s countrymen, that
except in cases of the most urgent necessity, they were not permitted to
approach the Japanese coast under pain of death; nor was it at all just
to carry on a fishery on their coast, without the permission of the
Emperor. The interpreter had brought a number of people with him, who
assisted in shipping the provisions and water: the captain was then
immediately obliged to weigh anchor, and the Japanese boats towed the
vessel out to sea, after she had been scarcely twelve hours in the bay.
On taking leave, the captain wished to make a present to the
interpreter, but he hastened out of the vessel in alarm, declaring that
his acceptance of the smallest trifle would cost him his head. Europeans
are not so scrupulous.

Soon after this, another whaler, knowing nothing about the affair in
Jeddo, sent a boat ashore, a hundred miles farther south, to a little
village on the coast, to try and purchase some fresh provisions. The
sailors, on landing, were immediately seized and imprisoned, and their
boat placed under arrest. The ship, having waited a long time in vain
for the return of her boat, was at length driven by a violent storm to
a distance from the coast. The prisoners were well treated; their prison
was commodious, and their food excellent. In fourteen days, sentence was
pronounced on them, probably at Jeddo, and proved less mild than might
have been expected in Japan:--they were ordered to be replaced in their
boat, and immediately sent to sea without any provisions, let the
weather be what it might. After wandering on the trackless ocean for
eight-and-forty hours, they had the good fortune to meet with a whaler,
which took them in. These examples may serve as a warning to all
navigators who may be desirous of effecting a landing in Japan.

The Californian winter being now fairly set in, we had much rain and
frequent storms. On the 9th of October the south-west wind blew with the
violence of the West-Indian tornado, rooted up the strongest trees, tore
off the roofs of the houses, and occasioned great devastation in the
cultivated lands. One of our thickest cables broke; and if the second
had given way, we would have been driven on the rocky shore of the
channel which unites the bay with the sea, where a powerful current
struggling with the tempest produced a frightful surf. Fortunately, the
extreme violence of the storm lasted only a few hours, but in that short
time it caused a destructive inundation: