Columbia gazette., 1853-12-17

villages. The houses are of wood, with
sharp roofs, some pointed in the Chinese
style, some square and pyramidal. A
few were painted white, but the greater
number were unpainted and weather.
beaten. At least hundred small craft,
with number Of junks, lay in the har-
Dor of Uraga and thence to the head
land, there were two hundred boats, ly-
ing close in-shore.
| examined the Notifications frequent
ly and carefully, through glass, and
found that their strength had been great
ly exaggerated, Two of them appeared
to have been recently made, and on a
bluff, half inclosing the little harbor of
Uraga on the east, there was another,
still in the course Of construction. Be-
tween this and the headland, there were
three batteries, and at the extremity one
making five in ALL The embras snrcs
were so large that from our position a
good marksman might in short time
have dislodged every one of their guns.
The chief post was the central battery,
near which was village, and several
buildings Of a large size, apparently arse
mails or barracks.
Every morning and evening, when the
air was clear, we had distinct view of
the famous volcanic peak Of Fusiyamma
rising in the western heaven, high above
the hills, and sixty miles away. In the
evenings its solitary cone, of pale vio-
let hue, was defined with great beauty
against the rosy flush of sunset, but in
the morning, when the light fell full up
on it, we could see the scars of old erup-
tions, and the cold ravines of snow on
its northern side. 1t is the highest
mountain in Japan, and estimated to
be twelve or thirteen thousand feet
above the sea-levcl.
On the morning after our arrival, the
Japanese put up a false battery of black
canvass, about a hundred yards in |. myth
on the shore south of Uraga. There
was no appearance of guns, but with a
glass | saw two or three companies of
soldiers, in scarlet uniform, riding
through the groves in the rear. In most
of the batteries they also erected canvass
screens behind the embrazurcs-with
what object it was difficult to conceive.
These diversions they repeated so often
during our stay, that at last we ceased to
regard them; but it was amusing to hear
some of our old quarter-masters now and
then gravcly report to Capt. Buchanan:
"Another dnngarec fort thrown up Sir!''
| On Saturday morning surveying ex-
pcdition, consisting of one boat from
each ship, under Tie charge of Lieut..
Bent, Of the Mississippi, was sentf the
purpose of sounding up the bay. The
other officers were Lieut.. Guest, of the
Susquehauna, Lieut.. Balch, of the Ply
mouth, and Mr. Madigan, Master of the
Saratoga. The boats carried, in addi-
ton to the usual ensign, white flag at
the bow, aud were fully manned with
armed seamen. They ran up the bay
to a distance of about four miles, and
found everywhere from thirty to forty
three fathoms of water. The recall was
then hoisted, and singal gun fired, to
bring them back. In the afternoon they
sounded around the blight of Uraga,
keeping about cables length from the
shore. They found five fathoms of wa
ter at this distance, though nearer to the
beach there were occasional reefs. Mr..
Heine, the artist, obtained panoramic
sketch of the shore, with the batteries,
villages and other objects in detail. On
approaching the forts the soldiers at first
came out, armed with matchlocks, but as
the boats advanced nearer, they retired
within the walls. The forts were all of
very rude and imperfect construction,
and all together only mounted fourteen
guns, none of which were larger than
nine-pounders The whole number of
soldiers seen was about four hundred, a
considerable portion of whom were arm
ed with spears. Their caps and shields
were lackered, and glittered in the sun
like polished armor. The carriages of
guns were also lackered. The embras-
ures were so wide that the guns were
wholly unprotected, while they were SO
stationed that the forts could be storm
ed from either side, with very little risk
to the assaulting party. The parapets
were of earth, and about twelve feet in
thickness, and the barracks in the rear
were Of wood. Indeed, the whole
amount of the Japanese defences ap-
peared laughable, after all the extraya-
CANT stories we had heard.
Mr.. Madigan approached, at one place
to within hundred yards of the shore.
Three official personages were standing
upon bank Of earth, when some one in
the boat raised spy-glass to get a near
er view of them. No sooner did they
behold the glittering tube pointed at
them than they scrambled down as quick
ly as possible, and concealed themselves.
There were three boat-loads of soldiers
near the shore, who made signs to him
to keep off, but he answered them by
pointing out the way he intended to go.
Thcreupon they put off and bore down
upon him so rapidly that he at first
thought they intended to run into him,
and ordered his men to trail their oars
and put caps on their carbines. The
boats stopped at once, and made no at
tempt to interfere with the cutter &