Of the value which the Japanese put upon female society the following curious instance occurred. The prisoners’ meals were at one time superintended by an old officer of sixty, who was very civil, and frequently consoled them with assurances that they should be sent home. One day he brought them three portraits of Japanese ladies, richly dressed, which, after examining, they handed back; but the old man insisted they should keep them, and, when asked why, he observed that, when time hung heavy on their hands, they might console themselves by looking at them! For the first fortnight of the new year all business was suspended. Nothing was thought of except visiting and feasting. In the latter half of the month the more industrious resumed their employments. All who can, procure new clothes on this occasion, and the Japanese insisted upon furnishing their prisoners in the same way. “Custom requires,” says Golownin, “that each person should visit all his acquaintances in the place in which he resides, and send letters of congratulation to those who are at a distance. Our interpreters and guards were accordingly employed, for some days previous to the festival, in writing letters of that kind and visiting-cards. On the latter the names of the person from whom the card comes, and for whom it is intended, are written, and the opportunity by which it is presented is also noted. Teisuke translated for us one of his congratulatory letters, addressed to the officer at Kunashiri by whom we had been entrapped, and which was to the following effect: “Last year you were happy, and I greatly desire that this new year you may enjoy good health, and experience happiness and prosperity in every undertaking. I still respect you as formerly, and request that you will not forget me. TEISUKE.” It is evident, from Golownin’s narrative, that the houses, furniture, and domestic arrangement, at Matsumae, notwithstanding the coldness of the climate, differed in nothing from those in use in the more southerly islands. The Japanese, Golownin observed, were, compared with the Russians, very small eaters. They were also much more temperate in drinking, it being looked upon as disgraceful to be drunk in the daytime, or at any time, extraordinary festivities excepted. [Illustration: ARTISANS FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE: REPAIRING WOODEN CLOGS; REPAIRING TATAMI] Late in the summer following the capture of Golownin and his companions, the “Diana,” now under the command of Captain Rikord, came back to Kunashiri. Of the two Japanese seized by Chwostoff, one had died. The other, who called himself Ryōzayemon, Rikord had on board, along with six other Japanese, lately shipwrecked on Kamtschatka, hoping to exchange these seven for the seven Russians. On reaching the bay where Golownin had been taken, he saw a new battery of fourteen guns. All the buildings were covered with striped cloth, the boats were drawn up on the shore, and not a person appeared.