brush-like pencils, and, as we were received on the steps 
of the temple by the Americans and him who “had 
never before seen such tine sailor-men,” we saw them 
sink upon their knees and hand their slips of paper to 
the lazy smokers of the spy-house. 
“You see they have counted you already,” said one of 
our hosts, as he welcomed us to the immense mansion ; 
“and when you go away the same thing will be done 
over again. From the moment you enter their ports, 
they station boats to watch your ships. When you leave 
your ships, you are counted and watched. When you 
land, you are followed ; and when you return on board, 
you are again counted to see that there are none left on 
shore. If a less number return than landed, a search is 
at once got under way and the missing ones are always 
found. We sometimes amused ourselves by passing, like 
the Frenchman’s cat, Hncessanily ins and outs of ze cat- 
hole,’ (a gate in our case,) thus causing these senti’ies 
to keep up a perfect stream of reports. They couldn’t 
understand it at first, but after a while smelt a rat, and 
contented themselves with reporting only about every ten 
minutes. The children used to baffle them considerably 
also, for in their childish sports they would often get 
beyond the groumis of the temple and mix with the 
Japanese of their own age, much to the annoyance of 
the officers.” 
By this time we were seated in a large and spacious 
room, one of whose windows looked out upon several 
fresh-looking monuments that lifted themselves from a 
