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AN OBJECT LESSON. 225
Most of the soldiers, in hideous-looking armor and
helmets with flaring fronts, which made the men
look like beetles walking on their hind legs, were
posted on the line of bluffs which overlooked the
plain. In the center of the flat foreground stood
the imposing treaty-house. Farther back and roped
off was a space making a hollow square, along
which were picked troops
;
the fourth line closing
the square being the water. The troops on the
plain were under arms to keep back the crowds
and allow no one inside the ropes except the officers
chosen to receive the Americans and attendants.
The Japanese made a scene of glittering display,
for the variety of colors in the silken robes, the
dazzle of lacquered helmets, and gorgeousness of
feudal insignia were positively trying to the eyes.
On the part of the Americans, twenty-seven boats
filled with five hundred men sailors, marines, and
musicians were already on the blue waters. At a
signal, bows abreast in line, they were pulled to the
shore. The officers landed first. Then the marines
formed a hollow square, and the three bands of the
musicians played lively tunes. The sailors formed
lines of blue nearly up to the treaty-tent. When
all was ready Perry stepped into
a white barge and
was rowed to the shore, as the hills echoed with the
thunders which the fire and flame of the seventeen
guns of the Powhatan evoked by their salute to
Perry. As he and his officers were received by the
embassadors near the door of the treaty-house, the
boat howitzers fired two salutes of twenty-one and