30G 
THE VOYAGE OE THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
interpreter. After a short conversation, in tlie course of which 
the interpreter got a sight of the written speech, or more 
correctly the words of salutation, I was to speak, we were 
conducted into an inner apartment where the Emperor, clad 
in a uniform of European style and standing in front of a 
building. The rooms we saw were furnished, almost poorly, in 
European fashion. We first assembled in an antechamber, the 
only remarkable ornament of which, was a large piece of 
nephrite, which was a little carved and had a Chinese inscription 
on it. Here we were met by some of the ministers and the 
TIIK KXR.Sr MEDAIi WHICH WAS STRUCK AS A MEMORIAU OE THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘VEGA.” 
Size of the original. 
