alone, even of things which they are strictly charged to keep secret. The private informations thus procured from those who came to visit me were of great use to me in collecting materials for my intended history of this country; but yet they fell far short of being altogether satisfactory, and I should not, perhaps, have been able to compass that design, if I had not by good luck met with other opportunities, and in particular the assistance of a discreet young man, by whose means I was richly supplied with whatever information I wanted concerning the affairs of Japan. He was about twenty-four years of age, well versed in the Chinese and Japanese languages, and very desirous of improving himself. Upon my arrival, he was appointed to wait upon me as my servant, and at the same time to be by me instructed in physic and surgery. The Otona, who is the chief officer of our island (of Deshima), having been attended by him under my inspection in a serious illness, suffered him to continue in my service during the whole time of my abode in the country, which was two years, and to attend me in our two journeys to court, consequently four times, almost from one end of the empire to the other—a favor seldom granted to young men of his age, and never for so long a time. As I could not well have obtained my end without giving him a competent knowledge of the Dutch language, I instructed him therein with so much success that in a year’s time he could write and read it better than any of our interpreters. I also gave him all the information I could in anatomy and physic, and further allowed him a handsome yearly salary to the best of my ability. In return I employed him to procure me as ample accounts as possible of the then state and condition of the country, its government, the imperial court, the religions established in the empire, the history of former ages, and remarkable daily occurrences. There was not a book I desired to see on these and other subjects, which he did not bring to me, and explain to me out of it whatever I wanted to know. And because he was obliged, in several things, to inquire, or to borrow, or to buy of other people, I never dismissed him without providing him with money for such purposes, besides his yearly allowance. So expensive, so difficult a thing is it to foreigners, ever since the shutting up of the Japanese empire, to procure any information about it.”