eror on their hands and knees and crawl out backward like crabs. They
must have wanted the Japanese trade badly to do that.

When a vessel happened to be wrecked on the coast of Japan, the sailors
were held as prisoners and there was much trouble to get them off; and
when Japanese were wrecked and sent home, no thanks were given. They
were looked upon as no longer Japanese.

The Russians had seaports in Siberia, which made them near neighbors to
Japan, so they tried to make friends with the Japanese. But the island
people would have nothing to do with them. Captain Golownin, of the
Russian navy, landed on one of the islands; but he was taken prisoner
and kept for a long time and treated cruelly. That was the way things
went in Japan till 1850 had come and passed.

It took the Yankees to do what the Dutch and the Russians had failed in
doing. After the war with Mexico, thousands of Americans went to
California and other parts of the Pacific coast, and trading ships grew
numerous on that great ocean. It was felt to be time that Japan should
be made to open her ports to the commerce of the nations, and the United
States tried to do it.

Captain Matthew Calbraith Perry was selected for this great work.
Captain Perry was a brother of Oliver H. Perry, the hero of Lake Erie.
He was a lieutenant in that war, but he commanded a ship in the war with
the pirates and the Mexican war. In 1852 he was given the command of a
commodore and sent out with a fine squadron to Japan. He took with him a
letter from the President to the Tycoon, or military ruler, of Japan.

On the 8th of July, 1853, the eyes of many of the Japanese opened wide
when they saw four fine vessels sailing grandly up the broad Bay of
Yeddo, where such a sight had never been seen before. As late as 1850
the ruler of Japan had sent word to foreign nations that he would have
nothing to do with them or their people, and now here came these daring
ships.

These ships were the steam frigates _Mississippi_ and _Susquehanna_, and
the sailing ships _Saratoga_ and _Plymouth_ of the United States Navy,
under command of Commodore Perry.

Have you ever disturbed an ant-hill, and seen the ants come running out
in great haste to learn what was wrong? It was much like that on the Bay
of Yeddo. Thousands of Japanese gathered on the shores or rowed out on
the bay to gaze at this strange sight. The great steamships, gliding on
without sails, were a wonderful spectacle to them.