At the head of these officers stands the Director, or, as he is called by the Japanese, Captain of the Dutch (_Hollanda Capitan_), who has the command, inspection, and care of the trade. The same person is the head of the embassy sent to court once every year; and, according to the custom of the country, he must be relieved after the year is expired. The ships from Batavia bring over his successor, with some few merchants and clerks, to assist during the sale, after which, the old director goes on board, to return to Batavia. The privilege of private trade was, in Kämpfer’s time, divided as follows: The acting director could sell to the extent of ten thousand taels; the new director to the extent of seven thousand; his deputy, or the next person after him, to the extent of six thousand. The captains of the ships, the merchants, clerks, &c., shared the remainder, as they happened to be in favor with the chief managers, and the Japanese interpreters. “The day of the _Kamban_ (as they call our sale), which must be determined by the court, drawing near, a list of all the goods is hung up at the gates without our island, written in very large characters, that everybody may read it at a due distance. Meanwhile, the government signifies to the several Otonas of the town, and these to the merchants, who are come hither from diverse parts of the empire, what duty per cent will be laid for the benefit of the inhabitants of Nagasaki, upon each description of our goods, in order to enable them to determine what price they can afford to offer. The day before the _Kamban_, papers are put up at all the gates of the streets, to invite the merchants to make their appearance the next morning at Deshima, where, for their further information, they find before every house a list of the goods laid up in it. As the direction of our trade is entirely in the hands of the government of Nagasaki, so, particularly, the _Kamban_ cannot be held but in presence of two Stewards of the governors, authorized by them to assist at it. The chief officers of our island must likewise be present. The first interpreter presides, and directs everything, while our own triumvirs—I mean the two directors, the old and new—and the deputy director, have little or nothing to say. “All persons who must be present at the sale having met together, our directors order samples of all our goods to be exposed to view, and then give a signal with a _gum-gum_, a sort of flat bell, not unlike a basin, for the merchants to come in. The house where the sale is kept is a very neat building, built at the Company’s expense, and is then, by removing the shutters, laid open towards the street for people to look in. There is a small gallery round it, and it is divided within into several partitions, very commodiously contrived for this act.