Book page Google Books Bayard Taylor A Visit to India, China and Japan in the year 1853 (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1859), p.450.
During our first visit, the Commodore applied to the authorities to lease him a house on shore for a short time, that the daguerreotype and telegraphic apparatus might be put up and tested. They designated the little temple near the village of Tumai, two miles north of Napa, which had been given to Capts. Maxwell and Hall, as a hospital for their seamen. There is a correct sketch of it in Hall's work. Messrs. Brown and Draper, the artists, went ashore with their assistants, and remained there three weeks. They were daily visited by numbers of the better class of natives, who watched their operations with the greatest curiosity. They at once comprehended, the properties of the daguerreotype, and willingly sat for their portraits. They understood the necessity of remaining perfectly quiet, and were as rigid as statues, not venturing to move an eyelid. When the impression was good, nothing could exceed their wonder and delight. The excessive moisture in the air of Loo-Choo, and the absence of any fitting location for the instruments, operated unfavorably upon the plates, and not more than twenty good pictures were procured. These, however, are of much value, as giving perfect representations of the features and costumes of the Loo-Chooins. The telegraphic apparatus worked admirably, and though we natives could only partially comprehend its character, they regarded it with a kind of superstitious awe.
