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Two volumes. (8vo) original red and brown cloth stamped in gilt. Reprint.

Facsimile of the 1893 first edition. Joseph Heco [Hamada Hikozo] (1837-1897), a native of the province of Sanyodo, went to sea in 1850. When his ship was dismasted, he and other members of the crew were rescued by an American ship which took Heco to California, and the young Japanese did not return to his native land until 1859.

The narrative contains Heco's reminiscences, based on diaries that he began to keep as soon as he had mastered English. In the first volume, he describes his boyhood in Japan and the voyage that brought him to America; a trip to Hong Kong; and a return voyage to San Francisco. This volume concludes with Heco's return to Japan in 1859 and work as interpreter for the U.S. Consulate and a second trip to America, 1861- 1862. Vol. 2 contains Heco's reminiscences of his adventures, picking up the story shortly after Heco's return to Japan after his second journey to America in 1862. His later experiences in Japan include an eyewitness account of key events in the Revolution of 1868. "His experiences were unique. He saw the Gold Rush through wondering eyes. He became an American citizen, visited Washington and met the President, and thereafter returned to Japan to serve as an official interpreter of the American Mission." - Wheat, Books of the California Gold Rush 94.