Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/196

RV 170 As to the manner of regulating the Deshima trade, it varied, of course, from time to time, but the general principle was to exclude the Dutch from the benefits of Japanese competition. The imported goods were purchasable by a limited number of specially licensed merchants from Kyōtō, Sakai, Ōsaka, Nagasaki, and Yedo. When a cargo arrived, it was landed and examined by appraisers, who fixed the price to be paid to the importers. The Dutch were then required to set out samples in their stores, and thereafter a signal bell summoned the licensed merchants, who, having passed into the enclosure and examined the samples, subsequently put in tenders, whatever they offered above the appraised prices being appropriated by the officials, who also levied a tax from the licensed merchants as well as a heavy rent from the Dutch. More or less departure from this system is observable at various epochs, but the dominant principle remained tolerably permanent, namely, exclusion of the foreigner from the advantages of Japanese competition. Periodically the superintendent of the Dutch factory had to travel to Yedo for the purpose of tendering thanks and gifts to the Shōgun, who on these occasions always bestowed on him thirty suits of clothing. This journey, made under strict official supervision, was prefaced and followed by a similar visit to the Governor of Nagasaki. The articles imported by the Dutch were sugar, timber, stone-ware, metals, drugs,