on the top of a hill, planted with two different species of plane-trees, whose starry leaves, variegated with green, yellow, and red, are exceedingly beautiful. When their arrival at Jeddo was notified to the imperial commissioners, to whom was intrusted the regulation of foreign affairs, they were commanded to be kept confined in their apartments, and strictly guarded. This, in all probability, was to prevent their discovering the tremendous accident which had lately occurred in the city, where forty streets, consisting of four thousand houses, had been burned to the ground a few days before their arrival. Several other fires, exceedingly destructive and terrific, and an earthquake which shook the whole city to its foundations, happened within a few days after their arrival. On the 29th of March they were honoured with an audience. Passing through the numerous gates and avenues to the palace between lines of soldiers, armed with scimitars, and clothed in black silk, they were conducted into an apartment adjoining the hall of audience, where they were commanded to await the emperor’s pleasure. As nothing could more forcibly paint the insolent pride of this barbarian despot, or the degraded position which, for the sake of gain, the Dutch were content to occupy in Japan, I shall describe this humiliating ceremony in the words of the traveller himself. “Having waited upwards of an hour,” says he, “and the emperor having in the mean while seated himself in the hall of audience, Sino Comi (the governor of Nangasaki) and the two commissioners came in and conducted our resident into the emperor’s presence, leaving us behind. As soon as he came thither, they cried out aloud ‘Hollanda Captain!’ which was the signal for him to draw near, and make his obeisance. Accordingly he crawled on his hands and knees to a place shown him, between the presents ranged in due order on one side, and the place where the emperor sat, on the other, and then kneeling, he bowed his forehead quite down to the ground, and so crawled backwards, like a crab, without uttering one single word. So mean and short a thing is the audience we have of this mighty monarch.”