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344 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
crawl up like bush-whackers, or fight behind trees.
On the other hand, many of the foreigners were
rough and brutal in their manners, and, as in all
new settlements, the worst elements came up like
froth. No better and no worse men ever were
assembled together than at the first
opening of a
port on the coast.
Making bold to call on one of the two missionaries,
of whom he had heard that they were kind and
hospitable to all native callers, Honda Jiro found
the American a strange-looking personage, with bald
head, large, curved nose, kindly eyes which looked
through gold spectacles, and of sunny and benevolent
countenance. Doctor Grey, the American missionary,
immediately made him welcome and invited
him to sit on a chair. This was a point of etiquette
with which Honda Jiro found it hard to comply, as
it seemed to him improper for a young man to sit
down first in the presence of an elder person. However,
he took the chair, and though an interpreter
was present to talk, Honda Jiro found the gentleman
quite able to speak Japanese, and felt more at ease
when Doctor Grey sent his Japanese teacher back to
the study, for Honda Jiro at once recognized him as
a paid government spy. He did not mention this
fact, but Doctor Grey informed him that when in
Kanagawa it was five months before he could get
any teacher, and that all his movements and those
of his family, whether in taking their walks, in shopping,
or in engaging servants, were watched, and evidently
reported to Yedo. In a word, the mission-