retinue, and a year and a half were required for the journey.[1] The treaty of 1689 did not secure satisfactory results, and in 1719 another ambassador, Ismailoff, was sent to Peking to secure by treaty better trade facilities. When his train reached the frontier a curious incident occurred illustrative of an oriental peculiarity. Some of the Russians had brought their wives with them. "We have women enough at Peking," the Chinese official said. Appeal was made to the emperor, many weeks were lost, and at the end the women had to be sent back. The same exclusion was observed at Canton, where no European women were admitted even to the foreign factories until just previous to the British war of 1840. A similar rule was enforced by the Japanese at the Dutch factory at Deshima. It is recorded that in the year 1817 a new president of the factory arrived, bringing with him his young wife and their new-born babe; and that it threw the whole town of Nagasaki—population, government, and all—into consternation. It was made the subject of a court council at Yedo, and the young wife was forced to return to Holland.[2]
On his arrival at Peking, Ismailoff was notified that he could transact no business until after his audience
- ↑ From Moscow Overland to China, by E. Y. Ides, Ambassador from the Czar of Muscovy, translated into English, London, 1706; Journal of Russian Embassy Overland to Peking, by Adam Brand, Secretary of the Embassy, 1698; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 248; 8 Chinese Repository, 520.
- ↑ 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 251; 9 Chinese Repository, 297; Narrative of Voyages, A. Delano, Boston, 1817, p. 540; A Cycle of Cathay, by W. A. P. Martin, New York, 1896, p. 20.
