みずから舟を転覆させて、日本へ上陸した男がいます。
自分は英国の旗の下に生まれた、と本人は書いています。
その男の教え子が、ペリーとの交渉で日本側の主席通訳を務めた ―― そう記した本があります。
A man once capsized his own boat on purpose in order to come ashore in Japan.
"I was born under the British flag," he wrote.
A book records that his pupils served as the chief interpreters on the Japanese side in the negotiations with Perry.
ラナルド・マクドナルド。1824年2月3日の生まれです。
コロンビア川の河口のフォート・ジョージ。旧アストリア、いまのオレゴン州です。
自分は二つの旗の男で、ある意味でどちらにもふさわしいが、どちらにもあまり満足していない、とも本人は書いています。
父アーチボルドはスコットランドの出。母はチヌークの「コムコムリー王」の娘でした。
母は、彼が生まれて数日後に亡くなっています。
なぜ日本へ向かったのか。
血筋を理由に結婚を断られた失恋がきっかけだった、と伝えられています。
彼は小舟を出し、島を認めました。
そして島の風下五、六マイルのところで、意図して自分の舟を転覆させます。
上陸したのは利尻島。オシドマリ湾のノツカという村でした。
彼は捕らえられ、閉じ込められます。
ところが日本側は、彼を英語の教師として使いました。
本人はこう書いています。
「幽閉のあいだ、ほぼ毎日、森山たちは私の生徒だった」
プレブル号が来たとき、乗り込んで通訳をした日本人も、彼の生徒でした。
そしてペリーの黒船が来ます。
その本の図版目録は、日本側の主席通訳を務めた二人が彼の教え子だったと記しています。
みずから舟を転覆させた男から英語を教わった人たちが、国を開く交渉の席にいました。
Ranald MacDonald. He was born on the third day of February, 1824.
At Fort George, at the mouth of the Columbia River — the old Astoria, in what is now Oregon.
"I am and have ever felt myself to be a man of two flags; proper, in a way, to both," he wrote, "yet scarcely quite content with either."
His father Archibald came of Scotland. His mother was the daughter of the Chinook "King Comcomly."
She died within a few days of his birth.
Why did he set out for Japan?
It is said that it began with a refusal of marriage on account of his blood.
He put out in a small boat and sighted an island.
Then, five or six miles to leeward of it, he capsized his own boat on purpose.
He landed on Rishiri Island, at a village called Notsuka on Oshidomari Bay.
He was taken and held in confinement.
And yet the Japanese put him to use as a teacher of English.
He wrote:
"During nearly all my confinement, and nearly daily, Murayama and others were my pupils."
When the Preble came, the Japanese who went aboard to interpret was also his pupil.
And then Perry's black ships arrived.
The list of plates in that book records that the two chief interpreters on the Japanese side were his pupils.
Men taught English by a man who had capsized his own boat sat at the table where the country was opened.
この話のもとになった記録の言葉です。ページは、その本に刷られたものです。
Ranald MacDonald『Ranald MacDonald: the narrative of his early life…and of his great adventure to Japan』（Eastern Washington State Historical Society, 1923）本人の叙述部分一次史料
In 1862, as the result of my own personal surveys of routes for transport of freight from the Ocean to the Cariboo mines in British Columbia, I obtained a charter to myself personally (in association with the late John Barnston, barrister, member of the legislature of British Columbia and other) from the Government of British Columbia for first a trail and then a wagon road from Bella Coola (Bentwick Arm) to the Cariboo mines with tollage.
Portraits of Morayama and Tokojiro, pupils of Ranald MacDonald; Chief interpreters in negotiations with Commodore Perry
Supposing the Island to be inhabited, I designedly upset my boat about five or six miles to the leeward of it, and lost nearly all my clothing, some books, and all my bedding, pistols and bailer
The village was called Notsuka. It is on Oshitomari Bay at the Northeastern part of the island
during nearly all my confinement, and nearly daily, Murayama and others were my pupils
During the seven months and more of my close confinement in my cage in Nagasaki, I drew more comfort and sustaining companionship from my pupils the Official Interpreters.
At Fort Langley the education of Ranald and his younger brothers was begun under the personal supervision of his father, a reputed graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland／explaining the family "coat of arms" which his father brought from Glencoe, Scotland
I first saw the light on that same February 3, at Astoria, the great trading post in Oregon
then still in her teens, of "King Com-Comly"／Her personal name, in Chinook, signified Raven; probably from the color of her hair（註58: The Chinook word for raven is "Koale'xoa."）
As already stated, I was born under the British flag; in Fort George (formerly Astoria). In truth, I am and have ever felt myself to be a man of two flags; proper, in a way, to both. Yet, let me say, scarcely quite content with either.
My mother died a few days after my birth, much to the sorrow of my father
同書の編者注・図版目録（Eastern Washington State Historical Society, 1923）
Portraits of Morayama and Tokojiro, pupils of Ranald MacDonald; Chief interpreters in negotiations with Commodore Perry
the Japanese having put him to use as a teacher of English. The very interpreter who boarded the “Preble” had been one of his scholars
It apparently came about through an unhappy, youthful love affair; when he found that the strain of Indian blood in his veins was considered a barrier to his marrying
In 1834 Ranald was sent overland to Fort Garry to attend the Red River Missionary School, supported by the Hudson.s Bay Company and then the most westerly educational institution in Canada.
PDF の後半 2 ページはガイド用です。読み上げる台本、語り方のコツ、事柄ごとに「どこまで言い切ってよいか」、記録の言葉と原本の切り出しが載っています。お客様用の面の裏に来ないよう、両面印刷で組んであります。