Heaven consume thee thou King of Bungo that darest offer or once open that thy Mouth to Blaspheme the holy Priest of the just and ever-living Gods ¶ THe Bonzies are divided into twelve Sects though some lessen the number Amongst all of them those are least esteem'd that acknowledge Combadaxis for the Learnedst Man What the Bonzies of Combadaxis Sect are The Combadaxis-Bonzi have several Cloysters in the famous Territory of Coja They lock up themselves in their Habitations and shave off the Hair of their Heads as a sign that they forsake the World and take a Holy Life upon them under which pretence they act all manner of Debaucheries Besides a great number of Servants there dwell in those Parts above six thousand Bonzies If any Woman dares approach that place she is immediately punish'd with death Combadaxis himself liv'd about eight hundred years ago Combadaxis a great deluder who though a very Villain yet by his dissimulation and eloquent Language obtain'd the Name of a Saint He is held to be the Inventor of those Characters which the meaner sort of the Japanners use When Combadaxis attain'd to a great age he buried himself in a deep square Pit commanding strictly That none should open the same telling them That he died not but being wearied and tir'd with the Troubles of this Life on Earth he went to take rest for a hundred thousand years under Ground after the expiration of which time there would a most exceeding Learned Man call'd Mirozu appear in Japan and with that Mirozu he would also return Round about his Grave burnt an innumerable company of Lamps sent thither from all the Japan-Territories for every one that is of Combadaxis Sect imagines and believes That by the giving of those Lamps they shall obtain Earthly Riches and after death find Combadaxis to intercede for them in the other World Bonzi-Neugori much hated ¶ YEt above all others the Bonzi-Neugori that have promoted the Deluder Cacubau to the Dignity of a Numen are the most hated their chiefest Residence Fatonochaiti being a meer Den of Murderers For they live without a Superior and determine on nothing but with a general Vote so that oftentimes differing in their Consultations they fall at variance and go together by the Ears insomuch that they kill one another Their strange Conversation These Neugori bring up a considerable number of Youths to Thieving and Defrauding of the People Such as exceed the rest in Wit and Cunning are chiefly instructed about the Descents and Exploits of the Japan Kings and State-Affairs being also exercis'd in Martial Discipline and taught the Art of Rhetorical Speaking And thus instructed they travel to the remotest Kingdoms where they give themselves out to be the Sons of Japan Kings or Prince living in another part of the Empire being the rather credited because they appear in Kingly Apparel and carry themselves exceeding Stately And when they have brought their Game to the height then they ask for Money as wanting Bills of Exchange to furnish them for their present Occasions It is very seldom but they find one or other that will disburse Money for them upon giving them a Note not without promise of great Interest So soon as they have thus fill'd their Purses they return with the Booty back to their Cloysters For which cause Are every where kili'd if known if the Neugori from Fatonochaiti are known any where they are without mercy Ston'd to death Notwithstanding this hatred which the Japanners bear against them yet they are afraid of them because they are very expert in Arms. Their Order is divided into three Sects some observing their Religion others make and deliver daily five Arrows a Man the third sort exercise themselves continually in War not unlike the Knights of Malta Maintain War so that they often raise Rebellion against their Princes Anno 1561. they brought thirty thousand Men into the Field and Encamping themselves between Meaco and Saccai fought a great Battel against the Cubus and getting victoriously into Meaco set the City on Fire Yet not long after Success making them negligent and careless they were surpriz'd and expell'd with no small Loss Yet were they not so routed but that they since encounter'd with the Powerful King Nobunanga but with such ill Fortune that most of them were slain on the Spot The Bouzi-Ikkois are highly esteem'd ¶ ALl the other Bonzies are held in high esteem and chiefly the twelfth Sect call'd Ikkois Their Governor is carried in a Sedan Kingly Honor shewn him and worshipp'd by his Followers These Bonzies have great Priviledge beyond the other for they have leave to be merry and eat all manner of Food that the Sea and Earth affords Some of their Temples receive a yearly Revenue out of the Emperors Treasury or else from the Customs and Tolls growing due in that Countrey where they are founded Others are maintain'd by the ordinary People Every one contributes to the Maintenance of his Chappel and Priest to which he belongs for every Sect of the Bonzi have their Congregation They never trouble each other about Differences of Religion nay the Citizens never dispute about their Opinions in matter of Faith though their several Sects differ much one from another Most of their Temples are Houses of Good-fellowship for which reason many of them are built in the most delightful Places where they come oftentimes together The Recreation of the Bonzi no otherwise than to a Drinking-Club in the presence of all their Gods Common Strumpets are brought thither Conceal'd Adultery the Bonzies wink at Yet other Bonzies live more retir'd coming sometimes at Midnight on certain Hours together to say their Prayers and in order taking it by turns perform their Offices which they read out of the last Book of Xaca call'd Foquequium before their Altars In the Evening every one hath his Task set him to get by Heart against Morning and to declare it to the Head Bonzies ¶ BUt the Bonzies of the eleventh Sect exceed the rest in a strict and retir'd Life for they abstain from Women and all manner of Food that ever lived and if it be known to the Magistrates that any of them hath transgress'd Strange Punishment inflicted on some Criminal Bonzies or broken his Vows the Criminal is put into a Hole and cover'd half way with Earth being made fast in the same and every one that passes by though it be a Nobleman must give a cut with a Wooden Saw on the Neck of the half-buried Priest So that generally it is the fourth day before he comes to his End Why the Bonzies are highly esteem'd ¶ A Retir'd and Abstinent Life brings the Bonzies into great esteem and therefore several of their Sects live onely on Pot-herbs Water and Rice Besides many Bonzies are of Noble and Princely Extract for when the Fathers are over-charg'd with Children fearing to leave them but small Shares they put some of them
Murder as other Commanders who aim'd by their Cruelties to exceed each other he being most commonly troubled with a Distemper that would scarce let him rest either Night or Day So that he regarded the Christians but little being also very intent in desiring his Nobles to let him resign up his Authority Kauwaytsdo is made Governor of Nangesaque This at last was granted him and Kauwaytsdo sent by the Emperor to succeed not without great trouble and amazement to the City Nangesaque and especially to the Christians because Kauwaytsdo was a stern and high-spirited Person and the rather because heretofore Nangesaque had always been Govern'd by ordinary Merchants who by the Command of the Emperor had their Residence there to the end they might buy all things necessary that the Imperial Court requir'd Whereas the Japan Nobles are so exceeding proud and high-minded that they look upon all Tradesmen as Dogs which made every one stand in fear of Kauwaytsdo the New Governor Begins instantly to murder the Christians Anno 1626. in June he came to keep his Court at Nangesaque The second day after his arrival he commanded fifty three Stakes to be drove into the Ground and according to the custom to place Piles of Wood round about them The next day after were led thither the Japan Bishop Franciscus Parquero Balthazar de Torres who had lain a whole Year hid in a Cave under the Floor of a House Baptista Sola Overseer of the Jesuits Cloyster at Arima besides five Japanners which had lodg'd the Priests and as many Portuguese namely Albemen Josse and his Son of fourteen Years old Diego de Costa Johan de Costa and Balthazar de Solse the last two being Pilots The Portuguese became Apostates embracing the Heathen Religion but the rest remain'd constant After that five Men and three Women more were burnt because they had also entertain'd the Priests in their Houses One of the Women saw first her Child of six years old Beheaded Finds out a cunning way to make them apostatize from the Christian Faith But Kauwaytsdo found more Work in this his Murder than he expected for he saw that he must destroy at least a thousand more before he could root the Christian Religion out of Nangesaque Therefore he bethought himself of another way Forcing the Christians to declare by Oath what they were worth and what Moneys they had out either in the Hands of Portuguese Japanners Chineses or their own Servants whether upon Interest or otherwise all which he kept and seiz'd upon for his own use Besides thus depriving them of their Estates he threatned them also with intolerable Tortures and a horrible Death if they continu'd to persist in the Romish Belief But if they would Apostatize they should reap great Benefit Which indeed those that did immediately receiv'd for Kauwaytsdo gave them the Houses and Estates of those that were burnt and also forc'd the Chineses which come yearly with above sixty Vessels to an Anchor before Nangesaque to Lodge in their Houses for which they should pay them Ten in the Hundred of whatever Commodities they sold by which means many poor People on a sudden rais'd themselves to considerable Estates Moreover the Portuguese Merchants might neither lodge with the Christians nor drive any Trade with them Many embrace the Japan Doctrine again In October Kauwaytsdo commanded all those that had Apostatiz'd from Christianity to come before him who being all cloth'd in rich Habies made above fifteen hundred He speaking to them very courteously promis'd to shew them more and greater Favors Cruelty us'd in Mongy ¶ MEan while the heat of Persecution in several Places increas'd A Mile from Nangesaque stands a Village nam'd Mongy belonging to Bongemendo Governor of Arima where seven Men and five Women were put to death Being brought before the Executioners they were first Stigmatiz'd with hot Irons in the Foreheads and immediately after demanded If they would renounce the Christian Religion Which refusing they were again burnt on both Cheeks But still remaining constant they were stripp'd of their Apparel and their Legs and Arms stretch'd abroad with great Scourges so outragiously beaten that they lay a considerable time for dead Then being ask'd anew If they would not change their Opinions which they deny'd with detestations of the Japan Idolatries whereupon the Executioners began their Tortures afresh burning their Privities and other tender parts of the Body with glowing Irons and cutting off their Fingers and Toes It seems a matter worthy no small admiration that a Child of six Years old being amongst these twelve Martyrs endur'd all the foremention'd Tortures with inexpressible Courage Thus punish'd they were cast into Prison Mean while the number of the discover'd Christians amounted to one and forty which all patiently endur'd the foremention'd Afflictions insomuch that at last the Executioners seem'd to be more wearied and tir'd than the Sufferers of which seventeen having large and heavy Stones ty'd about their Middles were carry'd a good distance into the Offin and there thrown over-board amongst which number was a Man and his Wife and three Children the one seventeen the other thirteen and the youngest six years old who being terrifi'd with such strange Preparations began to cry when the Executioners laid hold of him to tye the Stones about his Waste whereupon they asking the Parents if they would have the Child to live and they replying No it was drown'd with the rest Japan Children very hardy enduring the greatest Tortures ¶ IT is very common in Japan to put to death or destroy Children for their Parents Offences Yet the Parents have an unlimited Power over their Children of either Life or Death and it is at their choice to let them live or cause them to suffer with them But there was scarce a Japan Child that went not willingly to encounter Death and endur'd their Tortures with exceeding Courage In the City Usacca two Youths the one ten and the other five years old voluntarily died with their Father Alexius Morifoibioye and a Sister being an Infant of four days old was Decollated On the Island Necaie a whole Noble Family were all condemn'd to the Slaughter amongst which several Children Japanners have little knowledge of the Christian Religion These Examples manifest sufficiently that the Japanners are not only of Noble Hearts but constant Resolutions enduring the greatest Tortures in their Infancy with inexpressible Valour for a Religion the first beginning whereof they scarce understood For besides reading the Pater Noster Ave Maria and some Prayers to the Saints they have little or no knowledge of either the Old or New Testament Therefore we may judge the Japan Martyrs to be very Zealous and Constant Far more holy were the Sufferings of these Infants if they had understood the Grounds of the Christian Faith than the Child which Romanus being tortur'd in Antioch by Asclepiades call'd from amongst the Multitude of Spectators Anno
the Zamarin how that these Strangers who had in a manner surpris'd his Majesty having no other information of what they were or their Condition but from themselves were indeed not so and that they had told him nothing but Lyes for they were able to make out that they were a Crew of Roving Pyrats and Robbers and declar'd by their actions common Enemies to all humane Society and that their King if they had one was a petty Prince far off in the West who not able to enlarge his narrow Territories upon the adjacent Countrey sent these Hectoring Desperado's through all Seas to make Booty of what they could either get by Wheedling down-right Cheating or the Sword And if his Imperial Majesty be so pleased to grant them a free Trade and Commerce that then they would being so enforc'd leave Calicut this their settled Staple and seek Trade elsewhere which sure would not redound so much to his Majesties benefit who had so long brought in their Customs and Duties a certain and great Revenue to the Crown which they by no possible means if they deserted the Place could in many years make the like or any considerable Return Thus the business was agitated and the Emperor inform'd by both Parties The Malabars contrive to make away the Partuguese When the Malabars being by Nature fickle and treacherous not onely perswaded by the Saracens how dangerous such alterations would be but also influenc'd and encourag'd from the wavering Court conspir'd laying a Plot how to dispose of the Portuguese otherwise by their utter destruction which was not so clearly carry'd but that Monzaido the Tunis Merchant and a real Friend to the Strangers Interest scenting the bottom of their Design inform'd Gama of the whole Intrigue who being very sensible of the danger made his escape sudden and privately from the City that he might the better save himself and his Fleet from undoubted Ruine so setting Sail he left the treacherous Harbor for his security where Cruising at Sea Their Plot is spovl'd and Gama falls upon the Malabars he met with an Indian Vessel standing in for Pandarana a safer Port than that of Calicut where the Emperor had formerly advis'd Gama to by whom he sent Letters to the Zamarin wherein he gave an account that he was enforc'd for his safety to leave his Harbor and trust the Sea a Plot being laid to take away not onely his Life but to seize his Ships and make Prize of all he had and that some had so poyson'd his Majesties Ear concerning them gracious to him before with lying and scandalous Tales and other false Aspersions that he would not venture any further Commerce nor have to do with such a fickle and not to be trusted People therefore desiring That such Goods as he had there left ashore might speedily be sent aboard and he would not trouble his Majesty nor them any further But the Zamarin excusing himself laid the fault on his corrupt Officers and Attendants who were already tryed and condemn'd to suffer condign Punishment But whatever his Excuses were there was no Restitution and the Goods lay still as Confiscated for the Emperors Use at which Gama being justly incens'd resolv'd by Reprisal to make up his Loss And soon after he seiz'd on a Malabar Vessel by chance standing into Calicut in which were six Persons of Prime Quality amongst them Thus the Emperor being enforc'd to release those Prisoners of so much esteem deliver'd up all those Goods which Gama laid claim to sending with them also an Answer to the King of Portugal's Letter In the mean time Monzaido the Tunis Merchant his Kindness towards the Portuguese being discover'd made his Escape from the City where he fear'd no less than Death and Confiscation of all he had for his Safety to the Fleet whom Gama receiving with all Civility carry'd him after to Lisbon where he a Convert receiv'd Baptism and lived there being turn'd a Christian Honorably and in good State and Condition many Years But the Zamarin looking upon this as a high Affront to be force'd thus to his dishonor to exchange Goods for Prisoners and to be brought to Capitulations onely three Ships opposing his Mighty and Absolute Power would not thus sit down nor take it so although his own Navy by which nay with a small part he might have vindicated his Cause which were there then by reason of the Annual Tempests hall'd ashore and could by no means possible be suddenly Launch'd yet with wonderful dexterity he Mann'd out sixty Boats with stout and expert Soldiers who were so Order'd and Commanded that they were able to destroy and Swallow them all He flying and they pursuing and just ready to lay him aboard twenty to every Ship so it pleased Providence to befriend him with a sudden Storm which parted the Fray they being routed and forc'd not without danger ingloriously to return and Gama coming clearly off loosing the sight of Calicut Steer'd his Course directly home Gama returns home to Portugal and in something more than two Years compleating his Voyage Anno 1499. he Anchor'd in the Haven of Lisbon where he was receiv'd with great joy being the first to his Eternal Fame and Honor that with an undaunted Courage passing so many imminent Dangers found a Way by Water to the so much desir'd East-Indies After Gama's Return of whom the King had receiv'd sufficient Information concerning the Profit and Advantage which might be made by the East-India Expeditions did so much encourage him that he fitted out thirteen Ships Mann'd with 1500 Mariners and 500 Soldiers under the Command of Pedro Alvaro Caprales who had strict Order That he should endeavour by all means to make a League of Amity and Friendship with the Emperor of Calicut and to request the Liberty of Raising a Fort there to the end they might there settle their Staple of Merchandise Which if the Emperor should refuse nor would be drawn to by any Perswasions then to endeavor to force him to it by Arms. Thus having receiv'd his Instruction and Commission he departed with his Fleet out of the Haven of Lisbon and Steer'd the same Course to St. James Island as Gama had done before Then he Sail'd more Westerly and fell at last on an unknown Coast which he call'd Holy-Cross-Land since Brafile where Landing and finding it a fruitful and rich Soil he cast up a Fort and sent Gaspar Lemius back to Portugal to inform King Emanuel of his New Discovery And leaving the Charge of the New Work which he made there to some choice Men that he took put of the Fleet with all Necessaries to maintain it he departed directing his Course towards Calicut But in the way he rancountred with such Storms that he lost four of his Vessels and glad he came off with no greater damage Steer'd directly for Calicut where soon after he arriv'd Where the Zamarin dealing also treacherously with him they fell at variance but Caprales
from thence went directly to the Emperors Court at Meaco These as we said before were the onely Addressers employ'd in an Embassy from thence into Europe or any other part of the World Since which time the Hollanders have Traded to Japan to their great benefit especially since the Portuguese upon the account of the Jesuits Conspiracy were prohibited to Traffick any longer in that Countrey which in brief was thus The Jesuits are banish'd from Japan because of a Plot. ¶ THe Jesuits having laid a Plot to deliver up the whole Empire of Japan to the King of Portugal and having well digested the same sent him inviting Letters promising that if he would send them eight stout Vessels well Mann'd they no sooner mould be arriv'd but that several Kings and many thousands of the People their Converts should be all at once ready to Declare for him which would so much overpower the Emperors remaining Party that if he then prov'd stubborn and would not yield they should be able to force him to his subjection But this being discover'd The Portuguese age banish'd from Japan the Portuguese were presently banish'd and excluded for ever from Japan in the Year 1641 the Jesuits and principal Confederates being all put to death suffering condign punishment So the Trade lay in a manner open to the Hollanders which they being almost solely employ'd in made so great an advantage thereof that they were able every three years to send Gratulatory Embassies with several rich Presents to the Emperor The Hollanders Staple at Firando The first Staple they settled in that Countrey was upon Firando a small Isle which on the East-side Coasts with Bongo by some call'd Cikoko on the North with Taquixima on the South faceth Goto both also wash'd by the Sea the West respecting the Main Ocean The Haven of Firando better accommodateth Japan Vessels than the Hollanders which being of greater Burthen draw more Water especially the Mouth of the Haven being narrow and their Ships large is very dangerous but within they lie safe being Land-lock'd round about which breaks off all force of Winds and Waves whatsoever and though it blow to the heighth of a Heuricane yet they Ride still in smooth Water De Logie op FIRANDO The Store-house of the East-India Company there The Store-house which was first order'd there for the Company consisted of four Low Rooms and five Upper Chambers for the Reception of their Goods besides Kitchen Larder and other Offices lying close by the Haven with a Key and Stairs to the Water but being built of Wood which in short time grew dry and rotten it could not preserve their Merchandise either from Fire foul Weather or Thieves Therefore in Anno 1641. they began to build one more large of Stone which the Emperor not rellishing supposing they might convert it into a Fort of Defiance The Netherlanders remove from Firando to Nangesaque commanded them to desist and at the same time remov'd them to Nangesaque A strange Idol Near Firando at an In-let of the Sea stands an Idol being nothing but a Chest of Wood about three Foot high standing like an Altar whether many Women when they suppose that they have Conceiv'd go in Pilgrimage and offering on their Knees Rice and other Presents with many Prayers imploring That what they go withal may be a Boy saying O give us a Boy and we will bear him though a big one But before the Hollanders left Firando they sent their Merchandise in small Vessels to Nangesaque where they had then a Factory and there found in the Year 1694. a Hollander call'd Melchior Sandwoord who Sailing with the Fleet from Mabu through the Straights of Magellan losing his Company had suffer'd Shipwrack on that Coast thirty Years before Thus the Hollanders being remov'd from Firando keep their Staple ever since at Nangesaque Netherland Ambassadors sent from Nangesaque to Jedo THe Ambassadors that were dispatch'd from Batavia to the Emperor of Japan June 28. Anno 1641. receiv'd peremptory Orders to Land only at their ple Nangesaque and to go from thence to the Imperial Court at Jedo The Chief in Commission for this Imployment was his Excellency the Lord Bloccovius who had joyn'd to him as an Assistant Andreas Frisius a great Merchant All things in readiness and rich Presents prepar'd they put to Sea their Fleet consisting of three Ships and one Ketch The Governor himself and several others conducted them aboard and weighing Anchor from them falling to Leeward lay that night before Batavia Description of Batavia This City of old call'd Calappa since Jacatra and now Batavia hath its last Denomination from the Batavians which were a People driven out of their own Countrey before the Birth of our Savior by their Neighbors the Hessens The Batavians from whence extracted What Tract or Land they formerly inhabited then known by the Name of Catti settled in the Lower Countreys as Germany between the two Hornes or the Arms of the Rhine which now happens to be the United Netherlands So that in Commemoration and to keep up the Honor and Antiquity of their ancient Name and first Original they call this their New City and Head of their East-Indian Government Batavia Description of Jacatra When first Cornelius Matcleif Anchor'd at this place Anno 1607. it was call'd Jacatra being a mean Village the Houses being all built after the Javan manner from the Foundation of Straw the Town having no other Fence-work but Ranges of Wooden Pales like our Parks Power of the King of Jacatra The Royal Palace it self was a great Huddle of Deformity consisting of many Rooms one within another the whole Materials that built it being nothing but complicated Reeds Bulrushes Pleated Sedges of which Work and Contrivance they were then proud But the King about that time had a Design to Fortifie this his pitiful Metropolis with a Stone-wall His Royal Navy consisted of four Galleys in which beneath his single Bank of Oars sat his Soldiers or Life-Guard which attended his Commands upon the Decks This Prince who drove there the onely Trade in Pepper though by his Subjects restrain'd not to dispose of more than 300 Bags Yearly a Commodity of which the Hollanders knew very well the Advantage struck a League of Amity with them annexing Articles of Traffique to which they both agreed which the King being of an inconstant and covetous Nature observ'd so little that he rais'd both the Prizes and Customs whenever he pleas'd So that the Hollanders conceiving themselves neither certain in their Trade nor safe in their Persons rais'd a Fort there for their better Security of Commerce and Defence English and Netherlanders fall at variance before Jacatra HEre also at the same time the English drove an equal Trade not inferior to the Hollanders who clashing in their Commerce striving to ingross the Commodities one from the other there arose an irreconcileable Difference between
Fire Their greatest and smallest Villages being being thus built all of Wood suffer much and sometimes unvaluable Losses by Fire therefore the richer sort and those that are able build apart Stone Ware-houses where they lay up those Goods and Commodities they most prize Whatever Houses are burnt down they immediately build up again in the same manner of Wood which the Forrests plentifully supply They seldom use Stone because if over-thrown by Earthquake they become a great heap of Rubbish which they would not be troubled to remove The Noble-mens Buildings are very stately The Gentry or better sort have large and fairer Houses where the Husband and Wife have their several Apartments in which they live asunder when they please and also Rooms for his Employment and for Address and Entertainment Their Dining-Rooms are set forth with Cupboards of Plate Cups and Dishes that they shew glorious like a Goldsmith's Shop and Gilded giving a more various pleasure to the Eye than our choicest European Pictures But the Walls of these Halls and Parlors The Japan Structures after what manner in stead of Hangings are cover'd with Paper Painted with Imagery the Sheets being so curiously glew'd that no Man can discern where they are conjoyn'd Strange Shutters Some of these Halls have artificial Shutters which opening show little Closets and small Retirements but these Doors or Places to be open'd are so neatly Wrought that none can perceive but it is a firm and perfect Wall but over the half-Pace or uppermost part of the Hall stands a large Picture done to the Life under which a Pot always supply'd with sweet-smelling Flowers gather'd fresh from their own Gardens The chief Housholdstuff of the Japanners Along the Walls to sit upon in stead of Chairs and Stools they have Chests curiously Varnish'd after their Indian manner and Dishes which they esteem precious standing upon them to drink their beloved Chia in Besides all this they hang up upon their Walls their Scymiters and other Arms which they use in Battel This is the best and richest Furniture which they have belonging to the Grandees and Persons of most Quality the poorer sort garnish their meaner Habitations Japan Houses how in the out-side each according to their degree and ability But the Frontice-pieces of their Houses are but plain and ordinary yet they are uniform and in a direct Line their Streets being but narrow and short of which they reckon up eighty eight How many Streets there are in Nangesaque reckoning as many Gates being Lockt up every Night and at each a strong Guard with Lights attending where none may pass None go through the Gates in the Night unless he bring a Sign'd Warrant from the Governor without which neither Doctor to his Patient nor a Widwife to a Woman in Labor though upon Life and Death are admitted to go through Nay more if any of these Streets happen to be on Fire In the time of Fire one Street may not help another they must not expect any help from others but save themselves by their own care and diligence for neither cries nor tears nor loud complaints of those ready to be destroy'd and consum'd to Ashes prevail'd not in the least nor move their Neighbors nor Governors to open and bring them assistance in this miserable condition so that oft it happens that the whole Ward Men Women and Children are burnt together in one Funeral Pyle This sad Fate had like to have happen'd to some Hollanders lodging in one of these Streets twenty Houses all burning at once and many People destroy'd in the Flames before their Eyes who when they saw no hopes that the Gates would be open'd and they must suddenly with the rest endure the fiery trial brake by force through a back-side having a Wooden Fence so escaping that dreadful Conflagration It often chances that though their Locks and Keys keep out neighborly assistance yet they keep not in the Fire but that breaks through and many times destroys not the next Ward onely but the whole City leaving it prostrate smoaking in its own Ruines which suddenly as we said before they re-build in the same manner the adjacent Forrest being ready to furnish them with several sorts of Wood and Timber and the like Materials for that purpose Gardens about Nangesaque This City also lies surrounded with large and pleasant Gardens so delightful that the Eye seems never enough satisfi'd with viewing where all manner of Fruit are much improv'd growing very prosperously especially the Chinesie Apple transplanted thither and all sorts of Pears where they have Walks shaded with Cedar Their Cedars whose lofty Crowns seem to salute the Skie the single Bodies of which make Columns for their Temples and Main Masts for their Ships of the greatest Burthen or Sovereigns of the Sea The Inhabitants of Nangesaque their Shape and Apparel The Inhabitants are whiter than other Indians but sallow to those of Europe have strong and well-compacted Bodies and are healthy of Constitution their Noses are flat and Camosi'd their Eyes little especially the Womens Both Sexes are almost Habited alike wearing long Garments but shorter than the Chinesies the corners of which Coats they take up before with their Hands carrying the right Lappet under their left Arms and the left under the right which thus they fasten with a Girdle their Tunick thus ty'd up the left corner affords them a Pocket in their Bosom which keeps their Notes and Letters on the left-side hangs down from their Girdle a long two-handed Scymiter Sumptuous Apparel of the Japan Ladies Their prime Ladies and high-going Dames wear stately gorgeous Dresses their Hair is curiously sleeck'd and neatly turn'd up and their Gowns are much fuller and more flowing in thick and looser Folds than meaner Women the Stuff not onely rich and costly but Embroider'd all over with Gold with a large Silken Scarf about their Necks which meets athwart over their Bosoms a Needle-wrought Girdle rich with Silver and Gold doth compass and keep in their well-shap'd Bodies on their left Hand a great Fan with a long Handle Painted with several Birds and Flowers richly Gilt and Varnish'd under their upper Garment or Gown which as we said before is so richly Embroider'd they have seven or eight Silk Petticoats every one a degree longer than the other the longest trailing after them upon the Ground But all these Clothes upon them are neither burthenous nor troublesom though this be their daily Dress yet they seldom come abroad nor appear publick in their Houses but in the Evenings if fair Weather they take the Air a little with their Husbands by Day in close Sedans or else by Water in a Tilted Barge But ere we convey the Ambassadors further through Japan it seems not amiss to take a short Survey the better to give you a Description of this Large and Potent Empire A short and brief Description of Japan ¶
each side at equal distance stand twelve of his best Friends and nearest Relations on both sides are great multitudes of Spectators This cruel Execution is oftentimes inflicted upon many without any cause for they judge those liable to the same punishment that have any Relation to the Criminal Francis Cairon tells us of a passage that happen'd about Jedo during his residence there A Noble Man commanding a Lordship of the Emperor forced his Tenants to pay him more Rent than the Emperor had order'd by which means he inrich'd himself But the people not being able to bear the burthen any longer they joyn'd together and went to the Council complaining of the Lord of their Manor which they strictly examining he was found Guilty and Condemn'd with all his Family to be their own Executioners ripping open their own Bellies He had a Brother a Servant to the King of Fingo two hundred forty seven Leagues distant to the Westward from Jedo an Unkle in Satsuma twenty Miles farther a Son by King Conocoumy a second Son who dwelt Eastward from Jedo one hundred and ten Leagues serving the King of Massama his third Son in the Imperial Castle Inquano his youngest Son being Marry'd to a wealthy Merchants Daughter in Osacca Two of his Brothers being of the Emperors Life-Guard All these were forc'd in one day and hour for their Brother or Fathers foremention'd offence in a miserable manner to rip up their own Bowels The manner of cutting their bellies Which Executioners work is perform'd thus First they cast up how many hours it may be ere the Messenger of Death brings the sad news to their remotest Relations which being the utmost time appointed no Reprieve beyond both the nearest and farthest on one day and just at noon obeying the strict sentence they become their own cruel destroyers But one of them a Merchant in Osacco prevented self-slaughter being struck with so great a terror that he dy'd immediately after the tidings and his onely Daughter who would have made her self away though not Condemned had she not been carefully look'd after starving her self dy'd on the eleventh day But how the Women escap'd in these destroyings of Families he is silent in ¶ CAsper Villela in his Letter from Firando dated the 13 of October 1557. says thus concerning this manner of punishment Those that are to be ript open have two choices left them either to cut their bellies or fight to death When the King Condemns any to this Execution he sends a Messenger to him who acquaints him with the day on which he must die the Condemned Person never flinches nor seeks to make an escape but humbly requests that the King would be so pleas'd that he himself might perform his Majesties Command which if granted he takes for the greatest honor which at that time he is capable of At the appointed hour he attires himself in his best Rayment and so rips up his own Bowels but if the King order his Death by the common Execution then he puts himself in a posture of defence guarding his House with his Children Friends and Servants the King's Officers coming at the expected hour with a strong Party begin the Assault and Battel with discharging of Arrows then drawing nearer they come to pushing of Pikes and chosing up with their Swords entring the Kings Party being always too strong cruelly massacres him and his whole Family and the rest of his Relations that were not there nor engag'd are all stigmatiz'd with a hot Iron This severe Law neither exempts the highest nor the lowest but Lords and Peasants Citizens and Soldiers suffer thus without mercy all alike This false Witnesses have or any that are taken in a Lye before a Magistrate inflicted upon them insomuch that most Punishments amongst the Japanners are sanguinary The Kings that are convicted of speaking Treason against the Emperor are onely banish'd to Faitsinchina Description of the Faitsinchina ¶ THis Faitsinchina is a small Isle about a League in circumference lying Easterly from Jedo to the Offin fourteen Leagues whose Cliffy Borders are so steep and the Sea fathomless that they want Cable to Anchor there so that no Vessel can come near the Shore safe but after this manner When the Weather is calm and the Water smooth they venture in small Vessels who drawing near the Rocks some of the boldest and activ'st of them tying Cords about their Middle leap from their Vessel lighting among the Cliffs not without great danger and climbing to the top where they have Crains or the like Engines planted for that purpose with which they hoist up their Vessels some Fathoms above the Water A strange contrivance to preserve Ships so that they impend in the Air where they seem as at safe Anchor being free from the beatings of Waves and Weather which else would immediately bilge them upon the unhospitable Shore where many were lost ere this Invention was found This spot of Ground is for the most part barren little of the Isle fit for Cultrature boasting onely a few Mulberry-Trees Banishment of Japan Kings Here the greatest Persons suffer under Exile where without all hope of any return or ever to be redeem'd they live in a miserable condition for in every angle of the Isle stands a strong Tower where Souldiers keep Watch and Ward which Monethly if Wind and Weather serve are reliev'd nor are they longer to remain lest by their continuance they may grow acquainted with the Royal Prisoners and be inveigl'd by Bribes or otherwise to help or at least connive at their escape These though Kings have no Princely Fare onely a little Rice Roots of Trees wild Herbs and some other unsavory Food which they cook themselves and that which adds more to their misery is bad Drink and unwholsom Water Their Houses are onely poor Huts too sleight Defences to keep out Wind and Weather And also they are set hard Tasks to Spin and Weave so many Pieces of Silk yearly the Growth of the Place their own Silk-worms furnishing them with Materials The Emperor's Court was formerly in Surunga But our Ambassadors stay'd not long in Surunga where formerly the Japan Emperors used to keep their Court and afterwards the Emperor's Brother but since Toxogansama's Brother ript up his own Bowels they remov'd the Court from thence which was the chief occasion of the deserting and desolation of this City for most of the Inhabitants went from thence to settle in other Places The City is much ruin'd On one side of the City stands a large Castle whose Ruines manifest sufficiently its former greatness and splendor The Metherland Ambassadors enter Jesare and find there an antient Man who told them that Spex had formerly been there ¶ LEaving Surunga they travell'd to the Village Jesare where they Lodg'd all Night Here they found an old Man who told them that the Ambassador Jacob Spex thirty years before their arrival Lodg'd in his House passing through
that Village in his Journey to Jedo after he had presented the Emperor Goysssio Samma with several things and treated with him about permitting the Hollanders to Trade in Japan Spex's Journey from Meaco to Surungo and Jedo Ambassador Spex entring Meaco the tenth of August Anno 1611. receiv'd ten of the Emperor's Horses and a Present from the Governor Itakara Froymondonne thence Riding on seven Leagues farther he rested one Night in Cusatz the next Day Dining in Sutsifama Sutsifamme in the Evening he arriv'd at Sesquinoso travelling from thence the next Morning to Jokeitz and Ferrying over the Bay which washes Mia about Sun-set having that day suffer'd much by the extreme heat of the Sun insomuch that one of his Train died thereof by the way they entred Naromi where he order'd him to be interr'd Then Riding through Occosacca to Josinda they posted to Futsigeda and Merico and towards Evening came to Surunga Makes his arrival known in Surunga The arrival of the Netherlands Ambassadors Spex and Peter Segerszoon was immediately made known to the chief of his Imperial Majesty's Council being Cosequidonne and Ikoto Siosabrandonne with entreaties that they might be permitted so soon as possible to the Presence and Audience of the Emperor The Ambassadors receiv'd in answer That they were heartily welcom from so far a Countrey and troublesom a Way through which they had travell'd thither and without all peradventure their arrival would be very acceptable to the Emperor to which end they would prepare all things in readiness against the next Morning for their Audience Which Cosequidonne perform'd bringing the Netherlanders the next Day to the Imperial Palace but could not be admitted the Emperor being busied receiving and looking over some grand Accounts of his Vice-Roys so that they were forc'd to stay and wait his leisure What happen'd to the Portuguese Ambassador before the Emperor Where whilst they tarried they nnderstood something of the business of the Spanish Ambassador who had been newly dispatch'd from thence before their coming who had first address'd himself in Person and afterward in Writing to his Majesties chief Councellor Cosequidonne and when he was presented to the Emperor humbly he laid his Presents down before him on his Throne near his Footstool being ten Pieces of Cloth of Gold Tissue a Golden Bowl and a Watch which the Emperor receiv'd but the Ambassador his Majesty not replying a word in answer to his Addresses was commanded to withdraw notwithstanding he entred the Court with a stately Train he himself richly Habited wearing a Gold Chain about his Neck His business to the Emperor was to excuse the death of the Japanners three years before condemn'd to die at Maccau also to make a Complaint of a great Spanish Carvil burnt at Nangesaque by which some lost above ten hundred thousand Ducats laying the whole blame upon the Emperors Officers there The Emperor's Answer Soon after the Great Minister of State Cosequidonne answer'd him That the Sea-men and chiefly the Captain and his Officers refus'd to take any Cognisance or give them any answer in point of satisfaction concerning the inhumane Murder of his Imperial Majesties Subjects in Maccau which plainly evidenc'd that where they were able they minded neither Right nor Justice but did then and would hereafter when they could carry all other Transactions before them by force and violence and that the Captains surly and stubborn answers so opposite to the Laws of all Nations shewing such a sleight respect to his Imperial Majesties Demands without granting the least redress forc'd his Majesty to take satisfaction by retaliation therefore where the Sword of Justice would not reach he made up his Audits by Fire burning their Ship Errors committed by the Castilian Ambassador before the Emperor Many Errors did the Spaniard commit in this his Embassy first in visiting the young Prince at Jedo before the Emperor then entring the City Surunga with forty Musqueteers and flourishing the Spanish Colours firing his Musquets sounding Trumpets and beating of Drums at the end of every Street The like folly he committed in his Speech to the Emperor making these four Propositions First That the Castilians should have free liberty according to their manner in any or all of his Majesties Ports and Harbors Secondly To Trade in all Maritim Parts of his Empire Thirdly That the Emperor should absolutely prohibit the Hollanders from trafficking in any of his Dominions to which purpose his Royal Master the King of Spain would be ready with a strong Fleet to joyn in his Assistance utterly to drive them from his Imperial Territories Lastly That the Castilians should not by any of his Subjects be obstructed in their Trade but to have egress and regress to what Towns and Markets soever to sell their own and buy the Countrey Commodities These were the Proposals he deliver'd first by word of Mouth and afterwards in Writing waiting five days in Surunga ere he deliver'd this his Message to the Emperor and before he went away the Gifts which he had presented to the Minister of State Cosequidonne were returne'd Spex and Segerszoon are appointed to come before the Emperor But whilst the Ambassadors Spex and Segerszoon attended some hours in the Court Cosequidonne sent them word That the Emperor could not give them Audience that day he being busie about other Dispatches but to morrow he would use his utmost endeavor to bring them to a Hearing so the following part of the day the Ambassadors spent in addressing themselves to the High Treasurer Ohoto Sionsabradonne a Person lookt very much upon for his great Prudence Presents given by Spex to the Emperors Privy-Council Affability and his endearing Conversation whom they presented with whole Pieces of Scarlet fine Damask-Linnen and several other Stuffs with many curious Flasks a Carbyne and a Powder-horn which he accepted shewing great civility and kindness proffering them his assistance in what ere he could and the rather because he had lately heard as he said that a Peace was concluded betwixt the King of Spain and the United Provinces for twelve years for before the Hollanders in time of War lookt more after Spanish Prizes then full freighting of their Vessels with such Merchandise as was proper for their Countrey which now he hop'd they would do Moreover they visited also the chief Minister of State Cosequidonne to whom they presented Gifts no way inferior to the foremention'd but he modestly refusing told them That they must needs have had great trouble in bringing them so long and tedious a Voyage Spex deals under-hand with Cosequidone Enquiring of them the Concern of their business to the Emperor they reply'd first That his Imperial Majesty would be graciously pleas'd to excuse the staying away of their Ships so long from Japan and also an Answer upon the Emperor's Letter The Reasons which they alledg'd thereto seem'd of so great consequence to Cosequidonne that he undertook to deliver
large Image which make up their University where Scholars Study and have their Residence in each of them are fair Libraries Japan Library stuft with innumerable Catalogues of Books where with a Skrew or turning of a Wheel what Book soever they desire to see presents it self Many Churches in Japan ¶ THe Number Magnificence and wonderful Riches of dedicated Places and Temples for Divine Worship are beyond admiration and almost incredible The greatest have dwelling in them to perform the Rites and Ceremonies twenty Priests the second Rate fifteen others ten and the least two Make bad use of them But these Structures built for religious intentions and commonly in the most luxurious and pleasantest Situation of the whole Isle are made by their dissolute and gormandizing Priests the Academies of all Debaucheries and especially the Schools of Gluttony Drunkenness and Lust who in their Frollicks in open view of all their Idols in a gallanting humor will not spare to prostitute their wanton Mistresses and for their more conveniency lay them at the Feet of their gods and make them Bolsters for their Adulteries Hendrick Hagenaer relates that he saw six Temples near Osacca at whose Doors stood large Images of Wood holding Boxes in their Hands into which the Japanners throw Pieces of Copper by them call'd Caxa A strange Chappel There is also a Chappel through the middle whereof runs a Stream into which the poor Women throw several Written Papers The Dining-Room wherein the Bonzi eat is very costly On one side of the Temple stands the Colledge of the Bonzi which is as glorious to behold and as strong being an hundred and twenty Foot long and thirty six Foot broad And also the Places where they sleep their Lodging-Rooms about the same are reckon'd to be an hundred and eighty besides many stately Halls whereof one stands on twenty four Cedar Columns in which is the Library of the Bonzi full of the choicest Japan Books Here are also several fair Stoves in deep Vaults and provided with all Necessaries Their Kitchins are very curiously furnish'd their Kettles made of the best Copper are two Foot and a half deep three in circumference and two Inches in thickness before these runs a Rivulet of fresh Water In the Nights they hang up twenty four Lanterns with lighted Candles in their Chambers Before this Colledge or Court of the Bonzi is a Pool that abounds with all sorts of Fish of which if any one should adventure to steal he is without mercy put to death This Temple Cobucui hath been built above seven hundred years The like Temple is also in Jedo in which the Idol Xaca of an exceeding huge stature may be seen This Image was erected formerly by the Widow of the Emperor Taykosame who caus'd it to be made hollow pouring it full of melted Copper and the out-side to be Gilt very costly Description of the Idol Xaca ¶ THe Head of this their god Xaca hath the likeness or Face of a middle-aged Man with a thin Beard the Hair of his Head cropt above his Ears his Cap folded like a Scarf about his Neck are Chains of Gold interlaid with Diamonds about his Middle a Scarf woven of Gold and Silver his Hands he holds forth but a little asunder in a praying posture about his Wrists are Strings with long Tassels and sits cross-Legg'd on a great Golden Plate before and behind him are two large Vessels in which they put their Offerings the Golden Plate whereon he sits covers a square Altar on whose Brim hangs twelve Pots by Gold Chains in which both Night and Day they burn Incense which are still supply'd with odoriferous Gums the Altar being square stands on a broad Foot cut with several Japan Characters What Xaca was formerly But this their god Xaca whom they worshipp'd when living was a great Proficient in the Pythagorean Doctrine which of old was most generall and a Religion most spread through all the World and much follow'd by the Greeks and Latines from whence the Grecian Fables of Transformation took their rise who according to Plato generally believ'd Plato 17.10 de Legibus that Orpheus after his death became a Swan Thamyras a Nightingale Ajax a Lyon Agamemnon turn'd to a Crane Ambros Lib. De Bono Mors. Cio Ambrose relates they also believ'd That the Souls of their Learned chang'd into Bees or Nightingales because that whilst living they had pleas'd the Peoples Ears with their sweet and eloquent Language but the Souls of the malicoius turn into Serpents Thieves and Robbers into Wolves Cozeners and Cheaters after their Death become Foxes every one changeth into such Creatures as best analogizeth with their several Vertues and Vices Plato and Pythagoras according to Herodotus first taught the Egyptians this Doctrine Zamolxis spread the same amongst the Northern Goths for which they worship him as a god The Druides spread it all over Gaul and Germany and the West Indians I know not how are much of that belief And Josephus tells us Joseph L. 18. Ant. G. 11. that the Pharisees amongst the Jews were much biassed with this Perswasion Julian fondly imagin'd That the Soul of Alexander the Great inform'd and gave life to his Body and therefore sleighted all dangers This their god Xaca saith Father Kircher the Indians call'd Rama the Tunkmensers Chiaga by the Chineses Xen Kian The Chineses derive him from India in the Province of Tien Turk Gnoe Moreover the Japanners have this Tradition concerning Xaca The Dream of Xaaca's Mother That his Mother dream'd that she saw a white Elephant issuing out of her Mouth and went into her left Side Why the white Elephants are of so great esteem in India From hence proceeds that great esteem which the Indians and chiefly those in China Lai Tunchim Siam and Pegu have of white Elephants for they are kept and attended on like Kings and feed on all variety of high Fare and in Golden Dishes The Nobility visit them in humble and submissive postures No other Quarrel than a white Elephant caus'd a great War Anno 1576 between the King of Siam and Pegu in which the Siams were so defeated that they not onely lost their white Elephant but were utterly subdu'd and brought under by the King of Pegu But this Yoke the succeeding Princes did soon shake off and were Masters of two white Elephants which in short time after dying caus'd great lamentation to the King and People of Siam judging them to be sent from Heaven as an evidence and earnest of future blessings Xaca Murder'd his Mother But the first piece of divine service which this their god Xaca in his humanity perform'd was offering his Mother which he himself kill'd lifting up his right Hand towards Heaven and his left pointing to the Ground said with a loud voice Behold neither Heaven nor Earth affords a greater and more holier Saint than I This done he withdrew to a dark
return again to this World Great Disputations one the Brachmans maintain about their Second Heaven Lela Weicontam Some affirm That the Souls remove from thence to another Elizium Others maintain the contrary The Sect Foqueux worship Xaca Moreover concerning Xaca it is well known That all the Japan Bonzies worship him but chiefly those they call Foqueux For as they are of another Sect so among themselves they are of other Opinions This Sect is so call'd from a Book written by Xaca which treats of attaining to Salvation by saying these Words Namu Mio Foren Qui Quio though no Japanners understand the true meaning thereof being Indian Words The manner how the women ourn themselves ¶ THe Funerals in India if Married People and the Husband die first are commonly double for the Women burn themselves with their Husbands because they will not live after their deceas'd Lords so perfecting the Celebrations of the Funerals Which they willingly expose themselves to in Honor of their God whom they call Rama which they perform thus When the Wife promises her departing Husband that she will die with him then she must lose no time but the same day where her Husband lies burning in the Funeral Pyre she must leap in and be consum'd with him This dreadful Ceremony is strictly observ'd by the Brachmans and Wiensjaes But the Setteraes and Soudraes go farther for there the Women also burn themselves though their Husbands die in other Countreys although it be many Years after their Deaths yet as soon as they receive the sad News they shrink not from the Fiery Trial of their Affections but by burning dispatch themselves Some of the Men also are as mad who in the Worship of their Xaca dig a large Pit without the City in which making a great Fire they desparately leap thereinto where they are in short time consum'd to Ashes whilst the Woman sits on a Stool dress'd up and richly clad before the Door of their House and if she be extracted from the Settera or Soudra she hath in one Hand a Limmon and in the other a Looking-glass calling continually on the Name of their God Naraina or Rama which is Xaca sometimes chewing Betel amongst which they mix an intoxicating Herb that bereaves her of her Senses so taking away all manner of fear of what she is to suffer But if she belongs to the Brachmans or Wiensjaes then they hold red Flowers in their Hands first dedicated to the Idol whose Picture they hang about their Necks Then after she hath taken her Farewel of her Friends she either goeth out of the City or is carried in a Sedan her Countenance being chearful looking merrily which she denotes by several Gesticulations of her Hands and Body crying aloud to the Sound of Trumpets and Drums Rema Rama Saltae Rama Rama Saltae that is God Rama Rama make me happy And thus being led through the chief Streets of the City by some of her nearest Friends and at last approaching near the Place of Execution where her Husband was burnt she withdraws to a neighboring Pool where after having wash'd her self she puts on a yellow Garment and gives her richest Apparel and precious Jewels to her chiefest Relations and to the Brachman-Priest which makes her Funeral-Sermon before the Fire to whom she also makes great Presents The Pit wherein she is to leap is like an Oven full of glowing Coals being hung round about with green Mats to the end she might not be affrighted at such a horrid Face of Death At one end thereof lies a Mount or Heap of Earth thrown out of a small Hill on which she takes her last Farewel of her Friends All which to perpetrate this dreadful Self-murder encourage her to be her own Destroyer whilst she having thrown her beloved Pestle and Mortar and other Housholdstuff which she us'd daily into the Fire they put a Jar of Oyl upon her Head letting some fall upon her Body The Mats being remov'd the Virago leaps in and after her her nearest Relations standing round about contribute to the Flames each throwing in a Fagot the sooner to dispatch their wretched Kinswoman Difference in burning women Thus the Widows end their Lives that are of the Settrean Weinjaen or Soudraen Families But the Brachman Women suffer a more cruel Death for they are laid close by their Husbands on the Funeral-Pyre then the People build a Pile of Wood over them placing about their Heads Oyl Rozin and Turpentine This done the Women standing in order round about make doleful Ullula's mix'd with loud Shrieks and Lamentations during which Clamor the Brachman-Priest lights the Pile which kindling by degrees brings a lingering and terrible Death Women buried alive Besides this way of ridding themselves of the old Females they have another way of destroying themselves which they perform thus They take the Relict and lead her as it were in Triumph amongst the Sound of Pipes Drums and Trumpets to a Pit digg'd square like a Cellar where stands the Body of her departed Husband to which descending on Earthen Steps setting her self down on a Bank she takes the dead Body in her Arms then perfuming the Corps with Frankincense and Myrrhe which done the Mourners begin to throw the Mold into the Pit which she rakes greedily towards her with her Hands and so having cover'd her self at last with Earth to the Chin then hanging a Cloth before the Entry of the Pit they give her Poyson in a little Dish and then on a sudden break her Neck backwards Die of Hunger for the Honor of Xaca Thus also the Japanners both Men and Women make away themselves frantick with mad Zeal in Honor to their God Xaca For those that are his greatest Admirers upon no other account than honoring him dig their own Graves covering the tops leaving onely a small breathing-hole wherein they famish themselves to death These kind of Self-murderers or Sedecedes happen frequently in and about Jedo and in several other Places of Japan ¶ BUt to return again to our Ambassadors Frisius and Brookhurst who had inform'd the Lords Sickingodonne and Sabrosaymondonne of their Arrival on the last of November and staid till the twenty ninth of the following Month in the House of the Chief President for the East India Company before they could be permitted to offer those Presents which they had brought to his Imperial Majesty Netherlanders are commanded to come to Court They had order to prepare themselves against the next Morning to appear before the Emperor Whereupon the Japanners went to a Troo for so they call a Bath that they might cleanse themselves for none must presume to approach before the Emperor otherwise s Kysers hof te JEDO. das Schlos zu Jedo The Emperors Court at JEDO. Description of the Imperial Palace at Jedo ¶ THe Residence or Palace of the Emperor deserves no small Admiration Round about the outermost Wall are large Rails several Foot
manner proceeded Taicosama against all Quabacondon's not only his Ministers of State or whoever he had a kindness for but his Wives Children and Relations not leaving to persecute them till they all suffer'd miserable Ends In Meaco he brought one and thirty Ladies partly Noblemens Daughters partly Persons of Honor belonging to Quabacondono's Consort and part of them his Concubines which last he fetch'd from the Castle Jurazu All these he convey'd in Coaches to the place of Execution with their Children whose innocent Shrieks and Tears mingled with the doleful Lamentations of the Spectators would have made a Tyger relent But there was no room for Compassion for no sooner arriv'd they at the fatal place of their Deaths but the Executioner first shewing them Quabacondono's Head to which they ail reverently bow'd began the Slaughter first with the Children that were one by one beheaded next the Women thrown to the Ground were inhumanely slaughter'd and their Bodies cast into a deep Pit over which the Tyrant built a Structure which he call'd The Temple of Beasts Murder committed by Scirabingo's Widow After that he condemn'd the Widow and Children of Scirabingo to suffer Death but when the Coach that brought her stopp'd before the Palace the Widow to free her self from the opprobrious Insultings of the Tyrant and the Shame of her undeserved Death first stabb'd her three Sons and one Daughter and ere the Fact could be thought of sheath'd the same Dagger in her own Bosom and immediately fell breathless on her murder'd Children These savage Barbarisms perpetrated on Rational Creatures he rag'd next upon inanimates falling upon the Castle of Jurazu which he pull'd down to the Ground with three hundred Palaces more carrying the Timber and Stones to Fissima ¶ BUt this was not Taicosama's first Persecution of the Christians having begun before in Anno 1587. if Father Cornelius Hazart may be credited upon this occasion The first occasion why Taicosama persecuted the Roman Christians The Commander Domingo Montero came from Portugal into the Haven of Firando with an exceeding stout Vessel in the foremention'd Year All the Inhabitants admir'd its Beauty and Largeness that the Fame of it came to Taicosama's Ear who being desirous to see it commanded the Ship to be brought to Facata where he then resided in order whereto he directed the Governor of the Jesuits to write his Pleasure to Montero who so soon as he receiv'd the Letter went with all speed to Facata telling the Emperor the danger of the Voyage by reason of the abundance of blind Rocks Shoals and Shelves that lay in the way between Firando and Facata This Taicosama seem'd to accept as an Excuse but indeed took it exceeding ill to be thus deny'd his Request and resolv'd of a speedy Revenge For on the next day he publish'd Edicts That all the Jesuits should depart Japan in twenty days because they endeavor'd to bring a new Religion amongst them contrary to the Japanners which had been establish'd there many Ages The Emperor would have done this long before but that he staid till he had subdu'd the Kingdom Ximo in which most of the Christian-Teachers resided Five Franciscans and three Jesuits crucifiâ—d But it rested not here For Anno 1596. he proceeded cruelly against the Christians without distinction commanding Gibonoscio Governor of Nangesaque to take five Franciscans and three Jesuits and having Crucified run them through with Spears Hazart reports That the Franciscans were Gonsalves Garcia Philip de las Casas both Mexicans Peter Baptista Franciscus de Saint Michael and Martin de Aguirre three Spaniards The Jesuits Paulus Miki a Japanner Joannes Goto and Jacobus Kisai ¶ AS to what the same Hazart writes concerning the Miracles wrought by these Priests Hazart Ch. Hist l. 6. c. 2. let him believe who according to St. Augustine desires and depends upon new Miracles for establishment of Religion already confirm'd by Wonders Several Miracles However take it as related That Peter Baptista being sent Ambassador from Manilla to Tauglama cur'd a Japan Maid of the Leprosie by touching of her and that at the same time the like Fiery Tongues descended from Heaven upon the whole Congregation present at the Cure as formerly fell on the Apostles in the Feast of Pentecost That Philippo de las Casas sailing from Manilla to Mexico and by stress of Weather driven upon the Coast of Japan by the way saw in the Air a White Cross which soon after turn'd Red and at last was cover'd with a black Cloud This Cross they say had the same shape as that on which he was afterwards Crucified That Franciscus a Saint Michael immediately cur'd a dumb Japan Woman and afterwards an Indian mortally wounded by the Sting of an Adder by signing them with the Cross But concerning the Opinion of these Relations Erasm Argin lib. Conf. August Erasmus says thus What shall I say of you which endeavor to delude the Common People by telling them strange Wonders and Miracles wrought by your Fraternity Certain I am some have judg'd that by these fair Relations and handsom Stories they stirr'd up the People to Zeal and Piety but I hardly give credit to such Tales I will here annex some other Testimonies extracted from the primest of the Catholicks That famous Melchior Canus Bishop of the Canaries Cani Loc. Theol l. 〈◊〉 c. 6. one of the Chiefest in the Council of Trent says I must needs speak it with sorrow That the Lives of the Learned Heathens describ'd by Laertius is with more Uprightness than that of the Christian Saints Most of our Writers follow their own Imaginations and relate so many Fictions that I am asham'd thereof Nicholas de Lyra the younger Brother who flourish'd about Anno 1320 saith Lyr. in Dan. ca. 14. In the Church too many Delusions and vain Fantasies are admitted affirming variety of Wonders perform'd indeed by the Priests and their Associates for Profit sake So also Cornelius Agrippa tells us Agrip. de Vanit Scient cap. 97. That the Writers of the Saints Histories seem to surpass one another in Fabling declaring a new Doctrine and Teaching the Word of God with too great mixture onely for Lucre and Profit And Josephus Acosta who had been through most part of the Western Indies Acost lib. tit 4. cap. 12. de Proc. Indor Saâ—ute cries out saying What is our Preaching What is our Faith We do no Miracles There are no Wonders of our own that we can producce to confirm the Words of the Gospel Taicosama falls sick of the Bloody Flux ¶ BUt to return Taicosama now wearied with murdering fell sick of the Bloody-Flux in the latter end of July Anno 1598 first vomiting up his Gaul with some Blood afterwards in his Stools appear'd the Excoriatings of his Guts at last pieces of corrupted Flesh came from him with a horrible stench and great pain On the fifth of August greater Signs of Death appear'd he being continually
in a cold Sweat and seeing thus his End to approach yet seem'd not the least dismay'd still ordering his Imperial Affairs as when in perfect Health his chiefest Care being onely for Fideri to set the Crown on his Head And after serious consideration he found it convenient to make use in this weighty Concern of Ongosschio King of eight Provinces and in great esteem with the Japanners whom he sought by all means possible to oblige and to that end sending for him to Fisstima when he came into his Presence the Emperor now very weak faintly declar'd his Mind to this effect His Speech to Ongosschio Death sits on my Lips but I fear it not since it is incident and common to all Men The greatest of my trouble is for my Son but six years old and therefore not in condition to take present Possession of my Empire His Age requires a Guardian one no less Faithful than Prudent and who will when he attains to his fifteenth Year with the usual Ceremonies according to the Japan manner establish him in the Throne I therefore have thought none more fit than your self by reason of your admir'd Wisdom to undertake so grand a Concern And here I leave you my Empire and Son that you may restore it to him when he is fifteen years old If those former Favors which I do not doubt but you acknowledge with Thanks do not bind you to a faithful performance of this Trust yet I hope your Care will be the more when my Son shall marry with your Daughter by which means the Empire will ever be Commanded by our Race and both our Successors sway the Japan Scepter Here Taicosama's Voice failing he was necessitated to leave speaking but soon after recovering his spirits a little which Ongosschio observing made this Reply Ongosschio's Answer Most Illustrious Prince When Nobunanga was slain I was onely King of the Province Micaua but since the Gods have set you on the Throne you have added seven Kingdoms more to my first all the eight call'd by one Name of Quanto for which I can return Thanks to none but your Majesty Besides many other Favors receiv'd which considering my own unworthiness makes me with admiration gratefully to record your exceeding Bounty The greatest of my Performances can never sufficiently make known how much I own my self oblig'd nor can my greatest Services declare such suitable Resentments as I would readily upon a fair occasion shew However all my Abilities shall be laid out to yours and your Sons Service in such manner that had I a thousand Lives I would freely and with much joy sacrifice them all for the sake of Taicosama and his Seed And indeed have made it my sole Study since your Majesties Sickness to use all Care and Diligence for the promoting of Fideri before you your self made your Will known to me But since most Mighty Prince you have bestow'd two Favors more upon me which so much exceed the former that I am amaz'd thereat I should be most unworthy if I did not spend my Endeavors in the Service of Fideri over whom you have chosen me as Guardian not without having the Chief Command over all Japan for a time and also to be his Father-in-law by his Marrying of my Daughter These Words Ongosschio utter'd with a passionate grief and having ended his Speech the young Prince Fideri and Ongosschio's Daughter came before Taicosama lying on his Death-bed Marriage concluded between Fideri and Ongosscio's Daughter there to be joyn'd in Marriage according to the Japan-Customs And notwithstanding the Emperor lay striving with Death yet their Wedding-Solemnities were perform'd after the ancient manner onely narrow'd into the compass of one day Taicosama takes the Oath of Allegiance of the Kings After the Feast ended Taicosama requir'd all the Kings and Vice-Roys to swear Allegiance to Fideri and that they would establish him in the Throne in his fifteenth year and mean while give due Obedience to Ongosschio as being his Guardian till of Age. Ongosschio seal'd this Oath with his own Blood And Taicosama to oblige those which had sworn gave them all according to their several Qualities many rich Presents And this Bounty extended so far that several of his old Servants got great Riches by it Besides Ongosschio he chose four Councellors of State to assist him in the Government and presently after appointed Asonodangio a Person highly esteem'd in his Favor to be President of the Council and in the mean while to leave all Officers in their respective Places and to break no manner of Laws or Orders establish'd in his Life-time Then he advis'd the Council to be Faithful and Loyal amongst themselves without which no Government could subsist long And for the preservation of such a Unity and Peace Makes Marriages to keep them all in peace he made several Nuptials upon his Death-bed joyning those of the Noblest Houses in Marriage together taking several Kings Daughters and bestowing them on other Kings Sons Why he inlarg'd the Castle of Osacca He enlarg'd also the Castle of Osacca and built therein many Palaces in which the chiefest Lords with their Families were to reside For expediting which Work thousands of Artificers were imploy'd And to the end he might obtain his desire he commanded that his Death might be kept private for a time which he did because Japan upon the Decease of the Emperor being subject to many Civil Wars the foremention'd Castle should be fully finish'd and that the Kings which were far from their own Countrey and without any Forces might be kept there as in a Prison till the Council were fully setled in their Authority Would be honor'd as a God after his death ¶ BUt long before Taicosama had taken great care to make himself Immortal For which purpose he in his Life-time built a Temple reckon'd amongst the stateliest in Japan in which he erected a Golden Image representing him to the life which stood on Marble His Body he order'd to be put in a Coffin without burning according to the common Custom When he serv'd for a Day-laborer he was call'd Toquixiro after that Faxiba and at last coming to the Imperial Throne Taicosama But at his Death he desir'd to be made a Came which is a Supreme Deity and would be styl'd Xin Fachiman that is The new God of War by reason of his many valiant Exploits This was his Request when he lay on a Flock-bed cover'd with Silk Japan Quilts miserably tormented and consum'd to nothing but Bones Is carry'd into a higher Chamber At length he desir'd to be carried out of the hearing of any Noise into an upper Chamber in the Castle Fissima that he might lye quietly without any disturbance So taking leave of all the Princes and his Son Fideri admonishing him from that time forwards to call Ongosschio Father and shew him due Reverence and Respect being now deliver'd into his Custody and he chosen as his
Polycrates his Daughter dream'd the Night before her Father went away to wit that she saw him taken up into the Air and wash'd by Jupiter and dry'd again by the Sun which Orcates perform'd in crucifying Polycrates when the Heavens pour'd down upon him and the Sun scorch'd him in such a manner that his Fat dropp'd and ran down by the Cross Plutarch in Vit Herod in Coll. In like manner did Alexander the Great crucifie the Physician Glaucus and two thousand Tyrian Slaves and Xantippus the Athenian the Persian Artyacta They perform'd this bloody Office themselves purposely to delight the Spectators who satisfi'd their Eyes by beholding them shrink up their Bodies working of the Sinews and Veins and pleas'd their Ears with the doleful cries of the miserable Wretches dying by degrees The Germans and Gauls us'd this kind of punishment to Traitors and Rebels But nore were more expert at it than the Africans and amongst them the Carthaginians oftentimes so using their Generals if they came off vanquish'd notwithstanding they had fought valiantly nay sometimes though they came home Victors for if any thing of misdemeanor could be found against them they died without mercy Divers ways of Crucifying But they do not observe in all Places one manner or way of Crucifying for first the Crosses differ'd in shape and when great numbers were condemn'd they oftentimes made Trees serve for that purpose At other times they us'd single Poles on which they Nail'd their Hands and Feet one over another Others were made of two Pieces of Wood or more sometimes both Pieces are of an equal length joyn'd together exactly in the middle so that the hindmost part of the Crucifi'd comes just to the Place where it is joyn'd and his Hands and Feet being stretch'd out are made fast by four great Nails The Church Histories tell us That the Apostle St. Andrew suffer'd in that manner Tertullian adds hereunto the Actions of Jacob Tertul. de Bapt. c. 3. which laid his hands across when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh whereby he signifi'd that future blessedness should accrew to Mankind from the Cross of our Saviour At other times the Crosses were made of two unequal Poles the longest of which being set in the Ground and the shortest fastned towards the top so that a small part of the longest appear'd above the other on which was Written the Crime for which they suffer'd or else they carry'd the occasion of his Death on a Board before him to the Cross or by a Cryer made it known to all the Spectators Some Crosses had more than two Pieces of Timber for besides the upright and thwart Poles there was a crooked Piece of Wood in which the cross Pole rested or on the upper end of the longest were two Pieces of Timber nail'd cross one above another or else from the middle Piece hung two other Pieces of Timber downwards or else the long Pole had two Sticks nail'd across one above and the other below on the uppermost of which they made fast their Arms and on the undermost the Feet This last was in use amongst the Japanners How the Japanners make them fast But in stead of nailing they ty'd them sometimes laying the Cross down on the Ground and there raising that and the Crucifi'd up together At other times they first made the Cross fast in the Ground setting three Ladders against it on the middlemost of which the Sufferer ascended being pull'd up on both sides by Ropes made fast to his Hands Sometimes they tie the Condemned to a cross Pole by his Hands and then by two Ropes with a Pulley hoise him up to the top The Japanners also torture their Crucifi'd after another manner than the Romans Greeks Syrians Persians Africans and other People The Romans and Greeks caus'd them to be Whipp'd with Scourges full of sharp Rowels either ty'd to a Pillar in the Court-house or else all the Way till they came to the Cross The like relates Philo how that the Roman General Flaccus caus'd a great many Jews in Alexandria to be nail'd to the Cross which had before in the open Court been miserably Whipp'd And Curtius relates Curt. l. 7. That Alexander the Great resolutely caus'd the Sogdian Arimazes to yield up and withdraw from their invincible Rock with thirty thousand Soldiers of which he took the chiefest Commander and Crucifi'd him at the Foot of the Rock How the Japanners Crucifie Moreover others strip them stark naked as they were born but the Japanners tye them on two cross Pieces of Timber with their Clothes on This Custom was also us'd by the Romans though but seldom Concerning the Apostle St. Andrew Abdias Hist Apol. l. 3. the Historian Abdias relates That the Vice-Roy Aegeas in Edessa gave strict command to the Executioners not to nail him to the Cross but to bind him that he might be the longer dying for at other times they use great Nails whose number was left to the pleasure of the Executioner most commonly they drove one through each Hand near the Wrist and the Feet near the Leg but at other times they strike several through their Hands which they doe chiefly when they fear that the Nails will not hold Cruelty us'd in Crucifying but slip through the Hands by which the whole weight of the Body hangs The Martyr Agricola being made fast with divers great Spikes died under the Executioners hands This cruelty seem'd less barbarous than that when they made a great Fire under the Cross so burning the Malefactor or choaking him up with the Smoak This kind of Death thousands of Christians suffer'd while they were persecuted above three hundred years Tertul. Apol. Cult wherefore according to Tertullian they generally went by the Name of Takkebos-Men because they were burnt by the Boughs of Trees on the Cross The same Death the Martyr Polycarpus died Euseb l. 4. c. 17. It is remarkable what Eusebius Writeth concerning him when the Executioners would nail him to the Cross he said Let me stand loose in the Fire I shall be able by Gods assistance to endure it with patience whereupon they onely bound him to the Cross without Nailing It was accounted also a merciful Death to the Crucifi'd to let Lyons Tygers Bears and other Beasts of Prey eat them from their Feet upwards which manner of cruelty Nero us'd to the Christians But commonly the Heathen endeavor'd to make them undergo a long and lingring Death therefore sometimes tying them with their Heads downwards Nailing their Arms athwart underneath and their Feet on the upper part of the Cross The Martyr Victorinus being thus Crucifi'd by order of the Emperor Nerva Martyrâ—l Sep. 5. Mai. 3. liv'd three days and Timotheus and Maura nine admonishing one another to be constant in their Faith so that they oftentimes dy'd of Hunger whilst the Blood slowly dropping from them occasion'd great faintness and at last death nor did their tyrannous rage
their abilities all manner of Perfumes Tacit. 3. Aunal and other sweet Scents such as Tacitus says are commonly thrown on the Funeral Pyles But the Heathens burnt not onely their Dead but their Living also for certain Crimes The Egyptians stuck the Body of one that had murder'd his Father full of sharp Canes then cutting him in many places they at last threw him on a great heap of Thorns which being set on fire consum'd him Other Nations have condemn'd less Offenders to be burnt partly because that punishment is exceeding painful and partly by the Fire to cleanse them from their offences The Murders of the Emperor in Fissima ¶ AS soon as Conbosama after the decease of his Father possess'd the Imperial Throne he began his Reign as we in part mention'd with exceeding Tyranny for travelling through Fissima he commanded the Governor Ingandono to cause all Christians Men Women and Children to be roasted to death During the Civil Wars since the Dayro lost his sole and unlimited Authority every King in his own Realm play'd the Master And seeing they endeavor'd as we said before to bereave one another of the Profit which the Portuguese Vessels brought them seeking to invite them to their Harbors they were forc'd to keep fair correspondence with the Jesuits they having the sole Command of the Trade and Vessels and so accordingly to grant them free leave to Preach the Catholick Doctrine But after Daifusama became Conqueror in many Battels reducing the whole Countrey of Japan under his subjection the Kings Authorities and Power were all limited so that they all depended on the Emperor and were strictly commanded for no sinister ends to permit the Christians to teach their Belief Being thus order'd all of them were forc'd to obey making great search for the Roman Priests of which he took at last Peter ab Ascensione a Franciscan Johannes Baptista Machada a Jesuit Alphonso Navarre a Dominican and Ferdinand a Santo Josepho an Augustine and caus'd them all to be beheaded in Omura Why the Japanners throw the Ashes of the burnt Christians into the Sea When Peter de Zuniga an Augustine and Lodowick Flores a Dominican born at Antwerp were to be burnt in Nangesaque besides twelve others that were beheaded there came in the Night several Portuguese who had cut from the half-roasted Bodies of Zuniga and Flores great pieces of Flesh which they preserv'd as holy Reliques insomuch that the next day little or nothing was to be seen of either of their Corps This being very ill resented by the Governor of Nangesaque to prevent the same another time on the next Moneth being August Anno 1622. when they had condemn'd Carolus Spinola the Jesuit and Franciscus de Morales the Dominican Hyacinthus Orfanel and Alphonso de Mena caus'd their Bodies to be thrown into a deep Pit full of Wood there burning them to Ashes which being rak'd together was carry'd a good distance from the Shore and there scatter'd abroad into the Sea by the Wind to the end there might nothing of them remain But besides the foremention'd Jesuit and Dominican others were also burnt at the same time amongst which was a Brusseller who coming within the Pyles of Wood would not be ty'd with one Hand to the Post but falling down on his Knees held fast about the bottom of it and so died others which stood upright scorch'd and burnt by degrees till at last they died through excess of most intolerable pain Hyacinthus Orfanel stood most in the Wind and was least hurt by the Flame â—rsanel was sixteen hours 〈◊〉 burning so that he was full sixteen hours miserably tormented before he gave up the Ghost Two of the Company were ty'd out of the Wind which made the Flames strike so vehemently upon the Posts that the Ropes burnt with which they were ty'd by which means they got loose and fled through the burning heaps of Wood desiring that they might apostatize from the Christian Religion But Xuquendaino sitting on a costly Carpet surrounded by Japan Nobles and Souldiers to see the Execution perform'd by order of Goneocu Governor of Nangesaque commanded those that fled to be driven back and push'd into the Fire with Pikes and Staves judging it was not out of zeal that they would embrace the Japan Religion but because they could not endure the pain of the Fire so that it was then too late for them to consider that which they might have done before After this Camilius de Constanzo the Jesuit was in like manner burnt neat Firando and Paulas Navarrus in the City Ximabara Horrible Persecutions in Jedo ¶ AMongst other Persecutions that was very terrible which happen'd at Jedo Anno 1623. Cornelius Hazart in his Church History and the Letter from Japan to Mutius Vetelesius Governor of the Jesuits at Rome differ much in Relation of this unhappy Accident The Letter deserving more credit than Hazart How it happen'd gives this account Daifusama caus'd a Noble-man call'd Fara Mondono to have his Toes and Fingers to be cut off and to be burnt in the Forehead because he inclin'd to the Christian Religion but being receiv'd into Favor and restor'd to his former Dignity by the Emperor Conbosama who was his near Relation he left not to practise in private the same Religion But being betray'd by his Servant to Jenoquidi Cambioie Governor of Jedo was by the Emperors command condemn'd Soon after by means of tortur'd Christians were discover'd the Jesuits Hieronimus ab Angelis and Franciscus Galves a younger Brother The Life of Hieronymus bâ— Angelis ¶ AB Angelis Sailing with Carolus Spinola to the East-Indies was necessitated by a fault of their Vessel to fall upon Brasile and immediately after to Sail back to Portugal in which his Voyage homewards he was taken by the English but making his escape from them not long after coming again to Lisbon he Sail'd again for India and at last came to the Empire of China where he stay'd a considerable time and then went to Japan where being chief Governor of the Jesuits Residence in Fissima he stay'd some years in that City then travelling to Surunga where the Emperor at that time kept his Court purposely to erect a Temple he laid his Design so cunningly that he taught the Roman Religion in private there and having also order'd all things according to his hearts desire when within Jedo he was about buying of a House to make a Temple of he was discover'd and forc'd to fly to Surunga and immediately after to Nangesaque But when Anno 1614. a considerable number of Christians were banish'd from Meaco and Osacca to the cold Countrey Sangaer in the Northermost part of Japan by command of the Emperor Daifusama Ab Angelis travell'd thither and at last back again to Jedo where he undertook again his former Design to buy a large House in which he might perform Divine Service But being busie about these his intentions he was sought
304. The Story in brief this Asclepiades told the Martyr Romanus That he believ'd in a Christ that was nail'd on the damn'd Cross Whereupon Romanus answer'd That he was ready to contradict such Blasphemy did not Christ forbid him to strow Pearls before Swine Mean while Asclepiades had a desire to understand of a Child Whether the Heathen Gods begotten and born according to the course of Nature famous for their Lusts Adultery and other Debaucheries were to be worshipp'd or whether that Honor belong'd to the Savior To which end Asclepiades commanded a Child before him from amongst the Multitude asking him his Opinion concerning the Gods who gave him so excellent an Answer by rendring an Account of the whole Christian Faith that he being displeas'd thereat persecuted him with all imaginable Tortures After having most miserably whipp'd the poor Child he caus'd him to be Beheaded before his Mothers eyes Unusual death of a Christian Child Psal 116. v. 15. who sung whilst the Executioner prepar'd the Ax to perform the cruel Office the words of the Psalmist Precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints The Japan Children died with more Holiness under the Hands of their Executioners if they had understood Gods Word in the Old and New Testament than the Waldensian Youths of which the Sorbonne Doctors at Paris gave Information to Lewis the Twelfth King of France That they had lately receiv'd no better Instructions concerning Religion than they had heard from the Waldensian Youths A strange way how the Japanners harden their Children to be constant in the Christian Belief Now the Japanners harden their Children against a cruel Death not with instructing them in the Gospel but by terrifying them with unusual Cruelties which Hazart witnesseth relating That Johannes Catouneme a Nobleman in the Kingdom of Deva had a Son aged seven years whom he daily instructed to be constant I will set down Hazart's own Words concerning it A little before Catouneme was taken Prisoner he said to his Son If it were so that you saw the Executioners coming would you suffer your self to be burnt alive or deny your Faith Whereupon the Child ask'd Father what would you do To which he reply'd I would suffer my self to be burn'd Whereon the Youth again made answer So will I too Then said his Father Come hither I am resolv'd to try if you will be so constant as you say Take and hold this Coal in your hand till I command you to throw it away The Child immediately opening his Hand the Father laid a glowing Coal in the same The Youth held it fast without shewing any concern thereat notwithstanding his Hand was burnt to the Bone yet he threw it not away till his Father gave order When they ask'd him If the Fire had not hurt him he made answer Any one that is ready to burn alive as I am must not make any scruple to hold a burning Coal in their Hand for so short a time as I have done And who can find more of the Aged Japanners Ignorance of the Japan-Christians in any Observation kept by the Jesuits themselves that they either said or did more whilst they were under the Executioners Hands than to hold a Crucifix and the Picture of the Virgin Mary repeating the usual Prayer Jesus Maria. Horrible Tortures with the boyling Waters of Singok ¶ BUt besides their burning them by degrees the Japanners us'd also the Waters of Singok that is to say Hell These Waters being Sulphureous and hot flow from the Foot of an exceeding steep Mountain with such force and noise that it strikes terror and amazement to the Beholder It rushes forth between the Rocks and sends its noysom and choaking Vapors up to the Sky Hither several of the Christians were brought from Arima and their naked Bodies wash'd over with this boyling Water and when notwithstanding the Torture they refus'd to deny their own Religion and embrace the Japan Idolatry they were carried bound to the top of the Mountain and thrown down from thence into the scalding Stream A Priest is a great help o the Japan-Christians in heir Sufferings In Nangesaque the Governor Kauwaytsdo since his return from Jedo proceeded unmercifully in his Persecutions especially against the Priests Amongst others that were condemn'd to the Fire was also a Japan Priest Thomas Soyse by whom was found a Catalogue of some thousands of Christians Which liv'd very privately about Nangesaque Ombra and Arima who not long after fell into great Miseries Kauwaytsdo himself stood amaz'd to see so great a number of them as would make no end of murdering and the Multitude which he was to condemn to death exceeded his Commission which he had from the Emperor So that he thought on a new way There were already according to the Catalogue found by Soyse a great number condemn'd amongst which were two ancient Persons which in the time of the former Emperors had been Governors of Nangesaque and in great esteem at Court for their Quality Riches and Nobility These Kauwaytsdo sent with a Train of eleven of his nearest Relations and Brothers-in-law to the Imperial Court at Jedo Cruel Persecution of them The remaining Numbers he drove out into the Mountains near Nangesaque and plac'd a Guard round about them that the Banish'd might neither come into the City Villages nor any Houses to beg for Provisions Neither would he suffer them to build themselves Huts nor make any other Shelter to keep them from the Heat of the Sun Rain or other Weather so that at last most of them perish'd for want Their Houses are nail'd up In Nangesaque their Windows and Doors were nail'd up so that they and their whole Families were starv'd to death if not reliev'd by their Neighbors which though it was straightly forbidden yet some found ways to give them Sustenance through private Holes None may employ them None durst imploy any Tradesman that was of the Christian Religion nor carry any one to Sea unless he became an Apostate and believ'd in the Japan Doctrine Many seeing themselves in that necessity Many Apostatize forsook their new-gotten Religion and embrac'd the old as also divers of those which were in the Mountains whose Bodies were miserably swoln by Heat Cold Rain Wind Trouble and Hunger and continually tormented by the Cries and Lamentations of their Wives and Children forsook at last the Doctrine Preach'd to them by the Christian Priests yet some remain'd constant their very last Forty two Japan Nobles are banish'd Soon after Kauwaytsdo took five Persons of Quality with their Wives and Children who being strangely preserv'd whilst their Lord Fideri the Lawful Heir of the Japan Crown was burnt as we have before declar'd had embrac'd the Catholique Religion which being known they were Shipp'd aboard a Portuguese Galley that sail'd for Macaw with a Proviso That they should immediately depart for Goa If the Portuguese did
That he spake with those that had hung three days in that horrible manner but at last forswore the Roman Religion not being able to endure this pain which exceeded Fire and all other imaginable cruelties their Bowels sinking down into their Throats seem'd to force all their intrails out of their Mouths the Blood also dropping out at their Eyes Mouths Noses and Ears The first that was kill'd after this manner The first that was thus Martyr'd if Hazart deserves to be credited was a Japanner one Nicholas Kean Fucananga who dy'd in the Well on the fourth day being the last of June And the next Anno 1633. After that several others were put to death in the same manner as Emmanuel Borges Joseph Reomuy Ignatius Kindo Antonius Giannonius Joannes Kidera Joannes Zama Benedictus Fernandez Paulus Saito Joannes de Acosta Julianus Nacaura Antonius de Souza and Sebastian Viera of which some were Italians and Portuguese but most of them Japanners of whom some hung three others six seven nay nine days before they gave up the Ghost Nacaura being carry'd to the Well cry'd aloud That he had kiss'd his Holiness Pope Gregory the thirteenth his Feet in Rome being sent thither by the Kings of Bungo Arima and Omura Anno 1582. Most of the Japanners Apostate ¶ THis Persecution brought those that remain'd constant to a miserable end and the faint-hearted to Apostacy insomuch that in sixteen years time scarce one was to be found of four hundred thousand How they Apostate Roger Gusbrechtzoon an eye-witness relates That Anno 1626. there were in Nangesaque above forty thousand Christians of which in three years time not one was to be seen for most of them had sign'd it with their own bloud taken from their little finger to shew and perform due Worship to their gods Amida and Xaca The Apostates are in danger of their lives Mean while an account was kept of all Apostates and those that sav'd their lives by betraying of Christians against which a private plot was laid to destroy them all at once just like the French in the Island of Scicily who when the Evening Bell rang for our Savior's Resurrection Anno 1282. were Murder'd in such a rage that the Scicilian Women big with Child by French-men were all slain ¶ TOxogunsama having by this time sufficiently extinguish'd Christianity in Japan sent a special Edict against the Portuguese Traders in Macaco in which it being Sign'd by the Camy's which as much to say as Councellors of State Cangano Sanuquino Voudino Cambuno Runo Bungane and Teuxumano Anno 1639. He forbad strictly that no Shipping should come from Macaco to Japan and if they should offer against his Command to come thither The Japan Emperor banishes the Portuguese their Ships should be broke up and the Seamen punish'd with death because that the Portugese sent privately Priests over thither to teach the Catholick Religion so making the Subjects to rise up against the Emperor as two years before seventy thousand Christians were in Arms near Arima between the Hills and in a well fortifi'd Valley but being so rudely entertain'd most of them dy'd by the Sword Macaco sends an Embassy to the Japan Emperor ¶ IN the interim the Inhabitants of Macaco were much concern'd seeing that profitable Trade of Japan was forbidden them and therefore they thought it convenient to send an Embassy thither to inform the Emperor that the Portuguese never sent any Priests thither nor that they had the least knowledge of the Insurrection at Arima The Ambassadors Lovis Paez Pacheco Roderigo Sanches de Paredes Simon Vaz de Paiva and Gonsaho Monteiro de Carvalho spent a whole years time in their Preparation In the middle of Summer Anno 1640. they set Sail with sixty nine Officers coming in the Haven they were fetch'd in by the Governor Babasuro Zayemon their Guns immediately taken out of the Ships and a Guard set to look after their Seamen The Emperor condemns the Ambassadors and their retinue to be beheaded Immediately Zayemon sent word thereof to the Emperor who sent two Persons of great Quality accompany'd with as many Executioners as there were Portuguese come from Macaco to Nangesaque The Princes Canga Chuminimbu and Novaga Manximbioye sent for the Portugal Ambassadors asking them Who made them so bold to Land in Japan contrary to the Emperors Commands Whereunto they answer'd That the Emperors Edict onely forbade the Trade their Ship brought no Merchandise thither but were onely come on an Embassy to Treat with the Emperor concerning his Prohibiting of their Trade The two Japan Princes gave no reply to their answer but read the Sentence which Toxogunsama had pronounc'd against the Portuguese Contents of the Proclamation The Contents were That since the spreading of the Christian Religion in Japan apparently contrary to the Emperors Edicts Wickedness and Debauchery was grown to a great height in that Empire therefore necessity forc'd them to execute great Punishments upon them and at last to give a stop to all private Dealings with the Portuguese on Forfeiture of his Majesties high Displeasure Those that notwithstanding his Commands ventur'd to come to Japan where to this day many Priests were privately kept whose design was nothing else but to stir up the People against their Just and Lawful Governors to turn the Empire into a Blood-Bath and bring it under the Subjection of a Foreign Tyrant And though the Portugal Ambassdors inform'd them in Person that they neither sent or kept any Priests in Japan yet the Macaco Letters make no mention thereof therefore what was said they dis-own'd and suspected them not without great reasons and for that cause the Emperor Prosecutes such Malefactors that offend his Authority Condemning them all to the Sword except some of the meanest Seamen which were spared alive to the end they might give an account of this Adventure to the Portuguese in Macaco and also that those should expect the same that durst hereafter adventure to Anchor in any Japan Haven The Edict being read and Translated out of the Japan Tongue into Portuguese the Condemned were carry'd on a Hill near Nangesaque being in all sixty one Persons Sixty one beheaded at once some Portuguese Castilians Chineses Bengaloisians Cafrians Malians extracted from the Islands Solor and Simor Malabaer Achenen Lanannen and Macassacren which were Beheaded by sixty one Executioners Their Bodies were bury'd betwixt four Walls the Crime for which they dy'd was Engraven on the Wall twelve were sav'd alive which Sail'd to Macaco being commanded to carry the news thither that if the Spanish King Philip nay the Christian God himself should Land in Japan they should bow their Necks under an Executioners Sword Their tormenting with Ropes after what manner ¶ BUt besides the foremention'd inhumane Cruelties every Persecutor invented still newer and newer ways of tortures sometimes making fast four Ropes near the four corners of the Fire tying the Christians
Are unmerciful They wonder at those Christians that preserve any from Perishing in Want They never disclose their Troubles They break not easily out in a Rage but being once anger'd will never be reconciled None can justly accuse them for Deceit for if any one chanceth to give more than is their due to have they will restore it again to the Donor Their excellent Arts may appear by their Coats Wax'd-Chests and Cabbinets Marry'd men much more priviledge than the women ¶ THe Marry'd-Men have much more liberty than the Women for a Man may without the least Regret be common with a Whore and can send his Wife upon any Offence home to her Friends But this kind of Divorcing their Wives is onely customary amongst the Common-People for when a Noble-man begins to have an Antipathy against his Wife he puts her not away because of her Quality but provides her in his House with all Necessaries and delights himself with those which he fancies best But the Women being thus kept in awe do all things possible to please them and the rather because that for a small Offence and meer Trifle viz. but speaking with any other Man in private they are by their Law to suffer Death from whence it proceeds that Marry'd Women here are generally very Honest and Chaste A strange passage that happen'd in Firando about a chaste Woman ¶ A Passage which happen'd in Firando Anno 1646. on August 15. may witness the same Jacatai a Person of Quality having Contracted Marriage with a young Lady and soon after the Wedding having some occasions went to Meaco a Noble-man having formerly been deny'd in his Courtship to the young Marry'd Woman under a Pretence that he would never Marry observing this opportunity came with a considerable Train of Servants to his late Mistress and forc'd her to satisfie his Lust She thus Injured resolv'd on Revenge desiring him to stay with her giving him also hopes of more such Enjoyments as he had lately had In the Interim Jacatai return'd home for whose Welcome they prepared a noble Feast on the top of the House she had also order'd that her Gallants Friends and he should be invited thither Where whilst they were in the midst of their Mirth Jacatai's Wife standing up related that there was a Woman in Saccai that had been lately Ravish'd asking what Punishment she deserv'd whereupon all those there present judg'd the Villain that had committed the Fact to suffer death and not she that was Ravish'd Which said she cry'd aloud I am she and there sits he that did it I pray take my Life that the shame of suffering such a Dâ—â—d may not stain other honest Women nor one so base as I be found amongst Men. Every one startled thereat and chiefly her Husband who proffering his Love to her promising also from that time forward never to remember the Fact she having been forc'd to it against her power These kind speeches satisfi'd her not but she said Will you because of my Dishonor take no Revenge on me then I will take it my self which she had no sooner said but leaping from the top of the House broke her Neck The Ravisher amongst the Croud of his Friends got down Stairs into the Street where ripping up his Belly fell down on the dying Woman so to accompany her in death whom he lov'd so exceedingly in his life time 〈◊〉 No less strange passage happen'd in the Realm of Fingo ¶ ABout the same time almost the like Passage happen'd in Fingo A Noble-Man residing there was Marry'd to a Lady so exceeding Beautiful that the King of Fingo being Enamor'd of her could not rest before he had satisfi'd his desires by enjoying her But because her Husband stood in his way he resolv'd to dispatch him which Murder put in Execution the Widow was presented to the King she having information that her Husband was kill'd by the King's order told him O King I account my self happy that I have this Body to serve you if your Love to me be real pray let me have one proof thereof which will be by granting me two Requests First That you will please to grant me thirty days to bemoan my Murder'd Husband and afterwards that you will plepase a Feast at your House that there I may take my leave of the Deceased's Friends All which the King granting provided a noble Dinner in one of his Royal Banqueting-Houses where when they were all in the height of their Mirth the Widow rose from the Table and stepping towards a Belcony said I will not satisfie his Lust that Murder'd my Husband the words being scarce utter'd but she leap'd down and so bruis'd her self that she dy'd on the spot whereon she fell Japanners are very wicked ¶ THe Chastity of the Japan Women is as much to be prais'd as the Mens Vices who openly perpetrate all manner of Villany to be abhor'd for they stick not to hold the Sin of Sodomy a Vertue Punish whoredom in women after a cruel manner In the mean while punishing Whoredom both in Marry'd and Unmarry'd Women after a cruel manner The Lord of Firando caus'd Anno 1636. three Maids of Honor to be taken from his Female Retinue and put in a Chest alive which was drove full of Iron Spikes because the one had committed Adultery with a Noble-man and the other two knowing of it kept it private and would not disclose it Another not much unlike the foremention'd Passage happen'd about the same time A Man coming home out of the Countrey found another Man with his Wife whom according to the Japan Custom he immediately ran thorow which done he ty'd the Woman to a Ladder and on the next day invited all her Friends who coming sat down whilst he unty'd the Woman putting on her a Death-Garment and a Box in her hand commanding her to bring the inclos'd Dainty to his Guests and there to open it which she perform'd and opening it found the Members of the Murder'd man curiously deck'd with Flowers upon the sight of which falling into a Trance the enraged Husband immediately cut off her Head Women of quality are in great esteem Women of Quality are highly esteem'd amongst them and especially those that are sent by the Emperor to be Wives to some of his Princes for it belongs solely to his Majesty to make Matches betwixt great Persons When the Emperor gives a Noble Lady in Marriage the Bridegroom makes daily great Feasts causing a Palace to be built for the Bride wherein she may keep her Court being provided with a great Train of Ladies and Maids of Honor the number of which amounts to fifty a hundred or two hundred as the Bridegroom is more or less able These Womens Lodgings are curiously Varnish'd with Wax Gilt and adorn'd with Imagery Stately progress of the women Once a year the foremention'd Woman visits her Friends in great State her Ladies and Waiting-Maids following
same as the Castilian and Portugal What is his Name Who did ever see him Where hath he convers'd Whereby do you believe your God to be the True God Difference of Religion ¶ IT plainly appears by the Religion of the Japanners that they embrace the Errors of the most foolish Heathens Rom. 1.23 changing the Glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man This foul Doctrine was embrac'd by the Anthropomorphites in Christendom about the time of Arius and the Nicene Council The first Teacher was Audius deriv'd from Mesopotamia a Man who liv'd a very lend Life yet in short time got many on his side and remaining a little while by the Church at last forsook it and rais'd a new Opinion which much puzzl'd the Ancient Fathers and chiefly they were contradicted by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria Fâ—rb Inst Theol. 1.36 and Epiphanius at Salamina but Epiphanius disputed so indifferently that he gave no satisfaction to the Learned And indeed against this foolish and fleshly Opinion of God the Learnedst Heathens have disputed Lact. de Irac c. 11. Lactantius relates of the ancient Philosopher Pythagoras That he believ'd God to be a Spirit without a Body Plato affirms That God is the greatest Good above all things in Nature he himself being full of all Perfection In Somis Scip. wanting nothing And Macrobius saith Plato when he would speak of God durst not say what he is concluding That he cannot be known of Man what he is For God is call'd Suprema Ratio Ens Entium and is also the first Original of all things Here is added the Relation of the great Orator Cicero De Nat. Deor. in these Words In his Book of the Laws saith Plato I can better say what God is not than what he is Do you ask me what or how God is I will use Simonides for my Interpreter of whom when the Tyrant Hiero ask'd the same Question he desir'd one day to think upon it and on that day asking him again he requir'd two days so still increasing the number of the days Hiero wondering at it ask'd why he did so Because said he the longer I study the more difficult I find it to resolve Seneca also writes thus to Lucilius God is close by he is in you So say I O Lucilius a Holy Spirit is within us Ad Luciâ— that takes an account of all our good and bad Actions This Spirit according as it is treated by us so it deals with us but none is a good Man without God The opinion of the learnedst Heathens concerning God The Learnedst of Heathens acknowledg'd in God the greatest Perfection which consisted in three things To the first belong'd his Eternity which can be measur'd by no Time being a Life without End So that the Heathens observ'd by the Light of Nature how it was with God to see to that which he was not before or not to see after that which he was once Secondly They ascrib'd to God a Freedom against all Power because he hath an irresistible Power which is as Mighty and Omnipotent as God himself Disown God to be a substance Lastly They believ'd that his Godly Nature suffer'd no Connexion to or with himself for where there is such a Connexion there must needs be something equal or alike to connect but in God is no want of any such connected Assimilation for if there were then the Cause of such Want must precede the Connexion and consequently be before God but God is the First Causer of all things And on these grounds they could find that God was not Substantial and Frail much less consisted of Soul and Body Which if the Learn'd Anaxagoras Master of the famous Socrates had not understood he would not have call'd God a Spirit and said That all things proceeded from the Power of an Everlasting Spirit The contrary opinion of the Japanners But the Japanners go not so high notwithstanding the inexpressible Goodness of God and their own Consciences should lead them to an Everlasting Being yet they ask foolishly for a visible God that converses with Men on the Earth Byleveld's Answer ¶ BUt to return to our Story Byleveld gave Sicungodonne this Answer The Castilians and Portuguese acknowledge a Trinity as well as the Hollanders but they represent him in the shape of an Old a Young Man and a Dove which the Hollanders hold to be abominable For they acknowledge God to be an endless Spiritual Being of whom none may or can make any Likeness neither by Images or Imaginations of the Heart Moreover God hath given himself divers Names in the Greek and Hebrew Tongues but the Hollanders call him God the Father Son and Holy Ghost And because he is an Incomprehensible Spirit he can be seen by none from whence it always proceeds that a Man can no way see his own nor anothers Soul Yet the Invisible God is Visible in the Works of his Creation Preservation and Governing of all things Also Gods Son took upon him the Nature of Man in a Woman when he was born in Bethlehem travell'd through Palestine did great Miracles there and at last not far from Jerusalem died a cursed Death on the Cross to redeem and save those from everlasting Damnation that believ'd in him all which is written down in two Books the first written by the Prophets in the Hebrew Tongue the other by the Apostles in the Greek These Prophets and Apostles were great Saints to whom God gave the Spirit of real Truth And these Books were translated out of their Original Tongues into Dutch by Persons experienc'd both in Greek and Hebrew Sicungodonne ask'd further Sicungodonne's other Questions Do your Feasts agree with the Portuguese and Castilians How are they call'd Do the Hollanders keep Fast-days Are they not taught by Priests and Ministers as the Spaniards What are those Priests Have they a yearly Income out of the Countreys Revenue Do they meddle with any State-Affairs Is the Prince of Orange under any Bodies Jurisdiction or Governs he Holland alone Captain Schaep answer'd Schaep's Reply The Hollanders said he keep the first Day of the Week like the Spaniards on which every one rests from their Labor and goes to Church to hear Divine Service Only on some extrordinary Occasion Fast and Prayer-days are order'd to be kept that the Inhabitants may humbly beg of God for his merciful Assistance Besides at such an accident they abstain not from Meat and Drink but take it and give Thanks to God for it Distinction of Diet is never observ'd by them Moreover the Holland Teachers are call'd Ministers which are Men that from their Infancy have been brought up to learn the Latin Greek and Hebrew Tongues and in Publick Churches Preach to the People out of the foremention'd Books which every one may peruse that thereby it may appear if their Doctrine agree with them They are paid but of the
round about with Mats and hath an Entrance that opens towards the four Winds The Pit it self fill'd full of Wood which is cover'd with a Sail. On both sides thereof stand Tables fill'd with Meats all dress'd in Blood and Vessels fill'd with Perfumes and next them lie great Heaps of Sweet-wood When the Bier with the Corps approaches they fasten a long Rope about it on which every one that can come near lays his Hand and call all together on the Name of the Deceased's Idol Thus they carry the Body three times about the Pyre on the Shoulders of four Men At last setting the Bier with the Corps on the Pile of Wood the chief Bonzie waves a lighted Torch three times over the dead Bodies Head which done he throws it away but it is taken up again by the nearest of the Deceaseds Relations of which one stands on the East and the other on the West side of the Bier Three times they give it from one to the other over the Corps then they set Fire on the Pile of Wood whilst others that stand next to them pour Oyl and Essences thereon so that the Flame suddenly ascends the Sky and consumes the dead Body to Ashes Mean while the Children and nearest Relations go to the Tables kindle the Vessels with Perfumes and shew Worship to him that is burnt Which done every one returns home onely the Common People that follow'd the Corps make themselves merry about the Fire with the Meat that stands on the two Tables by the Funeral Pit The next day the nearest Allies return again to the Fire and there gather the Ashes Teeth and Bones into a gilded Urn which carrying home they set in a private Chamber and cover with a rich Cloth Seven days together they mourn accompanied all the time with some of the Bonzies who receive great Rewards for the time they spend in such Services On the seventh day the gilded Urn is Interr'd without the City in the place where the Body was burnt which done they spare no Cost nor Charges in erecting a stately Monument Description of the Japan Burying-places First great Stones are laid over the gilded Urn sometimes three-square sometimes after an oval fashion and at other times with several Corners The Sides thereof are Ingraven with curious Imagery either a Lion-Rampant making towards a Japanner that holds his Swords in his Hand ready to resist him or of Armed Men deeply engag'd in a Battel or else of Flowers which are commonly the Graves of Women On these Stones are square or round Marble Pillars on which are ingraven in Japan Characters his Birth-day his Life Imployment and other Atchievements and the time of his Death whose Bones lye there Interr'd Next these Graves are to be seen the Representation of the Idol worshipp'd by the Deceas'd which are generally cut to the life out of Marble Then are there Men and Womens Pictures sitting after the Japan manner with their Legs across under them every one dress'd in fashionable Apparel the Men holding their Hands together in a praying posture The Women on the contrary hold theirs asunder and look side-ways over their Shoulders Description of Siquani the deceas'd Childrens Idol ¶ MOreover you do not onely meet with very costly Tombs in Japan but also large Temples dedicated to their Gods that rule over the Dead Not far from Osacca is a stately Temple where the Idols Jene and Siquani are worshipp'd by all Mourners This Idol Sequani sits on a round Pedestal cover'd with a Scollopp'd Cushion adjoyning to which a silver Parrot appears on a Pearch The Face of the Image represents a Youths the Hair of the Head ty'd behind with a String of Pearls one Lock being curl'd standing upright His four Arms are cover'd with wide Sleeves full of sparkling Stars About his right Arm a Serpent is twisted whose Head he holds aloft in his Hand From the Elbow of this Arm grows another which embracing a young Child squeezes it against his Breast In his left Hand he holds a Scymiter in a ready posture to fight Half from the left Arm appears a second with the Hand downwards holding a round String with Beads The Child looks stedfastly towards the Sword with his Hands folded together and with his Legs across under him sits on Siquanies wide Breeches But the Idol Jene is held in great Adoration by the tenth Sect of the Bonzie He sits in State on a High Altar which is curious to behold for at every corner stands a square Pillar a little distance from the Altar and is joyn'd Arch-wise to the uppermost Ledge thereof which is engraven with Stars and other Curiosities and the Spaces betwixt full of Japan Characters On every corner of the Altar stands a flat Dish onely behind the Idol towards the right side stands a deep Platter in which Perfumes are continually burnt The Plates serve to hold the Money which the People offer In the middle Jene sits on a round Scollop'd Cushion being represented with four Bearded Faces the Heads whereof are all joyn'd together behind He wears a Golden Crown with seven Spires on whose tops are round Balls full of Diamonds On his Breast hangs a double String of Pearls and at the end thereof a Rose of Diamonds His left Arm he holds aloft and his folded Hand grasps a Staff which he sticks into a Sun From this Arm hangs a second downwards in the Hand holding a pleited Garland In the uppermost right Hand is a Japan Plant but that which points downwards thrusts a Golden Staff into the Smoke over the Perfuming Vessel Idol Jene rules over ancient deceas'd People This their Idol as they say rewards Good and Bad after Death To him are the Souls of aged and married People committed Wherefore those that mourn for their Fathers Mothers Wives Husbands or any other near Relations come in great numbers to this Temple to offer for the Departed Souls on Jene's Altar Jene's Temple Moreover this Temple is always kept lock'd for the Image stands in an open place under the azure Canopy of Heaven between the Temple and the Bonzies Habitation which look after the performance of their Divine Service to Jene Before the Temple is a square Portal on whose Roof at each end rise two Spires of an exceeding height On one side lies the Temple-Grove which with pleasant and shady Trees takes up a great deal of Ground Moreover though the Lacedemonians according to the Laws of Lycurgus buried their Dead in the City and near the Churches yet it was forbidden by other Grecians In a Field not far from Athens was the Burying-place of the Athenians full of Posts and Pillars on which the Names of the Deceased were Ingraven In the time of the Consul Cnejus Duillius the Romans made a Law by which every one was commanded to bury their Dead either near the Flaminian or Latin way or elfe in his own ground near Rome Nay the Emperor Adrianus order'd That
keep two of them for himself and give order what shall be done with the rest The Presents which are to be given to the Emperor his Councel and other Persons of Quality are by times as the Hollanders Landlord and Interpreter think fit divided at Jedo because thereby they may raise the value and esteem of them and an Inventory thereof deliver'd to Sicungodonne who looking it over alters it divers times Moreover Goods requir'd by the Japan Lords there hath been chiefly desir'd by Jaabaminosamma Lord of Odoura an Astronomer three Pieces of white Velvet and two costly Perspective-glasses the Councellor Botsokey a green Thrum Blanket the Councellor Matsondeiro Issinocamy five Pocket Looking-glasses one Reading-glass and three Spectacles the first Councellors Son Jusiensamma a Piece of English Dy'd Damask one Piece of white Velvet and three Pieces of black Cloth-Serge Mito Siovangosamma the Emperor's Uncle five Strings of red Coral and three pair of Spectacles of all which give to every one their desir'd Commodities The Emperor's Presents For the Emperor we have sent with you besides rich Pieces of Plush Padaways two great Copper Globes a rare Looking-glass and a live Casuaeris Description of the Bird Casuaeris This Bird is taken on Banda and much bigger than a Crane hath brown Feathers but neither Wings Tongue nor Tail his Breast is arm'd with an Oval Shield exceeding hard his Neck like that of a Turky onely that his moveable Combe being red and blue hard and stiff of the thickness of a Mans Finger stand upwards athwart his Head his Feet yellowish are most like unto those of an Ostrich The most to be admir'd in it is his devouring and evacuating that which he hath eaten swallowing not onely all that comes before him but also glowing Coals which come cold from him again Wagenaer arrives at Nangesaque Wagenaer arriving at Nangesaque took possession of Bouchelion's Place who going Aboard of the Fly-boat call'd The Evening-Star set Sail on the second of October Anno 1656. for Batavia After which Joffiesamma the new Governor of Nangesaque went to visit the Governor Wagenaer in the East-India Store-house on the Island Disma where he took great delight in the Garden behind the Store-house being planted after the Dutch manner Mean while Wagenaer prepared himself to Complement the Emperor the Governor giving him his own liberty when he pleas'd to go so that he concluded to set forth on his Journey the seven and twentieth of December Is forc'd to put off his Journey because of the foolish opinion of the Japanners concerning Day◠But the Interpreters having a Custom to make the Hollanders Requests known to the Governor Sacquemondonne the chief Magistrate their Journey was put off Sacquemondonne telling them that the twenty seventh of December was by the Japanners accounted amongst the unlucky Days Which Opinion hath long reign'd amongst the Heathens The Romans and Greeks accounted those fatal Days on which their Countrey or City suffer'd any mischance yet some of them despised this foolish Fancy for Lucius Lucullus led his Army against Tigranes on the sixth of November by the Romans accounted unfortunate to begin any weighty matter upon yet it so fell out that Lucullus with small Forces routed a great Army The Macedonians reckon'd the Moneth of June to be fatal notwithstanding Alexander the Great sleighted that idle Opinion when in June he encountred with the Persian King Darius Ventidius also was no way daunted to venture against Pacorus the Parthian on the same day whereon Crassus with a great Power of the Romans had been defeated by the Parthians But Sacquemondonne had another opinion concerning the Times he thereby seem'd to be careful of Wagenaer and thought it convenient to put off the unfortunate Day till the tenth of the Japan Moon which agrees with the last day of the European December But the Governor still putting it off from time to time Wagenaer did not set out of Nangesaque till the ninth of January 1657. Wagenaer's Journey for Jedo leaving the Government of the Island Disma to John Odgers and Meindert Mestecker Left Orders concerning the Netherland Store-house ordering them to take care that the Store-house should be carefully look'd after to keep out the Rain and other Water from spoiling the Goods that the Book-keepers should keep no Fires in their Chambers so to prevent all danger that might happen having understood before his departure that a great Fire had been at Jedo that the Chinese Jonks which come to Coxenga with Fleets consisting of thirty Ships at a time from Anhay and Chincheu to Japan may easily be prohibited because they had dealt like Enemies with the Japanners by Sailing to the Manilla's by which means the East-India Company would reap great benefits for when the Chineses come often thither then the Japanners raise their refin'd Copper Bars and their Camphire to a high rate The Camphire Trees grow most in the Japan Province Satsuma Is forced to stay at Osacca Whereupon Wagenaer taking Shipping arriv'd in twelve days at Osacca where in two days he provided all things necessary for his Journey by Land but when ready to set forth he receiv'd Order to stay in his House the Day approaching on which the former Emperor died which was kept very strictly through all Japan After that Wagenaer having already hir'd eighty five Footmen and six and forty Horses to carry the Presents and their other Luggage to Jedo had leave to depart Japanners Marry many Women ¶ AS the Japanners with great state and sorrow keep the Day of the Emperor's death so likewise their Ceremonies of Marriage are perform'd in as great state and splendor with unexpressible joy It is the Custom in Japan as in most Parts of Asia to Marry several Women which Custom the Japanners have brought from China where a Man is not bound to one Woman This unlimited lasciviousness took place in Asia many Ages since And who knows not that the Persians and Medes nay the Israelites themselves and mongst them the wisest of Kings Solomon were given over to that wanton Lust Where a Woman hath many Husbands But if this Crime deserves to be punish'd then we may condemn the foul Custom observ'd by the antient Arabs Nebatheans and Britains namely that one Woman was common to a whole Family to which when any one went he set his Stick up at the Door as a sign that at that time none might come in and concern himself with her on punishment of Adultery Some Moors as also the Garamanties and Liminiri Lay with the Women by the hundred and after five years the Children begotten out of such a mixture were distributed every man taking one which was most like him The Troglodites gave the betrothed Brides first to be known to the Bridegrooms nearest Relations and Brothers Of some People about their Marriage Yet though the Japanners take as many Women as they will yet they hold one
as their true and lawful Wife which onely sits with her Husband at Table whilst the rest are like Servants The Children also which he gets by his Concubines at his Death get but very little of his Estate for those that are born of his lawful Wife inherit all Which Custom is also deriv'd from China where the Emperor before the Tartar made himself Master of that Empire Marry'd besides his Empress thirty other Women being the most beautiful that could be found in all his Dominions of China all which remain'd in the Palace till the Emperors Death when his Successor after the Burial of the deceased Emperor Clothing the thirty Women in rich Apparel carry'd them to his second Palace there placing every one on a stately Throne whereon sitting with their Faces cover'd thirty Chinese Princes chosen by the Emperor entred the Hall every one of them taking one of the said Women by the Hand and instantly Marry'd them Strange kind of Marriage observ'd by the Japanners The Chineses and Japanners observe chiefly that the Brides and Bridegrooms differ not much in their Age Estate and Extract The Betrothed are in the Morning early carry'd in costly Coaches drawn either by Oxen or Horses from their Houses out of the City accompanied with all manner of Vocal and Instrumental Musick to a high Hill attended by a great number of People and sometimes are so crowded that they are forc'd to have Soldiers with them to clear the Way After the Bridegroom's Coach follow several Wayns loaden with Presents with which he buys the Bride Which Manner they have likewise brought out of China for there the Man gives to the new marry'd Woman divers Marriage Goods which she delivers to her Father or Mother as a requital for the bringing of her up so that the chief Riches increase from the number of their Daughters and chiefly when they are beautiful The antient Babylonians bringing their Daughters to Market at a certain time of the year sold them to those that proffer'd most the Price was set according to their Beauty those that were handsomest yielding the best Rate and ordinary Faces were sold for lesser Sums yet the homeliest also went off for the Money which was bestow'd for the fairest was given as Portions for the hard-favor'd so that they in stead of being bought they purchas'd Husbands for themselves Far more shamefully did the Phoenician Maidens order their affairs when they went into the Temple of Venus to proffer their Virginities to sale and with that Money so gotten bought them Husbands The same Custom was observed by the Cyprian Maids who for Money prostituted themselves so long to Strangers till they had gotten Wealth enough to purchase Marriage with some of their election Nay the Armenians had a Law according to which the Maids in the antient Temple dedicated to the Goddess Anetis whose Image was made of Massie Gold should at a set time prostitute themselves in common to all Men after which there were none but desir'd her in Marriage that had been so consecrated to the same Goddess The antient Indians brought their Daughters into the Company of fine Youths that they might chuse one out of the number which in Strength swiftness in Running Wrestling and well-timberdness of Body exceeded the other The Cathaians observe the same manner but upon inviolable promises that she will be burnt with her Husbands Body if he chance to die before her The Indian Women also leap into the same Funeral Fire and those that out of fear do not go in to be burnt with their Husbands are accounted dishonest The Laxamatees near the Lake Meosis may not Marry before they have slain an Enemy and also the Carmani may not betroth themselves before they have brought an Enemy's Head to the King Roman and Greek Brides must bring Portions but in Japan the Bridegrooms The antient Romans and Greeks maintain'd quite another Custom than the Japanners for with them the Brides were to bring Portions to the Bridegrooms wherefore the Roman Consul gave the Daughters of the famous Generals Cneius Scipio and Martus Curius their Portions out of the Treasury because being poor they could not be Marry'd according to their Birth The like did the Athenians to the Daughters of the valiant Heroe Aristides But Solon and Lycurgus both Greek Law-givers commanded strictly That no Bride should bring Money into the Bridegrooms Pocket The Germans took no Marriage to be lawful unless the Man produced his promis'd Estate Which Law was also observ'd by the Biskiners The Egyptians never Marry'd for Estates for if the Woman brought any Riches to the Man then he according to their Laws was to be her Slave Moreover the Lacedemonians durst not seem to Marry for Money wherefore those were severely punish'd that at Lacedemon Courted Lysander's Daughters and after the Decease of their Father forbore their Suit which the Judge interpreted thus That they had not Courted the Persons but their Money Just so it is in Japan where the Man Marries not onely a Bride without a Portion but must give her divers Goods for Marrying of him Which Custom is likewise Extracted from China where the Bride brings no Money to her Bridegroom though she carry all manner of Housholdstuff to his House as Stools Chairs Umbrello's and other things sufficient to fill up a small Street for it is all bought with the Money which the Bridegroom hath given her Iapanische traugeprauge Ceremonie van haer TROUWEN Ceremonie of theyr Merridge How they are Marry'd Before the Idol with a Dogs-head stands a Bonzi or Japan Priest on his right-hand the Bride and on his left the Bridegroom both holding lighted Torches in their Hands the Bride lights her Torch by one of the eight Lamps which stand round about the Tent but not without great mutterings of the Bonzi which done the Bridegroom lights his by the Brides whereupon a joyful shout is made all with a loud voice wishing joy to them whilst the Bonzi gives them his Blessing The antient Romans and Greeks us'd Torches at their Ceremonies of Marriage made of Pine-branches which were carry'd before the Brides in the Night by five Youths But among the Greeks the Brides Mother carry'd it Moreover the Blessing which is spoke by the Bonzi is of a very antient Extract for the Israelites observ'd that Custom when the concern'd Parties in Beth-hillula that is A House of Praise flock'd together and sung joyful Hymns before the Bride and Bridegroom the chief Priest taking a Cup full of Wine said Blessed art thou O Lord our God which hast created joy and mirth give love to the Bride and Bridegroom a Brotherly inclination peace and quiet dwelling I pray O Lord let there immediately he heard in the Cities of Juda and in the Streets of Jerusalem the voice of the Bride and Bridegroom The voice of joy and the Nuptial Bed is sweeter than any Feast and Children more acceptable than the pleasing harmony of delightful Songs
he serves Coxenga for Toll-gatherer in Annay and without doubt will plot no great good for the East-India Company The said Pingua is run above seventy thousand Ryals in debt in Formosa Moreover Wagenaer staid till the first of November for the Ship the Black Bull which was very richly laden but because she did not come he was fain to make a Market with Tonquean Silk European Piece-Goods as Cloth Serges Perpetuanaes and Siam Furs and promise upon an Obligation That the Cargo in the Bull when she came to an Anchor before Disma should be laid up for the next Year The staying away of this Ship was occasion'd because at that time less Profit was made in Japan by eight Tun of Gold than at other times The manner of the Hollanders selling their Goods in Japan is remarkable ¶ THeir Sale is after this manner In November the East-India Company have free leave to Trade On Munday they shew their Goods for then the Store-house on Disma before Nangesaque is open'd A great long Bench stands in the middle of the Gallery which below hath three hundred Rooms for the stowing of Goods Above live the Servants to the East-India Company On the Bench stand Silver Chargers in which lye all manner of Merchandizes viz. Drugs Pepper Cloves Nutmegs Mace Cinnamon Buck-skins Buff and other Skins also Tonkian Peeleng Musk Europeans Clothes Serges Looking-glasses Speckled Wood Quicksilver Brimstone and Hats which are worn by the Nobility of Japan Towards Evening all the Store-Chambers are seal'd with the Emperors Arms in the presence of one of the Magistrates of Nangesaque who sits with the Holland Merchant during the time of Trade at the chief Table The Service here is attended by three hundred Japanners daily employ'd by the East-India Company The foremention'd Gallery is square and rests on Pillars of Speckled Wood twelve Foot high a winding pair of Stairs leads up to it the Floor thereof being cover'd with rich Tapestry Round about stand Stools on whose Silk Cushions the Arms of the East-India Company are embroider'd When the Japanners enter the Gallery they pull off their Shoes On Tuesdays they contract about the Price the next day they deliver then the Water-gate of the Holland Store-house is open'd where all November they lade and unlade their Goods into above a hundred Barques Upon Sundays they rest because the Hollanders following their Devotion permit no Work to be done The manner us'd by the Japanners in selling their Goods Mean while in the same Month also is kept an Annual Fair where the Japanners erect Booths of Sail-Cloth in which they sell Copper Silver China Roots Camphire and Camphire-wood curious Porcelan Plates and Dishes Silk Japan Coats on the outsides embroider'd with Gold and Silver and quilted with Cotton wrought Plate Rice Tobacco wax'd Cabinets and Chests Whilst thus they set their Commodities to sale they make themselves merry with Sakje a Drink made of the best Wheat having a strange smell but as strong as Spanish Wine The foremention'd Magistrate is Security for all that is sold The Silver and Copper weigh'd in a Scale and mark'd with the Emperors Stamp is deliver'd in Chests Generally the East-India Company take at one time of Sale for their Commodities six hundred Chests of Silver and two thousand of Copper yet sometimes they take a great deal more or less Every Chest of Silver amounts to a thousand Crowns Remarkable Passage of Martin Remei ¶ IN the interim Wagenaer prepar'd the Ship the Singing Bird to go for Batavia but was hindred one day by Accident Martin Remei a Native of Formosa coming as Chyrurgeon from Tayovan with the Ship Nieuport to Nangesaque had leave to inhabit ashore in the hinder part of the Hollanders Store-house on the Island Disma with three Factors but was miss'd in the Morning on the thirteenth of November yet they found at last a Letter in his Bed that he rose to bereave himself of Life because a Japan Whore with whom he had lain three days was gone away by which means she had bereav'd him of his Pleasures Wagenaer sent in vain to search all corners either to find him living or dead whereupon he made the Business known to the Magistrates who gave immediate order impowering some Bonjoises and Interpreters and also their own Servants to search all Houses and Skulking-places Whereupon they search'd the Ships Jonks and Japan Vessels and indeed all Nangesaque was in an Uproar about it Wagenaer caus'd his Men to Fish round about Disma and was not a little troubled that he could not find Remei For the Governors reported That it was a Portugttese Priest brought from China thither that kept himself private with some yet undiscover'd Christians But this Opinion soon vanish'd when Remei the fifteenth of November about the Evening was brought bound on the Island Disma to the great joy of those that kept the Watch when he made his escape for they would all of them have lost their Lives for their Negligence This Remei was gotten over the Walls in the Night and at low Water to the East side of the Haven before Nangesaque where he hid himself under a long Chinese Straw Sail till such time Hunger forc'd him to come out But being instantly taken was carried Prisoner to the Governor who sent him to Wagenaer and he kept him in safe custody and sent him afterwards to Tayovan there to suffer punishment according to his desert It hapned that at that time the Governor was in an exceeding good humor who otherwise deals very severely with those that get ashore out of the Hollanders Ships Wherefore the Japanners take a List of the Names Ages and Offices of the Sea-men to the smallest Youth so soon as any Ship approaches the Harbor of Nangesaque and if any one of them should be found wanting when they are going away both Ship and Men would thereby happen into a great inconveniency unless they could prove that the Person which was wanting died a natural death or with the Magistrates leave of Nangesaque staid behind on the Island Disma Another Exploit of a Dutch Chirurgeon Two Years after hapned almost the like Accident The Chyrurgeon belonging to the Admiral Vollenhoven leap'd over-board in the night to swim aboard of a Jonk that so out of Curiosity he might make a Voyage to China which the Pilot made known to the Commander Indiik who acquainted the Magistrates with it which immediately sent Soldiers and Servants to make search for him and if he should not be found they threatned the Hollanders to let their Ships drive ashore where with Goods and Men they would set them on Fire On the third day he that fled Was fetch'd out of a Chinese Jonk bound Hand and Foot and thrown into the Emperors Prison whence he escap'd not without great trouble and Sums of Money and was also for ever banish'd from Japan upon pain of Death Sad Accident of a drunken Sea-man ¶ BUt
Winds they cannot get beyond the Priest-Mountain they have above a hundred Watches about their Ship which cutting their Cables tow them out of the Haven of Nangesaque In the Corean Ocean generally from September to April a Northerly Trade-wind blows so fresh that they can scarce carry out their Top-sails The Bank Pracellis formerly a Kingdom But this Ship Hilversom ran once in this Voyage no small danger falling by Night on the Tail of Pracellis which is a Riff or Bank lying about twenty Leagues from the main Coast of Cambodia being above a hundred Leagues long and forty broad The Indians relate That it was a Kingdom in former Ages but sunk by Earthquakes On both sides of Pracellis lye two Shoals call'd Bruers Sand and Alkmaers wherefore it is very dangerous here for Shipping and this is the place where in Anno 1660. the rich laden Ship Tergoes was split all to pieces Wagenaer would fain have put for the Piscadore Islands to find out the longmiss'd Ship the Bull but durst not go too near the Shore because of the Hazie Weather Yet Anchoring at Pool Timon Miserable condition of the Ship call'd the Sea-Knight he found there the Ship call'd The Sea-Knight miserably torn and shatter'd by foul Weather most part of her Masts being gone and the Fore-castle and Cabins well-nigh wash'd away by the Sea The Merchant Henry Baron and a great many of the Sea-men seem'd more like Skeletons than Living Creatures Baron was struck with a lameness in his Hands and the Palsie in his Feet so seeming to hasten to death while he was yet living which made Wagenaer earnestly to ask him concerning the State and Condition of Tonkin that after his Decease he might relate the same to the Council at Batavia Strange Sickness in Tonkin The Sea-men related That there hapned that Year a great Sickness in Tonkin which suddenly took away abundance of People and seiz'd upon the healthfullest Persons in a Minutes Time first a Giddiness taking them in the Head of which they fell on the Ground and died both senseless and speechless in few Hours after which manner the Netherland Agent in Tonkin Nicholas de Voog died also This Tonkin Sickness was not unlike the Plague in England first known in King Henry the Sevenths Reign Anno 1486. which after forty three Years spreading over Germany swept away an innumerable company of People in a short time Plague After which the Plague began again in England and chiefly in London where Anno 1550. died a very great number in a few Months It is said That a Master of a Family having twelve Children besides his Wife and Servants was well and hearty at Dinner yet all of them dead before Night Those that got the Sickness died in few Hours but if suddenly they sweated out the Poyson they recover'd by Degrees Wagenaer arrives at Batavia ¶ WAgenaer furnishing the Sea-Knight with some Provisions went on his Voyage but missing the Straights of Banka he hapned to come amongst several unknown Islands where he drove up and down three Hours before he got on his right Course again This and the other trouble of getting over the Tail of Pracellis arose from the difference amongst the Officers of the Ship every one willing to Steer a several Course notwithstanding the strong Currents deceiv'd many yet in December Anno 1659. Wagenaer arriv'd safe at Batavia and went ashore with Henry Indiik and Ernest of Hoogenhoek Indiik made Governor of Disma But Indiik staid but a small time in Batavia bein sent back to Japan to take the Place of John Bouchelyon and accordingly he set Sail in the Calf Frigat accomnied with the Hearn and Sparrow on the six and twentieth of November Anno 1660. The Charge and Command of the East-India Companies Treasure in Japan was committed to Indiik whom the Secretaries Sannemondonne and Mootefnostrydonne complemented according to the Custom being establish'd in his new Employ in the Governor of Nangesaque's Name desiring him to take special care of his Fire and Candles to prevent all dangers that might accrew thereby and took also a List of the Netherlanders Names that remain'd on the Island Disma the number whereof were nineteen amongst which were reckon'd Indiik's Son and Daughter besides the Blacks which were in the Service of the East-India Company But the Secretaries that came to Complement the new-elected Governor after some Entertainment return'd home The Hollanders Burying-place in Japan ¶ NOt long after Indiik had leave to Interre the Body of the Deceas'd Merchant Francis Reynerson The Corps put in a Coffin was carried under a Black Cloth through Nangesaque by the Book-keepers Interpreters and other Servants of the East-India Company to a Barque in which they carried it over to the other side of the Haven before Nangesaque and there buried it on a Hill being the Place for that purpose given by the Japanners to the Netherlanders News of Coxenga's Design upon Formesa Mean while the Ottena for so they call the Japan Governor of Disma whereon the Hollanders Store-house stands brought Information from a Chinese Jonk that was come with a rich Cargo from Zaetsin to Nangesaque That Coxenga not long after their departure had a considerable number of Soldiers ready to send under the Conduct of a valiant Chinese General and two Mandarins of which one was his Uncle Sauja to Formosa there to take Tayovan and the Fort Zealande from the East-India Company or at least to pillage the Countrey The Jonk also brought news That the Chinese Admiral Itchien coming with a great many rich Merchandizes to Japan had by a mighty Storm lost all his Upper-works and with much ado sav'd his Life And that in Tonkin since the last great Sickness there which swept away many thousand People after the manner aforemention'd a second Plague had hapned which did no less mischief for the Waters breaking up in all parts of the Countrey Strange poysonous Water had poyson'd all the Soil and sent forth malignant Vapours which destroy'd both Men and Beasts ¶ FUrthermore Indiik engag'd the Servants of the East-India Company not onely to come and hear the usual Evening and Morning Service but also to be present at the hearing of the Sermons and singing of Psalms on the Sunday And whilst they follow'd their Religion thus undisturb'd Tsoemangy Ficojemon came to Nangesaque to Officiate as Governor in the deceased Kaynussio's Place Wherefore Indiik was not negligent to wish Ficojemon Joy by the Interpreters and Ottena of his new Office desiring that himself might have the Honor to Complement and tender him some Presents which being granted Indiik went thither proffer'd his Presents and desir'd Ficojemon's Favor who modestly receiv'd the Presents promis'd his Assistance to the promoting of the Netherland Trade Ficojemon visits Indiik and not long after came with great Attendance to visit Indiik on the Island Disma where he took great delight in the Garden
bathe require This Mystery of Nature is grounded on the Earthy Fire by which the Waters being heated in deep Pits spring upwards like a Fountain But some Rivers have several Avenues and narrow Passages under the Earth and so often lose their heat before they come to the top when as others detain their warmth because they flow through wide Channels nearer the Subterranean Fire from whence they rise up directly It therefore happens though very seldom that two Fountains of which one produces warm the other cold Water occasion'd by the foremention'd Reason flow in one Channel because each by its swift Course detains its own Property And so it is with the Brook that in Orismo affords Water for the Bath Baths very ancient and several It appears that the Japanners make use of the Profit which Nature bestows on these Waters according to the Custom of several other People after divers ways For though Bathing was customary in former Ages yet every Countrey observ'd a several way therein The ancient Biscayners took not Water but stinking Piss with which they wash'd their Gums and naked Body The Scythians us'd Women which pour'd Water on Mens Bodies and after painted them with red Stones The Dardanians and Illyrians permitted a Man to Bathe but thrice in his Life-time viz. at his Birth Marriage and Death The ancient Germans made use of a River in which they swam every day though sometimes they went before Meals into a Bath which was formerly observ'd by the Romans as at this day by the Turks Two remarkable Wonders in the Bath at Orismo It will not be amiss to make some inquiry why any one that before he bathes himself makes warm but having bathed it comes cold from him which happens because the Body before bathing is cold but warm'd by bathing makes the Urine cold It is also a strange Mystery that those that when they go to bathe are no ways thirsty by bathing become exceeding dry and on the contrary those that are desirous to drink when they go in shall have no mind at all to it when they come out The Reasons whereof may proceed hence viz. Thirst is occasion'd by Drought wherefore those that begin to bathe when adry the Body draws through the Pores by the inward force of the Vital Spirits the thinnest Moisture by which the Drought is quenched But those that do not go thirsty into the Bath force out their Drink by sweating so that the Body within becomes dry and occasions Thirst The Romans at first had dark and pittiful Baths but when by their Power they had made great Conquests they became Teachers of all Magnificence which amongst other things they express'd in their Baths the erecting and ordering of which Riches of the Baths amaz'd the Eyes of the Beholders A Roman says Seneca thought himself very poor if the Walls of his Bath were not made of Alexandrian Marble and adorn'd with Numidian Ledges a Thesian Stone inclos'd the Water the Floor consisted of pure Silver imboss'd with Pearls and Diamonds and the Edifice rested on stately Pillars being hung round with Pictures drawn by the Hand of the most excellent Masters Moreover they were attended by Barbers Chyrurgeons Men to rub them and help them out and in some to keep their Clothes and other Servants ¶ GReat delight the Holland Ambassador took in this strange Bath at Orismo But at length going forward in his Journey he was nobly entertain'd in the Provinces of Facata and Figen the Lords of which Countreys provided Horses and Men for him causing all the Streets of the Cities through which he pass'd to be clean swept against his coming The Governor of Oenewarimet rode out of the City to meet and fetch in the Ambassador in this order In the first Rank march'd five Japan Soldiers which the Governor follow'd on Horse-back holding a Standard in his Hand behind him came the Emperors Overseer and Warden one after the other under two Umbrelloes made fast on long Sticks each carried by three Men These were follow'd by three Chariots guarded on both sides with Japan Horse and Foot in the middlemost whereof the Holland Ambassador was carried De Stadt OUNEWARI CASTEEL The Citty Ounewari with the Castle Indiik arrives at Nangesaque ¶ THe sixteenth of May Indiik came safe to Nangesaque and found the Servants of the East-India Company on the Island Disma in good health Soon after the Watch on the Nomoan Hills told the Governor of Nangesaque that they descry'd two Sails not far from the Shore Whereupon Indiik having leave to send some small Vessels to discover the Ships sent Ernest Hoogenhoek with three Sloops who saw that it was the Frigat Graveland and the Fly boat call'd the Vinke which were Steering for Nangesaque They brought a Letter with them written the eighteenth of May 1661 in the Fort Zelandia sign'd by Frederick Cojet John Oetjens of Waveren Thomas of Ypre and David Harthouwen The Contents these A Letter from Cojet concerning Coxenga's Onâ—et upon Formosa Coxenga coming with three hundred Sail extraordinarily Mann'd through the Lakjemonian Straights Landed in Formosa the thirteenth of April and instantly made himself Master of the whole Island The Fort Provincia yielded upon the first Assault of the Chineses The Hollanders that liv'd up and down Formosa are all cruelly murder'd The City near the Castle Zealandia lies in Ashes in several places but plunder'd in all The Fort Zelandia was closely besieg'd From the Hector Frigat which engag'd with several Jonks and was blown up by her own Powder none were sav'd The Ships Graveland and Mary found themselves unable to engage with Coxenga's Fleet wherefore they fled from them The Ships de Vink and Immenhorne come hither from Kelang if they should want Provisions or by their Enemies be forc'd to put to Sea again they shall come to Japan to fetch all things that you can send to our Assistance with Provisions as Rice Meal and Japan Wine for our Store in the Castle begins to grow very scarce Indiik immediately made this sorrowful News known by an Interpreter to the Governor of Nangesaque whilst the Ships Graveland and the Vink came to an Anchor before Disma The Governor desir'd to have the whole Business of Formosa in Writing And that he might have a true Account thereof Indiik order'd that the Merchant Nicholas Loenius the Minister Mark Massius and the Captain of the Graveland should come ashore and relate the whole Circumstance Chineses Storm the Fort Zelandia Indiik understood moreover That Coxenga fired day and night from a Platform with twelve Demiculverins against the Fort Zelandia and that already Waveren's House was shot down and a great Breach made in the Wall yet the Besieg'd remain'd not in his debt for Cojet sallying out with a Select Party made himself Master of the Platform and the twelve Guns two of which he carried into the Castle and the rest he made useless and that