ing taken his seat by
the side of each of us, they pushed off from the shore. During our
journey by water that night, the Japanese kept perfectly quiet. They
spoke not a word, and turned a deaf ear to all our lamentations and
complaints.

At the break of day we arrived at a little village on the coast of
Jesso, where they placed us in several smaller boats, which they drew
along the shore by means of ropes. From time to time they offered us
rice-broth, and roasted fish, and if any of us wanted to eat, they put
the food into his mouth by means of slender sticks, which, in Japan,
are used instead of forks.

The good people who had bound us in such an unmerciful manner, from a
fear only that we would escape from them, or commit suicide, now
showed themselves to be any thing but cruel, for they were even,
careful to brush the flies from us with green bushes, which otherwise
would have plagued us sadly. After they had carried us along the coast
in this manner, for the space of two days, the boats were dragged upon
the land, and shoved along by the aid of a large number of people,
without either we or our guards being obliged to leave them. They
pulled us through thickets and woods, and at last we found ourselves
on the top of a high hill. We could not conceive what possible object
the Japanese could have in drawing across the land, with so much
trouble, boats of no inconsiderable size. We concluded, at last, that
they must have seen our vessel, and feared lest they should lose their
prize. But the solution of the riddle was soon apparent, for when they
had got the boats up to the top of the hill, they allowed them to
slide down the other side by the force of their own gravity, and then
launched them on a small stream, which, after having navigated for two
days, we left in order to continue our journey by land. They loosened
the bands from our legs, and having drawn on our boots, asked us
whether we would walk or be carried in litters, by which name they
designated boards, some four feet in length, fastened to ropes, by
which they were borne along. We chose to walk, and accordingly the
chief formed the procession. First walked two of the natives, side by
side, with red staves in their hands, who pointed out the way. After
them came three soldiers, and then myself. On one side of me walked a
soldier, and on the other a servant, who, with a green bush, brushed
the flies from me. After me walked a guard, who held the rope that