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 traveller himself. "Having waited upwards of an hour," says he, "and the emperor having in the mean while seated himself in the hall of audience, Sino Comi (the governor of Nangasaki) and the two commissioners came in and conducted our resident into the emperor's presence, leaving us behind. As soon as he came thither, they cried out aloud 'Hollanda Captain!' which was the signal for him to draw near, and make his obeisance.  Accordingly he crawled on his hands and knees to a place shown him, between the presents ranged in due order on one side, and the place where the emperor sat, on the other, and then kneeling, he bowed his forehead quite down to the ground, and so crawled backwards, like a crab, without uttering one single word.  So mean and short a thing is the audience we have of this mighty monarch."

After a second audience, to which they were invited chiefly for the purpose of allowing the ladies of the harem, who viewed them from behind screens, an opportunity of seeing what kind of animals Dutchmen were, and having despatched the public business, which was the sole object of the embassy, they returned to Nangasaki. During this second visit to Jeddo, in the following year, nothing very remarkable occurred, except that they were invited to dine in the palace, and thus afforded an opportunity of observing the etiquette of a Japanese feast. Each guest was placed at a small separate table, and the repast commenced with hot white cakes as tough as glue, and two hollow loaves of large dimension, composed of flour and sugar, and sprinkled over with the seeds of the sesamum album. Then followed a small quantity of pickled salmon; and the magnificent entertainment was concluded with a few cups of tea, which Kæmpfer assures us was little better than warm water! When they had devoured this sumptuous feast, they were conducted towards the hall of audience, where, after having