Seas of Fortune(143)

The scout leader shrugged. “There is not much more to tell. It is shaped like the head and horns of a water buffalo—” he drew a “U” in the air—“with the horns pointing away from the sea. Streams run into each horn. The base is separated from the sea by very low ground, and at high tide the sea comes in.”

“And what is the ground like between those horns?”

“There is something of a rise.”

Masamune decided that he would establish a lightly fortified fishing village within the horns of the lake, which would serve as a moat on three sides. The walls and watchtower of the village in turn would provide some protection for the anchorage. The fisherman would use the anchorage for their boats, and they could start bring in fresh fish for the colonists. It would be several months before the farmers could harvest a crop.

One of Masamune’s scholars coughed.

“You have a suggestion?”

“Yes, my lord. Depending on the height of the water at high tide, we could perhaps dam the lower edge of the estuary so the saltwater can’t come in any more. It will then become a freshwater lake.”

“Speak to the masons, and see if they agree that it is possible with the earth and rock available nearby.”

He told the scout leader to take several Japanese woodsmen and Dutch artillerists with him to the hill to the west, and try to find a place where a battery that commanded both the harbor and the ridges near the estuary might be constructed without too much trouble.

Some of the fishing folk among the colonists were disembarked, and their new village was given the name of Andoryu, after Saint Andrew the Apostle, the patron saint of fishermen.

* * *

Date Masamune summoned his herald, and handed him a scroll. “Read it so all may hear and obey.”

The obugyô cleared his throat. “Black Seal Edict, given under the hand of the shogun of Nippon, Tokugawa Iemitsu, court noble of the upper first rank.

“(1) It shall be unlawful for barbarians, or people from outside provinces, to enter or exit New Nippon to trade with the Indians without the consent of the taishu of New Nippon, or the shogun.

“(2) Within the province of New Nippon, freedom of worship is permitted, provided that it does not disturb public harmony.

“(3) It shall be unlawful for residents of New Nippon who are of the Christian faith to return to their former provinces without the consent of the shogun or his duly appointed representatives.

“(4) It is strictly prohibited to inflict injustices or crimes upon the Indians of New Nippon.”

The herald paused for effect. “This edict is to be rigorously enforced by the authorities in New Nippon.” The edict was similar to the one given a few decades earlier to the Matsumae clan, which held the monopoly on trade with the Ainu, the aborigines of Hokkaido.

Date Masamune ordered that this black seal edict was to be read aloud at every later settlement, too.





October 1634





The First Fleet worked its way up the coast to the mouth of the Salinas. More precisely, where the mouth of the Salinas was supposed to be. From the crow’s nest of the Date Maru, they could see some kind of body of water behind the beach. Beyond that, there was a low hill, and far in the distance, a mountain range.

A launch was lowered into the water, and the sailors rowed a party of samurai to the beach. They spread out into a V-formation and moved cautiously east.

The body of water turned out to be a part of a river. The Salinas, without a doubt. However, the river mouth wasn’t here. Rather, a short distance south of the hill, the river made a sharp turn northward, and the area around the bend was fairly marshy.

South of the marsh, running parallel to the shore, there was long line of mammoth sand dunes. This was a mixed blessing; it screened that part of the beach from any Indians further inland, but it also meant that Indians could be close by yet undetected.

A second party of samurai was sent out to climb the dunes. This was not a terrain they were accustomed to; there were dunes near Tottori, on the west coast of Honshu, and also in Hamamatsu on the east coast, but none worth mentioning in Date Masamune’s fief of Rikuzen. With every step, sand was dislodged, increasing the effort required to make progress upward. Lizards scurried out of their way.

As they neared the crest of the dunes, they crouched, and at last they crawled to the top. From this excellent vantage point, they could see that the Salinas wound its way through a great valley stretching out to the southeast. They didn’t see any Indians, or even any habitations.

The question, then, was whether to land the colonists here—based on the map in the encyclopedia—or to head north, to the present mouth of the Salinas. However far north that might lie.