Volume 8, Chapter 10, Section 15, Part d -- Eighth Voyage of the English East India Company, in 1611, by Captain John Saris

§11. Occurrences at Firando after the Return of Captain Saris.[40]

The 7th of November, 1613, I sent in the first place some presents to the two kings of Firando, and afterwards went to visit them. On the 8th, Andrew Palmer, the ship's steward, and William Marnell, gunner's mate, having been ashore all night and quarrelled in their cups, went out this morning into the fields and fought. Both are so grievously wounded, that it is thought Palmer will hardly escape with his life, and that Marnell will be lame of his hands for life. The 9th I went aboard ship early, and called the master and all the officers into my cabin, making known to them how much I was grieved at the misconduct of some of them, particularly of Palmer and Marnell, who had gone ashore without leave, and had so sore wounded each other, that one was in danger of his life, and the other of being lamed for ever; and besides, that the survivor ran a risk of being hanged if the other died, which would necessarily occasion me much vexation.

I also said, I was informed that Francis Williams and Simon Colphax were in the boat going ashore to have fought, and that John Dench and John Winston had appointed to do the like. John Dench confessed it was true, and that he had seen Palmer and Marnell fighting, and had parted them, otherwise one or both had died on the field. I told them these matters were exceedingly distressing to me, and I trusted would now be remedied, otherwise the ship would be unmanned, to the overthrow of our voyage, and the vast injury of the honourable company which had entrusted us. After much contestation, they all engaged to amend what was amiss, and not to offend any more, which I pray God may be the case. I told them also, that old king Foyne had complained to me, threatening, if any more of them went ashore to fight and shed blood, contrary to the laws of Japan, he would order them to be cut in pieces, as he was determined strangers should have no more licence to infringe the laws than his own subjects.

At my return ashore, old Foyne Same came to visit me at the English house, and told me that the piece of Poldavy, and the sash I gave him, were consumed when his house was burnt down. This was in effect begging to have two others, which I promised to give him. I likewise got him to send some of his people aboard, along with John Japan, our jurebasso, to intimate to our men that if any of them went ashore to fight, he had given strict orders to have them cut in pieces. This I did in hopes of restraining them in future from any more drunken combats.

Towards night, Juan Comas, a Spaniard, came from Nangasaki, bringing two letters from Domingo Francisco, one for me, and the other for Mr. Cockes, together with three baskets of sugar as a present to me, and a pot of conserves, with many no less sugared words of compliment in his letters, saying how sorry he was that our seven fugitives had gone away during his absence, excusing himself and the Jesuits, who he pretended had no hand in the matter, and pretending they had never spoken against us, calling us heretics. He said our men had gone from Nangasaki, three of them in a Chinese or Japanese soma for Manilla, and four in a Portuguese vessel. Yet I esteem all these as vain words to excuse themselves, and throw the blame on others; for the Spaniards and Portuguese mutually hate each other and the Japanese, as these last do them.

The 11th I visited Nobesane, who used me kindly, and would have had me dine with him next day, but I excused myself on account of the press of business in which I was engaged, and the short time I had to stay. I met old king Foyne at his house, who requested to have two pieces of English salt beef, and two of pork, sodden by our cook, with turnips, radishes, and onions, which I sent him. The 12th, the governors of the two kings came to visit me at our factory, whence they went aboard the Clove, accompanied by Mr. Cockes, to signify to our crew that they should beware of coming ashore to fight and shed blood; as, by the law of Japan, those who went out to fight and drew weapons for that purpose, were adjudged to death, and all who saw them were obliged to kill both offenders, on pain of ruining themselves and all their kindred if they neglected putting the combatants to death.

The 14th I sent Mr. Cockes and our jurebasso to wait upon the kings, to entreat they would provide me twelve Japanese seamen who were fit for labour, to assist me in navigating the ship to England, to whom I was willing to give such wages as their highnesses might deem reasonable. The kings were then occupied in other affairs, so that my messengers spoke with their secretaries, who said they needed not to trouble the kings on that business, as they would provide me twelve fit persons; but that there were several vagrant people about the town who would be willing enough to go, yet were very unfit for my purpose, as they would only consume victuals, and of whom the Dutch made use without making any request on the matter, and it was not known what had become of these men or of the ship; but, as the matter was now referred to them, they would look out for such as were fit for our purpose.

The 18th, Foyne sent me word he would visit me, and meant to bring the dancing girls of the country along with him, which he did soon after, accompanied by three courtezans, and two or three men, who all danced and made music after their fashion, though harsh to our ears. The 19th, the Chinese captain, and George Duras, a Portuguese, came to visit me, requesting me to send to Semidono to procure pardon for two poor fellows who were like to lose their lives for bidding a poor knave flee who had stolen a bit of lead not worth three halfpence; and though the malefactor was taken and executed, these men were in danger of the same punishment, had I not sent Mr. Cockes to Semidono with my ring, to desire their pardon for my sake, which he engaged to procure, and did in effect.

The 20th, Samedon, king of Crats,[41] sent me word he meant to go on board our ship, so I went there to meet him, and he came along with both the kings of Firando, when we saluted them with five pieces of ordnance; and we afterwards fired three with bullets at a mark, at the request of Samedon, who gave me two Japanese pikes, having cattans or sables on their ends. At their departure we again saluted them with seven guns, one being shotted and fired at the mark. The 22d I sent a present to the king of Crats, which was delivered to him at the house of Tomesanes, the young king, where he was at breakfast. Samedon accepted it very kindly, sending me word by Mr. Cockes that he was doubly obliged to me for his kind entertainment aboard, and for now sending him so handsome a present of such things as his country did not produce, all without any desert on his part, and the only recompence in his power was, if ever any of the English nation came into his dominions, he would give them a hearty welcome, and do them all the service in his power.

The 25th, the purser and Mr. Hownsell came ashore, and told me that Andrew Palmer, the steward, had died the night before, Thomas Warner, our surgeon, affirming that he owed his death to his own obstinacy, his wound being curable if he would have been ruled. I desired that he might be buried on an island as secretly as possible, as we were about to get some Japanese into our ship, who might be unwilling to embark if they heard of any one having died. On the 28th a Japanese was put to death, who some said was a thief, and others an incendiary. He was led by the executioner to the place of punishment, a person going before him carrying a board, on which the crime for which he was to be punished was written, and the same was exhibited on a paper flag carried over his head. Two pikemen followed the culprit, having the points of their pikes close to his back, ready to slay him instantly if he offered to resist.

The ship being ready to depart, several of the natives complained that the ship's company owed them money, and desired to be paid. To prevent greater inconvenience, I listened to these people, and wrote to the master to make enquiry aboard as to who were in debt, that I might satisfy their creditors, making deductions accordingly from their wages.

On the 26th I assembled my mercantile council to consult about leaving a factory here in Firando, upon these considerations. 1. The encouragement we had privately received at the Moluccas. 2. That the Dutch had already a factory here. 3. The large privileges now obtained from the emperor of Japan. 4. The certain advice of English factories established at Siam and Patane. 5. The commodities remaining on hand appointed for these parts, and the expected profit which farther experience might produce. It was therefore resolved to leave a factory here, consisting of eight Englishmen, three Japanese jurebassos or interpreters, and two servants. They were directed, against the coming of the next ships, to explore and discover the coasts of Corea, Tushmay, other parts of Japan, and of the adjoining countries, and to see what good might be done in any of them.

The 5th of December, 1613, Mr. Richard Cockes, captain and Cape merchant of the English factory now settled at Firando in Japan, took his leave of me aboard the Clove, together with his company, being eight English and five others, as before mentioned. After their departure, we mustered the company remaining aboard, finding forty-six English, five swarts or blacks, fifteen Japanese, and three passengers, in all sixty-nine persons. We had lost since our arrival in Japan ten Englishmen: two by sickness, one slain in a duel, and seven who deserted to the Portuguese and Spaniards, while I was absent at the court of the emperor. The English whom we left in the factory were Mr. Richard Cockes; William Adams, now entertained in the service of the company at a hundred pounds a year; Tempest Peacock; Richard Wickham; William Eaton; Walter Carwarden; Edward Saris; and William Nelson.

§12. Voyage from Japan to Bantam, and thence home to England.

That same day, being the 5th December, we set sail with a stiff northerly gale, steering S. by W. 1/2 a point westerly. By exact observation on shore, we found the island of Firando to be in lat. 33° 30' N. and the variation 2° 50' easterly.[42] We resolved to keep our course for Bantam along the coast of China, for which purpose we brought our starboard tacks aboard, and stood S.W. edging over for China, the wind at N.N.E., a stiff gale and fair weather. The 7th it blew very hard at N.W. and we steered S.S.W., encountering a great current which shoots out between the island of Corea[43] and the main land of China, occasioning a very heavy sea. The 8th, being in lat. 29° 40' N. we steered W.S.W, on purpose to make Cape Sumbor on the coast of China. The sea was very rough, and the wind so strong that it blew our main course out of the bolt ropes. The 9th, in lat. 28° 23', we sounded and had forty-nine to forty-five fathoms on an oozy bottom. The weather was clear, yet we could not see land. The 11th we had ground in forty-nine, forty-three, thirty-eight, thirty-seven, and thirty fathoms, the water being very green, and as yet no land to be seen.

The 12th, in thirty-five fathoms, and reckoning ourselves near the coast of China, we had sight of at least 300 sail of junks, of twenty and thirty tons each and upwards, two of which passed us close to windwards, and though we used all fair means to prevail upon them to come aboard we could not succeed, and seeing they were only fishing vessels we let them pass. Continuing our course we soon espied land, being two islands called the Fishers islands.[44] At noon our latitude was 25° 59' N. and we had ground at twenty to twenty-six fathoms. About seven p.m. while steering along the land, we came close by a rock, which by good providence we had sight of by moonlight, as it lay right in our course. When not above twice our ship's length from this rock, we had thirty fathoms water, on which we hauled off for one watch, to give the land a wide birth, and resumed our course S.W. after midnight. The wind was very strong at N.E. and continually followed as the land trended. The 13th, in lat. 24° 35' N. and variation 1° 30' easterly, having the wind strong at N.E. with fair weather, we steered S.W. keeping about five leagues off the islands along the coast of China. The 15th we came among many fisher boats, but had so much wind that we could not speak any of them, but they made signs to us, as we thought to keep to the westwards. At noon our lat. was 21° 40' N. and having the wind at N.N.E. a stiff gale, we steered W.N.W. northerly, to make the land, and about two hours afterwards had sight of it, although by our dead reckoning we ought still to have been fifty-six leagues from it. It is to be noted, that the islands along the coast of China are considerably more to the southward than as laid down in the charts. About three p.m. we were within about two leagues of an island called Sancha.[45]

The 18th, in lat. 15° 43' N. we had sight of an island called Pulo-cotan, being high land, and [[which]] is about twenty leagues, according to report, from the shoal called Plaxel. In the morning of the 19th the coast of Cambodia was on our starboard side, about two leagues off, along which we steered S.E. by E. easterly, our latitude at noon being 13° 31' N. estimating the ship to be then athwart Varella. We have hitherto found the wind always trade along shore, having gone large all the way from Firando, the wind always following us as the land trended. The 20th at noon we were in latitude 10° 53', and three glasses, or an hour and half, after, we had sight of a small island which we concluded to be that at the end of the shoal called Pulo-citi. We found the book of Jan Huyghens van Linschoten very true, for by it we have directed our course ever since we left Firando. The 22d we had sight of Pulo Condor about five leagues off, our latitude at noon being 8° 20' N.

About four a.m. on the 25th we made the island of Pulo Timon, and two hours afterwards saw Pulo Tinga. The 28th at three p.m. we had oosy ground at twenty fathoms, having divers long islands on our starboard and sundry small islands on our larboard, forming the straits of China-bata, which we found to be truly laid down in a chart made by a Hollander called Jan Janson Mole, which he gave to Mr. Hippon, who gave it to the company. Pulo Bata, one of these islands, is low land, and is full of trees or bushes at the S.W. end.

A little before noon on the 29th, we perceived the colour of the water ahead of the ship to change very much, by which observation we escaped an imminent danger. This shoal seemed of a triangular shape, the S.W. end being the sharpest, and is not far from the entrance into the straits of China-bata. At noon our latitude was 4° 6' N. At eight p.m. we came to anchor in seven fathoms, the weather threatening to be foul in the night, the place very full of shoals, and our experience little or nothing. Before our anchor took hold, we had six 1/4, five 1/2, six, and then seven fathoms, soft sandy ground.

In the morning of the 30th we spoke [[=hailed]] the Darling, then bound for Coromandel, her company consisting of twenty-one English and nine blacks. By her we first learnt of the death of Sir Henry Middleton, the loss of the Trades-increase, and other incidents that had occurred during our voyage to Japan. In the night of the 30th God mercifully delivered us from imminent danger, as we passed under full sail close by a sunken ledge of rocks, the top of which was only just above water within a stone's throw of our ship; and had not the noise of the breakers awakened us, we had not cleared our ship. We instantly let go our anchor, being in a rapid current or tide-way, in seventeen fathoms upon oozy ground. When morning broke on the 31st we had sight of the high land of Sumatra, having an island astern, the ledge of rocks we had passed on our starboard, and three small islands forming a triangle on our larboard bow. We were about eight leagues off the high land of Java, but could not then get into the straits of Sunda, as the wind was quite fallen.

The 1st January, 1614, being quite calm, was mostly spent at anchor. The 2nd, having a little wind, we set sail, and about eight o'clock fell in with the Expedition, homewards bound for England, laden with pepper, by which ship we wrote to our friends in England. The 3rd we came to anchor in the road of Bantam, and to our great grief found no lading ready for us, for which neglect I justly blamed those I had left to provide the same, while they excused themselves by alleging they did not expect us so soon back. I questioned Kewee, the principal Chinese merchant, who came to visit me on board, as to the price of pepper. He answered, that it was already known ashore I was homewards bound, and must necessarily load pepper; and, as my merchants had not provided any before hand, I might be assured it would rise. He said the price was then at twelve dollars for ten sacks, but he could not undertake to deliver any quantity at that price. I offered him twelve dollars and a half the ten sacks, but he held up so high, that we had no hope of dealing for the present. Of the ten persons left by us in the factory when we departed for Japan, we found only five alive at our return, while we only lost one man between Firando and Bantam.

I went ashore on the 4th to visit the governor of Bantam, to whom I presented two handsome cattans, or Japanese swords, and other articles of value; and this day I bargained with Kewee for 4000 sacks of pepper at thirteen dollars the ten sacks, bating in the weight 3 per cent, and directed the merchants to expedite the milling thereof as much as possible. I employed the 5th in reducing the several English factories at Bantam under one government, settling them all in one house; also in regulating the expences of diet, that all might be frugally managed, to prevent extravagance in rack-houses abroad, or in hanger-on blacks at home, which had lately been the case. I directed also that there should be fewer warehouses kept in the town, and that these might be better regulated, and the goods stowed in a more orderly manner. Hitherto the multiplication of factories, having one for each voyage, had occasioned great expence, and had raised the price of pepper, as each outbid the other, for the particular account of their own several voyages, with great loss to the public.

The 6th was employed in re-weighing the pepper received the day before, most of the sacks being found hard weight, and many to want a part of what was allowed by the king's beam; wherefore I sent for the weigher, whom I used kindly, entreating him to take a little more care to amend this fault, which he promised to do, and for his better encouragement I made him a present to the value of five dollars. The 16th being Sunday, I staid aboard, and about 2 p.m. we observed the whole town to be on fire. I immediately sent our skiff ashore to assist the merchants in guarding our goods. The wind was so violent, that in a very short space of time the whole town was burnt down, except the English and Dutch factories, which it pleased God of his mercy to preserve.

Being ashore on the 20th, I procured two Chinese merchants, named Lackmoy and Lanching, to translate the letter which the king of Firando in Japan had given me to deliver to our king, James I. It was written in the Chinese character and language, which they translated into the Malay, and which in English was as follows:

To the King of Great Britain, &c.

"Most mighty king, I cannot sufficiently express how acceptable your majesty's most loving letter, and bountiful present of many valuable things, sent me by your servant Captain John Saris, has been to me; neither the great happiness I feel in the friendship of your majesty, for which I render you many thanks, desiring the continuance of your majesty's love and correspondence. I am heartily glad at the safe arrival of your subjects at my small island, after so long a voyage. They shall not lack my help and furtherance to the utmost, for effecting their so worthy and laudable purposes, of discovery and commerce, referring for the entertainment they have received to the report of your servant, by whom I send to your majesty an unworthy token of my gratitude; wishing your majesty long life. Given from my residence of Firando, the sixth day of the tenth month.

Your majesty's loving friend, commander of this island of Firando in Japan,

Foyne Sam-Masam."

The 22nd, such houses as had escaped in the former fire of the 16th, were now burnt down; yet the English and Dutch houses escaped, for which we were thankful to God. On the 26th, a Dutch ship of 1000 tons arrived from Holland, called the Flushing. At the island of Mayo, the company mutinied against the captain, whom they would have murdered in his cabin, had it not pleased God that a Scotsman revealed the plot when the mutineers were already armed to carry it into effect, so that they were taken between decks with their weapons in their hands. In this ship there were several English and Scots soldiers. She did not remain at Bantam, but sailed towards evening for Jacatra.

The 27th, our lading being fully procured, and several of our company fallen sick, I went ashore to hasten our merchants to get us ready for sailing. The 1st February, the Darling was forced back to Bantam; and order was taken by mutual consultation for the proper care of her goods, and for her immediate departure for Succadanea in the island of Borneo, and thence to Patane and Siam.

The 13th of February we got out from the straits of Sunda, in which the tide of flood sets twelve hours to the eastwards, and the ebb twelve hours to the westwards. On the 16th of May we anchored in the bay of Saldanha, where we found the Concord of London, being the first ship set out by the united company. We now found the natives of this place very treacherous, making us to understand by signs; that two of their people had been forcibly carried off. They had sore wounded one of the people belonging to the Concord; and while we were up in the land, they assaulted the people who were left in charge of our skiff, carried away our grapnel, and had spoiled the boat-keepers if they had not pushed off into deep water. The 19th a Dutch ship arrived bound for Bantam, the master being Cornelius van Harte.

We remained here twenty-three days, where we thoroughly refreshed the ship's company, and took away with us alive fourteen oxen and seventy sheep, besides good store of fish and beef, which we powdered there, finding it to take salt well, contrary to former reports. For ten days after leaving Saldanha, we had the wind N.W. and W.N.W., but after that we had a fine wind at S.W. so that we could hold our course N.W. On the 27th September, thanks be to God, we arrived at Plymouth; where, for the space of five or six weeks, we endured more tempestuous weather, and were in greater danger of our lives, than during the whole voyage besides.

§13. Intelligence concerning Yedzo, or Jesso, received from a Japanese at Jedo, who had been twice there.[46]

Yedzo, or Jesso, is an island to the N.W. of Japan, from which it is ten leagues distant. The natives are of white complexions, and well-conditioned, but have their bodies covered all over with hair like monkeys. Their weapons are bows and poisoned arrows. The inhabitants of the south extremity of this country understand the use of weights and measures; but those who inhabit the inland country, at the distance of thirty days journey, are ignorant of these things. They have much silver and gold-dust, in which they make payment to the Japanese for rice and other commodities; rice and cotton-cloth being of ready sale among them, as likewise iron and lead, which are carried there from Japan. Food and cloathing are the most vendible commodities among the natives of that country, and sell to such advantage, that rice often yields a profit of four for one.

The town where the Japanese have their chief residence and mart in Yetizo is called Matchma,[47] in which there are 500 households or families of Japanese. They have likewise a fort here, called Matchma-donna. This town is the principal mart of Yedzo, to which the natives resort to buy and sell, especially in September, when they make provision against winter. In March they bring down salmon and dried fish of sundry kinds, with other wares, for which the Japanese barter in preference even to silver. The Japanese have no other settled residence or place of trade except this at Matchma.[48] Farther northward in Yedzo there are people of a low stature like dwarfs.[49] The other natives of Yedzo are of good stature like the Japanese, and have no other cloathing but what is brought them from Japan. There is a violent current in the straits between Yedzo and Japan, which comes from the sea of Corea, and sets E.N.E. The winds there are for the most part like those usual in Japan; the northerly winds beginning in September, and ending in March, when the southerly winds begin to blow.

§14. Note of Commodities vendible in Japan.[50]

Broad-cloths of all sorts, as black, yellow, and red, which cost in Holland eight or nine gilders the Flemish ell, two ells and three quarters, are worth in Japan, three, four, to five hundred.[51] Cloth of a high wool is not in request, but such as is low shorn is most vendible. Fine bayes of the before-mentioned colours are saleable, if well cottoned, but not such as those of Portugal. Sayes, rashes, single and double bouratts, silk grograms, Turkey grograms; camblets, Divo Gekepert, Weersetynen, Caniaut, Gewart twijne;[52] velvets, musk, sold weight for weight of silver; India cloths of all sorts are in request; satins, taffetas, damasks, Holland linen from fifteen to twenty stivers the Flemish ell, but not higher priced; diaper, damasks, and so much the better if wrought with figures or branches; thread of all colours; carpets, for tables; gilded leather, painted with figures and flowers, but the smallest are in best demand; painted pictures, the Japanese delighting in lascivious representations, and stories of wars by sea or land, the larger the better worth, sell for one, two, or three hundred. Quick-silver, the hundred cattees sell from three to four hundred.

The hundred cattees of vermilion are worth from three to six hundred. Paint for women's faces, the hundred cattees are worth twenty-eight. Cooper in plates, 125 Flemish pounds are worth from 90 to 100. Lead in small bars, the 100 cattees from 60 to 88. Lead in sheets is in greater request, the thinner the better, and 100 pounds Flemish sell for 80. Fine tin, in logs or bars, 120 pounds Flemish bring 350. Iron, twenty five Dutch ounces worth four. Steel, the 100 cattees, worth from one to two hundred. Tapestry. Civet, the cattee worth from 150 to 200. China root, the 100 cattees or pekul worth 40. China sewing gold, the paper worth three masse three. Powdered Chinese sugar, the 100 cattees or pekul worth forty to fifty. Sugar-candy, the pekul or 100 cattees, from fifty to sixty. Velvets, of all colours, eight ells the piece, from 120 to 130. Wrought velvets, from 180 to 200. Taffetas of all colours, and good silk, worth, the piece, from twenty-four to thirty or forty. Satin, seven or eight ells long, the piece worth from 80 to 100. Figured satin, from 120 to 150. Gazen, of seven pikes or ells, from forty to fifty. Raw silk, the cattee of twelve pounds Flemish, from thirty to forty. Untwisted silk, the weight of twenty-eight pounds Flemish, from thirty to forty. Twisted silk, from twenty-eight to forty.

Drinking-glasses of all sorts, bottles, canns, cups, trenchers, plates, beer-glasses, salt-sellers, wine-glasses, beakers, gilt looking-glasses of large size, Muscovy glass, salt, writing-papers, table-books, paper-books, lead to neal pots. Spanish soap is in much request, and sells for one masse the small cake. Amber beads, worth 140 to 160. Silk stockings, of all colours. Spanish leather, neats leather, and other kinds of leather used for gloves, worth six, eight, or nine. Blue candiques of China, from fifteen to twenty. Black candiques, from ten to fifteen. Wax for candles, 100 pounds Flemish worth from 200 to 250. Honey, the pekul, worth sixty. Samell of Cochin-China, the pekul, worth 180. Nutmegs, the pekul, twenty-five. Camphor of Borneo, or barous, the pound hollans, from 250 to 400. Sanders of Solier, the pekul, worth 100. Good and heavy Callomback wood, the pound, worth one, two, three, to five. Sapan, or red wood, the pekul, from twenty to twenty-six. Good and large elephants teeth, from 400, to 500, 600, 700, and even 800. Rhinoceros horns, the Javan cattee, worth thirty. Gilded harts-horns, the piece, worth 300, 400, 500. Roch allum in request, in so much that what cost only three gilders has sold for 100 gilders; but not in demand by every one.

The Chinese in Japan will commonly truck for silver, giving gold of twenty-three carats, at the rate of from fifteen to twenty times its weight in silver, according as silver is plenty or scarce.

The following commodities are to be bought in Japan, and at the rates here quoted. Very good hemp, 100 cattees, being 120 pounds of Holland, are worth from sixty-five to seventy. Eye-colours for dying blue, almost as good as indigo, made up in round cakes, and packed 100 cakes in a fardel, worth fifty to sixty. Dye-stuff for white, turning to red colour, made up in fardels of fifty gautins malios, worth five to eight. Very good white rice, cased, worth, the fares, eight three-fifths. Rice of a worse sort, the bale, worth seven three-tenths. At Jedo, Osaka, and Miaco, there is the best dying of all sorts of colours, as red, black, and green; and for gliding gold and silver, is better than the Chinese varnish. Brimstone is in great abundance, and the pekul may be bought for seven. Saltpetre is dearer in one place than another, being worth one and a half. Cotton-wool, the pekul, may be bought for ten.

§15. Supplementary Notices of Occurrences in Japan, after the Departure of Captain Saris.[53]

"This subdivision consists entirely of letters from Japan, and conveys some curious information respecting the transactions of the English in Japan, whence they have been long excluded. They are now perhaps of some interest, beyond the mere gratification of curiosity, as, by the entire expulsion of the Dutch from India, there seems a possibility of the British merchants in India being able to restore trade to that distant country. In the Third Part of our Collection, various other relations of Japan will be inserted."--E.

No. I. Letter from Mr. Richard Cocks, dated Firando, 10th December, 1614.[54]

To this day, I have been unable to complete my old books of accounts, owing to the dispatching of our people, some to one place and some to another, and owing to the rebuilding of our house, and afterwards buying a junk, and repairing her. She is now ready to set sail for Siam, having been at anchor these ten days, waiting for a fair wind to proceed on her voyage, at Couchi, a league from Firando, where your ship rode at your departure from hence. She is called the Sea-Adventure, of about 200 tons burden, in which Mr. Adams goes as master, with Mr. Wickham and Mr. Edward Sayers as merchants, in consequence of the death of Mr. Peacock, slain in Cochin-China, and the probability that Mr. Carwarden has been cast away in his return from thence, as we have no news of him or of the junk in which he sailed, as I have at large informed the worshipful company.

Since your departure from Japan, the emperor has banished all jesuits, priests, nuns, and friars, from the country, shipping them off for Anacau [Macao] in China, or Manilla in the Philippine islands, and has caused all their churches and monasteries to be pulled down or burnt. Foyne Same, the old king of Firando, is dead, and Ushiandono, his governor, with two other servants, cut open their bellies to bear him company, their bodies being burned, and their ashes entombed along with his. Wars are likely to ensue between Ogusho Same, the old emperor, and Fidaia Same, the young prince, son of Tico Same, who has strongly fortified himself in the castle of Osaka, having collected an army of 80,000 or 100,000 men, consisting of malcontents, runaways, and banished people, who have repaired from all parts to his standard, and he is said to have collected sufficient provisions for three years.

The old emperor has marched against him in person, with an army of 300,000 men, and is at the castle of Fusima. The advanced parties of the two armies have already had several skirmishes, and many have been slain on both sides. The entire city of Osaka has been burned to the ground, excepting only the castle, so that Mr. Eaton had to retire with his goods to Sakey,[55] yet not without danger, as a part of that town has likewise been burnt. So great a tempest or tuffoon has lately occurred at Edoo [Jedo], as had never been before experienced at that place. The sea overflowed the whole city, obliging the people to take refuge on the hills: and the prodigious inundation has defaced or thrown down all the houses of the nobles, which you know were very beautiful and magnificent.

Let this suffice for Japanese news; and I now proceed to inform you of our success in selling our goods. The emperor took all our ordnance, with most of our lead, and ten barrels of gunpowder, with two or three pieces of broad-cloth. Most of our other broad-cloths are sold, namely, black, hair-colour, and cinnamon-colour, at fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, and twelve tayes the tattamy; but they will not even look at Venice-reds and flame-colours, neither are stammels in such request as formerly, but they enquire much for whites and yellows. As the Dutch sold most of their broad-cloths at low prices, we were forced to do so likewise. In regard to our Cambaya goods, they will not look at our red Zelas, blue byrams, or dutties, being the principal part of what is now left us; and only some white bastas sell at fourteen or fifteen masses each. Cassedys nill, alleias, broad pintados, with spotted, striped, and checquered stuffs, are most in request, and sell at good profit. We have also sold nearly half of our Bantam pepper for sixty-five masse the pekull, and all the rest had been gone before now, had it not been for the war. I am in great hope of procuring trade into China, through the means of Andrea, the China captain, and his two brothers, who have undertaken the matter, and have no doubt of being able to bring it to bear, for three ships to come yearly to a place near Lanquin,[56] to which we may go from hence in three or four days with a fair wind. Of this I have written at large to the worshipful company, and also to the lord-treasurer.

Some little sickness with which I have been afflicted is now gone, for which I thank God. Mr. Easton, Mr. Nealson, Mr. Wickham, and Mr. Sayer, have all been very sick, but are all now well recovered, except Mr. Eaton, who still labours under flux and tertian ague. May God restore his health, for I cannot too much praise his diligence and pains in the affairs of the worshipful company.

Jacob Speck, who was thought to have been cast away in a voyage from hence to the Moluccas, is now returned to Firando in the command of a great ship called the Zelandia, together with a small pinnace called the Jacatra. The cause of his being so long missing was, that in going from hence by the eastward of the Philippines, the way we came, he was unable to fetch the Moluccas, owing to currents and contrary winds, and was driven to the west of the island of Celebes, and so passed round it through the straits of Desalon, and back to the Moluccas.

The Chinese complain much against the Hollanders for robbing and pilfering their junks, of which they are said to have taken and rifled seven. The emperor of Japan has taken some displeasure against the Hollanders, having refused a present they lately sent him, and would not even speak to those who brought it. He did the same in regard to a present sent by the Portuguese, which came in a great ship from Macao to Nangasaki. You thought, when here, that if any other ship came from England we might continue to sell our goods without sending another present to the emperor; but I now find that every ship which comes to Japan must send a present to the emperor, as an established custom. I find likewise that we cannot send away any junk from hence without procuring the yearly licence from the emperor, as otherwise no Japanese mariner dare to leave the country, under pain of death. Our own ships from England may, however, come in and go out again when they please, and no one to gainsay them.

We have not as yet been able by any means to procure trade from Tushma into Corea; neither indeed have the inhabitants of Tushma any farther privilege than to frequent one small town or fortress, and must not on pain of death go beyond the walls of that place. Yet the king of Tushma is not subject to the emperor of Japan.[57] We have only been able to sell some pepper at Tushma, and no great quantity of that. The weight there is much heavier than in Japan, but the price is proportionally higher.

I have been given to understand that there are no great cities in the interior of Corea, between which inland country and the sea there are immense bogs or morasses, so that no one can travel on horseback, and hardly even afoot; and as a remedy against this, they have great waggons or carts upon broad flat wheels, which are moved by means of sails like ships. Thus, by observing the monsoons or periodical winds, they transport their goods backwards and forwards, by means of these sailing waggons. In that country they make damasks, sattins, taffaties, and other silk stuffs, as well as in China.

It is said that Fico Same, otherwise called Quabicondono, the former emperor of Japan, pretended [[=prepared]] to have conveyed a great army in these sailing waggons, to make a sudden assault upon the emperor of China in his great city of Pekin, where he ordinarily resides; but was prevented by a nobleman of Corea, who poisoned himself to poison the emperor and many of the nobles of Japan. On which occasion, as is said, the Japanese lost, about twenty-two years ago, all that they had conquered in Corea.

James Turner, the youth who used to play the fiddle, left a girl here with child; and though I gave her two tayes in silver to bring up the child; she killed it as soon as it was born, which is a common thing in this country. The whistle and chain belonging to Mr. Foster, the master of the Clove, are found, and are under the charge of Mr. Adams, who will be accountable for them. I meant to have sent you a Japanese almanack by a former letter to the same effect as this, dated the 25th ultimo, and sent by the Sea Adventure by way of Siam, but forgot to do so; and which I now send along with this letter. I pray you that this letter may suffice for your brother, Mr. George Saris, and the rest of my loving friends: And, with hearty commendations in general, I leave you all to the holy protection of the Almighty; resting always your ever loving friend at command,

RICHARD COCKS.

No. 2. Letter from Mr. Richard Cocks, dated Firando, 10th December, 1614, to the Worshipful Thomas Wilson, Esq. at his House in the Britain-burse[58] in the Strand.

My last to you was of the 1st December, 1613, from this island of Firando in Japan, and sent by Captain John Saris in the ship Clove. In that letter, I advised you how unkindly the Hollanders dealt with us at the Moluccas; since which time there has not occurred any matter of moment to communicate, except what I have detailed in another letter to my good Lord Treasurer. It is given out here by the Hollanders, that our East India Company and that of Holland are likely to join into one; and if this prove true, it is thought it will be an easy matter to drive the Spaniards and Portuguese out of these eastern parts of the world, or else to cut them off from all trade. You would hardly believe how much the Hollanders have already daunted the Portuguese and Spaniards in these parts, especially in the Moluccas, where they daily encroach on the Spaniards, who are unable to withstand them, and are even in fear that they may shortly deprive them of the Philippine islands. The Portuguese also are in great fear of being driven by them out of the trade they now carry on from Ormus to Goa, and with Malacca and Macao in China.

There is one thing of which I cannot yet conceive the issue, and that is the robbing and plundering the Chinese junks, which is daily done by the Hollanders in these parts, the goods whereof must amount to great value, and suffice to fit out and maintain a great fleet, which is worthy of consideration. Should the emperor of Japan fall out with the Hollanders, and debar them from the trade of his dominions, which is not unlikely, the Hollanders will then make prize of the Japanese junks as well as of those of China; for their strength at sea in these parts is sufficient to do what they please, if only they had a place to retire to for revictualling and refitting their ships; for they are of late grown so stout, that they mock at those who were formerly their masters and teachers.

It is very certain that they have got possession of several fortresses at the Moluccas and other parts; yet, to my certain knowledge, the natives in these parts are more inclined towards the Spaniards, although at the first they were glad of the arrival of the Hollanders, having been disgusted by the intolerable pride of the Spaniards. But now they have time to reflect, that the Spaniards brought them abundance of money, and were liberal though proud; while the poor Hollanders, who serve there both by sea and land, have such bare pay, that it can hardly supply clothes and food; and their commanders allege, that all the benefits derived from conquest or reprisals, belong to the states and the Winthebbers, as they call them. It is hard to judge how all these things may end.

Were it not for the misbehaviour of the Hollanders, I am of opinion that we should procure trade with China, as we only demand leave for three ships to come and go there, and merely to establish factors there to transact our business, without bringing any Jesuits or padres, whom the Chinese cannot abide to hear of, because they came formerly in such great numbers to inhabit the land, and were always begging and craving, to the great displeasure of the pagans. I am however in good hope of success, as our English nation has acquired a good fame and character since our arrival, which I am given to understand has come to the ears of the emperor of China, who has heard how we have been received by the emperor of Japan, having large privileges allowed us, and also that we have at all times held the Castilians in defiance both by sea and land.

I have been informed of these things by the Chinese who come hither, and that the emperor and other great men of China delight to hear accounts of our nation. I had almost forgotten to mention, that some China merchants lately asked me, if we were allowed to trade with China, whether the king of England would prevent the Hollanders from robbing and spoiling their junks? Which question was rather doubtful to me, yet I answered that his majesty would take measures to prevent the Hollanders from injuring them.

We have lately had news that a tuffon or tempest has done vast injury at Jedo, a city of Japan as large as London, where the Japanese nobility have very beautiful houses, now mostly destroyed or greatly injured. The whole city was inundated, and the inhabitants forced to take shelter in the hills; a thing never before heard of. The palace of the king, which is a stately building in a new fortress, has had all its gilded tiles carried away by a whirlwind, so that none of them could be found. The pagans attribute this calamity to some charms or conjurations of the Jesuits, who were lately banished: but the Japanese converts to popery ascribe it to the vengeance of God, as a punishment for having banished these holy men.

We have lately had a great disaster in Cochin-China, to which place we sent a quantity of goods and money, to the value of £730, as it cost in England, under the care of Mr. Tempest Peacock and Mr. Walter Carwarden, who went as merchants in a Japanese junk, carrying our king's letters and a handsome present for the king of Cochin-China. They arrived at the port called Quinham,[59] delivered his majesty's letters and present, and were entertained with kind words and fair promises. The Hollanders, seeing that we adventured to that country, would needs do the same, and were at first kindly entertained; but in the end, Mr. Peacock and the chief Dutch merchant going ashore one day in the same boat, to receive payment from the king for broad-cloth and other commodities they had sold him, they were treacherously assailed on the water, their boat overset, and both were killed in the water with harpoons, as if they had been fishes, together with their interpreters and other attendants, who were Japanese. Mr. Carwarden being aboard our junk escaped sharing in this massacre, and came away, but neither he nor the junk have ever been since heard of, so that we fear he has been cast away.

It is commonly reported here, both among the Chinese and Japanese, that this was done by order of the king of Cochin-China in revenge against the Hollanders, who had burnt one of his towns, and had slaughtered his people most unmercifully. The origin of this quarrel was occasioned by a large quantity of false dollars, sent to Quinham by the Hollanders some years ago, and put off in payment for silks and other Chinese goods, to the great injury of the merchants of that country. When the falsehood of the money was discovered, they laid hands upon the Dutch factors, and are said to have put some of them to death. Upon this the Dutch ships came upon the coast, and landed a body of men, who burnt a town, putting man, woman, and child to the sword. This, as reported, was the occasion of our present mischance, and of the slaughter of Mr. Peacock, because he was in company with the Hollanders. Along with this letter, I send you a Japanese almanack, by which you will see the manner of their printing, with their figures and characters. And so I leave you to the holy protection of the Almighty, resting always, &c.

RICHARD COCKS.

No. 3. Letter from Edmond Sayer, dated Firando, 5th December, 1615. But having no Address.

I received a letter from you by the hands of Captain Copendall of the Horiander, who arrived here on the 29th of August this year, by which I learnt your safe arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, homewards bound, and of the loss of some of your company; and I make no doubt that, long ere now, you are safe arrived in England, by the blessing of God. I sent you a letter, dated in November, 1614, by the Dutch ship called the Old Zealand, in which I informed you of the death of Mr. Peacock and Walter Carwarden, both betrayed in Cochin-China, to our great grief, besides the loss of goods to the company.

The last year, Mr. Wickham, Mr. Adams, and I, when bound for Siam in a junk we had bought, and meeting with great storms, our vessel sprung a leak, and we were fain to bear up for the Leukes[60] islands, where we had to remain so long, before we could stop our leaks, that we lost the monsoon, and had to return here. We have fitted her out again this year, and are now ready to sail again for Siam. My greatest hope in these parts is, that we shall be able to establish trade with China, of which we seem to have a fair prospect through the efforts of the China captain and his brothers; and I make no doubt that we shall have a factory there ere long.

This last summer we have had great troubles, in consequence of war between the emperor and Fidaia Same, and we do not certainly know whether the latter be slain or fled; but the emperor gained the victory, with a vast loss of men on both sides.[61] Having no other news to write, I commit you to the protection of the Almighty, and am, &c.

EDMOND SAYER.

No. 4. Letter, with no address, from Edmond Sayer, dated Firando, 4th December, 1616.

Worshipful Sir,--

My duty always remembered. Having a favourable opportunity, I could not omit to trouble you with a few lines. I am but newly arrived here in Firando from a difficult and tedious voyage to Siam, to which country we went in a junk belonging to the right honourable company, in which Mr. Adams was master, and myself factor. Having bought there more goods than our own junk could carry, we freighted another junk for Japan, in which Mr. Benjamin Fry, the chief in the factory at Siam, thought it proper for me to embark, for the safety of the goods. The year being far spent, we were from the 1st June to the 17th September in our voyage between Siam and Shachmar, during which we experienced many storms and much foul weather, and lost twenty of our men by sickness and want of fresh water.

The great cause of our tedious and unfortunate voyage was in our not having a good pilot. The one we had was a Chinese, who knew nothing of navigation; for, when out of sight of land, he knew not where he was, nor what course to steer. Besides he fell sick, and was unable to creep out of his cabin, so that I was obliged to do my best to navigate our junk; which, with what small skill I possessed, and by the aid of God, I brought safe to Shachmar, where we arrived on the 17th of September, having then only five men able to stand on their legs. In consequence, I arrived so late at Firando that I could not go this year to Siam. But Mr. William Eaton has gone there in the company's junk, having two English pilots, named. Robert and John Surges.

--I am, &c.

EDMOND SAYER.

No. 5. Letter from Richard Cocks to Captain John Saris, dated Firando, 15th February, 1617.[62]

My last letter to you was dated 5th January, 1616, and sent by way of Bantam in the ship Thomas, which went from hence that year along with another small ship called the Advice. In that letter I wrote you at large of all things that had then occurred, and mentioned having received two of your letters from London; one dated 4th November, 1614, and the other 15th August, 1615. The Advice has since returned to Japan, and arrived at Firando on the 2d of August last, and by her I had a letter from the honourable company, dated 30th January, 1616.

You will perhaps have heard that Captain Barkeley, while on his death-bed, narrowly escaped losing 6000 dollars, paid out for custom on pepper; for if he had died before it was found out, perhaps some other man might have taken credit for paying that sum. It is a common saying, that it is easy for those who live at Bantam to grow rich, as no man dies without an heir. We have been again this year before the emperor of Japan, but could not procure our privileges to be enlarged, having still only leave to carry on trade at Firando and Nangasaki, and our ships to come only to Firando.

Mr. Edmond Sayer went last year to Cochin-China with a cargo amounting to about 1800 tayes, in goods and money; and when ready to cone away, was defrauded of 650 tayes, by a Chinese and others, of whom he had bought silk for the worshipful company. He had weighed out the money, waiting to receive the silk, and the money lay in the room where he sat; but some of the thievish people made a hole through the cane-wall of the room, and stole away the money unperceived. I am sorry for this mischance; but Mr. Sayer is in hopes to recover it this year, as he left a person to follow out the suit, and goes back himself in a Chinese junk, with 2000 tayes in silver to purchase silk. He is to be accompanied by one Robert Hawley, as his assistant and successor, in case be should die, and Mr. William Adams goes pilot, in place of the Chinese. God send them a prosperous voyage, and that they may recover the lost money. Our own junk, the Sea Adventure, made another voyage last year to Siam, Mr. William Eaton being merchant; and has gone back again this year. God send them a prosperous voyage.

Last year, the Hollanders sent a fleet of ships from the Moluccas to Manilla, to fight the Spanish fleet: But the Spaniards kept safe in port for five or six months, so that the Hollanders concluded they durst not come out at all, and therefore separated to look out for Chinese junks, of which some say they took and plundered twenty-five, while others say thirty-five. It is certain that they took great riches, and all under the assumed name of Englishmen. At length the Spanish fleet put to sea, and set upon five or six of the Dutch ships, the admiral of which was burnt and sank, together with two other ships, the rest escaping. The Spaniards then separated their fleet, to seek out the remaining Dutch ships. The Spanish vice-admiral fell in with two Dutch ships one morning and fought them both all day; but was at length constrained to run his ship ashore and set her on fire, that she might not be taken by the Hollanders.

These two Dutch ships, and one that was in the former fight, came afterwards to Firando, together with two other large Dutch ships from Bantam, as big as the Clove, intending to have intercepted the Macao ship, which they narrowly missed. Thus five great Holland ships came this year to Firando, the smallest of them being as large as the Clove. One of these, called the Red Lion, which was she that rode beside us at the Moluccas, was cast away in a storm at Firando, together with a Chinese junk they brought in as a prize. All the goods were recovered, but were all wet. The emperor allows them to make good prize of all they take.

The Black Lion, one of their ships, of 900 tons burden, was sent away for Bantam, fully laden with raw silk and other rich Chinese commodities. Another, called the Flushing, of 700 or 800 tons, is gone for the Moluccas, fully laden with provisions and money. The Sun, a ship of 600 or 700 tons, with a galliass of above 400 tons, are left to scour the coast of China, to make what booty they can, and to return next monsoon. The galliass has sailed already, but the Sun waits for the Macao ship departing from Nangasaki, that she may endeavour to take her. The Macao ship had actually sailed, but seeing the galliass, she returned to Nangasaki, and will, as I think, hardly venture to sail this year.

As I said before, the Dutch have always robbed the Chinese under the name of Englishmen, which has greatly injured our endeavours to procure trade in that country; so that we have been obliged to send people to give notice to the Chinese governors, that they were Hollanders who have taken and plundered their junks, and not Englishmen. In fine, I have advised the worshipful company at large of every thing of moment, which I doubt not will be communicated to you. I send you here inclosed a copy of my last year's letter; and so, committing you to God, I rest your loving friend at command,

RICHARD COCKS.

No. 6. Extract of a Letter from Richard Cocks, without Date or Address.

There came two friars in that ship as ambassadors from the viceroy of New Spain, with a present for the emperor; but he would neither receive the present, nor speak with them that brought it, even sending Mr. Adams to order them to quit his dominions, as he had formerly banished all men of their cloth, and continued still in the same mind. It is said that Fidaia Same had promised to receive the jesuits again into Japan, if he had got the victory and been settled in the empire. Had this taken effect, we and the Hollanders had doubtless been turned out of Japan, so that it is better as it is.

Last year, when we fitted out our junk, we employed a Spaniard, called Damian Marina, the same person who thought to have gone with you in company with George Peterson. This Damian was a good helmsman, and was therefore employed by us, and another Spaniard, named Juan de Lievana, went with them as passenger. The junk however lost her voyage, and they returned to Nangasaki, where the carrak of Macao soon afterwards arrived. Understanding that these two Spaniards had gone in our vessel, the Portuguese arrested them and put them in irons in their ship, condemning them to death as traitors to their king and country, for serving their English enemies. I took their defence in hand, and procured an order from the emperor to set them at liberty, to the great displeasure of the Spaniards and Portuguese; and these two men are going passengers to Bantam in the Hosiander.

We have had great troubles in Japan, in consequence of the wars, by transporting our goods from place to place, to save them. Mr. Adams is gone again in the junk for Siam, accompanied only by Mr. Edmond Sayer. Mr. Nealson is very sick; but Mr. Wickham and Mr. Eaton are both well. I long to hear from you, and I pray you to deliver the inclosed to my brother.

Yours, most assured at command,

RICHARD COCKS.

No. 7. Letter from Richard Cocks, without Address, dated Firando, 10th March, 1620.[63]

"Hollanders' abuses of the English in those parts, are here published for knowledge of these eastern affairs and occurrents, as it is meet in a history. But neither were these national, but personal crimes, and done in time and place of pretended hostility; and now, I hope, satisfaction is or shall be made. Neighbourhood of region, religion, and customs, are easily violated by drink, covetousness, and pride, the three furies that raised these combustions. This history hath related the worth of many worthy Hollanders: If it yields a close-stool for Westarwood, as excrements rather than true Dutch, or a grain-tub or swill-tub for some brave brewers and bores, that embrued with nobler blood than themselves, prefer their brutish passions to God's glory, religion, and public peace let it be no imputation to the nation, which I love and honour, but to such baser spirits as have (like scorbutical humours in these long voyages, and their longer peace and want of wonted employments,) been bred as diseases to their, and infections to our bodies. My intent is to present others with their acts, and myself with prayers, that all may be amended."--Purchas.

It is now almost three years since I wrote your worship any letter. The purpose of this is to inform you of the unlooked for and unruly proceedings of the Hollanders against our English nation, in all these parts of the world, not sparing us even in this empire of Japan, contrary to the large privileges granted to us by the emperor, that the Japanese should not meddle with or molest us. But these Hollanders, having this year seven ships great and small in this port of Firando, have, with sound of trumpet, proclaimed open war against our English nation, both by sea and land, threatening to take our ships and goods, and to kill our persons, as their mortal enemies. This was done by one Adam Westarwood, their admiral or lord-commander, as they call him, and was openly proclaimed aboard all their ships.

They have even come to brave us before our own doors, picking quarrels with us, and forcibly entering our house, thinking to have cut all our throats, yet only wounded two persons; and, had it not been for the assistance of the Japanese our neighbours, who took our parts, they had assuredly slain us all, as there were an hundred Hollanders to one Englishman. Not contented with this, they took our boat when going about our business, in which was one Englishman, whom they carried prisoner to their house, threatening to put him to death; and indeed he was in imminent danger, among a crowd of drunken fellows, who threatened to stab him with their knives. This young man was Richard King, son to Captain King of Plymouth. Besides this, as two of our barks were passing their ships, within the town and harbour of Firando, they pointed a cannon at them, which missed fire, yet shot at them with muskets, which missed the Englishmen and killed a Japanese. For all this there is no justice executed against them by the king of Firando, though he has received the commands of the emperor to that effect.

Yon will also please to understand, that two of these ships which they have brought to Firando are English ships, taken by them from Englishmen in the Indies. They also took two other ships from us, which were riding at anchor in the road of Patania, where we have a factory, and had not the least suspicion of any such event. In this unwarrantable affair, they killed Captain John Jordaine,[64] our chief president for the right worshipful company in the Indies. Several others were then slain, and the Hollanders carried the ships and goods away; but six of the mariners, which were in these captured English ships, escaped from them here at Firando, and came to our house. The Hollanders sent to me, demanding to have these men given up to them. But I answered, that I must first see their commission, that I might know by what authority they presumed to take our ships and goods, and to slay our men, the faithful subjects of his majesty.

Upon this, they went to the Tono, or king of Firando, desiring to have their English slaves,[65] as they were pleased to call our men, delivered up to them. But they were told, that they must first demand of the emperor, and whatever he ordained should be obeyed; but that, in the meantime, he did not consider the English to be their slaves. This was the grand occasion on which they grounded their quarrel against us, and meant to have killed us all. But I trust in God and his majesty, by the solicitations of our right honourable and right worshipful employers, that his majesty will not suffer his true and loyal subjects to lose their lives, ships, and goods by this thievish and unthankful rabble, who are assembled in these parts of the world, and who make a daily practice to rob and steal from all, whether friends or foes: And I trust that you will become a solicitor in this so just cause, against so inveterate an enemy.

This Adam Westarwood, their lord-commander, set my life to sale; offering fifty dollars to any one that would kill me, and thirty dollars for every other Englishman that they could slay: But hitherto God hath preserved me and the rest in this place; for though they have wounded two or three of our men, none have died. This villainous proceeding[66] of their lord-commander was secretly told me by some of their own people, who advised me and the rest of us to take heed to our safety. They also informed me of the noble parentage of this their lord-commander Westarwood, telling me that his father is a close-stool maker at Amsterdam, or thereabouts; and that the best of their captains are the sons of shoemakers, carpenters, or brewers. God bless their honourable and worshipful generation! I would say, God bless [[=protect]] me from them. To make an end of this matter, I went up this year to the emperor's court at Meaco, to complain of the abuses offered to us in his dominions, contrary to the privileges his majesty had granted us. I had very good words, and fair promises made me that we should have justice, and that the tono or king of Firando should be ordered to see it performed: But as yet nothing has been done, though I have many times made earnest suit on the subject.

While I was at the court, and in the emperor's palace at Meaco, there were several Spaniards and Portuguese there to pay their obeisance to the emperor, as is their custom every year on the arrival of their ships. There was also a Hollander at the court, who had lived almost twenty years in Japan, and speaks the Japanese language very fluently. In my hearing, and that of others, this fellow began highly to extol their king of Holland, pretending that he was the greatest king in Christendom, and held all the others under his command. He little thought that we understood what he said; but I was not slack in telling him, that he need not be so loud, for they had no king in Holland, being only governed by a count, or rather that they governed him. Nay, if they had any king at all in whom they could boast, it certainly was the king of England, who had hitherto been their protector, and without whose aid they had never been able to brag of their States. This retort made the Spaniards and Portuguese laugh heartily at the poor Hollander, and made him shut his mouth.

And now for the news of this country. The emperor is great enemy to the name of Christians, especially to the Japanese who have embraced the faith; so that all such as are found are put to death. While at Meaco, I saw fifty-five martyred at one time, because they would not forsake the faith, and among them were some children of five or six years old, who were burnt in the arms of their mothers, calling on Jesus to receive their souls. Also, in the town of Nangasaki, sixteen others were martyred for the same cause, of whom five were burnt, and the rest beheaded and cut in pieces, and their remains put into sacks and cast into the sea in thirty fathoms deep: yet the priests got them up again, and kept their remains secretly as relics. There are many others in prison, both here and in other places, who look hourly to be ordered for execution, as very few of them revert to paganism.

Last year, about Christmas, the emperor deposed one of the greatest princes in all Japan, called Frushma-tay, lord of sixty or seventy mangocas, and banished him to a corner in the north of Japan, where he has a very small portion in comparison with what was taken from him, and he had the choice of this or of cutting open his own belly. It was thought that this would have occasioned great troubles in Japan, for all the subjects of Frushma-tay were up in arms, and meant to hold out to the utmost extremity, having fortified the city of Frushma, and laid in provisions for a long time. But the tay and his son, being then at the emperor's court, were commanded to write to their vassals, ordering them to lay down their arms and submit to the emperor, or otherwise to cut open their own bellies. Life being sweet, they all submitted, and those were pardoned who had taken up arms for their tay.

The emperor has given their dominions, which were two kingdoms, to two of his own kinsmen; and this year the emperor has ordered the castle belonging to Frushma to be pulled down, being a very beautiful and gallant fortress, in which I saw him this year, and far larger than the city of Rochester. All the stones are ordered to be conveyed to Osaka, where the ruined castle, formerly built by Fico-Same, and pulled down by Ogosha-Same, is ordered to be rebuilt three times larger than before; for which purpose all the tonos or kings have each their several tasks appointed them; to be executed at their several charges, not without much grumbling: For they had got leave, after so many years attendance at court, to return to their own residences, and were now sent for again all of a sudden to court, which angereth them not a little: "But go they must, will they nill they, on pain of belly-cutting."

At this time there runs a secret rumour, that Fidaia Same is alive, and in the house of the Dairo[67] at Meaco; but I think it has been reported several times before this that he was living in other places, but proved untrue. There are some rich merchants here that belong to Meaco, who are much alarmed by this report, lest, if true, the emperor may burn Meaco; and who are therefore in haste to get home. Were Fidaia actually alive it might tend to overthrow the emperor's power, for though a great politician, he is not a martial man. But be this as it may, things can hardly be worse for us. I advised you in my last of the destruction of all the Christian churches in Japan; yet there were some remnants left at Nangasaki till this year, and in particular the monastery of Misericiordia was untouched, as were all the church-yards and burying-places; but now, by order of the emperor, all is destroyed, all the graves and sepulchres of the Christians opened, and the bones of the dead taken out by their parents and kindred, to be buried elsewhere in the fields.

Streets have been built on the scites of these churches, monasteries, and burying-grounds, except in some places, where pagodas have been erected by command of the emperor, who has sent heathen priests to occupy them, thinking utterly to root out Christianity from Japan. There were certain places near Nangasaki where several jesuit fathers and other Christians were martyred, in the reign of Ogosha Same, and where their parents and friends had planted evergreen-trees, and erected altars near each tree, where many hundreds went daily to say their prayers; but now, by command of the emperor, all these trees are cut down, the altars destroyed, and the ground all levelled, it being his firm resolution utterly to root out the remembrance of all matters connected with Christianity.

In the months of November and December, 1618, there were two comets seen all over Japan. The first, rising in the east, was like a great fiery beam, rent to the southwards, and vanished away in about the space of a month. The other rose also in the east, like a great blazing star, and went northwards, vanishing quite away within a month near the constellation of Ursa-Major or Charles-waine. The wizards of Japan have prognosticated great events to arise from these comets, but hitherto nothing material has occurred, excepting the deposition of Frushma-tay, already related.

I am almost ashamed to write you the news which the Spaniards and Portuguese report, though some of them have shewn me letters affirming it to be true, of a bloody cross having been seen in the air in England; and that an English preacher, speaking irreverently of it from the pulpit, was struck dumb: on which miracle, as they term it, the king of England sent to the pope, to have some cardinals and learned men brought to England, as intending that all the people of England should become Roman catholics. I pray you pardon me for writing of such nonsense, which I do that you may laugh; yet I assure you there are many Spaniards and Portuguese here who firmly believe it. I know not what more to write you at this time: But I hope to come to England in the next shipping that comes here; and I trust in God that I may find your worship in good health.

RICHARD COCKS.

===========
[Footnote 40: We here resume the narrative of Captain Saris. Purch. Pilgr. I. 378. The observations of Mr. Cockes, contained in the three preceding sub-sections, break off abruptly in the Pilgrims, as above.--E.]
[Footnote 41: This personage must have been governor of one of the provinces, islands, or towns of Japan; but no place in that eastern empire bears a name in modern geography which in the smallest degree resembles Crats.--E]
[Footnote 42: The town of Firando is in lat. 33° 6' N. and even the most northern part of the island of that name only reaches to 33° 17'. The town is in long. 128° 42' E. from Greenwich.--E.]
[Footnote 43: Corea was long thought to be an island after the period of this voyage. Astl. I. 492. c.
--It is now known to be an extensive peninsula, to the east of China, having the Yellow sea interposed.--E.]
[Footnote 44: By the latitude indicated in the text, Captain Saris appears to have fallen in with the coast of Fo-kien, and to have passed through between that province and the island of Formosa, without discovering the existence of that island.--E.]
[Footnote 45: Probably the island of Tchang-to-huen, to the S.W. of the bay of Canton, the situation of which agrees with the latitude in the text, and the sound of the two first syllables of which name has some affinity with that given by Saris, evidently from Spanish or Portuguese charts. At this part, of his voyage, Saris entirely misses to notice the large island of Hai-nan.--E.]
[Footnote 46: This article is appended to the Voyage of Saris, in the Pilgrims, vol. I. p. 384.--E.]
[Footnote 47: In modern maps, the southern peninsula of Yesso, or Yedso, is named Matsaki, apparently the same name with that in the text.--E.]
[Footnote 48: In our more modern maps, there are four other towns or residences on the western coast of the peninsula of Matsaki, named Jemasina, Sirekosawa, Famomoli, and Aria.--E.]
[Footnote 49: The island of Kubito-sima, off the western coast of Yedzo, is called likewise in our maps, the Isle of Pigmies.--E.]
[Footnote 50: This forms a part of the Appendix to the Voyage of Saris, Purch. Pilg. I. 394; where it is joined to the end of observations by the same author on the trade of Bantam, formerly inserted in this Collection under their proper date.--E.]
[Footnote 51: This account is very vaguely expressed; but in the title in the Pilgrims, the sales are stated to be in masses and canderines, each canderine being the tenth part of a masse. The information contained in this short subdivision is hardly intelligible, yet is left, as it may possibly be of some use towards reviving the trade of Japan, now that the Dutch are entirely deprived of their eastern possessions.--E.]
[Footnote 52: These articles, in italics, are unknown.]
[Footnote 53: These are appended in the Pilgrims, vol. I. pp. 406-413, to the observations of Mr. Richard Cocks, already given in conjunction with the voyage of Captain Saris.--E.]
[Footnote 54: This letter appears to have been written to Captain Saris.--E.]
[Footnote 55: It has been formerly explained that Sakey was a town on the river Jodo, directly opposite to Osakey or Osaka, the river only being interposed.--E.]
[Footnote 56: As Nangasaki is uniformly named Langasaque in this first English voyage to Japan, I am apt to suspect the Lanquin of the text may have been Nan-kin.--E.]
[Footnote 57: No place or island of any name resembling Tushma is to be found in our best maps. The name in the text probably refers to Tausima, called an some maps Jasus, an island about forty miles long, about midway between Kiusiu and Corea.--E.]
[Footnote 58: Perhaps that now called Exeter Change.--E.]
[Footnote 59: Turon is the port of Cochin-China in the present time, and Quinham is unknown in modern geography; perhaps the old name of some island or village at the port or bay of Turon.--E.]
[Footnote 60: The Liqueo islands are here obviously meant, a group to the south of the south-western extremity of Japan, in 28° N. and long. 129° 30' W. from Greenwich; such being the latitude and longitude of the centre of the great Liqueo, the principal island of the group.--E.]
[Footnote 61: In the text of the Pilgrims, this loss is estimated at 400,000, and in a marginal note at 40,000, both in words at length; for which reason the number is omitted in the text.--E.]
[Footnote 62: Perhaps the date of this letter, according to modern computation, ought to have been 1618, as in those days the year did not begin till Lady-day, the 25th March.--E.]
[Footnote 63: In the Pilgrims, the date of this letter is made 1610, evidently by error of the press; and, as observed of No. 5, the real date, according to modern computation, ought to be 1621. The introductory paragraph is a note by Purchas, distinguished by inverted commas, retained as a curious specimen of his mode of writing.--E.]
[Footnote 64: This Captain Jordaine is said to have been treacherously slain in the time of a treaty--Purch.]
[Footnote 65: And who was the happy instrument of their own delivery, from what they accounted slavery, but the English nation?--Purch.]
[Footnote 66: Unchristian, uncivil, inhumane, immane, devilish impiety.--Purch.]
[Footnote 67: The Dairo was formerly the sovereign of Japan, uniting the supreme civil and spiritual power, committing the military affairs to a kind of generalissimo, who usurped supreme authority, and reduced the Dairo to be a kind of sovereign pontiff or chief-priest.--E.]