I left Jedo on the 21st September by boat, and came to Oringgaw,[22] a town upon the sea-side, where is an excellent harbour, in which ships may ride with as much safety as in the river Thames, and the passage from which by sea to Jedo is very safe and good; so that it would be much better for our ships to sail to this port than to Firando, as Oringgaw is on the main island of Japan or Niphon, and is only fourteen or fifteen leagues from Jedo, the capital and greatest city of the empire.  Its only inconvenience is, that it is not so well supplied with flesh and other victuals as Firando, but is in all other respects much preferable.  From thence we proceeded on the 29th to Surunga, where we remained in waiting for the letters and presents from the emperor.  On the 8th of October I received the emperor’s letter, of which a translation is subjoined, and I then also received the privileges of trade, formerly quoted, the original of which I left with Mr Cocks.[23]

[Footnote 22:  No such place as Oringgaw is to be found in modern maps of Japan.  Jedo is situated at the head of a deep gulf of the same name, in the south-east corner of Japan.  About the distance indicated in the text, there is a town and bay named Odavara, on the western side of the gulf, and in the direct way back to Surunga, which may possibly be the Oringgaw of the text.—­E.]

[Footnote 23:  The characters have by some been thought to be those of China, but I compared them with Chinese books, and they seemed to me quite different, yet not letters to compound words by spelling, as ours, but words expressed in their several characters, such as are used by the Chinais and as the brevity manifesteth.  I take them to be characters peculiar to Japan.—­Purch.

In a marginal reference in the plate given by Purchas, the lines are said to read downwards, beginning at the right hand.  It may possibly be so:  But they appear letters, or literal characters, to compound words by spelling, and to be read like those used in Europe, from left to right horizontally.  In a future portion of our work, the subject of the Japanese language and writing will be farther elucidated; when, we believe, it will appear that they have two modes of writing, one by verbal or ideal characters like the Chinese, and the other by literal signs like all the rest of the world.—­E.]

Letter from the Emperor of Japan to the King of Great Britain.

Your majesty’s kind letter, sent me by your servant Captain Saris, who is the first of your subjects that I have known to arrive in any part of my dominions, I heartily embrace, being not a little glad to understand of your great wisdom and power, as having three plentiful and mighty kingdoms under your powerful command.  I acknowledge your majesty’s great bounty, in sending me so undeserved a present of many rare things, such as my land affordeth not, neither have I ever