armed boats, and hardly had she dropped anchor, before a fire was opened upon her from the cannon of the forts. To save themselves and the vessel from destruction, the only course seemed to be a speedy departure. Accordingly they weighed anchor and put to sea, pursued by boats, from which small cannon were fired. Several attempts to land along the coast were repulsed, and the course of the vessel was directed to the port of Kagoshima, the seat of government of the powerful prince of Satsuma. Here a hostile reception similar to that in the Bay of Yedo was extended to them, and nothing remained for them to do but to return to Macao, which they did without having even set foot on shore.[1]
The second attempt of an American vessel to hold intercourse was only a little less successful. The Manhattan, of Sag Harbor, Captain Cooper, in 1845, while sailing through Japanese seas, found on a small barren island eleven shipwrecked Japanese, and soon afterwards he rescued from a disabled junk eleven more. The captain decided to take them to the Bay of Yedo and deliver them to the authorities, his object being "to impress the government with the civilization of the United States and its friendly disposition towards the emperor and the Japanese people." He touched on the coast of the island of Niphon, and had messengers dispatched to the emperor to inform him of his coming and the object of his visit. On his arrival in the bay he was kindly received and allowed to anchor within a
- ↑ Narrative of a Voyage of the Ship Morrison, by S. Wells Williams, 1837; 6 Chinese Repository, 209, 353.
