ithal exceedingly tough, is used for a
handkerchief; another furnishes the material for taking notes, or for
wrapping up what is left after a feast. On the present occasion, when
the dinner was over, all the Japanese guests simultaneously spread out
their long folds of paper, and gathering what scraps they could lay
their hands on, without regard to the kind of food, made up an envelope
of conglomerate eatables in which there was such a confusion of the sour
and sweet, the albuminous, oleaginous, and saccharine, that the
chemistry of Liebig or the practised taste of the Commodore's Parisian
cook would never have reached a satisfactory analysis. They not only
always followed this practice themselves, but insisted that their
American guests, when entertained at a Japanese feast, should adopt it
also.

Whenever the Commodore and his officers were feasted on shore, paper
parcels of the remnants were thrust into their hands on leaving. After
the banquet the Japanese were entertained by an exhibition of negro
minstrelsy, got up by some of the sailors. The gravity of the saturnine
Hayashi was not proof against the grotesque exhibition, and even he
joined in the general hilarity. It was now sunset and the Japanese
prepared to depart, with quite as much wine in them as they could well
bear. The jovial Matsusaki threw his arms about the Commodore's neck,
crushing in his tipsy embrace a pair of new epaulettes, and repeating,
in Japanese, with maudlin affection, these words, as interpreted into
English: "Nippon and America, all the same heart." He then went toddling
into his boat, supported by some of his more steady companions, and soon
all the happy party had left the ships and were making rapidly for the
shore. The Saratoga fired the salute of seventeen guns as the last boat
pulled off from the Powhatan, and the squadron was once more left in the
usual quiet of ordinary ship's duty.

The following day the Commodore landed to have a conference in regard to
the remaining points of the treaty, previous to signing. He was met at
the treaty-house by the commissioners. As soon as the Commodore had
taken his seat, a letter was handed to him, which the Japanese said they
had just received from Simoda. It was from Commander Pope, and had been
transmitted through the authorities overland. Its contents gave a
satisfactory report of Simoda, and the Commodore at once said he
accepted that port, but declared that it must be opened without de