Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/201

 to the warlike Japanese, made more striking by the peculiar dress of the bearer, decorated with the coat of arms of the United States, and surrounded by guards. Then came the "ambassador" mounted on horseback with a bodyguard, followed by his morimono, or chair of state, and its bearers; the secretary on horseback, with guard and chair; a long retinue of servants, with presents and baggage; also the vice-governor and mayor of Shimoda, with soldiers and attendants. The whole train numbered some three hundred and fifty persons.

The journey lay mainly over the Tokaido or imperial highway, and consumed a week. Notice had been given along the route of the coming of the "ambassador." The bridges were all put in order, the streets of the towns swept, and the municipal officials met the procession and escorted the embassy through the irrespective precincts. Large numbers of people crowded the highways, and knelt with averted heads as the "great man" passed, perfectly well behaved and in silence; the officials only saluting by the usual prostration, touching their heads to the ground. The single disagreeable incident occurred as the boundary line to the metropolitan province was reached, when Mr. Harris was informed that according to an immemorial law, from which none were exempt, his baggage must be inspected. This he positively refused to permit, and after much parleying he gained his point, and the procession moved on across the sacred boundary.

The day which would have concluded the journey and marked his entrance into Yedo fell upon Sunday, but the representative of a Christian country declined