he continued his journey to Shiraz, where beauties of another kind,
exquisite, to use his own language, beyond credibility, and marvellously
varied, refreshed the eye, and seemed to efface from the mind all
recollection of the fact that the earth contained such things as graves
or ruins. The effervescence of animal spirits occasioned by the air and
aspect of scenes so delicious appeared for the moment to justify the
enthusiasm of the Persian poet, who, half-intoxicated with the perfume of
the atmosphere, exclaims:—
Boy, bid yon ruby liquid flow,
And let thy pensive heart be glad,
Whate’er the frowning zealots say;
Tell them their Eden cannot show
A stream so pure as Rocknabad,
A bower so sweet as Mosellay!
But, with all its beauty, Shiraz contains nothing which raises so
powerful an enthusiasm in the soul as two tombs,—the tomb of the bard
who sung the beauties of the Rocknabad, and of the moral author of
the “Rose Garden;” irresistible and lasting are the charms of poetry
and eloquence! Our traveller having acquired at Ispahan sufficient
knowledge of the Persian language to enable him to relish _Hafiz_,
though he complains that he is difficult, as well as the easier and more
popular _Saadi_, whose sayings are in Persia “familiar to their mouths
as household words,” it was impossible that he should pass through the
city where their honoured ashes repose without paying a pious visit to
the spot. Having contemplated these illustrious mausoleums with that
profound veneration which the memory of genius inspires, he returned to
his caravansary half-persuaded, with the Persians, that they who do not
study and treasure up in their souls the maxims of such divine poets can
neither be virtuous nor happy.
From the poets of Shiraz he naturally turned to its roses and its wine;
the former, in his opinion, the most fragrant upon earth; and the latter
the most balmy and delicious. In his history and description of this
wine, one of the most agreeable articles in his “Amœnitates,” there
is a kind of bacchic energy and enthusiasm, a rhapsodical affectation
of sesquipedalian words, which would seem to indicate that even the
remembrance of this oriental nectar has the power of elevating the animal
spirits. But whatever were the delights of Shiraz, it was necessary to
bid them adieu; and inwardly exclaiming with the calif, “How sweetly we
live if a shadow would last!” he turned his back upon Mosellay and the
Rocknabad, and pursued his route towards Gombroon.
Here, if he was pleased with contrasts, he could not fail to be highly
gratified; for no two places upon earth could be more unlike than Shiraz
and Gombroon. It was the pestilential air of this detestable coast
that had deprived Della Valle of his Maani, and reduced Chardin to the
brink of the grave; and Kæmpfer had not been there many months before
he experienced in his turn the deadly effects of breathing so inflamed
and insalubrious an atmosphere, from which, in the summer season, even
the natives are compelled to fly to the mountains. Though no doubt the
causes had long been at work, the effect manifested itself suddenly in
a malignant fever, in which he lay delirious for several days. When the
violence of this disorder abated, it was successively followed by a
dropsy and a quartan ague, through which dangerous and unusual steps,
as Dr. Scheuchzer observes, he recovered his health, though not his
former strength and vigour. Admonished by this rough visitation, he
now had recourse to those means for the restoration of his strength
which a more rigid prudence would have taught him to put in practice
for its preservation, and removed with all possible expedition into the
mountainous districts of Laristân.
On the 16th of June, 1686, at least six weeks after every other sane
person had fled from the place, Kæmpfer set out from Gombroon, sitting in
a pannier suspended from the back of a camel, being too weak to ride on
horseback, and attended by a servant mounted upon an ass, while another
animal of the same species carried his cooking apparatus and provisions.
To shield himself from the burning winds which swept with incredible fury
along these parched and naked plains, he stretched a small sheet over
his head, which, falling down on both sides of the pannier, served as a
kind of tent. Thus covered, he contrived to keep himself tolerably cool
by continually wetting the sheet on the inside; but being clothed in an
exceedingly thin garment, open in several parts, he next day found that
wherever the wet sheet had touched him the skin peeled off as if it had
been burned. Having procured the assistance of a guide, they deserted the
ordinary road, and struck off by a less circuitous, but more difficult
track, through the mountains. The prospect for some time was as dull and
dreary as could be imagined; consisting of a succession of sandy deserts,
here and there interspersed with small salt ponds, the glittering mineral
crust of which showed like so many sheets of snow by the light of the
stars.
At length, late on the night of the 20th, though the darkness precluded
the possibility of perceiving the form of surrounding objects, he
discovered by the aroma of plants and flowers diffused through the air
that he was approaching a verdant and cultivated spot; and continuing his
journey another day over a rocky plain, he arrived at the foot of the
mountains. Here he found woody and well-watered valleys alternating with
steep and craggy passes, which inspired him with terror as he gazed at
their frowning and tremendous brows from below. By dint of perseverance,
however, he at length reached the summit of Mount Bonna, or at least
the highest inhabited part, though spiry rocks shooting up above this
mountain plateau on every side intercepted all view of the surrounding
country. The chief of the mountain village in which he intended to
reside received him hospitably, and on the very morning after his arrival
introduced him to the spot where he was to remain during his stay. This
was a kind of garden exposed to the north-east, and therefore cool and
airy. Ponds of water, cascades, narrow ravines, overhanging rocks, and
shady trees rendered it a delightful retreat; but as the Persians as well
as the Turks regard our habit of pacing backwards and forwards as no
better than madness, there were no walks worthy of the name. When showers
of rain or any other cause made him desire shelter, he betook himself
to a small edifice in the garden, where his only companion was a large
serpent, which ensconced itself in a hole directly opposite to his couch,
where it passed the night, but rolled out early in the morning to bask in
the sun upon the rocks. Upon a sunny spot in the garden he daily observed
two delicate little chameleons, which, he was persuaded, were delighted
with his society; for at length one or the other of them would follow
him into the house, either to enjoy the warmth of the fire, or to pick
up such crumbs as might drop from his table during dinner. If observed,
however, it would utter a sound like the gentle laugh of a child, and
spring off to its home in the trees. He was shortly afterward joined
by another German invalid from Gombroon, whom he appears to have found
preferable as a companion both to the serpent and the chameleon.
Having now no other object than to amuse himself and recover his health,
he indulged whatever fancy came uppermost; at one time examining the
plants and trees of the mountain, and at another joining a party of
mountaineers in hunting that singular species of antelope in the
stomach of which the bezoar is found. The chase of this fleet and
timid animal required the hunters to be abroad before day, when they
concealed themselves in some thicket or cavern, or beneath the brows of
overhanging rocks, near the springs to which it usually repaired with
the dawn to drink. They knew, from some peculiarities in the external
appearance of the beasts, such individuals as certainly contained the
bezoar in their stomach from those which did not; and in all his various
excursions Kæmpfer requested his companions to fire at the former only.
In these same mountains there was an extraordinary cavern concealed
among rugged and nearly inaccessible precipices, from the sides of which
there constantly exuded a precious balsam of a black colour, inodorous,
and almost tasteless, but of singular efficacy in all disorders of the
bowels. The same district likewise contained several hot-baths, numerous
trees and plants, many of which were unknown in Europe, and a profusion
of those fierce animals, such as leopards, bears, and hyenas, which
constitute the game of an Asiatic sportsman.
Remaining in these mountains until he considered his strength
sufficiently restored, he returned to Gombroon. During his residence in
Persia, which was nearly of four years’ continuance, he collected so
large a quantity of new and curious information, that notwithstanding
that most of the spots he describes had been visited by former
travellers, his whole track seems to run over an untrodden soil; so
true is it that it is the mind of the traveller, far more than the
material scene, which furnishes the elements of interest and novelty.
The history of this part of his travels, therefore, the results of which
are contained in his “Amœnitates,” seemed to deserve being given at
some length. To that curious volume I refer the reader for his ample
and interesting history of the generation, growth, culture, and uses of
the date-palm; his description of that remarkable balsamic juice called
_muminahi_ by the Persians, and mumia, or munmy, by Kæmpfer, which exudes
from a rock in the district of Daraab, and was annually collected with
extraordinary pomp and ceremony for the sole use of the Persian king; and
the curious account which he has given of the _asafœtida_ plant, said
to be produced only in Persia; the _filaria medinensis_, or worm which
breeds between the interstices of the muscles in various parts of the
human body; and the real oriental dragon’s blood, which is obtained from
a coniferous palm.
About the latter end of June, 1688, he sailed on board the Dutch fleet
from Gombroon, which having orders to touch at Muscat and several other
ports of Arabia, he enjoyed an opportunity of observing something of
the climate and productions of that country, from whose spicy shore,
to borrow the language of Milton, Sabæan odours are diffused by the
north-east winds, when,—
Pleased with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles!
Proceeding eastward through the Indian Ocean, they successively visited
the north-western coasts of the Deccan, the kingdoms of Malabar, the
island of Ceylon, the Gulf of Bengal, and Sumatra; all which countries he
viewed with the same curious eye, the same spirit of industry and thirst
of knowledge.
Upwards of a year was spent in this delightful voyage, the fleet not
arriving at Batavia, its ultimate point of destination, until the month
of September, 1689. Kæmpfer regarded this chief seat of the Dutch
power in the East as a hackneyed topic, and neglected to bestow any
considerable research or pains upon its history or appearance, its trade,
riches, power, or government; but the natural history of the country, a
subject more within the scope of his taste and studies, as well as more
superficially treated by others, commanded much of his attention. The
curious and extensive garden of Cornelius Van Outhoorn, director-general
of the Dutch East India Company, the garden of M. Moller, and the little
island of Eidam, lying but a few leagues off Batavia, afforded a number
of rare and singular plants, indigenous and exotic, many of which he was
the first to observe and describe.
It was at that period the policy of the Dutch to send an annual embassy
to the court of Japan, the object of which was to extend and give
stability to their commercial connexion with that country. Kæmpfer, who
had now been eight months in Batavia, and appears during that period to
have made many powerful and useful friends, obtained the signal favour of
being appointed physician to the embassy; and one of the ships receiving
orders to touch at Siam, the authorities, to enhance the obligation,
permitted him to perform the voyage in this vessel, that an opportunity
might be afforded him of beholding the curiosities of that country.
He sailed from Batavia on the 7th of May, 1690; and steering through
the Thousand Islands, having the lofty mountains of Java and Sumatra in
sight during two days, arrived in thirteen days at Puli Timon, a small
island on the eastern coast of Malacca. The natives, whom he denominates
banditti, were a dark, sickly-looking race, who, owing to their habit of
plucking out their beard, a custom likewise prevalent in Sumatra and the
Malay peninsula, had all the appearance of ugly old women. Their dress
consisted of a coarse cummerbund, or girdle, and a hat manufactured from
the leaves of the sago-palm. They understood nothing of the use of money;
but willingly exchanged their incomparable mangoes, figs, pineapples, and
fowls for linen shirts, rice, or iron. On the 6th of June they arrived
safely in the mouth of the Meinam, and cast anchor before Siam, where
our traveller’s passion for botany immediately led him into the woods
in search of plants; but as tigers and other wild beasts were here the
natural lords of the soil, it was fortunate that his herborizing did not
cost him dearer than he intended.
In this country, which has recently been so ably described by Mr.
Crawfurd, the historian of the Indian Archipelago, Kæmpfer made but
a short stay. In the capital, which formed the extreme limit of his
knowledge, he observed a great number of temples and schools, adorned
with pyramids and columns of various forms, covered with gilding. Though
smaller than European churches in dimension, they were, he thought,
greatly superior in beauty, on account of their numerous bending and
projecting roofs, gilded architraves, porticoes, pillars, and other
ornaments. In the interior, the great number of gilded images of Buddha,
seated in long rows upon raised terraces, whence they seemed to overlook
the worshippers, increased the picturesque character of the building.
Some of these statues were of enormous size, exceeding not only that
Phidian Jupiter, represented in a sitting posture, which, had it risen,
must have lifted up the roof of the temple, but even those prodigious
statues of Osymandyas, on the plains of Upper Egypt, which look like
petrifactions of Typhæus and Enceladus, the Titans who cast Pelion upon
Ossa. One of these gigantic images, one hundred and twenty feet long,
represents Buddha reclining in a meditative posture, and has set the
fashion in Siam for the attitude in which wisdom may be most successfully
wooed.
In sailing down the Meinam he was greatly amused with the extraordinary
number of black and gray monkeys, which walked like pigmy armies along
the shore, or perched themselves upon the tops of the loftiest trees,
like crows. The glowworms, he observes, afforded another curious
spectacle; for, setting upon trees, like a fiery cloud, the whole swarm
would spread themselves over its branches, sometimes hiding their light
all at once, and a moment after shining forth again with the utmost
regularity and exactness, as if they were in a perpetual systole and
diastole. The innumerable swarms of mosquitoes which inhabited the
same banks were no less constant and active, though less agreeable
companions, which, from the complaints of our traveller, appear to have
taken a peculiar pleasure in stinging Dutchmen.
They left the mouth of the river on the 7th of July, and on the 11th of
August discovered the mountains of Fokien in China. Continuing their
course along the southern coast of this empire, they observed, about the
twenty-seventh degree of north latitude, a yellowish-green substance
floating on the surface of the sea, which appeared for two days. Exactly
at the same time they were visited by a number of strange black birds,
which perched on several parts of the ship, and suffered themselves to
be taken by the hand. These visits, which were made during a dead calm,
and when the weather was insufferably hot, was succeeded by tremendous
storms, accompanied by thunder and lightning, and a darkness terrible as
that of Egypt. The rain, which was now added to the other menaces of the
heavens, and was hurled, mingled with brine and spray, over the howling
waves, appeared to threaten a second deluge; and both Kæmpfer and the
crew seem to have anticipated becoming a prey to the sharks. However,
though storm after storm beat upon them in their course, the “audax genus
Japeti” boldly pursued their way, and on the 24th of September cast
anchor in the harbour of Nangasaki, in Japan, which is enclosed with
lofty mountains, islands, and rocks, and thus guarded by nature against
the rage of the sea and the fury of the tempest.
The appearance of this harbour, which on the arrival of Kæmpfer was
enlivened by a small fleet of pleasure-boats, was singularly picturesque.
In the evening all the vessels and boats put up their lights, which
twinkled like so many stars, over the dark waves; and when the warm light
of the morning appeared, the pleasure-boats, with their alternate black
and white sails, standing out of the port, and gilded by the bright
sunshine, constituted an agreeable spectacle. The next sight was equally
striking. This consisted of a number of Japanese officers, with pencil
and paper in hand, who came on board for the purpose of reviewing the
newly-arrived foreigners, of whom, after narrowly scrutinizing every
individual, they made an exact list and description of their persons,
in the same manner as we describe thieves and suspicious characters in
Europe. All their arms and ammunition, together with their boat and
skiff, were demanded and delivered up. Their prayer-books and European
money they concealed in a cask, which was carefully stowed away out of
the reach of the Japanese.
Kæmpfer quitted the ship as soon as possible, and took up his residence
at Desima, a small island adjoining Nangasaki, or only separated from it
by an artificial channel. Here he forthwith commenced the study of the
language, and the contrivance of the means of acquiring from a people
bound by a solemn oath to impart nothing to foreigners such information
respecting the country, its institutions, religion, and manners as might
satisfy the curiosity of the rest of mankind respecting so singular a
nation. The difficulties, he observes, with which he had to contend were
great, but not altogether insuperable; and might be overcome by proper
management, notwithstanding all the precautions which the Japanese
government had taken to the contrary. The Japanese, a prudent and valiant
nation, were not so easily to be bound by an oath taken to such gods or
spirits as were not worshipped by many, and were unknown to most; or if
they did comply, it was chiefly from fear of the punishment which would
inevitably overtake them if betrayed. Besides, though proud and warlike,
they were as curious and polite a nation as any in the world, naturally
inclined to commerce and familiarity with foreigners, and desirous to
excess of acquiring a knowledge of their histories, arts, and sciences.
But the Dutch being merchants, a class of men which they ranked among
the lowest of the human race, and viewed with jealousy and mistrust even
for the very slavish and suspicious condition in which they were held,
our traveller could discover no mode of insinuating himself into their
friendship, and winning them over to his interest, but by evincing a
readiness to comply with their desires, a liberality which subdued their
avarice, and an humble and submissive manner which flattered their vanity.
By these means, as he ingenuously confesses, he contrived, like another
Ulysses, to subdue the spells of religion and government; and having
gained the friendship and good opinion of the interpreters and the
officers who commanded in Desima, to a degree never before possessed
by any European, the road to the knowledge he desired lay open and
level before him. It would, indeed, have been no easy task to resist
the methods he put in practice for effecting his purpose. He liberally
imparted to them both medicine and medical advice, and whatever knowledge
he possessed in astronomy and mathematics; he likewise furnished them
with a liberal supply of European spirituous liquors; and these, joined
with the force of captivating manners, were arguments irresistible. He
was therefore permitted by degrees to put whatever questions he pleased
to them respecting their government, civil and ecclesiastical, the
political and natural history of the country, the manners and customs
of the natives, or any other point upon which he required information;
even in those matters on which the most inviolable secrecy was enjoined
by their oaths. The materials thus collected, however, though highly
important and serviceable, were far from being altogether satisfactory,
or sufficient foundation whereon to erect a history of the country;
which, therefore, he must have left unattempted had not his good genius
presented him with other still more ample means of knowledge.
Upon his arrival in Desima young man of about four-and-twenty, prudent,
sagacious, indefatigable, thoroughly acquainted with the languages of
China and Japan, and ardently desirous of improving himself in knowledge,
was appointed to attend upon him, in the double capacity of servant and
pupil. This young man had the good fortune, while under the direction of
Kæmpfer, to cure the governor of the island of some complaint under which
he laboured; for which important service he was permitted, apparently
contrary to rule, to remain in the service of our traveller during the
whole of his stay in Japan, and even to accompany him on his two journeys
to the capital. In order to derive all possible advantage from the
friendship of his pupil, Kæmpfer taught him Dutch, as well as anatomy and
surgery; and moreover allowed him a handsome salary. The Japanese was not
ungrateful. He collected with the utmost assiduity from every accessible
source such information as his master required; and there was not a book
which Kæmpfer desired to consult that he did not contrive to procure for
him, and explain whenever his explanation was necessary.
About the middle of February, 1691, the customary presents having been
got ready, and the necessary preparations made, the Dutch embassy set out
from Nangasaki for the court of the emperor, with Kæmpfer and his pupil
in its train. Having got fairly out of the city they proceeded on their
journey, passing through the small village of Mangome, wholly inhabited
by leather-tanners, who perform the office of public executioners
in Japan; and in about two hours passed a stone pillar marking the
boundaries of the territory of Nangasaki. Here and there upon the wayside
they beheld the statue of Zisos, the god of travellers, hewn out of
the solid rock, with a lamp burning before it, and wreaths of flowers
adorning its brows. At a little distance from the image of the god stood
a basin full of water, in which such travellers performed their ablutions
as designed to light the sacred lamps, or make any other offering in
honour of the divinity.
Towards the afternoon of the first day’s journey they arrived at the
harbour of Omura, on the shore of which they observed the smoke of a
small volcano. Pearl oysters were found in this bay; and the sands upon
the coast had once been strewn with gold, but the encroachment of the sea
had inundated this El Doradian beach. Next morning they passed within
sight of a prodigious camphor-tree, not less than thirty-six feet in
circumference, standing upon the summit of a craggy and pointed hill;
and soon afterward arrived at a village famous for its hot-baths. After
passing through another village, they reached a celebrated porcelain
manufactory, where the clay used was of a fat-coloured white, requiring
much kneading, washing, and cleansing, before it could be employed in
the formation of the finer and more transparent vessels. The vast labour
required in this manufacture gave rise to the old saying, that porcelain
was formed of human bones.
The country through which they now travelled was agreeably diversified
with hill and dale, cultivated like a garden, and sprinkled with
beautiful fields of rice, enclosed by rows of the tea-shrub, planted at
a short distance from the road. On the next day they entered a plain
country, watered by numerous rivers, and laid out in rice-fields like
the former. In passing through this district they had for the first time
an opportunity of observing the form and features of the women of the
province of Fisen. Though already mothers, and attended by a numerous
progeny, they were so diminutive in stature that they appeared to be so
many girls, while the paint which covered their faces gave them the air
of great babies or dolls. They were handsome, however, notwithstanding
that, in their quality of married women, they had plucked out the hair of
both eyebrows; and their behaviour was agreeable and genteel. At Sanga,
the capital of the province, he remarked the same outrageous passion
for painting the face in all the sex, though they were naturally the
most beautiful women in Asia; and, as might be conjectured from the rosy
colour of their lips, possessed a fine healthy complexion.
Upon quitting the province of Fisen, and entering that of Toussima,
a mountainous and rugged country, they travelled in a rude species
of palanquin called a cango, being nothing more than a small square
basket, open on all sides, though covered at top, and carried upon a
pole by two bearers. In ascending the mountain of Fiamitz they passed
through a village, the inhabitants of which, they were told, were all
the descendants of one man, who was then living. Whether this was true
or not, Kæmpfer found them so handsome and well formed, and at the same
time so polished and humane in their conversation and manners, that they
seemed to be a race of noblemen. The scenery in this district resembled
some of the woody and mountainous parts of Germany, consisting of a
rapid succession of hills and valleys, covered with copses or woods; and
though in some few places too barren to admit of cultivation, yet, where
fertile, so highly valued, that even the tea-shrub was only allowed to
occupy the space usually allotted to enclosures.
On the 17th of February they reached the city of Kokura, in the province
of Busen. Though considerably fallen from its ancient opulence and
splendour, Kokura was still a large city, fortified by towers and
bastions, adorned with many curious gardens and public buildings, and
inhabited by a numerous population. Here they moved through two long
lines of people, who lined both sides of the way, and knelt in profound
silence while they passed. They then embarked in barges; and, sailing
across the narrow strait which divides the island of Kiersu from Nisson,
landed at Simonoseki in the latter island, the name of which signified
the prop of the sun. Next day being Sunday, they remained at Simonoseki;
and Kæmpfer strolled out to view the city and its neighbourhood. He found
it filled with shops of all kinds, among which were those of certain
stonecutters, who, from a black and gray species of serpentine stone,
dug from the quarries in the vicinity, manufactured inkstands, plates,
boxes, and several other articles, with great neatness and ingenuity.
He likewise visited a temple erected to the manes of a young prince who
had prematurely perished. This he found hung, like their theatres, with
black crape, while the pavement was partly covered with carpets inwrought
with silver. The statue of the royal youth stood upon an altar; and
the Japanese who accompanied our traveller bowed before it, while the
attendant priest lit up a lamp, and pronounced a kind of funeral oration
in honour of the illustrious dead. From the temple they were conducted
into the adjoining monastery, where they found the prior, a thin,
grave-looking old man, clothed in a robe of black crape, who sat upon the
floor; and making a small present to the establishment, they departed.
Next morning, February 19th, they embarked for Osaki, preferring the
voyage by water to a toilsome journey over a rude and mountainous region;
and, after sailing through a sea thickly studded with small islands,
the greater number of which were fertile and covered with population,
arrived in five days at their point of destination. Osaki, one of the
five imperial cities of Japan, was a place of considerable extent
and great opulence. The streets were broad, and in the centre of the
principal ones ran a canal, navigable for small unmasted vessels, which
conveyed all kinds of merchandise to the doors of the merchants; while
upwards of a hundred bridges, many of which were extremely beautiful,
spanned these canals, and communicated a picturesque and lively air to
the whole city. The sides of the river were lined with freestone, which
descended in steps from the streets to the water, and enabled persons
to land or embark wherever they pleased. The bridges thrown over the
main stream were constructed with cedar, elegantly railed on both sides,
and ornamented from space to space with little globes of brass. The
population of the city was immense; and, like those of most seaport
towns, remarkably addicted to luxury and voluptuousness.
From Osaki they proceeded through a plain country, planted with rice, and
adorned with plantations of Tsadanil trees, to Miako, the ancient capital
of Japan. It being the first day of the month, which the Japanese keep as
a holyday, they met great multitudes of people walking out of the city,
as the Londoners do on Sunday, to enjoy the sweets of cessation from
labour,
With pleasaunce of the breathing fields yfed,
to visit the temples, and give themselves up to all kinds of rural
diversions. Nothing could be more grotesque than the appearance of these
crowds. The women were richly dressed in various-coloured robes, with a
purple-coloured silk about their foreheads, and wearing large straw hats,
to defend their beauty from the sun. Here and there among the multitude
were small groups of beggars, some dressed in fantastic garbs, with
strange masks upon their faces, others walking upon high iron stilts,
while a third party walked along bearing large pots with green trees
upon their heads. The more merry among them sung, whistled, played upon
the flute, or beat little bells which they carried in their hands. In
the streets were numbers of open shops, jugglers, and players, who were
exercising their skill and ingenuity for the amusement of the crowd.
The temples, which were erected on the slope of the neighbouring green
hills, were illuminated with numerous lamps, and the priests, no less
merry or active than their neighbours, employed themselves in striking
with iron hammers upon some bells or gongs, which sent forth a thundering
sound over the country. Through this enlivening scene they pushed on to
their inn, where they were ushered into apartments, which, being like all
other apartments in the empire, destitute of chimneys, resembled those
Westphalian smoking-rooms in which they smoke their beef and hams.
Having visited the governor, and the lord chief justice of Miako, and
delivered the customary presents, the embassy proceeded towards Jeddo.
Short, however, as was their stay, Kæmpfer found leisure for observing
and describing the city, which was extensive, well-built, and immensely
populous. Being the chief mercantile and manufacturing town in the
empire, almost every house was a shop, and every man an artisan. Here,
he observes, they refined copper, coined money, printed books, wove the
richest stuffs, flowered with gold and silver, manufactured musical
instruments, the best-tempered sword-blades, pictures, jewels, toys, and
every species of dress and ornaments.
They departed from Miako in palanquins on the 2d of March, and travelling
through a picturesque country, dotted with groves, glittering with
temples and lakes, and admirably cultivated, arrived in three days at the
town of Mijah, where they saw a very curious edifice, called the “Temple
of the Three Scimitars,” where three miraculous swords, once wielded by
demigods, are honoured with a kind of divine worship. On the 13th of
March they arrived, by a fine road running along the edge of the sea,
at Jeddo, and entered the principal street, where they encountered as
they rode along numerous trains of princes and great lords, with ladies
magnificently dressed, and carried in chairs or palanquins. This city,
the largest and most populous in the empire, stands at the bottom of a
large bay or gulf, and is at least twenty miles in circumference. Though
fortified by numerous ditches and ramparts, Jeddo is not surrounded by
a wall. A noble river, which divides itself into numerous branches,
intersects it in various directions, and thus creates a number of
islands which are connected by magnificent bridges. From the principal
of these bridges, which is called Niponbas, or the Bridge of Japan,
the great roads leading to all parts of the empire radiate as lines
from a common centre, and thence likewise all roads and distances are
measured. Though houses are not kept ready built, as at Moscow, to be
removed at a moment’s notice in case of destruction by fire or any other
accident, they are generally so slight, consisting entirely of wood and
wainscotting, that they may be erected with extraordinary despatch.
Owing to the combustible materials of those edifices, the very roofs
consisting of mere wood-shavings, while all the floors are covered with
mats, Jeddo is exceedingly liable to fires, which sometimes lay waste
whole streets and quarters of the city. To check these conflagrations in
their beginnings every house has a small wooden cistern of water on the
house-top, with two mops for sprinkling the water; but these precautions
being frequently found inefficient, large companies of firemen constantly
patrol the streets, day and night, in order, by pulling down some of the
neighbouring houses, to put a stop to the fires. The imperial palace,
five Japanese miles in circumference, consists of several castles
united together by a wall, and surrounded by a deep ditch. The various
structures which compose this vast residence are built with freestone,
and from amid the wilderness of roofs a square white tower rises aloft,
and, consisting of many stories, each of which has its leaded roof,
ornamented at each corner with gilded dragons, communicates to the whole
scene an air of singular grandeur and beauty. Behind the palace, which
itself stands upon an acclivity, the ground continues to rise, and this
whole slope is adorned, according to the taste of the country, with
curious and magnificent gardens, which are terminated by a pleasant wood
on the top of a hill, planted with two different species of plane-trees,
whose starry leaves, variegated with green, yellow, and red, are
exceedingly beautiful.
When their arrival at Jeddo was notified to the imperial commissioners,
to whom was intrusted the regulation of foreign affairs, they were
commanded to be kept confined in their apartments, and strictly guarded.
This, in all probability, was to prevent their discovering the tremendous
accident which had lately occurred in the city, where forty streets,
consisting of four thousand houses, had been burned to the ground a few
days before their arrival. Several other fires, exceedingly destructive
and terrific, and an earthquake which shook the whole city to its
foundations, happened within a few days after their arrival. On the
29th of March they were honoured with an audience. Passing through the
numerous gates and avenues to the palace between lines of soldiers, armed
with scimitars, and clothed in black silk, they were conducted into an
apartment adjoining the hall of audience, where they were commanded to
await the emperor’s pleasure. As nothing could more forcibly paint the
insolent pride of this barbarian despot, or the degraded position which,
for the sake of gain, the Dutch were content to occupy in Japan, I
shall describe this humiliating ceremony in the words of the 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 been questioned respecting their names and age by several
Buddhist priests and others, Kæmpfer was commanded to sing a song, for
the amusement of the emperor and his ladies, who were all present, but
concealed behind screens. He of course obeyed, and sung some verses which
he had formerly written in praise of a lady for whom he says he had a
very particular esteem. As he extolled the beauty of this paragon to the
highest degree, preferring it before millions of money, the emperor,
who appears to have partly understood what he sung, inquired the exact
meaning of those words; upon which, like a true courtier, our traveller
replied that they signified nothing but his sincere wishes that Heaven
might bestow “millions of portions of health, fortune, and prosperity
upon the emperor, his family, and court.” The various members of the
embassy were then commanded, as they had been on the former audience,
to throw off their cloaks, to walk about the room, and to exhibit in
pantomime in what manner they paid compliments, took leave of their
parents, mistresses, or friends, quarrelled, scolded, and were reconciled
again. Another repast, somewhat more ample than the preceding, followed
this farce, and their audience was concluded.
Having now remained in Asia ten years, two of which were spent in Japan,
the desire of revisiting his native land was awakened in his mind, and
quitting Japan in the month of November, 1692, he sailed for Batavia.
Here, in February, 1693, he embarked for Europe. The voyage lasted a
whole year, during which they were constantly out at sea, with the
exception of a few weeks, which they spent upon the solitudes of an
African promontory, for so he denominates the Cape of Good Hope. He
arrived at Amsterdam in the October following; and now, after having,
as M. Eriès observes, pushed his researches almost beyond the limits of
the old world, began to think of taking his doctor’s degree, a measure
which most physicians are careful to expedite before they commence their
peregrinations. He was honoured with the desired title at Leyden, in
April, 1694, and custom requiring an inaugural discourse, he selected
for the purpose ten of the most singular of those dissertations which he
afterward published in his “Amœnitates.”
This affair, which is still, I believe, considered important in Germany,
being concluded, he returned to his own country, where his reputation and
agreeable manners, together with the honour of being appointed physician
to his sovereign, the Count de Lippe, overwhelmed him with so extreme a
practice that he could command no leisure for digesting and arranging the
literary materials, the only riches, as he observes, which he had amassed
during his travels. However, busy as he was, he found opportunities of
conciliating the favour of some fair Westphalian, who, he hoped, might
deliver him from a portion of his cares. In this natural expectation
he was disappointed. The lady, far from concurring with her lord in
smoothing the rugged path of human life, was a second Xantippe, and, as
one of Kæmpfer’s nephews relates, poured more fearful storms upon his
head than those which he had endured on the ocean. His marriage, in fact,
was altogether unfortunate; for his three children, who might, perhaps,
have made some amends for their mother’s harshness, died in the cradle.
It was upwards of eighteen years after his return that he published the
first fruits of his travels and researches—the “Amœnitates Exoticæ;”
which, however, immediately diffused his reputation over the whole of
Europe. But his health had already begun to decline, and before he could
prepare for the press any further specimens of his capacity and learning,
death stepped in, and snatched him away from the enjoyment of his fame
and friends, on the 2d of November, 1716, in the 66th year of his age.
He was interred in the cathedral church of St. Nicholas, at Lemgow; and
Berthold Haeck, minister of the town, pronounced a funeral sermon, or
panegyric, over his grave, which was afterward printed.
Upon the death of Kæmpfer being made known in England, Sir Hans Sloane,
whose ardour for the improvement of science is well known, commissioned
the German physician of George I., who happened to be at that time
proceeding to Hanover, to make inquiries respecting our traveller’s
manuscripts, and to purchase them, if they were to be disposed of. They
were accordingly purchased, together with all his drawings; and on their
being brought to England, Dr. Scheuchzer, a man of considerable ability,
was employed to translate the principal work, the “History of Japan,”
into English. From this version, which has since been proved to have
been executed with care and fidelity, it was translated into French by
Desmaigeneux, and retranslated into German in an imperfect and slovenly
manner. However, after the lapse of many years, the original MS was
faithfully copied, and the work, hitherto known to our traveller’s own
countrymen chiefly through foreign translations, published in Germany.
Many of Kæmpfer’s manuscripts still remain unpublished in the British
Museum.
Kæmpfer may very justly be ranked among the most distinguished of modern
travellers. To the most extensive learning he united an enterprising
character, singular rectitude of judgment, great warmth of fancy, and a
style of remarkable purity and elegance. His “Amœnitates” and “History of
Japan” may, in fact, be reckoned among the most valuable and interesting
works which have ever been written on the manners, customs, or natural
history of the East.