After one or two more examinations they were removed to Matsumae, guarded, as before, by soldiers, but furnished with horses, as well as litters or kagos, on or in which the prisoners were suffered to ride, the Japanese, however, retaining the end of a rope by which they were still bound. Near Matsumae, they were shown a battery on a high hill, intended to command the harbor, but ill adapted for that purpose. It had three or four small brass pieces on carriages, and an eighteen or a twenty-four pounder, apparently cast in Europe, mounted on cross-beams. Matsumae lies on a large, open bay, with four fathoms of water at low tide; and according to the Japanese, is about two hundred of their leagues (five hundred miles) from Yedo, the land journey thither, after crossing the strait, being made in twenty-three days.
A great crowd collected to see them enter the town, ropes being stretched to keep the passage clear. Confined in a prison much like the one at Hakodate, and close under the ramparts of the castle, they underwent many more examinations before the bugiō or governor of Matsumae. The inquisitiveness of their questioners, which seemed to be without limit, proved a great torment to the Russians, and sometimes put them into a passion; but the Japanese were always cool and polite. They were supplied with much better food than at Hakodate, fresh and salt fish, boiled or fried in poppy-seed oil, with soy for sauce. They also had, after the winter set in, flesh of sea-dogs, hares, and bears, and attempts were even made to cook for them after the Russian fashion. For drink they had tea[95] and warm sake. They were furnished with warm clothing, both their own which had been sent on shore for them; and Japanese gowns, for which a tailor was sent to measure them; and, when the weather grew colder, they had hearths, after the Japanese fashion, made in the prison, at a little distance from each cage, on which charcoal fires were kept burning. A physician visited them daily to look after their health, and if anything serious appeared he brought a consulting physician with him.
After a time their accommodations were much improved. Instead of confinement in separate cages, they had a large room covered with mats. A young man, named Murakami Teisuke, was now brought to them, whom they were requested to instruct in the Russian language. He proved a very apt scholar, made rapid progress, soon learned to speak, read and write Russian, and became very much attached to his instructors. They in their turn learned something of Japanese; but it was forbidden to teach them the written characters. Teisuke was exceedingly anxious to collect statistical information concerning Russia. A Japanese man of science, who had an English sextant, a compass, a case of mathematical instruments, etc., also paid them a visit. He knew how to find the latitude by observing the sun’s altitude at noon, using in his calculations some tables obtained, as he said, from a Dutch book; and he was exceedingly anxious to gain additional information, especially how to find the longitude by lunar observations; but this, for want of the necessary tables, the Russians, much to his disgust, were unable to teach him.
The first snow fell about the middle of October, but soon melted. The winter set in about the middle of November, with deep snows, which lasted till April.
As the spring opened they were permitted to take walks and excursions in the vicinity of the town, and were presently removed to a house, composed of three apartments, separated by screens; but were still closely watched and guarded. Tired of this confinement, of which they could see no end, the Russians succeeded in getting out of their prison, and in gaining the mountains back of the town, whence they descended to the coast, hoping to find some means of escape by sea. But, after seven days’ wanderings and many sufferings, they were retaken. The island was found to be composed of steep hills, separated by precipitous ravines, with hardly any plain land, except near the coast. The interior was uninhabited, except by wood-cutters employed in getting timber and preparing charcoal.
When retaken, they were confined in the common jail of the town, but their accommodations were not worse than they had been in the other two prisons. No ill-will was shown towards them by any of the officials, not even by those whose lives their flight had endangered. The soldier who was held the most responsible for their escape, and who had been degraded in consequence to the rank of a common servant, showed even more alacrity than before in their behalf. In a month or two they were removed back to their former prison, where they were visited the next spring (1814) by an interpreter of the Dutch language, who had come from Yedo, and by a learned man from the same capital, who was indeed no other than Doeff’s astronomer Globius, but known to the Russians as Adachi Sanai, both of whom desired to learn the Russian language. The interpreter, a young man of twenty-seven, and already acquainted with the rules of European grammar, made rapid progress, and soon applied himself to translate a treatise on vaccination, which one of the returned Japanese had brought from Russia. The astronomer busied himself in translating a Russian school treatise on arithmetic, carried to Japan by one of the Japanese conveyed home by Laxman in 1792. It was evident that he had considerable mathematical learning. The Japanese astronomers had made decided progress since the time of Thunberg. Globius understood the Copernican system, was acquainted with the orbit and satellites of Uranus; knew the nature and doctrine of sines and tangents, and was familiar with the difference between the old and new styles. He assured Golownin that the Japanese could calculate eclipses with much exactness, and he studied with great attention a treatise on physics, which, with other books, had been sent on shore in Golownin’s chest.
Nor were the Japanese without knowledge of the revolutions going on in Europe. The Russians were told the news of the taking of Moscow, brought to Nagasaki by the two vessels from Batavia; but with patriotism equal to that shown by Doeff, in relation to the annexation of Holland to France, they refused to believe it. The Japanese gave them a minute description of these two vessels, and also of the elephant which they brought, his length, height, thickness, food, etc. A native of Sumatra, the keeper of the elephant, was described with equal minuteness.
Teisuke, whom Golownin had taught Russian, was found to be quite a free-thinker, both in politics and religion; but, in general, the Japanese seemed very superstitious, of which, presently, we shall see some instances.
The soldiers Golownin observed to be of two classes, those of the local administration, and others whom he calls imperial soldiers, and who appear, by his description, to be precisely the same with those whom Kämpfer describes under the name of Dōshin, as attached to the service of the governor of Nagasaki, and indeed, this same name, in a modified form, is given to them by Golownin. They took precedence of the others, and were so handsomely clothed and equipped as to be mistaken at first for officers. The profession of arms, like most others in Japan, is hereditary. The arms of the soldiers, besides the two swords, were matchlocks,—which, when they fired, they placed, not against the shoulder, but the right cheek,—bows and arrows, and long pikes, heavy and inconvenient.
They could all read, and spent much time in reading aloud, which they did much in the same droning, half-chanting tone in which the psalms are read at funerals in Russia. Great surprise was expressed that the Russian sailors were unable to read and write; and, also, that but one Russian book was found in the officer’s baggage, and that on much worse paper, and much worse bound, than those they had in French and other languages. It was shrewdly asked if the Russians did not know how to print books?