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Mr. Taylor thus describes the singular feast with which the Regent of Loo-Choo honoured the American Commodore and his, party :

"Four tables were set in the central apartment, and three in each of the wings, and already covered with a profuse collation. Immediately on entering we were requested to seat ourselves. The Commodore, with Commanders Buchanan and Adams, took the highest table on the right hand, and the Regent and his associates the one opposite on the left. At each corner of the tables lay a pair of chop-sticks. In the centre stood an earthen pot filled with sackee, surrounded with four acorn-cups, four large cups of coarse china, with clumsy spoons of the same material, and four tea-cups. From this centre radiated a collection of dishes of very different shapes and sizes, and still more different contents. There were nineteen on the table at which I sat, but I can only enumerate a few of them: eggs, dyed crimson and sliced; fish made into rolls and boiled in fat; cold pieces of baked fish; slices of hog's liver; sugar candy; cucumbers; mustard; salted radish tops; curds made of bean flour; fragments of fried lean pork, and several nondescripts, the composition of which it was impossible to tell.

"The repast began with cups of tea, which were handed around, followed by tiny cups of sackee, which was of much superior quality to any we had yet tasted on the island. It was old and mellow, with a sharp, sweet, unctuous flavor, somewhat like French liqueur. Small bamboo sticks, sharpened at one end, were then presented to us. We at first imagined them to be tooth-picks, but soon found that they were designed to stick in the balls of meat and dough, which floated in the cups of soup, constituting the first course. Six or eight cups of different kinds of soup followed, and the attendants, meanwhile, assiduously filled up the little cups of sackee. We had a handsome, bright-eyed youth as our Ganymede, and the smile with which he pressed us to eat and drink, was irresistible. The abundance of soup reminded me of a Chinese repast. Of the twelve courses -the number appropriated to a royal dinner-which were served to us, eight were soups, and many of them so similar in composition as not to be distinguished by a palate unpractised in Loo-Choo delicacies. The other four were-gingerbread; a salad made of beansprouts and tender onion-tops; a basket of what appeared to be a dark-red fruit, about the size of a peach, but proved to be balls, composed of a thin rind of unbaked dough, covering a sugary pulp; and a delicious mixture of beaten eggs, and the aromatic, fibrous roots of the ginger-plant. The gingerbread had a true home flavor, and was not to be despised. The officers did their best to do honor to the repast, but owing to the number of dishes, could do little more than taste the courses as they were served up. Although we left at the end of the twelfth course, we were told that twelve more readiness to follow."

were in

From Loo-Choo, Commodore Perry paid a brief visit to the

Bonin Islands, which were taken possession of by Captain Beechey in the name of Great Britain. Though a fine group of islands, they have scarcely any inhabitants, except a few run-a way sailors. The following extract shews that a good stroke of business could be executed even on such a lonely spot:

"Commodore Perry saw at once the advantages of Port Lloyd as a station for steamers, whenever a line shall be established between China and California. It is not only the most eligible, but perhaps the only spot in the Pacific, west of the Sandwich Islands, which promises to be of real advantage for such a purpose. It is about 3,300 miles from the latter place, and 1,100 from Shanghai, and almost on the direct line between the two points. If the Sandwich Islands are to be included in the proposed route (as is most probable,) Peel Island is even preferable to a port in Japan, which, on the other hand, would be most convenient for a direct northern line from Oregon. The Commodore, on the day after our arrival, obtained from Mr. Savory the title to a tract of land, on the northern side of the bay, near its head. It has a front of 1,000 yards on the water, and extends across the island to a small bight on the northern side, which he named Pleasant Bay. The location is admirably adapted for a coaling station for steamers, since a pier fifty feet long would strike water deep enough to float the largest vessel. The soil of Peel Island is the richest vegetable mould, and might be made to produce abundant supplies, while its mountain streams furnish a never-failing source of excellent water."

The expedition saw nothing of Japan, but the shores of the vast Bay of Yedo, which they boldly entered, and subsequently surveyed, almost as far in as the suburbs of the city itself. By an admirable display of courtesy and firmness, Commodore Perry succeeded in maintaining his position, so boldly taken up in the neighbourhood of the Japanese court, and in securing the proper delivery of his official letters. We shall quote only the following account of the singular silent interview in which this duty was accomplished :

"Yezaimon and the interpreters preceded us, in order to show the way. The distance from the jetty to the door of the building was so short, that little opportunity was given me for noticing minutely the appearance of the Japanese, or the order of their array. The building into which the Commodore and suite were ushered was small, and appeared to have been erected in haste. The timbers were of pine wood, and numbered, as if they had been brought from some other place. The first apartment, which was about forty feet square, was of canvas, with an awning of the same, of a white ground, with the imperial arms emblazoned on it in places. The floor was covered with white cotton cloth, with a pathway of red felt, or some similar substance, leading across the room to a raised inner apartment, which

was wholly carpeted with it. This apartment, the front of which was entirely open, so that it corresponded precisely to the diwan in Turkish houses, was hung with fine cloth, containing the Imperial arms, in white, on a ground of violet. On the right hand was a row of arm-chairs, sufficient in number for the Commodore and his staff, while on the opposite side sat the prince who had been appointed to receive the President's letter, with another official of similar rank. Their names were given by the interpreter as "TODA IDZU-NOKAMI," Toda, prince of Idzu, and " IDO IWAMI-NO-KAMI," Ido, prince of Iwami. The prince of Idzu was a man of about fifty, with mild, regular features, an ample brow, and an intelligent, reflective expression. He was dressed with great richness, in heavy robes of silken tissue, wrought into elaborate ornaments with gold and silver thread. The Prince of Iwami was at least fifteen years older, and dressed with nearly equal splendor. His face was wrinkled with age, and exhibited neither the intelligence nor the benignity of his associate. They both rose and bowed gravely as the Commodore entered, but immediately resumed their seats, and remained as silent and passive as statues during the interview.

"At the head of the room was a large scarlet-lacquered box, with brazen feet, beside which Yezaimon and the interpreter, Tatsonoske, knelt. The latter then asked whether the letters were ready to be delivered, stating that the prince was ready to receive them. The boxes were brought in, opened, so that the writing and the heavy golden seals were displayed, and placed upon the scarlet chest. The prince of Iwami then handed to the interpreter, who gave it to the Commodore, an official receipt, in Japanese, and at the same time the interpreter added a Dutch translation. The Commodore remarked that he would sail in a few days for Loo-Choo and Canton, and if the Japanese Government wished to send any dispatches to those places he would be happy to take them. Without making any direct reply, the interpreter asked: "When will you come again ?" The Commodore answered, " As I suppose it will take some time to deliberate upon the letter of the President, I shall not wait now, but will return in a few months to receive the answer." He also spoke of the revolution in China, and the interpreter asked the cause of it, without translating the communication to the prince. He then inquired when the ships would return again, to which the Commodore replied that they would probably be there in April or May. "All four of them ?" he asked. "All of them," answered the Commodore," and probably more. This is but a portion of the squadron." No further conversation took place. The letters having been formally delivered and received, the Commodore took his leave, while the two princes, who had fulfilled to the letter their instructions not to speak, rose and remained standing until he had retired from their presence."

The result of the expedition is matter of history. A treaty of commerce was finally concluded between the American and SEPT., 1857.

L

Japanese, in which two ports in Japan, and one in Loo-Choo, were opened for American vessels. The Russians, however, following the example set by the American expedition, have since secured, in name at least, far more extensive privileges. After the first visit of the squadron to Japan, our author returned to China, and thence sailed for New York, there to add to his contributions to literature, one of the most pleasant and readable books of travels, descriptive of these distant portions of the eastern world.

ART. IV.-Relation de l'Inquisition de Goa. A Amsterdam,

WH

1719.

HILE the main duty of the Reviewer is to observe passing events, and to subject to impartial criticism the doings and the writings of his cotemporaries, we know no good reason why he should abstain from an occasional retrospective glance; why he should not, without usurping the province of the historian, attempt to derive from the history of the past some of the lessons that it is fitted to afford for the guidance of the present, and, more important still, the hopes that it may hold out as regards the future. In accordance with this view of the nature of our functions, we purpose now to indulge in a little antiquarian research, and to lay before our readers a picture of the Inquisition of Goa, as it was at the end of the seventeenth century. The subject is one of great interest in itself, when viewed merely with the eyes of enlightened curiosity, as presenting a very peculiar aspect of that many-sided object, the human heart and mind; but doubly interesting to us in India, as exhibiting a particular phase of that problem, on whose evolution we are all looking with so intense anxiety, as to the influence of European example and European institutions on the native races of this land. We have no intention to record the history of the Inquisition, but merely to present a sketch of its action; and with this view we take as our guide the little volume whose title we have placed at the head of our article.

Its author was a about 1670, and Having rendered

It is a small volume of 202 pages, 18mo. M. Dellon, a Frenchman, who came to India settled at Daman, as a Medical practitioner. himself obnoxious to one or two men of influence, he was accused before the Sacred Office of holding and expressing heretical sentiments. After two years' confinement at Goa, and repeated appearances before the august tribunal of the Inquisition, he at last regained his liberty; and although he had been required to take a solemn oath, that he should not disclose the secrets of his prison-house, he published the volume before us some years after his return to France. It is satisfactory to find that his sufferings had not so far broken his spirit as to render him incapable of that language of compliment and persiflage, which is so characteristic of a Frenchman. He commences his dedication to a Mademoiselle Du Cambout de Coislin, in the following strain: "It would be unreasonable in me to complain of the rigours of the Inquisition, and of the ill-treatment that I have experienced at the hands of its ministers, since by sup

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