78 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
the saloon, an order which I could see he very much 
resented, as it was given in anything but a polite way. 
The inquiry proceeded, and, according to our 
ideas, was most farcical. I told the skipper that he 
had better reply to the questions, as I could not rely 
on my own temper. For a couple of hours all sorts of 
questions, such as, “ Where do you come from ?” 
44 Why did you come otter-hunting ?” 44 Have you 
hunted near the land ?” 44 Do you not know that it 
is wrong to hunt otters here ?” and many others of a 
similar nature, were repeated so frequently that I 
lost patience, and said I would now answer the 
questions myself. Whereupon they turned the 
inquisition on me in the same way. They asked if 
we had killed any otters in Japanese waters, and said 
that if so we must give them up. I replied that I 
had never measured the distance off shore where we 
had killed them, and that if they got any of our 
skins they would have to take them by force. They 
then threatened to take us prisoners to Hakodate. I 
said I hoped they would, as it would probably pay 
me better to get damages from them than to go on 
hunting. After I had informed them that I did not 
consider it at all wrong to hunt there, that we had 
hunted in the same place the previous year, that 
we had fitted out quite openly, the crew signing 
articles and the vessel clearing for the special pur¬ 
pose, they said : 44 Well, will you write down that 
you think it right to hunt here, and we will write 
down that we do not think it right for you to hunt 
here ? ” This I refused, as it would lead to nothing. 
The altercation continued until I said to the inter¬ 
preter that I would not answer such foolish questions 
any more, so they had better do what they intended 
