gaw_,[22]
a town upon the sea-side, where is an excellent harbour, in which ships
may ride with as much safety as in the river Thames, and the passage
from which by sea to Jedo is very safe and good; so that it would be
much better for our ships to sail to this port than to Firando, as
Oringgaw is on the main island of Japan or _Niphon_, and is only
fourteen or fifteen leagues from Jedo, the capital and greatest city of
the empire. Its only inconvenience is, that it is not so well supplied
with flesh and other victuals as Firando, but is in all other respects
much preferable. From thence we proceeded on the 29th to Surunga, where
we remained in waiting for the letters and presents from the emperor. On
the 8th of October I received the emperor's letter, of which a
translation is subjoined, and I then also received the privileges of
trade, formerly quoted, the original of which I left with Mr Cocks.[23]

[Footnote 22: No such place as Oringgaw is to be found in modern maps of
Japan. Jedo is situated at the head of a deep gulf of the same name, in
the south-east corner of Japan. About the distance indicated in the
text, there is a town and bay named _Odavara_, on the western side of
the gulf, and in the direct way back to Surunga, which may possibly be
the _Oringgaw_ of the text.--E.]

[Footnote 23: The characters have by some been thought to be those of
China, but I compared them with Chinese books, and they seemed to me
quite different, yet not _letters_ to compound words by spelling, as
ours, but _words_ expressed in their several characters, such as are
used by the _Chinais_ and as the brevity manifesteth. I take them to be
characters peculiar to Japan.--_Purch._

In a marginal reference in the plate given by Purchas, the lines are
said to read downwards, beginning at the right hand. It may possibly be
so: But they appear _letters_, or literal characters, to _compound words
by spelling_, and to be read like those used in Europe, from left to
right horizontally. In a future portion of our work, the subject of the
Japanese language and writing will be farther elucidated; when, we
believe, it will appear that they have two modes of writing, one by
_verbal_ or _ideal_ characters like the Chinese, and the other by
_literal_ signs like all the rest of the world.--E.]

_Letter from the Emperor of Japan to the King of Great Britain_.

Your majesty's kind letter, sent me by your servant Captain Saris, who
is the first of y