“In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and the empire of Japan, aforesaid, have signed and sealed these presents.
“Done at Kanagawa[123] this thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and of Kayei the seventh year, third month, and third day.”
The day after the signing of the treaty a number of presents were sent on board for the president, the commodore, and other officers of the squadron.
In agreeing to negotiate at Yokohama, Commodore Perry had stated his intention to carry the ships, at some future time, close up to Yedo, and to anchor them there, “as well to do honor to his imperial majesty by salutes as to be in full view of the palace, and convenient to be visited by such of the court as may desire to examine the steamers.” Accordingly, on the 8th of April, to the great distress of the Japanese officials, he got under way; but, as the Japanese interpreters threatened to cut themselves open if he proceeded, he presently turned about and took a lower anchorage down the bay. The published official letters of the commander say nothing of this movement; the letters from the fleet, published in the newspapers, do not agree as to how far up the commodore went. According to one letter, Yedo was full in sight.
On the 18th of April the fleet sailed for Shimoda, one of the ports granted in the treaty, of which a letter dated on board the “Powhatan,” and published in the New York “Tribune,” gives this account:
Shimoda is situated near Cape Fògu [?], sixty miles west from Point Sagami, at the entrance of the bay of Yedo. It is a good, commodious harbor, well sheltered by hills several hundred feet high, with a rock within the entrance which affords a still more protected anchorage. The town, of about one thousand houses, is situated at the northwestern end of the harbor, on the banks of a small stream flowing down through a fertile valley, which is often not more than half a mile wide, but sometimes widens to one and a half miles. Several little brooks offer good watering-places for the ships. The larger Japanese junks mostly anchor at Kakizaki, a village of about three hundred houses, on the northeastern end and opposite Shimoda. There are eight temples, some of which are very large, in the town, and little chapels (miya) on almost every eminence, and by the roadsides.
“The country is exceedingly picturesque, and resembles very much the lower ranges of the Alps. Along the little river of Shimoda are many villages, and numbers of rice-mills stamp and grind along its banks. About six miles above the bay this river separates into several branches. Following either of them, you pass through numerous gorges and glens, and finally reach the barren tops of mountains, some three thousand feet high. Their summits and the narrow tablelands are covered with bushy grass, among which a certain berry, upon which pheasants and partridges feed, grows very plentifully.
“In one of the larger temples a place has been arranged for the daguerreotype, and Mr. Brown is actively at work. He has obtained many very fine daguerreotypes of the Japanese, and will have a fine collection to show when he reaches home. Mr. Heine continues his sketching, drawing, painting, gunning, skinning, pressing, and preserving plants. Lieutenants Murray, Bent, Whiting, Nicholson, etc., etc., have been busily engaged in the survey, and deserve no small credit for their exertions and the important results they have obtained.”
Of this visit to Shimoda, the officer of the “Vandalia” already quoted thus speaks:
“Here we were permitted to go on shore and ramble about in a circuit for ten miles, much to our delight as we all felt the want of exercise. Excepting at Yokohama, where we were not allowed to go far from the audience house, we had not been on shore since we left Lew Chew. They watched us very closely at first, sending guards of soldiers to accompany us, shutting the shops, and concealing the women; but in a few days these restrictions were removed, and we were left undisturbed to wander where we pleased. The town, containing eight thousand people, is pleasantly situated in a well-cultivated valley, surrounded by high hills that conceal from view the entrance to its safe and picturesque harbor. The streets are wide and straight, and the better class of houses two stories high, plastered, and roofed with elegant tiles.[124] The interior is kept very clean and neat, and the rooms, covered with mats, are separated from each other by sliding screens, that are closed or removed at pleasure. There are no chimneys in Japan. A charcoal fire is built in a little sandpit in the middle of the floor, around which the family are usually found seated on their knees (qu. heels?), drinking tea and smoking their pipes. Not a chair or any other piece of furniture can be seen. Tubs of water are kept in front of each house, as well as on the roofs, in readiness against any fire, for conflagrations are so frequent and extensive that whole towns are sometimes burnt down.