obeisance to the Shogun, "creeping forward on his hands and feet,
and falling on his knees, bowed his head to the ground, and
retired again in absolute silence, crawling exactly like a crab,"
said one of these pilgrims who added: "We may not keep Sundays or
fast days, or allow our spiritual hymns or prayers to be heard;
never mention the name of Christ. Besides these things, we have
to submit to other insulting imputations which are always painful
to a noble heart. The reason which impels the Dutch to bear all
these sufferings so patiently is simply the love of gain."

In return for these humiliations the Dutch East India Company was
permitted to send one or two ships a year from Batavia to Japan
and to export copper, silk, gold, camphor, porcelain, bronze, and
rare woods. The American ship Franklin arrived at Batavia in 1799
and Captain James Devereux of Salem learned that a charter was
offered for one of these annual voyages. After a deal of Yankee
dickering with the hard-headed Dutchmen, a bargain was struck and
the Franklin sailed for Nagasaki with cloves, chintz, sugar, tin,
black pepper, sapan wood, and elephants' teeth. The instructions
were elaborate and punctilious, salutes to be fired right and
left, nine guns for the Emperor's guard while passing in,
thirteen guns at the anchorage; all books on board to be sealed
up in a cask, Bibles in particular, and turned over to the
Japanese officials, all firearms sent ashore, ship dressed with
colors whenever the "Commissaries of the Chief" graciously came
aboard, and a carpet on deck for them to sit upon.

Two years later, the Margaret of Salem made the same sort of a
voyage, and in both instances the supercargoes, one of whom
happened to be a younger brother of Captain Richard Cleveland,