yesterday when you and other officers went through the streets, and for
there being no business doing. But after this you may go on shore, no
obstructions will be put in the way of your walking, nor will the people be
rude to you.”
“ This place is as it were no bigger than a pill or a speck, and the country
in its vicinity is sterile, and produces almost nothing. The provisions
and other necessaries are brought from other principalities, quite unlike the
rich regions of Simoda and Uraga, and we fear the list now given, (deer
skins, dried fish, fish oil, salt salmon, surume, a sort of fish, saccharine fucus
laminaria, and a roe of salmon,) meagre as it is, will by no means meet your
desires after you have examined it, but rather dissatisfy you. As for what
has been hitherto supplied no prices are asked.”
1 Yesterday you spoke of maintaining friendly relations with us, and this
surely involves the duty on both sides of adhering to right, and nothing
should be done to hinder amicable feelings. We are placed here in charge
of the public halls, and to rule the people, as our chief duty, which cannot
be evaded; and though to let you have the halls as you desire might be
agreeable to you, yet the result would be very heavy and serious to us, and
the people would hardly know to whom to look as their rulers. I f you
press the matter to this degree, and insist on three buildings, will it be
consistent with your professions of friendship ? ”
“ Yesterday, your gentlemen explained to us several particulars having
reference to intercourse with us, to wit: that on the 31st of March a treaty
was formed at Yoku-hama, between the high officers of our respective countries,
and in compliance with that, you had come to Hakodadi to carry its
provisions into effect, in the same manner as had been done at Simoda, respecting
trade and procuring three houses for resting at, and wherein to make
drawings.”
“ I t is a matter of great surprise to us that, since a treaty has been
formed at Y oku-hama, no orders or letters have reached us from court on
this matter, nor did the communication you brought us from Uraga contain
any reference or explanation on these points, which we now learn from yourselves
for the first time. Yet, to follow out a course of action ourselves,
before receiving any directions from the throne, is a very serious matter, we
can assure you; for the undeviating usage of all our principalities is first to
attend to those commands, and can we here be expected to transgress it ?
Whether the matter be of great or small moment, if it appertain to the
state, it must be referred to the prince, and he makes a clear statement to the
Emperor, and acts after he obtains special commands. You yourselves, gentlemen,
after all your experience at Yoku-hama and Simoda, cannot but be
aware that such is the usage and law in this country. Yet such articles of
provisions as we have here, eggs, fowls, green fish, ducks, and other commodities,
as well as rambling about the country, going into villages, markets and
shops, albeit they are contemptible and dilapidated, mean and rude, quite'
beneath the slightest regard or care, are temporarily allowed, and that which
you require will be furnished.”
After the flag-lieutenant, who had been delegated to receive the above
communication, had explained in regard to the “ hall ” alluded to, that it
was only desired by the Commodore to use those parts of the temples usually
appropriated to lodgers, as temporary places of resort, and not to take
possession of their ecclesiastical establishments, the governor seemed greatly
relieved, as he evidently supposed that it was the intention in some way to
interfere with their national worship. The governor then having announced
that it was the intention of “ Matsmai Kangeayou, great officer of the family
of the Prince of Matsmai,” to call upon the Commodore next day, the
American officers took their leave.
After this preliminary negotiation, the officers of the ships began daily
to visit the land, and they walked freely through the streets, frequented the
shops and temples, and strolled without interference into the neighboring
country. Three houses were finally, after several conferences, assigned, one
for the accommodation of the Commodore, another for his officers, and a
third for the artists, and a bazaar opened daily, where the various articles
of Japanese art and manufacture could be obtained at fair prices, a dollar,
which is equal to about three of their silver coins, called itchaboo, passing
current for 4,800 copper cash. With this greater freedom of intercourse
on shore, the Americans soon became tolerably acquainted with Hakodadi
and its people, and we may here appropriately introduce some description
of them, while we intermit for the present the relation of the further progress
of the tedious negotiations with the authorities.
The town of Hakodadi, or Hakodate,* lies on the southern coast of the
island of Yesso, in latitude 41° 49' 22" north, and longitude 140° 47' 45''
east, being situated on the western bank of a small peninsula, which forms
one side of the harbor. The meaning of the Japanese word Hakodadi is
“ box shop,” but what gave rise to the name it is not easy to understand, as
some of the best informed inhabitants themselves seem unacquainted with
the origin of the term. The appearance of the place on entering the harbor
is striking and picturesque. The town stretches for the space of three miles
along the base of a lofty promontory divided into three principal peaks,
which reach a height of from six hundred to a thousand feet. Their lofty
summits are bare, and often covered with snow; their upper slopes are but
scantily clothed with underwood and some scattered pines, while below
where the mountains begin to rise from the level land, there is a rich profusion
of verdant growth, with groves of wide-spreading cypresses, tall forest
maples and fruit-bearing trees, the plum and the peach. This abundant
* Golownin, in his “ Recollections,” calls the town Chakodade, but erroneously.