Island Branco well known at a great distance by its steep and chalky Cliffs after that we descry'd the Flat Coast of Loemon known by its two Promontories on the North-East and South-West end Then we Steer'd our Coast North-East where happen'd several great Calms and terrible Thunder and Lightning A considerable time we kept in sight of China about five or six Leagues from the Shore after that we had Sail'd close by the Islands of The two Sisters Formosa and also by The three Kings there appear'd as commonly doth in those parts before a Storm the dreadful signs of an ensuing Tempest Signs of bad weather About the Cape of Good Hope appears commonly a small black Cloud before a Tempest which was here a Rain-Bowe onely of two colours hoop'd in with two more the outmost the largest the Master being thus warn'd furl'd his Sails lower'd his Yards and dropt all his Anchors and so in a manner moor'd his Vessel by which time it blew so hard from the North-East bringing along a high and rough Sea which oftentimes rak'd over us from Prow to Stern that all our Ground-Tackle though very good seem'd not strong enough to keep her from Driving Thus we lay plying the Pump Shipping often so much Water as was ready to beat down the Decks so that we every Minute expected death and that which was worse the Wind shifting eight Points towards the North-West furrow'd fresh Billows athwart which beat over our Broad-side Thus having suffer'd four and twenty hours the utmost of the Perils when utterly despairing not able to hold out any longer it pleas'd God that the Weather broke up and the Storm ceasing after a short refreshment we joyfully weigh'd Anchor and proceeded on in our Voyage And now being got about an hundred Leagues from the Island of Meaxuma we saw with admiration a great number of py'd Fowls black and white by the Portuguese call'd Allcatrasses which prey'd there on Fish Before this Island lieth an obscure Cliff and the Isle presenting it self in four Cantels or Divisions being cut thorow in the manner of a Cross On the South-West end of it are two round Hills the other Islands are known by several Rocks resembling Organ-Pipes Here Sayling two Leagues along this Coast to the height of one and thirty degrees from thence Steering our Course to Cabexuma which is surrounded by many Rocks we discover'd the Mountain of Amacusa and the utmost Point of the Island Cavallos known by the tall Pines that Crown the High-Land At some distance off from the shore lies a Ridge of Rocks which as a Bar breaking the violence of the Waves agitated with Wind make within a smooth and safe Harbor Then we found the Bay of Nangesaque by joyning our Land-Marks together being a Tree and the Roof of the great Church where we Anchoring Hoysed out our long Boat and so Landed in Japan This is our second Discoverer of any note giving the most exact account of the nearest and best way to Japan But two years before the return of Pais from his foremention'd Voyage John Hugh Luschot setting Sail from the Haven of Maccaw intending his Voyage for Japan He relates thus Linschot's Voyage to Japan The 19 of June we Weigh'd Anchor from before the Island des Outcas lying on the West side of the Entrance towards Maccaw leaving the great Isle of Thieves to Lee-ward which hath another longer Island full of Woods to the Northward of it and the like shape presents the Isle Tonquiau being naturally fortifi'd with ten Cliffs like Bulwarks but on the North-East side opens a convenient and safe Harbor We wav'd Lamon standing off to Sea at a great distance because many Pirats lay lurking up and down shelter'd under those Coasts their design especially to seize Portuguese Vessels therefore we Steer'd directly towards the Chabaquon-Head a High-Land appearing a far off from the Coast of China afterwards we Sail'd the length of the Red Stone Varella a Rock so call'd and well known by its colour which appears above Water and may be seen beyond Port Chinogoa Soon after we Stemm'd the Isle Lequeo Puqueno whose steep Coasts are about sixteen Leagues in length under twenty five degrees North-Latitude where we Sail'd against a Current of troubled white Shells but after 15 Leagues we found ease Then rose the Seven Sisters Isles so call'd from their so much resembling one another the first appears with a sharp Spire or rising Point in the middle and at the foot on the West Angle a Rock opens like a Column or Pillar on the North-East mark'd with a black Cliff The Seven Sisters out of sight we rais'd the long Isle Ycoo full of black or sable Trees from whence we lay North-East Sailing betwixt that and Tanaxuma through a Channel clear from all danger of Rocks and Shelves At the Mouth of which appears a Mountain like Vesuvius or that of Aetna which vomits upwards hideous Smoke and dreadful Flames mixt with Stones the Ruptur'd Bowels of the Mountain which ejected with no little Fragor sometimes fills the adjacent Shores Sea and Land with terrible Affrights and wonderful Consternations But Tenaxuma an Isle eight Leagues long hath on the West a good Harbor fortifi'd naturally with Rocks the Low-Land full of rising Hillocks cover'd here and there with black Pines Eight Leagues Northerly beyond this appears the Coast of the mighty Empire of Japan but in the mid-way Steering to Jebuxy we lay a good while becalm'd yet nevertheless the eleventh day after we set Sail from Macow we arriv'd in Japan But besides all these Voyagers and the many Discoveries and Plantations of the Portuguese and Spaniards in either Indies at last the Hollanders being thrust into an exegency of dangerous consequence and forc'd by an overcoming necessity also became Navigators and undertook to save themselves from utter ruine that Work by a business which happen'd thus At first and in the infancy of their Trade They onely contented themselves with making short Flights and trafficking to their neighboring Confines as France England Denmark Norway and other Places in the Northern Ocean with which naturally delighted and tasting the sweetness of Profit they ventur'd farther to Spain and Portugal then growing more bold enter'd the Straights seeking through the Midland Sea at Legorn Genoua and Messina what by their several Trades might be more beneficial Here whilst the Portuguese and Spaniards made such wonderful Discoveries they fixed and well satisfi'd sat down and went no farther The first reasons why the Hollanders undertook the Voyage to the East-Indies and afterwards to Japan But after the War was proclaim'd by Spain against the United Provinces King Philip issuing out strict Commands that all Goods that heretofore were Exported from his Harbors or Imported from the Hollanders whether the Growth of either Countrey or otherwise should not onely be confiscated and made seizure of but great Mulcts and other Punishments inflicted upon all them that durst or were so
any one that made a Grave in any City belonging to the Power of Rome should forfeit two hundred Crowns yet notwithstanding sometimes the Ashes of some Generals that had Conquer'd their Enemies were bury'd in the Market-places which honor was done to the Emperor Trajan in Rome Elseraks Voyage from Osacca to Nangesaque ¶ BUt the Ambassador Elserak after six days stay in Osacca took Shipping on the tenth of January Anno 1644. and at Evening came to Anchor before the Village Sangya three Leagues distant from Osacca where he was forc'd to stay two days by reason of contrary Winds and then setting Sail ran in the Dusk of the Evening into the Haven of Fiungo after that he had a fresh Gale with which he pass'd by Swoja Tackessima Akas and Firmensi about Sun-set they were opposite to Muro but Sailing on all Night he reach'd to the end of fifty Leagues in twenty four hours In the Morning he discover'd Bignatum where he Anchor'd Then he left Mewarri Tantonomi Jocosimi Caminagari and Camro on their Starboard and the little Islands Syriais Caroto Szuwa Jowe and the mighty Island Tonsa on their Larboard Apparel of the Inhabitants of Tonsa ¶ THe Inhabitants of Tonsa differ a little in their Apparel from the other Japanners the Men wear a long Cap whose top hangs over their Faces about their Shoulders a loose Furr'd Cotton Coat over a Silk under-Coat their Middle girt with a broad Girdle in which they take great Pride it being richly Embroyder'd one end whereof hangs over their Belly almost to the ground The Women of any quality carry continually a Fan in their Hand on their Shoulders having a thin Cotton Cloth folded together and made fast on their Breasts which hangs behind half way down their Coats their Girdles also of Silk or Cotton according to their Estates are Pleited together As for their remaining Apparel it is like that of all other Japan Women Elserak arrives at Nangesaque ¶ THe sixteenth of January about midnight Elserak came to an Anchor before the Village Camenosacci from thence he Sail'd to the little Island Mocko. Then the Wind coming contrary and in regard he could gain but little by Rowing he Rode three days at Anchor then setting Sail again he enter'd that Evening the Haven of Simonisacci and the next day drop'd Anchor at Aymissima here he stay'd but little time but went on so successfully that late in the Evening he came up with Firando which passing by he ran into the Channel of Zetta and on the four and twentieth of January Arriv'd at Nangesaque where on the Island Disma he found the Servants of the East-India Company in good health and condition Advice to the East-India Company concerning the redeem'd Hollanders John Van Elserak the Ambassador thus come to Nangesaque sent advice of the ten releas'd Hollanders to Cornelius Vander Liin Governor in Batavia who found the business to be of so weighty a concern that he Writ to the East-India Company in the United Netherlands that setting out the Ketch Breskens to discover Tartary it fell upon the Japan Kingdom Nassame where they fired several Guns in the Haven of Namboe for which the Commanders of the Ship going Ashore in their Boat were taken Prisoners and carry'd to Jedo and were at last notwithstanding they were to suffer Death according to the Japan Laws released The Emperor who had during the Hollanders Imprisonment in Jedo been very sick was on Elserak's Arrival there restor'd to his former health whom he found very well disposed and in a good humor towards him which prov'd very luckily for the Imprison'd Hollanders The Emperor granting them his Pardon because he found that their offence was committed rather out of ignorance than wilfulness Find it convenient to send an Embassy in return of thanks to the Japan Emperor ¶ THe East-India Company took this Letter into serious consideration and at last concluded to requite the Japan Emperor by a peculiar Embassy for his Mercy shewn to the Imprison'd Hollanders and his usual civility to their People and Commerce at Nangesaque To make the Embassy the more acceptable they sent the Emperor for Presents two Brass-Guns that carry'd a Shot of forty Pound weight with Rammers Spunges and Charging-Ladles a great Looking-Glass in an Ebony Frame surrounded with small Looking-Glasses in Silver nine Pieces of fine Cloth of several Colours one great Prospective Glass inclos'd in a Gold Enammell'd Case and one Surratish Alcative On this Order from the United Netherlanders Cornelius Vander Liin Governor in Batavia rested not but Consulting with the Lords Francis Caron Charles Reinerson and Garret Demmer concluded on the following Order the seven and twentieth of June Anno 1649. according to which Orders written down the Ambassador Peter Blockhoffe sent to Japan in the Ketch Robin was to carry himself The Contents these Orders given by the Indian Councel according to which the Ambassador must carry himself to the Japanners ¶ STeer your Course directly for Japan and put not in for Formosa nor any other Countrey because it is already late in the Year that you may not loose the usual Trade-Winds In your Voyage examine the Ships Company for Papist-Books Pictures or any other Trifles belonging to the Roman Religion and the more because the Japan Councel strictly Examin'd if the Ship Breskens had not brought Portugal-Priests from the Manilla's When you come near the Japan Shore you will get Waiters on Board which you must entertain civilly The Order which the Japan Governors or Commanders give you and also what the Interpreters and Servants to the East-India Company on the Island Disma counsel you you shall observe and not follow your own Inventions When you are ready to go to Jedo Clothe your Men in Blue Serge which Apparel let them wear all their Journey except when you go to any Japan Lord or thorow a great City then let your Attendance put on their Pink Colour'd Cloth Suits When you go to speak with the Emperor or Complement any of the Councel then let your Retinue wear their best and richest Liveries being White and Red. Be careful that you are not curious to see strange Novelties except you are invited to it by Persons of Quality At your first Arrival at Nangesaque make the reason of your Embassy known to the Governors there and ask Advice of Dirk Snoek and Antony Brookhurst and follow the counsel of the Japan Interpreters You must learn the Words of the chief cause of your Embassy perfect that you may say them by Rote because when you appear before Persons of Quality they privately Write them down and afterwards modestly ask the same Question again to see if the last agree with the first Moreover excuse your self to the Japan Lords that you are a Stranger and by that means not knowing their Customs entreat their favorable assistance thereof for the East-India Company and Governor at Batavia depend
set forth Bartholomew Diazio who Coasting Africa reach'd at last the great Southern Point which indeed was the Work if he had understood it and made right use thereof but there being disanimated by mutinous Mariners and stress of Weather giving a bad Epithet to the great Point calling it Cabo Buyig or Cabo Boyie because there he was stopt and soon after forc'd to return yet his wiser Master understanding it better Cape of Good Hope why so call'd nam'd it Cabo de Bona Esperanca that is The Cape of Good Hope A strange Voyage of a Franciscan Monk But whilst Diazio Rid before the great Southern Cape a Franciscan Monk call'd Anthonio his intimate Friend incited by a strange curiosity Landed there and ventur'd alone to seek his Fortune in so vast and unknown a World I tell this Story though not so pertinent because of the wonder that one Man should be so hardy to venture his single Person to travel through Countreys so full of Heat Drought and Desarts and Peopled with such as he could neither understand nor they him but thus he went not onely through all Africa but a great part of Asia reaching to Jerusalem there paying his Devotion he return'd to Lisbon giving the King an account of his miraculous adventures Upon this the King bethought himself of a less chargeable way than Rigging a Fleet which could onely discover the Coast to which end he employ'd Pedro de Cavillano and Alphonso Payva both skilful in the Arabick A wonderful Journey of two Portuguese as private Pilgrims to make Inspections of those Countreys which were yet to them unknown They first came to Naples then touched at Rhodes after visited Egypt and saw Grand Cair from thence to Jerusalem here paying due Tears to the holy Sepulchre they parted travelling several Ways Payva for Ethiopia where he died and Cavillano to Ormus so to Calicut in India Here he receiv'd Messages from the King his Master not to return till he was able to give him a good account of Africa Thus commanded he ventur'd into Ethiopia where the King of that Countrey became his great admirer much taken with his Person and Parts inviting him to dwell in his own Court and offering him if he would Marry a Lady of great Fortune and Noble Extract From the Emperors Palace he made means to send a Letter to the King of Portugal in which he inform'd him at large both of the Asiatick and African Countreys and amongst the rest described the City of Calicut and gave a Character of the Inhabitants who he said were of a swarthy and of an Olevaster Complexion scarce knowing ought of humanity or civil address unaffable irreligious and ignorant of all Moral Vertue they are proud of going naked from the Middle upwards onely above their Elbows they wear Armlets of Pearl and a Simiter in a Belt hangs thwart their Shoulders and about their Middle they wear Skirts or long Bases of Purple-Silk richly embroider'd with Gold Here the Female Sex are allow'd Polygamy one Woman may Marry as many Husbands as she pleases and those which enjoy the greatest number are esteem'd there the most Noble so there is no priority to their Children by Birth none knowing well their own Father but either they are all Co-heirs or else her Sisters Children Inherit That the Natives of Ethiopia were all Blacks and a kind of Christians but mix'd with an allay of Judaism and Mahumetan and how the Emperor maintain'd a great standing-Army to defend his Dignity and Territories which were very vast Emanuel King of Portugal is earnest to make farther Discoveries of Africa and India Soon after this Information King John died in the Year 1495. Emanuel succeeding him and willing to go on with the Work of Discoveries advised with his Peerage what was best to be done in so high a Concern His Council consisting more of private than publick Spirits who aim at Grandeurs and the general good first looking upon the difficulty danger and great Charge then considering as to the Honor and Profit they had gotten enough by the Discoveries in Africa already and it were meer madness to take upon them more than they were able to perform for sending fresh Ships and new Colonies to Plant remoter Countreys would weaken the Kingdom and disable their Navy neither would these new-found Lands turn to any other account more than to maintain those that settled there these and the like they alledged The publick-spirited Party which were and are commonly the fewest in all great Consultations convinced them in all their Arguments saying That they had no cause to complain of the Honor and Profit which the Nation had already gotten in their first Discoveries but that it should rather encourage them to proceed The King's Treasure being better suppli'd and the whole Nation much employ'd and more enrich'd by this their foreign Trade and should they neglect what they had so happily begun and undertaken they would not onely lose their Expence and Pains but the whole Affair would in time by degrees moulder away to nothing And if we should wave such honorable Enterprises as these who would attempt discourag'd by our example any Business that had the least face of difficulty or danger Thus the business being highly debated the King hearkned onely to those of his Council who advis'd according to his judgment and inclination and with all diligence speedily set forth four Ships well appointed with Soldiers Sea-men and all other Necessaries making Vasco de Gama their Admiral adding his Brother Paulo and Nicolao Celio for his assistance who set Sail on the tenth of June Anno 1497 follow'd with great sorrow cries and tears of the Adventurers Wives Children and their nearest Relations being possess'd with a prejudice that the Voyage was so long and dangerous that they should never see them again Having weigh'd Anchor first they directed their Course to the Fortunate Isles from thence to the Hesperides and having clear'd Cape de Verd they steer'd more Easterly till he lost all sight of Land and lay engag'd in the wide and open Sea three Moneths together when in ten Degrees of Southern Latitude Land appear'd towards which he made with all possible speed and soon anchor'd in the Mouth of a pleasant River where Landing he found some of the Natives whose Hair was short and curl'd and they of a swarthy Complexion were naked who never knowing what belong'd to Commerce nor having seen any Strangers before they made but small Traffick with them onely trucking Spikes and several sorts of Nails for Cattel and Fruit. Gama call'd this Place St. Hellens Bay and the River falling in it St. James River SEFALE From hence having refresh'd themselves they Sail'd on but making little way being ruffl'd often with foul Weather hollow Seas and a contrary Current still running Westward yet at last they reach'd the Confines of Zanguebar which he so call'd from the Name of that Saint and soon after cast Anchor
before Sofala the chief City of that Countrey They come to Sofala where he found the Inhabitants more civiliz'd who thought themselves very gay in Copper Hoops or Rings which they wore as Bracelets and Armlets and proud of Daggers with Cotton Hilts using a Language altogether unknown but one of the Towns-men spake Arabick by whom they understood that a white People in Vessels like theirs had traffick'd with them formerly Vasco de Gama had ten Convicts or condemn'd Persons in his Fleet sent by the King who sav'd their lives to be put ashore where the Admiral thought fit there to wander and seek their Fortunes and if they liv'd to make Observations of the Countrey and learn the Language which hereafter might come to some account two of these he turn'd ashore leaving them there for that purpose Mean while staying a Moneth at Sofala a great Sickness happen'd in the Fleet from the alteration of Diet which before was scarce and salt now fresh and plentiful of which many died To Mosambique The next start he made was to Mosambique a rich City famous for Trade and Commerce situated in a small Isle under fifteen Degrees of Southern Latitude Here the Merchants and Citizens went all in Sattin embroider'd with Gold and wear great Turbants of fine Linnen Simiters hanging across their Shoulders and in their left Hand a Buckler who being thus Habited came in small Boats aboard the Admiral who civilly and kindly treated them where Discoursing they told him That their King was call'd Abraham and was the sole Monarch of Mosambique but under him his Xeque or Lieutenant Govern'd the City That he was call'd Zocacia Gama soon after conversing and being amongst them got so much in theirs and the Deputies favor that he obtain'd two Pilots who undertook to carry his Fleet safe to the East-Indies which kindness of theirs arose from a mistake supposing them to be Western Saracens but afterwards understanding that they were Christians all this sweetning and good will turn'd to rancor and hatred the Pilots first repenting abhorring to do any thing for Unbelievers leapt over-board and so swimming to Shore deserted the whole business The Portuguese being troubled at this high affront conceiving their relinquishing of them was influenc'd from the Town it self brought all their Guns to bear upon them Fires at the City which discharging they hurt and slew several of the Inhabitants insomuch that Zacocia was forc'd to call a Council who there resolv'd to send him another Pilot which had also private instruction in stead of carrying them to their designed Port to betray and deliver them up to the King of Quiloa making them believe that they were Abyssine Christians who would kindly receive and furnish them with all sorts of Provisions This treachery they willingly undertook out of malice and detestation they bore to Christianity Thence weighing Anchor Gama hasted with a fair Gale to the Port of Quiloa suspecting nothing to his utter ruine which was there decreed as before mention'd when Providence being now ready to enter the Mouth of the Harbor sent a terrible Storm but indeed a friendly one which in spite of all his endeavors Tacking to get in drove him at last back into the Offin and so much to the Leeward that by his treacherous Pilots advice and they willing to save their lives steer'd his Coast to Mombaza a City or rather a Fortress being built on a Rock impregnable almost Moated round about by the Sea Here Gama having no sooner dropt his Anchors but the Inhabitants delighting in Novelty came flocking in great Companies aboard who entertain'd them with all civility whilst the Pilots not forgetting their treacherous Design inveigl'd the Inhabitants having the advantage of the Tongue first telling them that they were Christians and that they would do God and their Countrey good Service besides their own private benefit being able to over-power them to seize their Ships and sacrifice those unbelieving Dogs Thus concluding they inform'd one another going from Ship to Ship as if upon curiosity and pleasure resolving to put in action what they had thus concluded when the Decks were more fill'd with the Inhabitants This matter was the easier to perform because one of his Ships he had burnt already being not able to Man her losing so many in their last great Sickness But Gama not liking his Anchorage being too much within and too near some Rocks if he by stress of Weather should chance to drive suddenly upon better consideration gave order to weigh and to Anchor as he suppos'd in a fitter place to Ride in and to moore his Vessels A Plot against Gama discover'd and by what means Now the Saracen Pilots seeing an unexpected hurry amongst the Sailers busie to and again about their Tackle bending to Sea-wards thought their Plot discover'd and that they were carrying them clear away leapt suddenly over-board muttering they were betray'd the rest of the Natives taking the Alarm as soon follow'd them Diving under Water like a Flock of Sea-Fowl not appearing till they were out of Musquet-shot rejoycing they had so escaped But this Rout was not so sudden nor were they all so ready in making of their escape but that he took thirteen Prisoners and also carry'd away with him two of their Vessels that lay near him Gama takes two Vessels amongst which he found an expert and honest Pilot who first truly inform'd him that the City Melinde was not far distant from thence being almost under the Equinox and that their King was an affable Prince receiving all Strangers with great civility The Admiral Gama being thus encourag'd and believing the Pilots report follow'd his directions Steering streight on for Melinde where they found though a Saracen his Relation to be true The Melindian King having withdrawn himself being old from all publick Address and Business sent a handsom Present as a token of Amity and true Friendship by the young Prince his Son and soon after provided him an excellent Pilot who conducted his Fleet in twenty days safely to Calicut in the East-Indies Description of Calicut The City Calicut lies on the Coast of Malabar and though it boasts no Haven or any safe Harbor and yearly much troubl'd especially in the latter end of May with foul Weather and overgrown Seas raging with sudden and often violent Heuricanes yet by its great Commerce and Trade is a famous rich and well peopled Seat It happen'd that the Portuguese arriv'd there in the midst of this their turbulent Winter getting within two Leagues of the City and soon after there being a short intermission of Rain and Tempest the Inhabitants being able came aboard in nimble Skiffs for that purpose and Gama hoisting out his Pinnace went ashore with some chosen Men carrying another of the foremention'd condemn'd Persons along with him who being turn'd loose to seek his Fortune and distinctly habited from the rest the People flock'd about him amongst which happen'd to be
THis Spacious and Wealthy Isle by the Natives call'd Nippon and formerly by the Spaniards Argantana and in the Year of Christ Twelve hundred according to that Famous Author Paulus Venetus Chryse and Zipangry hath on the East-side California Its bordering Countreys and New-Granada but at a vast distance an Ocean of a thousand Leagues spreading betwixt Westward but far off it looks upon the Isle of Corca and Great China Hugh Linschot reckons the nearest Promontories or Head-lands stretching from China to Japan to be eighty Leagues distance The North opposes the Land of Jesso and the Straights of Anian and beyond all the Coast of America The South verges on the Philippines Mindanao Gilolo and the Molucco Isles And Latitude It extends from thirty to forty Degrees Northern-Latitude so that the longest day is fourteen Hours fifteen Minutes and the shortest nine Hours forty five Minutes Their highest Sun appears 15 Degrees at Noon short of the Zenith The Air differs not much from the Temperature of the Islands Sardinia Rhodes Cyprus Candia and Sicilia and like that of the main Land of Portugal and Spain and as moderate as Arabia Syria Persia and China Division of the same ¶ JApan is divided into five Provinces Jamaystero Jetsengo Jetsesen Quanto and Ochio besides the Isles Saykok and Chiccock Maffeus calls Saykok Ximum making that seven Provinces but Francis Cairon being an Eye-Witness deserves more to be credited He affirms That several Kings Govern there and also in Chiccock one King and three Vice-Roys That part of this Countrey that is call'd corruptly Japan boasts two Metropolitans Miaco and Jedo Maffeus also tells us That this hath fifty three Kingdoms amongst which he names Miaco and Amangutium saying Miaco consists of twenty three and Amangutium of thirty Kingdoms but of late all these petty Kingdoms are fallen into the Lap of one Sole Monarch or Emperor who keeps his Magnificent Court at Jedo But Japan also besides Saykok and Chiccock lies surrounded with several lesser Isles as Hiu Tacaxuma Iquicuchi Canga Firando Meacxima Oeno Cocyque Beroe Oqui Murgan Avans Mettogamma Meho Mianisinu Sando being full of Silver Mines Vulcans Isle and Vulcania often ejecting hideous Flames to the Sky lying to the West beyond the Straights of Diemon which washes the Isles Chiccock and Tacaxuma The Territory of Ochio ¶ OChio the North-East Territory of Japan borders on the vast Wildes of Jesso For the Inlet or Bay which divides them runs not up above forty Leagues there ending stopt by the Mountains of Ochio Description of the great Countrey Jesso ¶ THe Extent of Jesso being Mountainous and abounding with costly Furs is yet unknown although the Emperors of Japan were much concern'd taking great pains about the Discovery thereof to that purpose imploying several Persons at his own Cost and Charges who made search over Rocks and Mountains and almost inaccessible Places explor'd vast and wild Countreys very far but found no end though they diligently inquir'd of the People who being Salvages could give them no Account further than where they dwelt So after long Toyl and Trouble they were forc'd to return without any Effect of their Design as we said before The Jesuit Lodowick Frojus in his Letter of the eight and twentieth of February 1565. to the Indian Fathers writes thus concerning the Inhabitants of Jesso Against the Northermost Part of Japan about three hundred Leagues from Meaco is a very large Countrey full of Salvage People The Inhabitants of Jesso are horrible People which are Cloth'd in Skins of Wild Beasts Hairy all over their Bodies having exceeding great Beards and long Whiskers or Mustachioes which they turn up with Sticks made for that purpose when they drink They covet and are very desirous of Wine also Valiant in War and therefore much fear'd by the Japanners If by chance they receive any Hurts in an Encounter their onely Application is Salt Water with which they bathe and wash the Wound so drying it up On their Bosoms they wear Looking-Glasses which serve them as Shields or Breast-plates Their Swords they tye about their Heads in such a manner that the Hilt thereof hangs on their Shoulders They onely Worship the Moon Aquita a great City stands in the Territory of Genuaen bordering Jesso Hither the Natives come in great Numbers to Trade and also the Aquitans Travel to them but not in such Multitudes because they are oftentimes cut off and murder'd by the Inhabitants Error of the Geographers concerning Japan ¶ THe Maps of the World our Terrestrial Globe have till of late plac'd nothing beyond Aquita but the Ocean though long since confuted by Hugh Linschot proving upon the testimony of the Jesuit Frojus who deserves to be more credited as having resided a long time in Japan than some of our Geographers who set down by hear-say the Largeness and Extent of Japan without any Proofs or Testimony whereas it is made manifest That Japan extends it self much further than commonly drawn Moreover Francis Cairon Ambassador to the Emperor of Japan at Jedo witnesses That the Largeness of this Countrey is not known to the Inhabitants themselves Mistake of Maffeus and Cluverius Therefore Maffeus is much mistaken when he sets down the length of Japan to be two hundred Leagues and its greatest breadth but thirty And Cluverius in his Geography reckons the length to be an hundred and fifty Leagues and the breadth seventy Hazarts ignorance concerning the Description of Japan But none more errs in this than the Jesuit Cornelius Hazart in his History of the Island of Japan which that we may the better answer hear his own Words Japonien or as others call it Japan by the Inhabitants Nippon is a Territory lying in the farthest Point of the East being the outmost Borders of Asia which to prove he quotes Isaiah cap. 18. ver 2. For although to the West to the Frontiers of China Vide Isaiah is no more than fifty Leagues says he and to the City Amacoa two hundred ninety seven and on the South having so vast an Ocean no known Countrey being beyond Japan may certainly be call'd The Worlds End And standing divided into so many small Islands that a Geographer of our times calls it also A World of Isles the chiefest of which are Niphon Ximus and Xicocus consisting of sixty six several Kingdoms The Isle of Niphon reckons fifty three boasting also many stately Cities of which the Metropolis is Meaco The Island Ximus hath nine and several handsom Towns amongst which Usuquin Funai and Cangoxima The Isle Xicocus accounts no more than four Kingdoms Which being taken together Japonien is as big as all Italy Though this his Style be ridiculous yet his Ignorance and so strangely false Description is so much more that he ought rather to be pittied and laugh'd at as one distracted than to be answer'd but that we are bound in Conscience to undeceive his believing Readers Hazart's false
house of Entertainment for Ambassadors and Envoys The description of the mighty City Osacca ¶ AS to what concerns Osacca it is an Imperial City and the Metropolis of the Territory of Quioo Near the mouth of the River an obstructing Rock divides the Channel making it troublesom and dangerous for those that pass the River runs up Northerly branching through the middle of Osacca and also through Meaco making many Sands and Shoals and at last looseth it self in a spreading Lake beyond that City On the utmost Point or Promontory of the River stands the King's Custom-House where all Ships must touch that pass by the same there paying such Customs as belongs to their Cargo with which they are Freighted this House rais'd each Story with a several Roof shews very stately and is to be seen far into the Sea Mountains near Osacca On each side appear two rising Hills which hinder the Prospect of the East and West side of the City onely some of the high Spires appear above The Water-Castle of Osacca Opposite to the Custom-house stands the Kings Block-house surrounded with a strong Wall rais'd out of the River ready and fully replenish'd for all Occasions with well-mounted Cannon The Emperor Xogunsama began to build this Fort but his Son Toxogunsama succeeding him in his Imperial Throne Anno 1629. finish'd and Garison'd it in the space of three Years Store-houses against Fire Behind the same are built ten Store-houses opposite to the Sea with a broad Street and a Stone Cause-way These Ware-houses are exceeding large and built all of Stone that they may not suffer Damage by Fire Imperial Turrets There are also several Towers in which the Emperor keeps his Treasure collected from the Isles Chiccock Saycock and Tonsa Besides these foremention'd Buildings Water-Gate is also seen the Water-Gate through which the Custom'd Goods go in and out having a great and broad pair of Stairs which descend to the Sea and a Guard of five hundred Soldiers constantly attending the same Somewhat further is the Emperors Ship-yard which is of a great Circumference having many Docks in the same wherein continually all manner of Vessels are a building whose Hulls they make generally very broad The other part of the City stands behind the Hills but is divided from them by a Rivulet The Governors House A little way up the River from the Sea is the Governors House curiously built and within full of costly Rooms and rises aloft in manner of a Steeple with four Roofs The Temple of Devils Between this Edifice and the Block-house appears the lofty Roof of the Temple of Infernals within which the Japanners worship a horrible Image Their Idols very horrible His Head represents that of a Wild Boar with two great Tusks sticking out of his Jaws and adorn'd with a stately Crown full of Diamonds and other Precious Stones Over his Breast hangs a Scarf which is parted in the middle and that which makes it the more terrible to behold are four out-spread Arms of which one of the left stands upwards holding a Ring on the longest Finger the other hanging downwards holds a Flower not unlike a Lilly The uppermost Right Hand gripes fast a small Dragons Head spitting Fire the lowermost a Golden Scepter trampling with his Feet upon the Belly and Thigh of another Devil which lies along under him He having his Head all hairy and a pair of Ox Horns graffed thereon with an Iron Chain about his Neck a Girdle with great Buttons about his Middle a long Tail between his Leggs and broad Garters about his Knees the Right Arm stretch'd out and the left bended in to his Side is as dreadful a Spectacle as the other These horrid Shapes they nominate Joosie Tiedebak How they call them and God they call contrarily Joosie Goesar The Japanners honor and worship these resemblances of Devils with all manner of Offerings to the end they might not receive any hurt from them The Image of their Devil Vitziputzli The same Opinion have the Western Indians of their Devil Vitziliputzli whom they Worship and Reverence with great Zeal This Vitziliputzli sits on a Silver Foot-stool which stands upon a Bier whose four ends have as many Props with Serpents or Adders Heads fix'd on them The Forehead of this Idol is painted blue with two Streaks of the same Colour athwart his Nose running to each Ear. His Head like a long-Bill'd Bird is impalled with stately Plume of Feathers the tip of the Bill of massie Gold In his Left Hand he holds a white round Box and five white Plumes pleited cross-ways over one another in the middle a Branch which signifies Victory On his Side hang four Arrows which according to the Opinion of the Mexicans were sent him from Heaven His Right Hand rests on a Staff in manner of a Serpent painted with blue Streaks Upon his Bosom appears the Face of a Man with glaring Eyes a high Nose and a wide Mouth opening before or near the Orifice of his Stomach Thus stood he for the most part vail'd with a Curtain his Body almost cover'd with Chains of Pearls Diamonds and other Precious Stones which hung round with various colour'd Plumes like Labels The Devil Tezcatlipuca They no less fear their Demon Tezcatlipuca made of black Jet and cloath'd in a rich Habit In his mouth he holds a Silver Spike about a Finger long in which sometimes stick Green other times Red Plumes of Feathers which distinguish'd Colours they wear as Favors at their several Festivals Between both his Ears hang many Gems of great Value and about his Neck an Emrauld that covers most part of his Breast also wearing Golden Armlets On his Navil a costly Topaz his Left-hand bearing a Fan of Gold being a Plate so curiously pollish'd that it well perform'd the Office of a Mirror or Looking-glass by the Mexicans call'd Itlachcaia wherein they believe Tezcatlipuca sees all the Transactions of the World by which he Judges Determines and Punishes or Prefers every one according to their well or ill doing Therefore he stands ready with four Darts to distribute upon those which commit the highest Offences The Tempell of the Idoll Canon TEMPEL VAN DEN AFGODT KANON The Watch-house in Osacca is very stately ¶ BUt return again to the Description of the Imperial City Osacca Behind the Diabollical Temple spreading it self along the Shore stands a Watch-Tower a more than Royal Building rais'd extraordinary high in the great Street which leads to the City Saccai At some distance from this next you may behold a large and stately Temple in which is a wonderful Idol being fifty Foot high Its Head all of Silver presented by the King of Bom whose Countrey abounds with Mines of that Metal Imperial Banquetting-house On the Left-hand at the lower end of the City opens from behind the Hill a fair Prospect of the Imperial Tower crown'd with an almost unmeasurable
it into the Fire and Meal-cakes Vid Virgil Hemes What Observations made not the Augurists out of the Flight and various Voyces of Birds Others of Howling of Wolves With Birds and Barking of Dogs Swarming of Bees Voyces in the Air Numbers Lots and Dreams Of Spirits and imaginary Spectrums Of their certainty of Future Fortunes by Physiognomy and Palmistry The appearing of Blazing Comets and their Astrological Predictions by the various Configurations of the Celestial Bodies Who first found out Soothsaying and Conjuring The Greeks having all their Learning from the East say That Zoroaster was the first of the Magi that studied and brought to light Magical Conclusions whether Natural or Diabolical For such and so abstruse were some of their Practices that not being able to make out the Reason most Ages have suppos'd That many of them have been perform'd by Demons and Cacademons Evil Spirits which after was brought by Osthanes who follow'd Xerxes wonderful Army into Europe Which Juggling Art Democritus describes at large finding the Original Practices in Phenicia Apollonica Captidenes and Dardanus So that Antiquity concludes That the Assyrians Chaldeans and Persians and other Eastern Countreys under which we may reckon China and Tartary were the first Soothsayers and Magicians So that we need not wonder that Japan at this day continuing still under Idolatry nurses great store of Sorcerers and Wizards who without dispute came thither from China the Place of their first Original Netherland Ambassadors proceed in their Journey ¶ BUt the Netherland Ambassadors Frisius and Brookhurst having refresh'd themselves with a good Dinner and delighted in hearing the strange Relation of the Japan-Priests call'd Janambuxi who ascended the top of Fusinojamma they left the Village Jussiwarra and rode along a Sandy-way through Farri The Common Road being very dusty they cross'd over to a Meadow wash'd by the Sea which directed them to a great Village call'd Nomatz Thence going on they came to Missima lying at the Foot of Mount Faccone The Way that led thither was exceeding pleasant both sides being shaded with Trees Missima burnt In this City which was destroy'd by Fire but eight Months before and since rebuilt in that time the Ambassadors lodg'd one Night Ambassadors hire fresh Horses The next Morning they hir'd divers Horses to carry the Netherlanders and their Retinue over the Mountain Faccone for their other Horses were much tired and these fresh ones better us'd to Travel the craggy Paths of Faccone being kept for that purpose Thus fitted about seven a clock they ascended the Mountain and passing through several Villages not without great trouble and danger The Village Faccone of what kind about Noon they enter'd Faccone scituate near a Navigable River on a Mountain and surrounded by many others The River destitute of Fish is seventy and eighty Fathom deep and in some Places ninety and a hundred The Gate of Faccone why so strong Guarded After Dinner they rode through a Gate at the end of the Village which was Fortified by a Castle where all Persons were stopp'd that were carried in Sedans or rid on Horseback except the Japan-Nobility And on each side the Gate stands a Watch-house with four Rooms being square and open the Walls hung with Arms being Muskets Pikes and Scymiters The Soldiers fit on the Ground cross-legg'd Description of the Japan Sentme's They use a Game or Play among them not unlike our Draughts which requires great Leisure and Study In this Exercise they spend much time in their fore-mention'd Watch-houses or else they smoke Tobacco exercise their Pikes Fence with their Swords or shoot at a Mark. At one end of the Watch-house hangs a great Lanthorn with fine Painted Linnen in stead of Glass or Horn at the other end a Flag with the Emperors Arms and those of the Governor of the Castle At each end stands a Sentinel one being Arm'd with a Musket and the other with a Pike Strange manner of Notes to be bought for the Deceas'd ¶ MOreover along the River on whose Banks stands the Village Faccone are also three Temples of the Japan-Priests to which they repair from all parts of the Countrey where for a small piece of Money about the value of Three-pence they buy a Ticket which they stick upon the Stones that lie near the River by which means as they imagine the Souls of their deceas'd Friends have free egress and regress to drink of the Water of the said River THey also spend two days in August in Remembrance of Departed Souls which thus they perform Towards the Evening they light many Torches being curiously painted How the Japanners visit the Souls of the Deceas'd with Dishes of Meat and other things with which walking round about the Town or Village some out of Zeal and some as Spectators when grown dark they proceed out of the City where as they fancy and verily believe they meet with the Departed Souls Here though they see nothing they generally cry aloud saying Ah welcome welcome Where have you been this long time Where have you been Sit down and refresh your selves you must needs be weary and tired with such a Journey Which said they prepare a light Treatment of Rice Fruits and other Provisions and the meaner sort of People bring warm Water after they have been there an Hour as if they had waited on them at their Collation then making Excuses for their mean Fare they invite the Deceas'd Souls to their Houses saying We will go before and prepare your Lodgings and provide better Cheer against your coming Then two days being past they all go out of the City with Torches that so they may light the Souls of the Dead to the end they should not stumble by the way and after they have thus conducted them out every one returns home throwing Stones against and chiefly on the tops of their Houses to the end that none of the Souls may hide themselves for if they stay longer than two days they take it as an ill Omen Moreover they seem also to be very careful of them fearing that if they should stay behind and go alone they would easily lose their way to Paradise or be destroy'd by Tempestuous Weather Distance of the Japan-Paradise ¶ BEsides this their vain Folly of Entertaining the Dead they reckon Paradise exactly to be Eleven hundred thousand Leagues neither more or less distant from them which long Journey the Souls that are Aerial Bodies finish in three Years time Wherefore they set two days apart bringing them Provisions and entertaining them in their Houses that so they may be refresh'd and the better able to proceed on in their Journey Cleansing the Graves At the same time also they make clean all the Graves in which Office the Bonzis's assist them but are well paid for their Labor None though never so poor but will endeavor to get so much Money as to pay their Priest for
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
from the Moat that surrounds the Palace betwixt which is a broad Path always throng'd with People and thousands of Coaches and Sedans continually going and coming The Walls are built of Freeze-stone very high and thick with Battlements on the tops The outermost Wall is surrounded with a broad and dry Trench and over the same a Bridge with several Arches The Gate made strong with thick driven Iron Nails is built four-square two Stories high each Square or Story having a peculiar Roof jetting several Foot over the Walls on each side of the upper Square hang two long Flags or Pennons with the Emperors Arms The Gate is continually Guarded by a strong Watch. Round about the inside of the Out-wall are an innumerable company of little Hovels for the Soldiers These Huts are built exactly in a Line and border a second Moat which is not without several Creeks because the second Wall juts out in many Places being a Bulwark with many Towers in all which are strong Guards kept as on the Out-wall In the second Gate is also a great Watch kept to which joyns a third Trench Hath three Moats and Walls over which leads a fair Stone Bridge at the end whereof a third Gate opens between another Stone Wall very sumptuously built Strange Wall of the Palace This is not a plain straight Wall but rather a Bulwark with Redoubts and Out-works and several Flankers Towers and Watch-houses yet uniform answering one another So that it rather seems a Fortification than a Wall When you are past the third Gate you enter into a spacious Quadrangle where before you but as far as you can discern appears the Emperors Banquetting-house with stately Turrets surrounded with Trees and strong Walls On the Left-hand it is indented but on the Right smooth and even running along a Hill on which the Emperor's Temple stands Nearer the third Gate are several lesser Courts The first being square hath many fair Lodgings about the same supported on twenty eight Cedar Columns being open underneath like Piazza's over which Rooms a Roof shoots out sloaping and hath a second Story on the top Wall'd round about over whose four Corners jets another Roof Next this Court is a second in which seveval Lodgings resting on four Columns which face the Entry Behind these is another new stately Building inclos'd within a Wall The Emperors Garden ¶ THese Outward or Base-Courts are more delighful by the Pospect of the Emperors Garden which wants not any thing that Nature Art and Cost can afford the Walks Arbour'd with Trees the Beds of Flowers curiously divided one from the other borders on the side of a Hill whose top is crown'd with a Temple in which the Emperor pays his daily Devotion The Palaces of the Emperors nearest Relations But on the left-hand of the foremention'd third Gate are many beautiful Houess the lowermost Roof of which adorn'd on all Corners with great Golden Balls hath on it several Rooms and Balconies from whence they have a large Prospect of the foremention'd open Court and the three double Bulwarks Between this first Palace and the third Inner-wall are daily drawn up the Emperor's Guard being three thousand Men which keep constant Watch there Next to this first Palace joyns a second which exceeds the other in length but is nothing near so high the Roof also adorn'd with Golden Balls Between these two Palaces stands a sumptuous Fabrick like a Tower All which Places are the Residences of the Emperor's nearest Relations Description of the Emperors Lodgings Behind these appears the most magnificent and stately Residence of the Emperor adorn'd with three exceeding high Turrets each being square rising aloft with nine Stories Above every Story the Roof jets over so much that it seems to lessen the Rooms the middle Turret being the biggest on whose top glister two large Dolphins cover'd with a Golden Plate lifting their Tails up to the Sky Opposite against which stands a spacious Hall on gilded Columns the Cieling curiously carv'd and gilded the Roof also shines like Gold In this Place his Imperial Majesty always sits when he gives Audience to Forreign Ambassadors or any of his Substitute Kings or Princes On one side of this Hall the Women belonging to the Court have their several Lodgings ¶ AFter the Lords Frisius and Brookhurst had had their Audience on the seventh of April before four of the Chief Councellors and repair'd back to their Lodgings Fresius and Brookhurst come to Court a second time they were on the next day by Orders from Sukingodonne and Sobrosaymondonne fetch'd again to Court in two Sedans their Retinue following them on Horseback and entring the Palace they staid a while in the foremention'd Halls Frisius was first admitted to come before the Council and soon after Brookhurst where at that time they treated on nothing onely the Council presented the Netherland-Ambassadors with several Silk Habits which the Emperor had given them in return and then were Licens'd to depart to Nangesaque The Emperor visits his Fathers Tomb every year ¶ HIther the Japan Emperor comes with a great Train of Nobles to make Offerings to his Deceas'd Father which he first Consecrates with a long Prayer in the Chappel before the first Gate of which the Front of the lowest Story rests on four square Pillars half way plaister'd in the Walls which between the Walls is curiously painted The Doors double on both sides of which and in the middle stand six Zuilen two and two together On the Edges of the broad-brimm'd Roof hang gilded Images The lowermost Story hath a Second Building divided into five Rooms Copper Candlestick Within this Chappel hangs a Copper Branch or Candlestick which the East-India Company presented by Francis Cairon to the Emperor of Japan the third of May Anno 1636. This Candlestick hath thirty Branches weighing seven hundred ninety six Pounds And besides this Cairon presented also to the Emperor two great Persian Alcatives one Piece of Black Velvet twelve Fowling-Guns and fourteen Pieces of all sorts of Cloth The Privy-Councellors Samuchedonne Oiendonne Actwadonne Cangadonne Taikimondonne Jusdonne Chimadonne Bongodonne Triussima Bitchioudonne Okradonne Neysiendonne and Deysiendonne got every one of them peculiar Presents besides the Inferior Officers at the Emperors Court ¶ MOreover The Japanners are exceeding ambitious of perpetuating their Name sparing no Cost in their Sepulchres The Funeral-Rites of their Nobles are thus Celebrated Strange kind of Funerals us'd in Japan An Hour before the Corps is carried out of the House the nearest Relations of the Deceased walk before towards the Funeral-Pyre being all clad in white Silk which is generally their Mourning Habit Then the Women follow both Married and Unmarried covering their Faces with a Vail of several Colours Men of great Estates are commonly carried in Herses of Cedar curiously Carv'd The Bonzi's Ceremony with the Dead At a considerable distance follows one of the chiefest
Bonzi the Minister that performs the Funeral-Rites in a great Coach which shines being all Silk and Gold Thirty Bonzies more run about the Coach they wear broad-brimm'd Hats over a fine Linnen Surplice a Black Cloke cover'd with a gray upper Garment each carrying a long Torch lighted made of Pine-Branches which they say lights the Defunct that he may not mistake or miss the Way These thirty are follow'd by two hundred more who call aloud upon that God or Idol which he most Worshipp'd when alive They also beat on great Copper Basons and carry two large Baskets full of Artificial Paper-Roses of divers Colours which they tie at the end of a long Stick shaking them as they go in such a manner that the Roses fly out of the Baskets that being a sign as they say That the Soul of the Deceas'd is already gone to the Place of Everlasting Happiness After these follow eight Youths young Bonzies in two Rows who trail after them long Canes with Flags each Inscrib'd with the Name of his Idol They also carry eight Lanthorns with lighted Candles which in stead of Horn are cover'd with fine Cotton Near these Lanthorn-carriers walk two Youths in gray Clothes which carry also Pine-Torches which they light when they come out of the City and with these kindle the Fire that must consume the dead Body The remaining Ceremony Next before the Corps walk a great number of People all in gray Clothes their Heads cover'd with little three-corner'd Caps of black shining Leather on which they pin small Papers written with the Name of his Idol And that it may be more conspicuous a Man follows which carries in a Frame in large Characters the Name of that God he had so much ador'd The Corps it self Then follows the Corps it self which is carried by four Men on a Bier cover'd with a Bed very richly adorn'd on which sits the dead Body with his Head bent forward and his Hands folded together being cloth'd all in white over which hangs a Paper Coat being a Book concerning the Mysterious Devotions belonging to his Deity and full of Prayers That he would be pleas'd in mercy to save him After the Corps follow the Sons of the Deceas'd in comely Habits the youngest Son carrying also a Torch of Pine to kindle the Funeral-Pyre Last of all comes a second Rabble of Common People suited with black Caps as the former How the dead are burnt in Japan When coming near the Pyle they stand in a Ring and soon after make a hideous Noise the Bonzies striking with great force on their Copper Basons and Kettles and all the People calling aloud on the Name of his Idol which continues a whole Hour during which they prepare the Pit being square and Rail'd about and hung with Mats Towards the four Points of Heaven are four Entrances being the East West North and South The Pit is cover'd over with Canvas and on each side of it stands a Table with all manner of Fruits near the Table Pots smoking with Perfumes and Frankincense no sooner they approach near the Inclosed place but they throw a long Rope over the Corps on which every one lays their hands and call on the name of their Idol several times together then they walk three times about the inclosed place At last they set the Bier with the Bed and Corps on the Funeral-pyre to which the Bonzi who Conducted the whole Train steps forth and Mutters several Words which none of those that are present can understand and takes a burning Torch which he Waves three times over the Head of the Dead Body signifying by those Circles that the Soul of the Deceased had never beginning nor shall ever have an end when done he throws away the Torch which two of the nearest Relations to the Deceased whereof one stands at the East end of the Bier and the other at the West as a Ceremony reaching it over the Corps to one another thrice together then they throw it on the Pyle whilest others pour on Sweet Oil then setting Fire which kindles so suddenly and grows to that height that the Body is consum'd in a moment Strange Custom when the body is burnt In the Interim his Sons and kindred walk towards the two Tables where setting Fire to the Pots with Perfumes they fall on their Knees and Worship the Deceased then as they believe to be in Heaven This finish'd their Bonzies are rewarded according to their several Services and the Chief Orderer of the Funeral receives at least twenty Duckets and the other Officers lesser Sums After the departure of the Friends and Bonzies to their several Houses then the Common People and those which were Habited in Grey make merry about the Fire with such Food as stands on the Tables On the next day the Children and Friends of the Deceased repair again to the Funeral Fire where they gather the Ashes Teeth and Bones in a Gilded Pot or Urn which they carry home and covering it over with a Cloth set it in one of the chief Rooms of the House Make repetition Sermon after what manner Thither all the Bonzies come to make a Repetition of the Funeral Sermon On the seventh day they begin their Visit and set the Urn with the Relicks on the Ground others set down a square Stone on which is Engraven the Name of the Idol After this the Sons go daily to their Father's Grave on which they strow Roses and place hot Liquor and set several Dishes of Meat about it so that their Father's Soul may be refresh'd Bon a dead Fast But besides these Funerals which commonly cost those that are able at least three thousand Duckets and the ordinary Citizens generally two or three hundred They keep on one day yearly a general Feast through the whole City which they call Bon dedicated to all the souls of their deceas'd friends on which day each hangs a Lanthorn and Candle at his Door and all visit the Graves of their several Relations great multitudes carrying out of the City Chargers full of Variety of Cates with which they Treat as they believe their departed Spirits then inviting them home to their Houses of which we have already spoke at large The corps of poor people misused The Funerals of the Poor People are no way to be compar'd to those of the Rich for not one Bonzi follows their Dead they having no Money for to satisfie them for their Labor without which they will not budge one Foot so that they onely take care for to provide Food for the Departed Souls and the more because most of them either publick or private are against the Immortality of the Soul therefore the Dead Bodies of the Poor of which there are very great numbers in Japan they throw in the night time in some private place or other or else upon the nearest Dunghil Departure of the Netherland Ambassadors from Jedo ¶ BUt to return
put their trust in Rats destroy without mercy all Crocodiles Besides Strabo Juvenal sat 15. Cicero Diodorus Siculus Juvenal Plutarch and Aelianus witness How the Egyptian Ombits worshipped the Crocodiles with as great Zeal as the Greeks and Latins did their gods but the Apolletick Egyptians curs'd their Crocodile because Tiphon transform'd into a Crocodile slew Osiris and also because the Daughter of Psammymitus King of Egypt was likewise devour'd by a Crocodile Moreover he relates Strab. Geog. lib. 17. How that the Psyli a People in Cyreen and the Egyptian Tentyrietes have a private Charm against Serpents and the other against Crocodiles which they can both order according to their pleasure Crocodile by whom taken without prejudice The Tentyrietes dive without any fear to the bottom of deep Lakes and Rivers after the Crocodiles and kill them with great ease to which end when they were to shew this amongst their publick Shows in Rome they leapt into the Water and fetch'd them up to the open view of the whole Concourse The same Strabo relates also of Arsino formerly call'd the Crocodile City That the Priests there feed those Beasts with Cakes Flesh and Wine which was brought as an Offering by strangers and laid near a Consecrated Lake Maximus Tyrius dissert 31. Miracle of a Crocodile ¶ MAximus Tyrius relates That an Egyptian Woman feeding and breeding up a young Crocodile was accounted holy by the Egyptians because she Nurs'd a Deity and therefore both she and the Crocodile were daily Worshipp'd by many of the Egyptians This Woman also had a Son about the same Age as the Crocodile a long time the Youth and the Serpent agreed playing together but at last growing old and fierce with hunger he prey'd upon the Boy and eat him up the Mother being much amaz'd at this sad accident yet she esteem'd her Son happy because the Crocodile which she held for a god had devour'd him By this ignorance of the Heathens appears plainly Gods Wrath and Divine Judgements men Adoring in the presence of a Never-dying and Omnipotent God that which is not onely Mortal and Frail but much Inferior to themselves But who can give us a better account and the reason of Worshipping of Beasts than the never-failing School-master of the Heathens I will here set down the whole words written in the first Epistle to the Romans Rom. 1. v. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shew'd it unto them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse Because that when they knew God they glorifi'd him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Professing themselves to be wise they became Fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping things Wherefore God also gave them up to unleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipp'd and serv'd the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen There is scarce one living Creature either on the Earth Sea or Air which the Heathens do not worship Strabo saith thus of the Egyptians Strab. Geogr. lib. 17. There are some Beasts which they serve joyntly three of them inhabiting the Earth as an Ox a Dog and a Cat Of flying Fowls the Hawk and the Bird Ibis Of Fishes those call'd Lepidotus and Oxyrinchus Besides these there are also other Creatures which they serve For the Saiten and Thebans adore a Sheep the Latopolitans the Fish Latus which swims in the River Nyle the Lycopolitans a Wolf the Hermopolitans the Baboon whose head is like that of a Dog the Babylonians living near Memphis an Ape these Apes are like Satyrs half their bodies like Dogs the other half resembles a Bear they are bred in the Moors Countrey The Thebans Worship a Crane the Leontines a Lion the Mandesiers a Ram others Worship other Deities about which they maintain great and hot Disputations Out of these Testimonies of the Greek and Latin Writers of which some lived before after or about the time of our Saviours Birth and the undisputable Testimonies written by the Apostle St. Paul we may easily Conjecture that not onely the Idolatrous Worshipping of Beasts is very Ancient but chiefly with ugly and deform'd Baboons and Monkies nay there is scarce one Beast which the Heathens worshipp'd more than the Ape Not far from Toska through this Village the Netherland Ambassadors Frisius and Brookhurst travell'd In their return to Nangesaque on the 18 of Aug. 1650. stands The Temple of Apes famous through all Japan the Structure is no less Artificial than Costly It deserves no small wonder that these Temples of Apes were not onely before the Birth of our Savior for the Hermopolitans and Babylonians according to the testimony of Strabo Worshipp'd Baboons and Monkies above eighteen hundred years since The Religion of Apes very antient and spread over Asia ¶ ANd how far this shameful Worshipping of Apes is spread over Asia may hereby appear for it is not onely usual in Japan and China but also in the Territory of the Malabaers and the Wild Countrey between Macaw and Pegu and the Island Cylore where they set up Apes for their gods The famous Italian Balbus relates in his Voyage from Macaw and Pegu How that amongst the Indian Idols which they call Pagods he found that they generally Worshipped Apes and also living Baboons which they Chain'd in their Varralloes for so the Indians call the Isles of their Temples Who discover'd Ceylon It is worth observing what the Learned Vossius hath taken out of Linschot The Island Ceylon which the Portuguese Writer Johannis Barruis affirms with several pregnant Reasons to be the antient Taprobana discover'd by Francois Almeida his Son who was to pillage the Saracen Merchants which Trade along the Maldivian Islands from the Molluco's to Arabia but missing of them set upon Ceylon after which the Portuguese General Soarius obtain'd leave of the King of the Western part of Ceylon that he might raise a Fort there near the Sea-side but whilst they were busie in building the same the King being inveigl'd by the Saracen Merchants that they would be a great hindrance to them in their Cinamon-Trade he set upon them with some thousands of Men Wars between the Ceylonians and the Portuguese which proved at first a sharp Assault because the Portuguese never in the least suspected to be so treacherously surpriz'd But the General Soarius soon after putting his Men in order they made such a valiant Resistance that they forc'd the King to pay for his
by thirteen great Waxen Chests carry'd by the Pallaquin Porters And lastly The whole Procession was clos'd with four hundred Persons all in white Vestments Marching six in a Rank in very good Order Great tumult in Mecae after the Dayro was past ¶ BEfore the Dayro's Train were all past by the Evening came on and innumerable company of People of all sorts the Scaffold and Houses which had been fill'd with Spectators had disgorg'd their burthens into the Streets so that the multitude was so immensly great that many disorders happen'd and several were crowded to death many were so squeez'd that they burst asunder others falling were sure never to rile being immediately trampled under Feet horrible was the general cry of the common People The Horsemen making their way by force through the Foot which tumbled down one over another in great number on both sides so lying prostrate for the Horses to tread o're the Streets flow'd with blood Amongst this miserable Croud were also many Thieves and Robbers which with drawn Scymiters made their way through cutting of Purses Stealing Murthering and Robbing as they wen't immediately killing without mercy all those that offered the least resistance so that in many places several fell down dead and over these tumbled others and the following multitudes still pressing forward oftentimes made a Mountain of Men heap'd one upon another whereof those that were uppermost were happy for those which were underneath were sure never to rise the noise all night was so great as if the City had been in an uprore and the insolencies grew to that height that many persons of Quality who could not get out of the throng or near retiring to their Houses were set upon and many of them spoyl'd and Murder'd among others the Lord of Firando's Secretary saw his Servant Robb'd and a rich Cabinet of his taken from him before his Face whilest he had much ado to defend himself from the violence of these Assaulters The Ambassadors escape strangely ¶ THe Ambassador Conrade Cramer stood and saw from his Scaffold many of these Cruelties and Outrages committed and seeing himself in no safety to stay there all night but that he and all his Retinue would be sure to perish before next morning he also ventur'd amongst the Croud the press being so great that he was born up by the People most of his way being but seldom able to put a Foot to the Ground yet at length so it pleas'd Providence that he and all his Followers got without any considerable loss into their Lodgings How the Dayro is treated by both their Majesties ¶ THe Dayro and his Wives lay there three days and three nights in the Emperors Palace where they were serv'd by their Majesties their Brothers and the greatest Princes of the Court Those which were plac'd by the Emperors as Stewards to prepare the several Dishes for the Dayro was the Lord Chief Justice of the Countrey and City Miaco and also the Lords Ivocomasamma Coberytothomysammay Nacamoramokumonsamma Mannosabroyemonsamma every Meal consisting of one hundred and forty Services and for to attend the Dayro's three Principal Wives were plac'd Ouwandonie Head Councellor of the old Emperors and also the Lords of the Councel Farimadonne Queniemondonne Sioyserondonne and Chirotadonne This Feasting being done the young Emperor gave the Dayro these following Presents being three thousand Boats of Silver each of them four Tails and three Marses two rich Tables cover'd with Golden Plates two hundred Japan Gowns three hundred Pieces of wrought Sattin twelve thousand Pound of raw Silk one great piece of Calombac five great Silver Pots full of Musk and ten beautiful Horses with all their Furniture but those which the old Emperor gave him were much less Thus ended the glory of that Triumphal Procession Sumptuous Palace of the Emperor Taicosama ¶ MEaco by the Japanners call'd Cabucoma is divided into upper and lower Meaco's the lower spreading towards the Fort Tutzumi is so costly built that one Range seeming one House is at least three Miles in length The Dayro hath his Residence in the upper Meaco where is also seen the most Splendant and Magnificent Palace Erected by the Emperor Taycosama Anno 1586. hung round about with a thousand Mats edg'd with fine Damask wrought with Gold The Walls of some of the Rooms all over are Plate◠with Gold the greatest part of the Palace is built of curious Wood and costly Marble before the Palace appears a spacious Court wherein stands an Imperial Theatre where Comedies and Tragedies are Acted Japauners expert in acting Plays At which the Japanners are very exquisite having no want as they say of good Poets whose Theme being either Divine or Moral they boast sufficient and well Written Plots their Commick punish like ours Vice prefering Vertue their Tragick setting forth the great though unfortunate Acts of former Saints and antient Hero's They also adorn their Stages with Scenes shifted according to their various and chang'd Arguments and betwixt every Act appears a full Chorus of Musicians Singing and Playing like the Antient Greeks and Romans on several Instruments but no place elsewhere in Japan exhibits the like Shews or Presentations of the business concerning the Stage than in this Theatre Description of the Japan Races ¶ BEfore this Palace of Taycosama they have a piece of Ground taken in for a Course or Race being a Match betwixt a Man and a Horse about the Walls stand thousands of Spectators on a more eminent Seat Rail'd in sit cross Legg'd by themselves several Drummers on the tops of the Rails hang ready fitted to their hands great Copper Kettles and Basons some also lying on the ground on which they Beat and Taber with such force that the hideous din and shrilness of the noise often deafs the unwilling hearers At the end of this Lane stand two strong Posts having a great Rope made fast from one to the other behind this at a small distance stands a square Pillar on which a Flag or Ensign waves fast on a Staff one mans Office is to imbrace this Post with his left hand and with his right points on the Breast of another who hath on his Breast hanging about his Neck a square Board Painted with a Griffin he also lays his right hand on the top of the Post and his left on his Scymiter next to him stands a third side-ways which holds a long knotted Whip in his right hand which gives the Signal to the Racers behind these three stand others with black Head-Pieces adorn'd also with a Sable Plume which are the Judges of the Course The Prize which they run for is commonly two pair of Wax'd Boots made fast to Woodden Clogs Plated with Silver he that runs hath a thin Silk Habits Lac'd close about the middle their Slceves reaching down to their Elbows their Breeches being wide are ty'd up about the middle of their Thighs like Trunk-Hose on their Legs they wear Buskins of
that he suspected some mystery that should thus suddenly retard him being ready for his intended Progress Mean while he carry'd himself so cunningly and with such humility taking no notice of his Jealousies or Discontent that he made him change his Resolution so that he set forth eight days after the first appointed time on his Progress for if he had not gone it would have been look'd upon as ill-natur'd and that he sleighted the company of the several Princes which were to be also at the Feast The Progress was perform'd in the following manner Goes to visit Quabacondono Sumptuous train of Mandocorosama Taicosama his Consort ¶ TAicosama sent his Empress Mandocorosama before him which then resided in Fissima three Miles from Meaco In sumptuous manner she led the way before her went a great number of Nobles marching in order more than an hour passing along these had several Files of Musqueteers being their Guard walking before them their Arms being Varnish'd glitter'd against the Sun like Gold behind the Nobles were carry'd three great Wax'd Chests with the Empress Mandocorosama's Apparel after these came fifty more that bore Vestments of her Ladies of Honor these were follow'd by sixteen brave Horses Loaden with Gold cover'd with Sumpter-Clothes Imbroyder'd with Pearls Plumes waving on their Heads the Richness of which amaz'd the beholders Which Gold was an accustom'd Present from the Emperor and Empress to the young Emperor Next march'd in a Cavalcade bravely Mounted fifty prime Lords belonging to the Court each attended by thirty Pages then came eight Quirosols or Sedans each carry'd by thirty two men in these the prime Ladies of Honor sate which were follow'd by Mandocorosama in a Sedan carry'd on the shoulders of Persons of great Quality this Sedan or rather Moving-house was so curiously Wrought with Carv'd Work that the Artists not onely got great Reputation for their several hands but an incredible Sum of Money for their Reward of well-doing from the Empress in this she sate so private that she could be seen by none but her self might see whom she pleas'd then follow'd a hundred Sedans more of the same fashion but of less value in which sate several Queens and Princesses gaudily drest attended by a hundred and fifty Ladies of Honor all gallantly mounted with Silken Vails each of them attended by a great number of Lacquies and a Groom waiting with two led Horses And lastly The whole Procession was clos'd by the several Maids of Honor carry'd in little two-Wheel'd Chariots which as the Print represents are shod at the ends with Plates of Silver and Gilt the Spokes of Cedar Carv'd and Gilt the Fellies of the Wheels shod also with Copper the Seat in the Stern fitted to hold one in great State spread with Tapistry which hangs down betwixt the Wheels the empty part before fashion'd like an Oval is open she having a stately Canopy over her defends her from Rain and the Sun and when she pleases she draws her ty'd-up Curtains to keep off the Wind being driven along by a lusty Man with two Poles athwart his shoulders With this Train Mandocorosama enter'd the Burrough Jurazu presenting to Quabacondono a great Mass of Gold and other inestimable Jewels which kindness of hers was bountifully rewarded by Quabacondono who was also very liberal in bestowing the like rich Presents on her Sumptuous train of Taicosama going to Quabacondono The following day Taicosama came from his Castle from whence a little before most of the Japan Nobility went to Juraru the ways between Taicosama's Palace and Juraru were Guarded on both sides by Souldiers each standing two strides from the other Arm'd with a naked Scymiter these belong'd and were under the Command of the Lord of Mino Grand-Son of the slain Emperor Nobunanga and therefore the just Heir to the Crown Between these Guards past first three hundred Persons of prime quality every one having their several Escutchions with all their Emblasonings carry'd before them with clusters of Pages and Lacquies after these came several Princes some of which carry'd the Swords others the Daggers and other Arms of Taicosama These were again follow'd by Taicosama Taicosama's rich Chariot who sat on a rich and magnificent Chariot which had cost him several Tun of Gold for the sides and middle were adorn'd with unexpressable Imagery and Carv'd Work and also the four Seats cover'd with Massie Gold were much to be admir'd with the Axeltree on which the Wheels turn'd and the Spokes and Fellies were all of Silver This Chariot was drawn by two black Oxen with Gilded Horns their bodies spread over with Purple Clothes Embroyder'd with Precious Stones Taicosama us'd these Oxen not for want of Horses for several thousands serv'd him in this Train but as a testimony that he observ'd the Antient Customs establish'd many Ages before by the Dayro's which were always drawn by Oxen when ever they went to any grand Entertainment still attended by a Guard of Nobles Thus attended Taicosama entred Meaco where he was met by a thousand all Persons of Quality sent from Quabacondono who as soon as ever they drew near the Emperors Chariot light from their Steeds those before Taicosama doing the like these dividing to each side standing close up made a Lane for the Chariots to meet Soon after Quabacondono appear'd in his open Chariot no way inferior to that of Taicosama being follow'd by the Cunghi Lords all related to the Dayro each attended by their several Trains In the most eminent Streets they drew near making a stop whilst Quabacondono dispatch'd the Vice-Roy of Meaco to congratulate Taicosama's Aggress who sent the Lord of Tangi to Complement the Messenger sent from Quabacondono Quabacondono meets him Both meeting and Saluting betwixt the Chariots and having done their several Congees the Lord Tangy's Coach return'd whereupon the Vice-Roy call'd after him saying Quabacon vonariscens cu Banazi that is Quabacon wishes that your coming to his House may be in the presence of Millions and last ten thousand Ages which was answer'd by Taicosama in his Coach with a loud voyce Sachighe Icatei Icarei which signifies Let him drive before and I will immediately follow The whole Train enter the Castle Jurazu At the end of this Ceremony the Lords which Guarded one side of the Street re-mounted their Horses and follow'd Quabacondono to Jurazu Taicosama staying some small time also went on in a good Order Before the whole Solemnity was past the Sun had almost finish'd his days Journey The Master of the Ceremony to whom the whole Care and Conduct of this Feast was committed was Genefoin Governor of Meaco When Taicosama came before the Castle Jurazu Riding over the Bridge to the inner Court there being welcom'd by all the Princes where he deliver'd his Presents to Quabacondono who seem'd not able to express the high esteem and value thereof And that he might no way be indebted to his Unckle for these his great Favors
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
when he girdled the Universe by Sailing round about it The Fleet set Sail from the Haven Nativitad under the Command of Michael Lopez de Legaspi who making his way through the South Sea discover'd those Islands which from Philip the Second are call'd Philippines where setling himself in the City Manilla he soon after built a great Church and three Cloysters the first for the Augustine Monks the second for the Franciscans and the third for the Dominicans The Spaniards possess'd these Islands quietly till a Fleet from China gave them disturbance and the first occcasion of War The Spaniards in Manilla are set upon by a Chinese Pyrate call'd Limahon One Limahon born in a City of China by name Trucheo a Person of mean Extract had a long while made the Seas dangerous for in a short time a great Company of Pyrates and Robbers joyn'd with him to the number of two thousand with which he Ransack'd and Pillag'd all the adjoyning Countrey Therefore the King of Cuytan rais'd all the Forces he could possible to take Limahon but he having notice of it retreated to a Sea-Port Town not having a sufficient Army to encounter the Vice-Roys Forces At the same time the Harbour lay full of Ships which his Men taking and setting Sail with them stood off to Sea making all Prize whatever he met with And being forty Sail all well Mann'd on a day he descry'd another Chinese Pyrate call'd Vintoquiam who had twenty Sail more than he yet Limahon resolv'd to set upon them and had such good Success that he conquer'd and made himself Master of fifty five Vessels more Vintoquiam himself hardly escaping with five Thus being encourag'd he resolv'd to set upon all Sea-Port Towns and Villages by which means all China was in an Uproar and in few days the Vice-Roy of Cuytan set out a hundred and thirty Vessels to Sea Mann'd with forty thousand Seamen Limahon having notice thereof made Sail toward the desolate Isle Touzuacotican to hide himself from the Navy Conducted by the Knight Omoncon Limahon's Actions Whilst he lay lurking there he seiz'd on two Ships richly laden and bound from Manilla to China The Prisoners which he took gave him information That there were not above seventy Spanish Soldiers in Manilla the rest being imploy'd to discover the adjacent Isles and how that the Countrey was fruitful and populous and the Inhabitants unprovided for War neither were they us'd to be disturb'd by it This News was very acceptable to him whereupon he steer'd his Course thither and Sailing beyond the Islands Illocos ran in sight of the New City Fernandina built by John de Salzedo and there fell upon a Spanish Galley freighted by Salzedo to fetch Provisions which he set on fire and without mercy put all the Men to the Sword Salzedo affrighted by so great a Fleet which steer'd directly towards Manilla immediately sent thither fifty four Spaniards to make resistance against the Enemy and to give them at Manilla notice of the Invasion to the end they might prepare all things in readiness against their coming But Limahon who was forc'd to Victual at the nearest Islands came after Salzedo whose Fleet was stor'd with all manner of Provisions arriv'd at Manilla in the Evening on the last of October Anno 1574. And had the Wind blown any thing hard that Night would have laid Manilla in Ashes and drown'd the Inhabitants in their own Blood For Limahon sent in the darkest part of the Night four hundred Men on Shore which he commanded to spare neither Fire nor Sword But the Sea going very hollow they could not possibly Land till next Morning at eight of the Clock About a League below the City they leap'd ashore and march'd up along a plain Field in good order with two hundred Musqueteers in the Front and as many Pike-men in the Rere towards the City Manilla The Countrey People discovering them brought the News to the Spaniards of which not one would believe it every one thinking it onely to be an Uproar made on purpose by the Natives Storms Manilla Mean time the Chineses came to the first House of the City in which the Field-Marshal Martin Goyty had his Residence which they fir'd and slew him with all his Family except his Wife which fled desparately wounded into the City By her every one might see how the Business was whereupon some Soldiers ran disorderly to encounter the Enemy but being all slain in a short time made the rest more wary who marching up very orderly against the Enemy forc'd them to retreat and at last drove them back to their Ships Limahon hearing this News weigh'd Anchor and Sail'd to the Haven Cabita two Leagues beyond Manilla At this time Guido de Labassares was Governor of the Philippines in the place of the Deceas'd Michael Lopez de Legaspy Labassares saw no likelihood to keep off so great an Enemy with Pallisadoes with which Manilla at that time was onely defended and to fly from thence would be too great a Reproach and Disgrace for the Spanish Nobles Therefore they thought it convenient to leave the City and on a Hill not far off with all speed to throw up a Platform The Spaniards raise Fortifications Two Days and Nights all those were imploy'd that were able to finish the Work ramming Poles into the Ground against which they nail'd Planks throwing Earth against them and Barrels with Sand. Four Iron Guns for so many they had in the City were planted on a Point of the New Fortification It so fortun'd that Limahon made some stay in the Haven Cabita whilst Salzedo brought fifty four Spaniards to Labassares Assistance Limahon burns Manilla The Fort was scarce finish'd and Salzedo enter'd with his Men when Limahon dropp'd Anchor at break of Day before the City Manilla and put six hundred Men on Shore which ran into the City and set the same on fire That done Storms their Fortification they march'd towards the new Fortification where they met with so stout Resistance that in short time two hundred of the Chineses were slain and as many wounded Is beaten off where on the contrary the Spaniards lost onely two Men an Ensign call'd Sancio Ortiz and another nam'd Francis de Leon. The Pyrates being thus roughly entertain'd durst adventure no more wherefore they Sail'd back to Cabita and from thence forty Leagues up the great Stream Pangasinan Goes to live near the River Pangasinan where he found a pleasant and fruitful Countrey and a convenient place to hide himself from the Chinese Forces So Sailing up a League into the Countrey he rais'd a Fort on a Promontory and forc'd the Inhabitants to pay him Tribute as their Prime Lord. From hence he sent Ships abroad continually which Cruising too and again about that Coast let not one Vessel scape they met with reporting That he had utterly routed the Spaniards from the Philippines These
nothing there and also the Citizens at that time being up in Arms against a crue of Rebels had neither Time nor Ears to hearken after a New Religion They give Presents to the King of Amangucium Thus seeing that nothing could be done here they return'd back with mean success to Amangucium and there presented the King with a curious Watch and many other Rarities which the Portuguese Vice-Roy of the East-Indies and the Bishop of Goa had sent them to give to the Cubus in Meaco But having no Audience there they bestow'd the Presents on the King of Amangucium who was desirous of nothing more than Foreign Rarities yet he proffer'd them in return of their Gifts a great Bag of Silver and Gold but the Jesuits modestly refusing it desir'd onely that he would be pleas'd to permit them to Preach the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which he granted Why he put himself in rich Apparel Mean while Xaverius observing that the Japanners valu'd a Man according to the Richness or Meanness of his Habit having hitherto gone in poor Apparel found that he was little or not at all regarded therefore resolv'd to put on a rich and stately Coat that so he might be better regarded and because the Japanners out of Curiosity would look upon him the more And indeed it prov'd so for teaching therewith in the Streets he had a far greater Congregation than formerly Then the People began private Disputations amongst themselves concerning that Religion and chiefly the Bonzi were at variance amongst themselves concerning the Articles of the Christian Faith A strange accident by which a Japanner became a Christian ¶ THe first Converting of these Heathens in Amangucium was occasion'd by a strange Accident which Tursellinus relates in this manner Johannes Ferdinandez standing in the Street surrounded with a great number of People read the Book of Angar's Translation which a Japanner passing by heard whereupon he made his way through the People and spat Fernandez full in the Face which be suffering with patience wip'd off and proceeded without the least sign of anger in reading of his Doctrine One Auditor amongst the Crowd seeing his admir'd Patience was amaz'd thereat and as if inspir'd judg'd in himself that without doubt it must be the True Religion which was taught by so mild a Person and afterwards being better Instructed by Xaverius was the first which receiv'd Baptism in Amangucium Several others follow'd his example amongst which Bernard Eenoog afterwards by Xaverius made a Jesuit King of Bungo shews great kindness to the Christians ¶ WHilst the Christian Religion went on thus prosperously in Amangucium Xaverius was sent for by Jacotondono King of Bungo in whose Harbor a Portuguese Vessel was come to Anchor He covetous of Lucre proffer'd the Portuguese all Civility and Kindness sending an Embassy to Goa and promoted the Christian Faith at Amangucium His Brother though with great resistance of the Council there being accepted of as their King interceded also for the Christian Religion Notwithstanding all these Favors yet Xaverius found great opposition by the Bonzi insomuch that he Baptiz'd not one in the Province Bungo onely Instructing some in the Christian Doctrine The King seem'd also to have a great inclination to the Christian Belief but fear'd if he should become a Convert from the Japan Heathenism that his Subjects would rebel against him Yet though he remain'd a Heathen he provided for those Jesuits that came after Xaverius a convenient Colledge and gave free leave to Balthazar Gago and Johannes Fernandez to Preach the Gospel Insurrection in the Kingdom of Bungo against the Christians These Actions of the King of Bungo were ill resented by his Subjects who took up Arms against him But soon after Jacotondono took the chief of the Rebels which were commanded speedily with their Relations Wives and Children to be executed Yet after that a Company of fresh Rebels rising again the King brought an Army of sixty thousand Men into the Field and after various Successes became Conqueror and absolute Master getting also by that means Facata Fiuago Amangucium and the Island Taso Anno 1554. he sent from Bungo to Goa a Portuguese call'd Antonius Ferreira sending his Arms to the Vice-Roy with which he had subdu'd Fiuago as also a Letter entreating his Friendship and that he would be pleas'd to let Xaverius come over again Miracles wrought by Xaverius But Xaverius had two years before been kill'd in China not far from Canton after having several times laid Tempests asswag'd Earthquakes rais'd twenty five dead Persons to life again if we will believe those Relations which have been divulg'd thereof Embassy from Goa to the King of Bungo The Vice-Roy of Goa rested not upon this Business but dispatch'd with all possible speed the Jesuits Melchior Nugnez and Ferdinand Mendez Pinto to Jacatondono With a Train of forty Portuguese richly clad they made their appearance before the King who told them at large how many Inconveniences and Troubles he had undergone in his Kingdom since he permitted the Christians to set footing in his Dominions insomuch that not long since he was necessitated to slay thirteen Princes with sixteen thousand of their Confederates in one day besides a great number which he had banish'd and withal he saw it apparent that there would be no end of Blood-shed if he did in the least uphold them in their Proceedings in Japan which before he did he would first see better Times In vain did Nugnez use the Perswasions of the uncertainty of a Mans Life and the certainty of Eternal Damnation for Unbelievers Thus Jacatondono cutting off all hopes of being Converted Depart fruitless Nugnez departed returning fruitless to Goa And after that the King declin'd it daily more and more building in the City Usuquin a stately Cloyster for the Bonzi bestowing great Revenues upon the same and sent for the most Learn'd of the Pagan Priests which had been Tutors to Princes and betook himself to be of their Order King of Bungo becomes 2 Bonzi and daily Study and Endeavors obtain'd so much of their Learning that he surpass'd the best of them Yet notwithstanding all this he molested not the Christians but his Wife on the contrary persecuted them with Fire and Sword Divorces his Wife This her Cruelty so displeas'd the King that he divorc'd her from him and took for his Consort a Princess of a mild and affable disposition whose Daughter was Married to a Christian Prince call Sebastian The King thus Wedded was oftentimes admonish'd of the Christian Religion which his Consort and Daughter embrac'd to which he began now to hearken and receiv'd Baptism of Capriales Is Christned Franciscus and in Commemoration of Xaverius who preach'd the Gospel seventy years before in Usuquin took the name of Franciscus But he chang'd not only his Name but also his manner of Life for though he was not fifty years old Resigns up
his Kingdoms yet he resign'd up all his Kingdoms and Dominions and retir'd to the Territory of Fiungo where on a pleasant Plain he resolv'd to build a New City and to People the same with none but Christians to the end they might there all together live after God's Laws and Ordinances Travels to build a new City The fourth of October Anno 1578. he set Sail with his Fleet the Pennons and Flags of white Damask embroyder'd with red Crosses spreading from their Masts and Yards The Jesuits Capriales Lodowick Almeida and John the Japanner with a considerable number of Christians that were to inhabit the new-built City were Shipp'd aboar'd Upon his departure Franciscus commanded his eldest Son whom he appointed his Successor in all his Dominions That he should no ways molest the Christians but rather assist them in all things His Son is kind to the Jesuits The New King promis'd to perform his Fathers Command faithfully and indeed did more than he promis'd for he pull'd down the Temple of the Idol Camis and Fotoques and allow'd the Jesuits Means giving them also a place to build a stately Church in Usuquin and crost the Bonzies in all their undertakings acting all things after the Christian manner Against which resisted many Princes in Bungo being back'd by Riogozes King of Ximo which were too hard for the young King oftentimes loosing many Men in Skirmishes Cities and whole Dominions were taken from him either by Riogoze's Forces or mutinous Subjects in short it was so decree'd that Jacatondono his Son should be Disinherited of all his Jurisdictions Most of the Loyallest Subjects Voted that Jacatondono should Re-possess his former Authority Why he is in great danger to the end that the Crown of Bungo which was near lost might again by his Prudence be settled before it was quite Demolish'd Mean while Jacatondono now call'd Franciscus expecting daily that he should be forc'd out of his new Christian City in Fiunga march'd Arm'd into the Fields and his Necessity requiring Policy he came forth no less Prudent than Circumspect Franciscus re-possesses his throne four Councellors having by their ill advice order'd their Affairs badly those he drove first out of the Countrey then getting a considerable Army together he march'd against Chicacuro the head of the Rebels Both Parties lay Encamp'd one over against the other Franciscus inviting them daily to fight by Embattelling his Men but Chicacuro who had no very good opinion of his People would not hazard his Life in the hands of wavering Fortune during which time most of his Men quitted his Army His Conquest and went over to Franciscus Camp insomuch that all left him but eight hundred which being slain brought Peace and quietness to the Kingdom of Bungo After which the Conqueror went again to his new City Cuchimochi but liv'd not long after to enjoy the advantages of his gotten Victory For being upon his return from the Japan Emperor he was taken with the Plague at Usuquin of which many dy'd at that time yet notwithstanding though the Distemper threatned nothing but death yet he was desirous to be carry'd to Cuchimochi and being come within nine Miles of the place his Sickness so increas'd that he was necessitated to stay at Sucuma where soon after he gave up the Ghost Dies Anno 1587. The Jesuit Laguna had the ordering of the Funeral-Solemnity to which an incredible number of people came flocking from all parts of the adjacent Countreys The Corps was carry'd by four of the chiefest Peers Is bury'd on both sides went meaner Lords carrying Banners with red Crosses next follow'd the Queen and her Daughter and then a great company of Noble-men clos'd up the whole Train ¶ BUt besides the Province of Bungo several others have embrac'd the Christian Religion which happen'd thus When Xaverius Anno 1551. in November travel'd from Japan to Goa he took with him two Christian Japanners Mattheus and Bernard which were sent to salute his Holiness in Rome But Mattheus dying at Goa Bernard us proceeded in his Journey alone and was the first of the Japanners that kiss'd his Holiness Feet He in his return home-ward dy'd at Conimbrica in Spain Xaverius himself travel'd to China Xaverius leaves the Jesuits in Japan there to Preach the Gospel for the Japanners cry'd continually that the Chineses from whom the Japan Religion was Extracted did not imbrace the Christian Faith There stay'd behind in Japan Cosmus Turrianus and Joannes Fernandez besides two Japan Converts being Paul of the Holy Belief and Lawrence One-Eye by whose extraordinary diligence the Christian Religion was imbrac'd by many of the Commonalty the Jesuits teaching them the Commandments and the Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity in Cangoxima Firando Amangucium and Bungo Xaverius a little before his death sent from Goa to Japan Balthazar Gago Edward Sylvius and Peter Alcacova after that went over thither also Casper Vilela Lodowick Almeida Gonsalves Fernandes Franciscus Caprialis Lodowick Frojus Joannes Baptista Montanus Organtinus Brixiensis Peter Diasius Arias Blandonius Arias Sanctius Duartes a Sylva Melchior Mugaez Franciscus Perezius and others These effected so much in few years that Christianity began now to increase wonderfully and as an effect of their Zeal they built several Towns Cloysters and Churches being every where highly respected and much esteem'd These successful Progresses gave hopes of a happy Event especially for that now Cosmus Turrianus and Edward Sylvius besides many Citizens in Amangucium Converted two Bonzies of Meaco and indeed Christianity so prevail'd both in strength and number that the Rusticks near Amangucium began to dispute with the Bonzi of which some falling short in the Arguments of their Religion were forc'd to flie for shame Not long after Turrianus built a great Church in the City intending there to perform in publick all Divine Services Some of the Courtiers were by this time also become Proselites and amongst the rest the King's Treasurer Ambrosius Eunadus Faisumius who soon after Dying was Inter'd in the following manner Edvard Sylv Epist Bungo 1555. Besides the Jesuit Edward Sylvius above two hundred young Christians went to his Burial a great Cross was carry'd before the Corps and a considerable number of Torches round about which turn'd the day into night not without great admiration of the Inhabitants by whom the Funeral Solemnities were perform'd quite contrary Fasumius his Widow feasted the Poor four days together after the Funeral A new Almshouse in Funaco distributing much Houshold-stuff and many Clothes among them Moreover Turrianus built a double Alms-house or Hospital in the City Funaco one side being for those that had the Leprosie which came flocking thither from all parts of Japan that Countrey being very subject to that distemper the second partition was for other sickly Persons over both these Turrianus made a Japan Christian Master one that was experienc'd in Physick How the Japanners kept
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
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
farther our Observation how Quane obtain'd the Japan Crown Toxogunsama having no Issue he being exceedingly inclin'd to the Sin of Sodom when he had attain'd to some years acknowledg'd no Successor that was sprung from his Seed for which cause not without great reasons Civil Wars were to be fear'd if the Emperor should die without Issue The Dairo himself seem'd to be concern'd about this business wherefore he chooses two beautiful Maids nearly Ally'd to him which he sent to Toxogunsama to the end he might choose one out of the two to honor and make her a Miday which is as much to say Marries as an Empress The Emperor chose her which he judg'd for the most beautiful yet he went on in his old way of Sodomy which the Empress took privately to heart yet bridled her self with patience that she might not incur the Emperors displeasure when her dislike of his actions should be known to him Mean while the Empresses Guardian or Foster-Mother came to hear of it who being held in great Respect for her Age faithful Services and Noble Extract found her self necessitated to watch for a good conveniency and to stir up the Emperor to love his Consort It happen'd that on a time she found Toxogunsama in a fit Humor in which she thought the time was come wherein she might effect her Design The Empress Guardians discourse to the Emperor saying How can your Imperial Majesty take such a contrary course of Love What benefit will such shameful Conversation with Men bring you in the end Leave that wicked course and seek to get a Successor that may be sole Governor over Japan keep the Empire in Peace against all Civil Wars it being the occasion of great Blood-shed when every one may according to his Ambition aim to be Chief Hath Nature also ever brought a more Beautiful Creature into the World than your Empress Would not the World rejoyce with Toxogunsama if Toxogunsama's Stock did not die but that the Japan Government might remain amongst his Issue many Ages The Emperor being incens'd with anger against her presumption was silent but sent for his chief Builders and commanded a Palace to be erected like a Castle with strong Walls deep Moats great Gates and many stately Rooms He locks up the Empress Not long after this Edifice being finish'd he sent the Empress thither with her Sister Mother and Retinue there to keep her from the sight of all Men. And though it look'd so ill to the Empresses Fostress yet it concern'd the Emperor's Guardian to unite him in Marriage To which end she sent into all Parts of Japan for the most beautifullest Women which she cunningly at several times brought before Toxogunsama Matries an ordinary Mans Daughter Amongst many others he fix'd his Eye on an Armorer's Daughter which soon after was with Child by him Her mean Extract occasion'd great murmuring and dislike amongst the Peers of the Empire Courtiers and Ladies of Honor therefore they privately conspir'd to murder the Child in its Birth that there might not one of so mean a Mother ever come to Reign over Japan The Emperors Child is Murder'd This their resolution was at last effected but kept from the knowledge of the Emperor who else would have punish'd such a Crime with the greatest severity By this Accident Quano succeeded he being the nearest in Blood to Toxogunsama Thus far we have spoken of the Persecutions of the Japan Emperors and their Transactions till Quano's Reign Frisius and Brookhurst travel for Nangesaque ¶ THe Netherland Ambassadors Frisius and Brookhurst Anno 1650. took their leave and travel'd for Nangesaque They came on the twenty seventh of April to Meaco where they stay'd three days and a half Come to Meaco which they spent upon their Hosts Invitations in viewing the greatest and most eminent Houses in the City which are already describ'd in their Journey to the Court they were carry'd in Sedans amongst great throngs of Men Women and Children who out of curiosity flock'd together to see them Apparel of the Japan Women ¶ THe Women both Marry'd and Unmarry'd go very neatly dress'd in their Hair Combing it daily and smoothing it with Whites of Eggs insomuch that it shines like Glass and is black as Jet behind hangs a Braid or Tuft thereof over their Shoulders and one Lock on their Forehead by the bigness of their Heads they are known from all other People Both Men and Women wear long Semarrs which reach down somewhat below their Knees and are made with wide Sleeves turn'd up very broad fac'd with Silk or other Stuffs about their Middle they tie a broad Girdle curiously embroider'd There is scarce any Woman that hath not a Fan with a long Handle when she comes abroad Description of the Temple of Daiboth ¶ AMongst other stately Temples which the Ambassadors Frisius and Brookhurst view'd in their Journey was the Temple dedicated to Daiboth being no less costly than large and artificial on each side of the Gate stood two great Images representing two horrible Fiends with Stilletto's in their Hands and Hangers by their Sides the one looking fiercely upon the other seeming just ready for an Encounter Through this Passage they enter'd into a square Court with a Gallery round it supported with Stone Columns on the top of each Pillar hang curious Cabinets like Lanterns before the second Gate are two exceeding great Lyons hewn out of Stone between which the Passage leads into the Church wherein there appears a terrible Image sitting like a Taylor with his Legs across under him yet is of that heighth that it reaches the Vaulted Roof of the Church it is made according to the relation of the Japanners of Wood and Plaister'd over with Mortar and that cover'd with Copper double Gilt the Hair upon the Head shews black and curl'd like a Negro's The bigness of this Idol may be judg'd by his Hands which far exceed those of an ordinary Man yet are but small in proportion to the other parts of his Body the whole Statue represents a Woman sitting in a Ring of darting Beams richly Gilded within the Beams of this Circle are many smaller Images of several shapes and fashions and on both sides several other hewn to the Life with shining Radii about their Heads just as the Saints are drawn in Print all richly Gilt. The Ambassadors Frisius and Brookhurst were each of them carry'd in a Sedan by Japanners into the Temple before behind and on both sides went a great Train consisting in Servants that belong'd to the East-India Company and all degrees of Japan Men and Women which altogether press'd into see them two Trumpetters stay'd at the Entry where they sounded all the time of their tarrying there This noise brought a great number of People together whilst Frisius and Brookhurst view'd with admiration the wonderful great Image The Altar on which it sits is rais'd a little from the Ground over which
Pikes three stately Sumptre-Horses being led before This Company the Sea-men thought were come to Execute them so that they expected nothing but death but when drawing near the chief of the Netherlanders were set on Horses and the rest on Stiers which the Japanners use very much in stead of Horses and carry'd up into the Countrey Travel to Jedo They had ridden full two Leagues when they entreated the Japan Governor to permit them to write a Letter to the Sea-men that they might stay at Anchor and wait for their return from Jedo the Governor making no reply to them commanded their hands to be unty'd and onely Pinion their Arms together and leave the Rope about their Necks About Sun-set having rid five-Leagues through bad way they came into a Village The Captain Merchant and Boys Lodg'd in a Rusticks House the rest were kept three and three together in other places and meanly treated Here they observ'd the Noble-man and the Governor to give order That they should give the Prisoners a little Rice Salt-Fish and Japan Wine Are meanly treated No delight could they take in this Diet yet were forc'd to shew no Melancholy that it might not in the least appear by their Looks to be troubled at their going before the Emperor In the Interim they found an opportunity to signifie to the Noble-man that they were Hollanders being in a League of Amity with the Japan Emperor and that yearly eight Ships came Loaden with rich Merchandize to Nangesaque But all these Sayings could not procure them the least Liberty for though the old Cords were taken from them yet new ones were put on And the Gentleman going away set a strict Watch about the House so that they expected nothing but Death the next Morning Receive Orders to Write to their Ships On which an hour after the Sun was risen the foremention'd Gentleman came to them prepar'd for a further Journey bringing along with him an Ink-horn and a little piece of Paper commanding them to write to their Vessels and order them not to stir from thence but remain there till their return which would not be till thirty days whereupon the Letter was sent containing to this effect We were yesterday treacherously betray'd and already carry'd five Leagues up in the Countrey to make our appearance before the Emperor in Jedo which Journey requires a Moneths time mean while entertain the Japanners with all Civility take great care of the Ship and Goods and also send us some Clothes for fear we should want The Letter finish'd and deliver'd they went on in their Journey the Commanders as before Riding on Horses the rest on Oxen The Captain and the Merchant asking their Companions how they had been entertain'd reply'd But meanly and that they had their old Ropes also exchang'd for new Japanners make Woodden Crosses Moreover the Japanners had Woodden Crosses which they shew'd to the Hollanders so to find out if they were Papists but observing them not minded they threw them away The remaining part of the Way was very narrow and troublesom about Noon they drew near a Rusticks Hut where they Lighted and refresh'd themselves A Japan Village full of Boards with Characters Engraven thereon Towards the Evening having pass'd eight Leagues they came into a great Village where at each Corner of the Streets several Boords were nail'd up full of Japan Characters with thirty Golden Knobs round them The Troopers Soldiers and Servants told the Hollanders That every one of them should have Gold from the Emperor for every Christian they brought him according to the Contents written on these Boords Are visited by several Japanners In the middle of this Town the Hollanders were Lodged The Noblemen before mention'd came to comfort the Prisoners commanding their Landlord to provide store of Meat for them which accordingly was performed But when the Prisoners after having refresh'd themselves thought to take some rest a great number of Japanners each wearing two Swords came thronging into their Inn amongst the Men also came store of Women which did not a little amaze them expecting every Minute in that barbarous Countrey to be slain but indeed was to no other end than out of curiosity to view the Hollanders and chiefly the Women took great delight in seeing the Youth Jacob de Paw whom they made to shew his naked Bosom They came in great numbers till midnight asking several times if they were Papists making Crosses with their Fingers pointing towards them that they should kiss and worship them But the Prisoners slighting seem'd to abhor them at which the Japanners taking great delight cry'd Hollande Hollande They desire their Names for a Remembrance Next Morning came many more to view the Hollanders troubling them very much by making them write their Names which they would keep in remembrance of them Amongst the Spectators were some who by their fierce angry Looks and strange Gestures seem'd to threaten death to the Hollanders turning up the Whites of their Eyes and making a horrible noise whilst they thought that â—he bloody Council was gather'd to give their Sentence which they expected every Minute especially because it was almost Noon and they heard not the least talk of going farther Whilst they were in this fear the Noble-man came in and bid them be of good cheer and not trouble themselves about any thing but prepare for their Journey and after Dinner Mounting they went for the most part Westerly through pleasant Valleys by murmuring Streams Rice-fields and several Hamlets from whence came great numbers that follow'd to see them Rusticks come to see the Hollanders Lodge in a small Village An hour and a half before Night they entred a small Village having travell'd six Leagues where the Captain Merchant and two Boys were Lodg'd in one House together the rest were quarter'd in other Places where the Noble-man and Governor of the Village before which their Ship lay came to Visit them commanding them to be unty'd Are unty'd and the Ropes to be taken from them being now assur'd that they were Hollanders whereupon they bowed their Heads down to the Ground thanking them for so great a Civility The Governor also shew'd them a Letter yet Seal'd which they suppos'd to come from their Ketch Breskins and gave them also a Cup of Japan Wine Here the Noble-man also told them his Name which till then he had kept private being call'd Ontido Consaimondonne upon whose departure and the Governors they order'd their Servants to untie all the rest of them The Prisoners thus deliver'd of so great a Burthen began to take courage and hope for a good Event and also to take their Rest in quiet whilst great Companies of Spectators came thronging in and out to see them But about Midnight the People going home to their several Habitations they just laid themselves to sleep when some of the Japanners came in Arm'd with two Scymiters and a Quarter-staff which startled
to those that could open a Passage for Ships to sail to Japan by the North at which Amsterdam seem'd much concern'd though nothing had been effected in it Whereupon they set out two Ships the biggest of which was Commanded by Hemskerk His second Expedition and William Barrenson Chief Pylot and the other by Cornelison Riip Both of them Sail'd through vast Seas of Ice to eighty Degrees where they discover'd a Grassy Countrey full of Cartel whereas Nova Zemla which lieth seven Degrees more Southerly hath neither Grass nor any Cattel unless Foxes and Bears They found in a Bay of this Green Countrey two Islands and on them divers Egs of Sea-Fowl Till the eight and twentieth of June they Sail'd backwards and forwards along this Coast to see if they could find any Way that led through but the Ice increas'd at last so upon them that they were forc'd to return Hemskerk and Riip also could not agree to go any further At last they concluded That each of them should Sail where he pleas'd Riip endeavor'd in eighty Degrees to find a way into the Tartarian Sea but being forc'd to leave his Design return'd to Holland with no other Success Hemskerk on the contrary inspected all the Coasts of Nova Zembla so getting to the Island Orange lying before Nova Zemla at the utmost Northern Point where he was hemm'd in by the Ice which according to their Plummet was twenty Fathom thick under the Water and twelve above The Ship driving against these Mountains of Ice receiv'd a great Leak in her Prow September began by this time to come on apace at which time the Sun begins to hide it self there for three Months The Place desolate and unhabitable the Cold insupportable Firing scarce no Houses nor Provisions to be found any where so that they had all expected Death had not some of the Seamen travell'd up two Leagues Southerly into the Countrey where they found a sweet River full of Trees and Planks driving in it Is very remarkable which serv'd them for a Hut which they built not without great danger of Bears and exceeding trouble by reason of the extraordinary Cold not having finish'd it before the latter end of October After that they were miserably tormented within by the Smoke and without by Bears North-East Winds and Mountains of Snow betwixt which they were forc'd to pass to carry their Firing into the Hut Thus they spent their time till May which drawing near an end and also their Provisions growing scant they prepar'd their Boats and though grown weak by their Wants and Sufferings yet they stood out to the Offin In these Boats they pass'd through the wide Ocean and when the Waves went too high they hawl'd them on the Ice where they were assaulted by the Bears In this their Voyage home William Barrenson died and several others twelve Men only escaping with Life through a thousand dangers coming at last to Kilduin from whence they Sail'd to Amsterdam The Straights of Anian not mention'd in the Japan Map So that all the Voyages which have been made to Sail to the East-Indies by a Westerly Course through the Northern America or Easterly along the Coast of the Samoyedes and Tartary through the Straights of Anian have been of no effect And if the Map shewn by the Apostate Japan Priest Syovan be right then all Voyages to the East-Indies if Sail'd Northerly would be in vain because no passage is found therein between Catay and America from the Northern Ocean which the Samoyedes call Marmare to the South Sea In the same Map Jesso was made to border on America and Tartary lay to the In-land and separated from those Coasts Wherefore Syovan ask'd the Dutch Prisoners How they could have saild to Tartary since it lay so far Southward from the Sea And on the North though it be wash'd by the Sea yet they could not put in there because there is no Channel runs between Tartary and the South-Sea Hugo Grotius his mistake concerning the Inhabitants of America By this plainly appears the Mistake of the Learned Hugo Grotius who saith That America was Peopled out of Norway over Yseland Friezland Greenland and Estotiland through vast and Icy Seas For if there be no Water-passage betwixt America and Cataya then the Peopling of America may more probably be from Cataya than from Norway Without all doubt one People or Nation have driven another from their Countreys the Weaker still giving place to the Stronger The Passages of Ancient Times manifest this sufficiently It cannot be denied that the spreading of Mankind over the Earth after the Flood must be sought for on the Armenian Mountain Ararat which the Turks call Agri Dagh and the Armenians Messis Saur on which Noah's Ark landed Armenia it self borders on the North with Colchis Iberia and Albania on the West with Cappadocia on the South with Mesopotamia and the East is wash'd by the Caspian Sea The Generations of Mankind increasing and multiplying sought in all places for newer and greater Habitations Those which sprang up in the North-East took Tartary and Catay into possession from whence they spread themselves further over America And that this hapned many Ages ago may appear by those Europeans that discover'd America for they found this Countrey and all the Islands which lie scatter'd up and down in great numbers so exceeding Populous that they might well stand in competition for the Number of Inhabitants with Europe or any other part of the World but are so different in their Language and Customs that the one hath not the least resemblance with the other whereby it may partly appear that as they remov'd their Stations presently after the Confusion of Tongues that hapned in the Valleys of Shinar the Passage from Catay to America about the North is very easie whereas that from Norway thither is much farther and more troublesom between Flakes of Ice and under a Cold Heaven For no where America borders on Asia but near the Straights of Anian if such a Channel were found but more probably on the Territory of Catay However the first Plantations of People belong originally to Asia Forbisher found the Northern Americans to be broad Fac'd with long and black Hair Camosie Noses woolly Beards and of a swarthy Complexion Their Religion worshipping the Sun which they call'd Hyout By all which they seem to be rather of a Tartarian Extract than from Norway Syovan's Arguments to the Hollanders concerning their Voyage to Tartary These Reasons perswaded Syovan that it was impossible for the Hollander to Trade by Shipping into Tartary because the most Southerly part of that Countrey lay a great distance from the South-Sea and the North was not to be Sail'd to out of the South-Sea because the Straights of Anian was not mention'd in the Japan Map Whereupon Captain Schaep replied That Tartary Schaep's Answer concerning the Tartarian Trade so call'd from the mighty River Tartar is wash'd on the North
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
dead Corps Of which the Greek and Latin Writers accuse the Lotophagi The strange Dealings and Cruelty of some People us'd to their dead Corps which threw their Dead without Chests or Coffins into the Sea judging it to be all one if they rotted in the Earth or whether they were consum'd by Fire or decay'd in the Water The Sabeans cast their deceased Friends nay their Kings dead Bodies on the Dunghils The Taxili Iberi and Brachmans gave departed Corps to the Crows and Ravens to eat This Custom also was observ'd by the Barchaei but onely to Valiant Men that were slain in the Wars Those that died a natural Death they burnt The Parthians gave the Flesh of the Dead to Dogs onely burning the Bones The Hyrcanians in their Life-time bred up great Mastiffs that when they died they might be eaten by them The Essedons brought their departed Friends Bodies out at their Doors where calling their nearest Relations together they cut the Corps asunder so mixing and boyling it amongst Sheeps Flesh they eat it as a Solemn Funeral Feast The Massagetes carbonado'd their Dead also and eat them The ancient Jeren accounted it Religious to feed upon the Flesh of their Deceas'd Friends Parents and Relations The Dervices slew all their Men and Women before their Altars when they came to seventy years of age The Hyperboreans made Feasts for their dead Bodies hanging Garlands about their Necks at last throwing them from the Rocks into the Sea On the Island Code those that attain'd to sixty years were forc'd to drink Poyson because their Provisions should not grow scarce The Caspians so soon as their Fathers and Mothers were seventy years old lock'd them into a Chamber or drove them to desolate and uninhabited Wildernesses that there they might die of Hunger Remarkable Ceremonies us'd about the burning of Beasts ¶ BUt although these People wanted Humanity acting such unnatural things with their Dead yet others have bestow'd vast Charges on their Funerals nay some have not stuck with prophaneness to erect Monuments for their Beasts of which Lacys was one who with great Ceremony Entomb'd a Goose that whilst it liv'd would not go from him Alexander the Great made a sumptuous Feast at the Death of his Horse Bucephalus The Emperor Angustus and after him Adrianus and Commodus built every one for their dead Horses a stately Marble Tomb. Cimon and Xantippus famous Generals amongst the Greeks Interr'd their Dogs with Funeral Ceremonies And nothing was more usual and common amongst the Egyptians than to take dead Cats Crowes and Cranes and having Salted and Imbalm'd them to wrap them in fine Linnen and in a Coffen Interre them Japan toomes or burning places Of Men. Yet far greater Cost was bestow'd on the Burying of Men. How famous is the Tomb which Artemisia erected for her deceas'd Husband Mausolus The Stones thereof were all Marble it contain'd in the Circumference four hundred and eleven Foot and five and twenty in Height surrounded by twenty six curiously ingraven Pillars The famous Architects Scopas Briar Timotheus and Leocares had scarce finish'd every one their Parts when Artemisia died after having burnt the Bones of her Husband to Powder and drank them up and spent all her Revenues on the before-mention'd Structure Who hath not heard of the famous Pyramids which were the Burying-places for the Kings of Egypt of which three are yet remaining The greatest is square and runs up sloaping yet on the top so broad that there may stand fifty Men The breadth from one corner to another at the bottom being three hundred twenty four Paces and rising aloft with two hundred and fifty Steps every Step five Foot high and each Foot nine Inches long At each of the four Corners is a low Descent to which none can go but stooping Peter Belloon relates That he found this Pyramid Anno 1548. built within after this manner Creeping through a narrow Passage with a Wax Candle in his Hand he came into an empty Room where turning on the left Hand they found a spacious Place to which a curious Gallery led the way The Gallery was pav'd with great Free-stones curiously polish'd without Steps so that he was forc'd to support himself by the Rails on both sides after which manner he ascended sixteen Paces at the end of which appear'd a handsom square Chamber in which stood a Chest of twelve Foot long five high and as many broad without a Cover hewn out of one entire piece of black Marble wherein the Egyptian King lay Interr'd that built this Pyramid Besides these he found several other Apartments and also a Well fill'd with Stones Moreover the Athenians made so much ado about the Burying of their Dead that they condemn'd ten Commanders because they neglected to do that Office to two departed Soldiers The Hebrews neglected not to bury their Enemies The famous Roman Orator Paulus accounts it Death for those that dig up dead Bodies out of the Ground Alexander the Great kept so magnificent a Funeral in Babylon for Hephestion that the Charges amounted to six hundred Tun of Gold Furthermore the Ancients bestow'd great Sums of Money on Pillars Images Coffins Imbalmings and other strange Ornaments with which they adorn'd the Burying-places every one according to his Capacity This ancient Custom is yet observ'd amongst the Japanners Japanners burn their Dead where the Bodies being burnt after the Roman manner they lay the Ashes under stately Tombs It is certain that the Romans have not always burnt their Dead for their ancient Law commanded Bury none in the City nor burn none Cornelius Sylla a Roman General was the first that order'd his Body to be burnt fearing some might out of revenge do to him what he had done to Marius whose Bones he digg'd up and threw into the River Anienis After that the Romans us'd only Funeral Pyres which Custom decay'd and became void in the Emperor Antoninus his Reign he commanding again That the Dead should be buried in great State and have costly Tombs erected over them Their remarkable and strange Ceremonies used about the Dead The Roman Pride in those Affairs the Japanners have taken an exact Pattern by for when a Person dies they set the Corps on a Bier with his Head bow'd forwards and his Hands folded together in a praying Posture clad in White over which hangs a Paper Coat pasted together whereon is written the Religion of that Idol whom the deceas'd honor'd and worshipp'd In this posture four Men carry it out of the City to the Fire then a great number of his Relations and Friends which attended the Corps stand round about the Fire and call a whole Hour together on the Name of the Idol whether Amida Xaca Canon or any other to whose Service in his Life-time the Departed was most devote whilst the Bonzies play making a horrible noise by striking on Copper Kettles and Basons The Pit wherein the Fire is made is square hung
then he gave the new Marry'd Couple the Cup. Jews and Japanners Marry under the blue Canopy of Heaven The present Jews also agree with the Japanners in this Point performing the Ceremonies of Marriage not in their Houses but under a Tent that so they may renew the Promise made to Abraham concerning the multiplying of his Seed Therefore the Bridegroom goes out with the Priests and the Bride follows accompany'd with Vocal and Instrumental Musick and Acclamations of the usual Baruch-habba that is Blessed is he that comes The Bride coming near the Bridegroom runs round about him who follows after her then both are strowed with Wheat thereby to express the multiplying of their Seed wherefore the Guests cry whilst strowing Increase and multiply then they suddenly turn all their Faces towards the South The Rabbies or Jewish Teachers blessing the Bride and Bridegroom command them to drink out of a Flask with a narrow Neck if she be a Maid if a Widow out of one with a wide mouth then he thanks God for the perfecting of the Marriage and gives another Glass to the new Marry'd Couple to drink out of it which done the Bridegroom breaks the Glass to pieces against the Wall or Ground partly thereby to remember the ruine of the Temple in Jerusalem and partly to shew the vanity of all transitory things Further relation of the Japannâ—rs Marriage During the time that the Japanners are thus busie in perfecting the Marriage there is no less stir amongst their Guests below about the Hill some sitting near the Wayns in which the Money lies for the Brides Portion others make a great Fire in which they throw all the Brides Play-things others hold a Spinning-wheel aloft and others a Bundle of Flax. This they seem to have borrow'd from the antient Romans who carrying the Bride in the night-time on a Wayn to the Bridegrooms House immediately gave her Flax that so she might instantly learn what was to be done in Houshold affairs Lastly the Bonzies kill'd two Siam Oxen just before the Stairs that ascend up to the Hill and some Sheep which they sacrifice as a burnt-offering to their Nuptial God with a Dogs-head that thereby they may receive his Blessing The Romans differ'd herein from the Japanners that they worshipp'd not one peculiar Idol for Marriage for they acknowledg'd several so that a peculiar Deity was worshipp'd at their several Ceremonies of Marriage The Idol Jugatinus was call'd upon when a Maid and Batchellor were betrothed to one another Domiducus whilst the Bride rode to the Bridegroom Domitius when the Bride entred the House the Goddess Minturna that the new Marry'd People might live long together Virginiensis when the Maiden Girdle was unty'd Mutinus when the Bride being Chaste and Bashful sat on a Mans Privacies made of Wood Subigus whilst she undrest her self and Prema the Goddesses Mother so soon as the Bridegroom was laid in Bed Japan Weddings how kept But after the finishing the foremention'd Ceremonies the Bride at the giving of joy to the Marriage being put into her Coach is carry'd to the Bridegrooms House her Ears all the way thither delighted with Vocal and Instrumental Musick whilst the Youths are busie in the Bridegrooms House in hanging out of Pendants and Flags from the Roof strowing the Floors with Flowers and every where within and without about the Roof hanging of Garlands The Wedding generally lasting eight days costs them great sums of Money How the Japanners Betroth their Children to one another Moreover the Japanners often betroth their Children whilst they are yet in the Cradle which afterwards they inviolably perform They also Marry very young but yet not so soon as the Muscovia Maids which commonly enter the state of Matrimony in their tenth and eleventh Year no otherwise than as if they were Egyptian Mice which as Pliny saith come big with Young into the World Joseph Scaliger relates That a French Youth aged eleven years got his Neece of nine years old with Child Hieronimus that antient Father saith That he saw a Girl that was big by a Boy scarce nine years old Pope Gregory makes himself an eye-witness to have seen a Girl of seven years old to be with Child by a Youth which was but two years older And if any doubt the truth of these famous Persons none will question the sacred Scripture which saith plainly That Achaz at the end of his eleventh Year had a Son whom he call'd Hezekiah for Achaz was made King in his twentieth Year Govern'd Juda sixteen years so that he died in the thirty sixth year of his age at which time his Son Hezekiah was five and twenty years old which being substracted from his Fathers thirty six there remains no more than eleven when Hezekiah was born Description of the Japan Goddess Pussa The Bonzi relate this Story concerning the Goddess Pussa Ten Ages ago three celestial Virgins nam'd Angela Changela and Fecula descended from Heaven to bathe themselves in a pleasant Stream who whilst they washed in the Brook spi'd a Tree under whose Leaves being longer and sharper than those of a Holm-Tree hung a black Fruit upon long Stalks which Fecula tasting found so exceeding pleasant that she could not be satisfi'd with eating The like Story Homer relates of three Sea-men belonging to Ulysses's Fleet which going ashore where the Lotus grew would not return they being so much delighted with the tast of that Fruit. Several Operations are ascribed to this Plant as being good against the falling of the Hair the Bloody-Flux Womens monethly Disease Falling-sickness and giddiness in the Head as Dioscorides Theophrastus Pliny and Galen have it But Fecula say the Japanners finding her self with Child by eating that Fruit saw with sorrowful Eyes her two Companions Angela and Changela ascend again to Heaven whereas she was forc'd to stay till she was Deliver'd after nine Moneths she had a Son who when he was wean'd she laid on a small Isle commanding him to watch for a Fisher-man who would bring him up whilst she ascended to Heaven from whence she sometime since descended with Angela and Changela No sooner had she spoke these words and took her Journey towards Heaven but a Fisher-man found the Youth and carry'd him to his House where he grew up in such a manner that at last he Govern'd all the Countrey far and near and gave Laws to several Kingdoms After this accident Fecula receiv'd the Name of Pussa which the Japanners worship in the following manner Worshipping of Pussa after what manner On the shore of a River stand thick Posts made of the conjoyn'd Bodies of the Lotus Tree on the sides whereof appear black branches not unlike Elephants Teeth the Posts are adorn'd with great Gilded Flowers On the left-side lies a flat Shell on two thick Branches in which Shell Pussa's Son kneeling represents the Posture of Praying On the top of the Branches lies sloaping a Cushion on one end
Stones about his Neck Middle and Legs and then to the Honor of Canon jumps into the Sea before the Haven of Saccai after having sat two days before speaking with the Idol in the Portal of his Temple This Self-Murther is not always done out of pretended Zeal but sometimes because they are weary of Life by reason of their Poverty or incurable Sores or Distempers On this Island Pyenes of which the middle is seen at a great distance by reason of two high Hills is a great Temple Dedicated to Canon built of Stone on the hanging of the Mountains and no ways inferior to that belonging to the same Idol in Osacca Moreover round about the Island lie several handsome Sioens and other small Vessels for the purpose aforesaid Opposite to Pyenes appears a Water-Castle built on a Promontory being the Foot of a steep Hill which lies at one end of Saccai This is a most Artificial and stately Building a large Tower of two Stories high and flat on the top standing in the middle of strong square Walls towards the Mountain two great Paths direct the way at the end of which is another Square Tower the top cover'd with a broad Roof that jets over the sides By this Water-Castle no Ships must pass before they pay Custom to the City Haven of Saccai Behind this Fort the Sea makes a Bay before the City and Washes over against the Water-Castle the Foot of a Rock near which others are of an incredible height Walls Moreover the Haven comes just before the Wall of the City that consists of Free-Stone rais'd out of a deep Moat full of Water except where it rises up against the Mountain for Saccai being built on the hanging of a great Hill the Moat is dry half way and although the Wall by its strength and height is a sufficient Defence of its self yet it is Fortifi'd by the two Castles that Crown the top of the Mountain Not far from the Walls that face the Water-Castle is the stately Palace inhabited by the Vice-Roy of Saccai which having an exceeding high Turret in the middle of it is seen at a great distance Saccai is built of Stone All the Buildings both within and without Saccai are of Stone which the Neighboring Rocks afford them in plentiful manner This City is kept in such good order Strange Orders observ'd there that neither Robberies Dissentions or Quarrels at any time disturb the Inhabitants and if any Disturbance hapneth each Street Locks up their Gates and the causer of it taken by an Officer is carry'd before a Magistrate where he is sure to be severely punish'd yet notwithstanding this strict Order in the City every one hath liberty to decide his Quarrel with a drawn Scymiter a Stones cast from the Wall The great Temple of Saccai full of all manner of Images ¶ BUt above all things in Saccai is most remarkable the Temple which exceeds all others in Japan both in costliness and bigness Dedicated to the strange Gods of Aracan Pegu Cambodia Tayovan Couchichina Borneo Philippines Corea China Siam and one terible Idol borrow'd from the Salvage Inhabitants of Jesso Such a Temple of all sorts of Images stood formerly in Rome which being call'd Pantheon was Built by Agrippa the Emperor Augustus Son-in-Law to this day the Foundation of that Temple which Pope Boniface the third about the year six hundred and seven being impower'd by the Emperor Phocas Consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the Apostles is to be seen Temple Maria Rotunda and call'd Santa Maria Rotonda and is held as the experienc'd Artichect Sebastian Serlius relates for the handsomest Building to be found any where and serves as a Pattern to raise other Edifices by notwithstanding there is not the least glance of its first Beauty remaining for being Burnt in Titus Vespasian's time it was Re-built by Domitian and afterwards set on Fire by Lightning in Trajan's Reign and Erected again by the Emperor Adrian the Roof was cover'd with Silver Tiles Gilded which the Emperor Constantine's Son took off and carry'd with him to Sicily where they fell into the Hands of the Saracens that carry'd them to Egypt In this Pantheon stood the Gods Jupiter Mars and Venus and besides other Idol-Images those of Augustus and Agrippa Temples with divers gods where in former tunes Pausanias the Greek Historiographer relates That in Athens and in other places of Greece also stood a general Temple for all manner of Gods The same is found by Zozomenus the Ecclesiastical Writer who relates That in the Village Bethelia where he was born was a very ancient Temple built on a Hill that look'd over all the Village and being Dedicated to all manner of Deities was call'd Bethelia agreeing with the Greek word Pantheon both signifying A Temple of divers Gods Strange Image of a Queen in Saccai borrow'd of Siammers ¶ BUt besides the other several Images in the famous Temple of Saccai the Queens Image of melted Jems which they had from the Siammers deserves no small admiration and will be worth our labour to search after the Original thereof When the Queen to the King of Siam dies A remarkable Funeral of the Queen of Siam her body is kept a whole year wanting six days notwithstanding it stink and putrifie before they lay it into the ground Then the time being come to Burn the Corps in the Market-place they place a most Artificial and Royal Throne about three hundred Foot high whose inside consists of exceeding thick and long Poles pleited about with Rushes but without surrounded with Mats and cloven Reeds curiously Painted and Gilt the whole Edifice shewing like one entire Piece Round about this Throne stand several Turrets each about a hundred and twenty Foot high with a Gallery leading from one to the other Just before the Throne is a Tower three times higher than the other saving four Portals resting within on great Pillars curiously Engraven with Fruitage and stand in order like our Church-Pillars after which manner also they stand within the Throne on whose Pillars lies a Roof six Fathom from the Ground under which about the middle of the Square inner-part stands a very splendid Ascent twelve Foot high not onely adorn'd with Gilt Imagery but also beautifi'd with green Glass on this the Corps is burnt This Edifice stands about six Musquet Shot from the Palace between both a Way is made of Rushes Pleited and Painted Red which keeps off the Multitudes which flock to see the Funeral in incredible numbers Along this Fence stand little Huts the Roofs of which rest on four Turn'd Pillars the sides separated by Gilded Silk Curtains within lie Iron Pots Rice and yellow Cloth for Priests Before the Corps come forth their Players Act publickly in the Market-place whilst several heavy Golden Balls some great and some little are brought thither The Street between the Palace and the Funeral Pire is full of Sledges that stand in two
Rows on which appear strange deform'd Creatures artificially made of Rushes some representing the shape of Elephants Dragons and Tygers others half Men and half Beasts Rhinocerots every ones Back representing a Seat like a Throne on four Square Pedistals curiously Painted some of which Seats are fill'd with Sandal-Wood to burn the Corps These Pleited Monsters are made fast with Ropes one to another by which they are drawn forward through thousands of people Out of one of the foresaid Houses along the Rail of Red Rushes comes forth the Siam Bishop and sets himself down on one of the artificial Tygers Behind the Bishops the Sons of the King of Siam get upon the back of one of the Elephants The youngest Son rides just before the Chariot whereon the Corps of his deceased Mother lies his Elephant being made fast to it by Cords of fine Linnen full of Gold Rings at least an Inch thick The Corps it self stands on a Throne eighteen Foot high which rests on a Chariot six Fathom long Every thing represents either Art or Splendor for the Chariot and the Throne whereon the Corps stands is cover'd with thick Golden Plates and adorn'd with Imagery Inlaid with Mother of Pearl and green glittering Glass The Coffin sharp on the top and standing upon one end is of Massie Gold Emboss'd with Rubies and Diamonds The artificial Elephants Tygers Rhinocerots Dragons and other deformed Creatures are drawn along with the Corps by all sorts of People but distinguish'd by their several Caps Behind the Deceased Queen follows the King of Siam Riding on a She-Elephant Capparison'd in white Linnen adorn'd with great Tassels of Gold he that leads the Elephant holds a Golden Hook beset with Precious Stones The King Apparel'd in White hath a great Hat on his Head made fast under his Chin the end of Which hangs over his Shoulders Behind the King sits a prime Lord with his Head and Body bent forward which reaches him a Hanger of an Inestimable value And lastly When the Corps with all the Riches is thrown into the Flame after some time the Ashes of the Queen and the melted Gold are gather'd out of the Fire the Ashes preserv'd in a great square Tower Plated without with Gilt Tin but the melted Gold serves to make an Image representing the deceased Queen which when made is put into the Temple and Religiously Worshipped When the Siammers must be Shav'd And after the Queen is Burnt the Siammers may let the Hair of their Heads grow for as long as she was yet standing on the Earth they were necessitated to Shave their Heads every Fortnight An exceeding strange adventure that happen'd at the Funeral of the King of Siam's Daughter ¶ WIth such a Siam Idol the Temple in Saccai is adorn'd but to give you a somewhat nearer Relation concerning the Original of this Inestimable Image it will be necessary to add hereunto the strange adventure that happend on the three and twentieth of February and the following days Anno 1649. which the Governor John Van Muiden at that time residing in Judia the Metropolis of Siam as Agent for the Netherland East-India Company being an Eye-witness relates thus I was says he with the rest of the Netherlanders by the Interpreters call'd to Court to see the Splendid Funeral of the King's Daughter Born by his Royal Queen But because the Messengers came somewhat too late the Corps was already carry'd to the Funeral Pire but going thither we got upon a Scaffold which by the King's Order was built for us not far from the Fire In the middle of the Market-place in Judia in sight of the Royal Palace stood five Turrets rais'd of high Masts hung round about with Gilded Mats four Towers more of the same height and shape made an exact Quadrangle In the middle of the four was another Erected much larger and higher for whereas the four were but twenty Fathom high the middlemost was thirty all Plated with Gold and Emboss'd with Precious Stones Dazelling the Eyes of the Beholder Within the biggest Tower stood an exceeding costly Altar rais'd six Foot from the Ground on which the Corps of the King's Daughter was to be Burnt and was now brought thither after it had been Embalm'd and stood six Moneths in State in her Fathers Court. The Corps its self was Apparel'd in Majestick Robes with Gold Chains Arm-lets Neck-Laces of Pearl and other Precious Jems on her Head she wore a Crown of Gold the Body sat up-right in a Praying posture in a Chest of Massie Gold an Inch thick her Hands folded together and her Face up towards Heaven Then the greatest Mandarines or Siam Lords with their Ladies stept to the Corps and every one shewing a very mournful Countenance were all Clothed in fine white Linnen without any Gaiety Very rematkable Funeral and Strew'd an Handful of Flowers or Perfumes on the Deceased after which the Golden Chest with the Corps was set on a high Throne Erected on a stately Chariot and Presented before the chief Peers and Ladies of the Land whereupon the Princesses make first a doleful cry then wringing their Hands and Shreeking aloud calling also several times together on the Name of the Deceased shew all the Postures of a hearty sorrow Mean while the Chariot which was drawn by the Prime Nobility began to approach the foresaid five Towers Before the Corps the King 's eldest Son the Deceased's eldest Brother Rode on an Elephant On both sides his two second Brothers whose Elephants were Caparison'd in White every one having a long Scarf in their Hand whereof one end was made fast to the Coffin so seeming as if they drew the Body along On both sides of the Chariot also walk'd fourteen of the King's Children on Foot Clothed in fine White Linen and a green Bough in their Hand Just behind the Chariot follow'd all the Princes and their Princesses in great State On both sides of the Way through which the Chariot pass'd stood stately Scaffolds each standing twenty Fathom from the other on which the meaner sort of Mandarins or Lords sate who when the Corps came before them threw several Suits of Clothes amongst the throng of People and also Oranges stuck full Ticols and Masees which is a sort of Siam Silver Coyn the first valu'd at about two Shillings and the last at six Pence The concourse of People was so exceeding great that many were throng'd to death But so soon as the Chariot stopp'd before the middlemost of the five Towers the Corps was taken down by the primest Lords and not without great Ceremony whilst the Musicians Sung and Play'd all manner of doleful Tunes was placed on the Altar in the fifth Tower and surrounded with Sandal and Agor-Wood sprinkled with the sweetest Perfumes and best of Essenses Princesses that must either cry or be beatâ—n where that Custom is us'd Then the whole Train of the King's Children and prime Lords return'd to Court but the Princesses stay'd
they had Cruised to and again before Tayovan till the tenth of June but because they could do no good to the Fort Zelandia and their Provisions also growing very scarce they judg'd it convenient to Sail to Japan and in their way to touch at Quelang not onely to refresh themselves but fetch all the East-India Companies Concerns from thence they lying bare to Coxenga whose Forces were daily expected there for which reason Graveland Anchoring there the thirteenth of June loaded all whatever he could in seven days time Moreover he took in a hundred and seventy Men The Inhabitants of Quelang remove with three married Dutch Women eleven Quelangois Children and eight and twenty Slaves of both Sexes The Women and Children were Landed on Disma because of the disorder in the Ship Graveland The Relation of the Condition of Formosa translated into Japan and sent to Jedo Furthermore Indiik deliver'd this Relation translated into the Japan Tongue to the Governor or Nangesaque That Coxenga had above nine years ago design'd with the Tayovans and Chineses that inhabited Formosa to betray and take the Fort Zelandia from the Hollanders but the Plot being discover'd the Traytors were all executed And the Chineses also sent under the Conduct of one Fayet to Storm Zelandia had little better Success for the Besieg'd sallied out so fortunately that few of them were left to carry the News of their Adventure to Coxenga Fayet himself was also found slain amongst the rest Other meaner Soldiers being taken and carried Prisoners into the Castle consess'd that they were employ'd in Coxenga's Service who notwithstanding this Repulse gave not over from prosecuting his Design of which Coyet being inform'd was very vigilant and the more because a great Chinese Trader call'd Pinequa being not onely much in the East-India Companies Debt but also several Merchants in Tayovan ran away privately which was not onely prejudicial but dangerous because they knew the whole Estate and Condition of Formosa so that it very much troubled Coyet who well knew that he would relate the whole Condition of the Fort Zelandia to Coxenga Also he might easily guess that Coxenga who had for several years had a Design upon Formosa would take hold of such an opportunity to accomplish his desire The Jealousie grew the greater when News came from all Parts that Coxenga Listed great numbers of Men and prepar'd a great Fleet to Conquer Formosa Coyet observ'd all things very narrowly and sent a Letter with a Chinese Jonk to Coxenga in which he desir'd That he would please to send him word to what end he made such mighty Preparations for War and against whom he design'd them To which Coxenga acting the Politician cunningly answer'd That Coyet ought not onely not to believe those that brought him such News but to keep them Prisoners and make them confess the Truth by Tortures And the better to cloke his Intentions he now and then sent twenty or thirty Chinese Jonks with Merchandize to Tayovan Yet notwithstanding all this Coyet still suspected him writing all things particularly to the Council at Batavia who with all speed sent twelve Men of War to his assistance which about the middle of September Anchor'd before Zelandia three of which Coyet sent to Coxenga to observe all his Transactions and have an answer of every Particular These Coxenga entertain'd exceeding courteously protesting to them That he had a very great kindness for the East-India Company of which Coyet might certainly assure himself By these fair Carriages deluded he now believing all things which had been reported false sent the Fleet to another Place onely two great Ships and as many small ones which he sent to fetch in the Lading for the great ones staid behind Coxenga had no sooner receiv'd the News of the Men of Wars departure from Zelandia but he sent with all speed three hundred Jonks Mann'd with four thousand Men to Formosa and Sailing in the Night through the Lakjemonian Straights Landed many of his Men in the Morning on Formosa which immediately stopp'd up the Inland Channel and lay between the Fort Zelandia and Formosa Whereupon Coyet sent three hundred Soldiers to prevent their Landing but they quickly found themselves surrounded so that they were forc'd to fight to the last Man and purchase their Deaths dearly from the Chineses But they having fresh Supplies Storm'd the Castle Provincia standing on Secam opposite to Formosa which being but weak was not able to resist long against such a Powerful Enemy The fifth of May they robb'd and burnt the Town before Zelandia which being guarded by eleven hundred Men some of them fired upon them from two Platforms on each were Planted twelve Demiculverins Of the four Ships that remain'd before Tayovan the greatest call'd the Hector was with a hundred Men blown up The Ketch Mary hoised all her Sails and went directly for Batavia The other two being the Graveland the Vink Sail'd to Quelang to carry the News of the War thither from whence returning to Zelandia they Cruis'd up and down along that Coast but at last stood for Nangesaque Moreover Loenius related That Coxenga had not conquer'd the Fort Zelandia when he came from thence and also that Cojet had sent the Vessel call'd Immenhorn under the Command of Jacob Sas to Torrissima to fetch the remaining Goods of the Ship call'd the Harp which had suffer'd Shipwrack on that Coast but Sas found them not the Goods being sent before in small Vessels to Satsuma where the Lord of the Countrey keeps his Court. The Governor of Nangesaque immediately sent this Relation written in the Japan Language to the Emperor at Jedo but whilst it was on its way thither a Jonk richly loaden from whose Yards and Masts wav'd several blue Pennons and Flags came to an Anchor before Disma The Captain thereof a Chinese being commanded to appear before the Governor related That Coxenga was in Tayovan and was Master of all Formosa and that a hundred and forty of the Besieg'd sallying out of Zelandia were so beaten by him that onely seven of them escap'd with lise and that he had also burnt three Holland Ships and drove two from the Coast likewise how eleven days after his departure from Anhay new Forces would be sent to Tayovan to supply Coxenga's Army there Indiik desires leave to take the Chinese Jonks Hereupon Indiik entreated of the Governor Ficojemondonne in a Letter That since Coxenga had dealt so treacherously with the East-India Company and set upon them unawares that he would please to grant him leave to seize upon all the Jonks he could meet with at Sea or elsewhere belonging to Coxenga Upon which But is aeny'd Ficojemondonne sent this Answer That he durst not take upon him to grant so weighty a Concern but that he must write about it to Jedo and expect an Answer from the Emperors Court but he could not think that the Emperor would any ways grant that
the Elbows on their Helmets they wear Plumes of Feathers Whilst the King eats they beat on Kettle-drums before his Hall The Inhabitants freely proffer their Daughters to the Hollanders to vitiate them Description of Malacca ¶ SOme Ships that sail from Nangesaque go for Malacca which City lies on an even Shore being about three Miles in length well seated for Conveniency of Trade and cut through with a River made passable by a fair Bridge over which the Citizens come to one another At the time when Alphonsus Albuquerque re-took the famous City Goa for Emanuel King of Portugal the Arabian Mamud King of Malacca had contrary to his Oath set upon some Portuguese and kept them close Prisoners But Albuquerque hasting to Malacca to release them met in his way with a Malacca General call'd Naodabeguca who setting upon them bought his Death dearly falling down at last with a hundred gaping Wounds on the Ground It occasion'd no small wonder Strange Wonder of a wounded Malaccan that not one of them bled a drop but so soon as a Golden Armlet was taken from him the Blood gush'd forth from all parts in great abundance so that Naodabeguca instantly gave up the Ghost The Prisoners inform'd that a Bone of the Beast call'd Cabim was inclos'd in the Armlet by whose Power the Blood was stopp'd Strange Wedding-house ¶ MAmud's Daughter marrying to the Prince of the Panenses kept her Wedding in Malacca The Nuptial Ceremonies were perform'd in great State A great House or moving Castle built on thirty Wheels and hung with rich Tapestry was by Elephants drawn through the City within stood the Tables cover'd and the Guests sung danced and acted all manner of pleasant Pastime Whilst thus Malacca was in the height of its pleasure Albuquerque brought his Fleet into the Harbor and demanded the delivery of the Portuguese Prisoners which Mamud out of fear deliver'd him yet the Portuguese set the City on Fire Malacca on Fire and not thus satisfied Albuquerque would have a place in the City to build a Castle that they might drive their Trade without fear Moreover he demanded the Damage and Charges which the Fleet had cost preparing because it was done purposely for this Expedition The Kings Son and Son-in-Law cry'd out They would venture the utmost of it which though the Event prov'd never so bad could not be worse than the insufferable high Ambition of the Portuguese Thus the two young Princes perswaded Mamud to take up Arms who otherwise would have bought Peace though on unequal Terms Whereupon with speed raising some Fortifications but chiefly guarding the Bridge that went over the River with Men and Arms he carried out his Elephants with Towers full of Soldiers to hinder the Landing of the Portuguese Valiant Fight yet they notwithstanding all his resistance Landed John Lima marching directly on towards the smallest part of the City where the Kings Palace stood and also a Mahumetan Temple but hapned to fall in amongst Mamud's Son Alodyn's Soldiers which occasion'd a fierce Battel for a considerable time when Mamud himself came with his Elephants on the Backs of the Portuguese wherefore Lima facing about with a part of his Men broke their Ranks and wounded their Elephants who returning amongst their own Army made such a Rout that they tumbled one over another every one then seeking which way to fly Mamud being cruelly wounded sav'd himself by flight Alodyn also began to give ground But Albuquerque found so great Resistance at the Bridge that he sounded a Retreat yet a few days after he renew'd the Fight when it fortun'd much better for although Mamud had undermin'd the Streets so to blow up the Portuguese with Powder yet they being inform'd of it went along another way into the City led by Albuquerque whilst Anthony Abreus made himself Master of the Bridge But Albuquerque ran great danger for the Malaccans keeping close together in their narrow Streets made fierce resistance the Women and Children throwing Stones and other combustible things out of their Windows yet at last he forc'd them to fly raising a Bulwark at each end of the conquer'd Bridge and cover'd the same over on the top with Sails to keep off the Heat of the Sun Mamud running into the Woods there died of Grief Great Booty in Malacca The City it self was given to the Soldiers for Booty of which the fifth part should be preserv'd for Emanuel King of Portugal whose part amounted to two hundred thousand Golden Crowns Albuquerque building a strong Castle here gave the Command of it to Rhoderick Palatyn Treachery in the Fort. But not long after Alodyn had like to have made himself Master of the new Fort by Treachery for one Maxelys extracted from Bengala made particular acquaintance with Alphonsus Persona Treasurer of the Castle Alodyn giving Maxelys a good Sum of Money that he should admit Soldiers in Merchants Apparel to murder and kill all the Garrison which he had done had not Persona though mortally wounded behind by Maxelys retain'd so much strength that he got open his Door and cry'd out Treason Matelief's Voyage ¶ AFter this the Portuguese liv'd here undisturb'd till Cornelius Matelief sailing from the Texel Anno 1605. with eleven Ships Mann'd with thirteen hundred fifty seven Men fetch'd four great Ships out of the Haven of Malacca rais'd a Platform on Pulo Malacca and landed seven hundred Men which made the Portuguese retreat to their Suburbs fortified with a strong Wall and out of their Suburbs which were set on fire into the City Malacca it self the Portuguese had so fortified with wide Trenches strong Forts Gates and Towers that it would easily endure a great Siege John de Patuan King of Jor brought some Assistance to them but those Countrey People were neither fit to work for laziness nor to fight for faintheartedness Malacca besieg'd In the interim Matelief rais'd another Platform against the corner of the City-Trench from which he fired continually In the City died daily above forty People of Hunger and noysom Smells But the Besiegers also suffer'd almost as great Inconveniences not only a great Sickness hapning among them but being lodg'd under the open Canopy of Heaven were miserably stung by the Wasps so that continual waking had quite tired them yet they took fresh Courage when two Ships came from Holland with two hundred forty five Men to their Assistance But soon after the little Sung Frigat discover'd the Portuguese Fleet sent to relieve Malacca The Fight between the Hollanders and Portuguese Matelief being inform'd thereof fetch'd his Guns from the Platforms aboard brake up the Siege and prepar'd himself for an Engagement The next Morning the Fight began near the Promontory Rachabo Both Parties lost each of them two Ships but Matelief's Gun-powder growing short he resolv'd to clap them aboard and enter Calm Weather twice hinder'd their valiant Design and the third time the Portuguese taking advantage
Spire beyond which about a League Southward from Osacca may be seen another Tower call'd Lords-Castle where the Noble-men use to meet both for their Serious Occasions and Divertisements The Temple of the Idol Canon But in the Center or middle of the City stands the much celebrated Temple of the Idol Canon whom the Japanners believe hath the absolute Power over all sorts of Fish and Fowl that haunt the Water he being as their Neptune or Sea-commanding God A few Steps from which stands the Porters Lodge with a broad-brimm'd Roof whose Edges shoot far out before the Walls Near this lies a Path leading to the Out-wall which now lies for the most part in its own Ruins yet this Wall hath one very fair Gate resembling a Triumphal Arch through which they walk to a pleasant Plain full of shady Trees but this Pleasure is divided from them by a second Quadrangular Wall Plaister'd with white Loam every Quarter a pleasant Green belonging to it Strange Porch before Canons Temple But the Temple-Porch belonging to the first Wall that incloses the Court is built Orbicular with six Angles making a kind of Cupiloe on the top To this sad Place many wretched People resort who weary of their Lives either suffering under Poverty or Chronical Infirmities or distracted with blind Zeal in Fits of their Religious Melancholy Japanners drown themselves here expecting to be freed from all their Sorrows and to enter into present Happiness by drowning themselves in this their Soul-saving Pool of their Water-God But first they warily consult Canon himself in the Portal seeking his Advice from which as their fond Fancies dictate they either return full of Hopes or desperately throw themselves headlong in and for a quicker dispatch greedily swallow the Water As did also the ancient Germans to the Honor of the Goddess Hertha This kind of dreadful Sedecede or destroying themselves is not unlike the ancient Worship of the Teutonick Goddess Hertha which Tacitus relates thus That in an Isle lying not far out at Sea a Priest waited in a Grove consecrated to the Goddess Hertha in which stood a close Chariot which was profan'd if touch'd by any but this her Attendant His Function was to know at what time the Goddess set forth upon her Holy Voyage to visit the Seats of Joy and Everlasting Happiness to which purpose he made ready the Chariot and Harness'd the Buffles to draw her which he attended with great Zeal and Religious Diligence And what Countreys soever she pass'd through all War turn'd suddenly to Peace Nor finish'd she her Progress till the Priest had fully inform'd her of the several Impieties raging and reigning everywhere which done she driving into a Lake as weary of this World suddenly vanish'd never appearing more and all the Retinue that belong'd to her following the Chariot in like manner drown'd themselves From whence arose that kind of mad Zeal and frantick Desire of thus making themselves away by Water that so they might meet with the Pleasures of the other World In what place the Goddess Hertha was chiefly worshipp'd Philippus Cluverius in his History of Germany affirms That the Island before-mention'd by Tacitus is no other but Rugau where yet to this day near the Promontory Stubbenkamar stands a Thicket call'd De Stubenitz and in the same a Lake of Black Water so deep that it is suppos'd to be bottomless which though it abounds with Fish yet is not frequented by Fishers this proceeding out of a Reverential awe or fear of this thought to be Sacred Water Yet some less scrupulous in Points of that nature undertook lately to leave a Boat in the foremention'd Pool designing to Fish there the next day and coming in the Morning their Boat was gone which after long search they found fix'd in an Oaken Tree Whereupon one of the Fishermen cry'd aloud saying What! were all the Devils joyn'd together to cast my Boat in yonder Tree Strange Relation Upon which he heard a terrible Voyce replying All the Devils were not imploy'd but onely two I and my Brother Claes But not only this Pool belonging to the Nymph Hertha were they Diabollically perswaded to make themselves away in but many other Places in Germany where upon the like account Self-murder was committed by throwing themselves headlong into the Water raging to follow the same Goddess to the foremention'd Seats of Bliss A farther Description of Canons Temple ¶ BUt to return again to the Temple of Canon The same rises aloft with three peculiar Stories whose Roofs are six-square jetting out a great way over the Walls Every Partition hath three double Windows only between the second and lowest Story stands a Gallery supported on twenty eight great Pillars The Walls painted with all manner of Fishes adorn much the outside of the Temple The Chief Buildings in Osacca ¶ ON the right side of Canon's Temple stands the Admirals House and somewhat near this City a stately Cloyster of the Bonzies rising with two high Roofs or Stories a great distance one from the other Next this is the Habitation of the General known by its double Roofs and Gable Ends hard by which stands the Temple with two hundred Images And no less stately is the Palace belonging to the Lord-Treasurer of Japan In the same Street stands a Watch-Tower which is seen by Land six Leagues from the City and at Sea seven The Church in which the Images of the old Bonzies are kept as Holy Reliques is also very curious to behold part of it may be seen at some distance at Sea and the other part conceals it self behind the Hills How it is within Moreover Osacca like most of the other Cities in Japan hath neither Walls nor Bulwarks but is divided in the middle by a Current on both sides of which are stately Buildings made of Clay the outsides cover'd with Boards to keep the Water from soaking through within full of large Chambers In the time of the Emperor Xogunsama Anno 1614. seven Ships with Convicts went from the Haven of Osacca to Nangesaque because they would not desist from the Roman Catholique Religion At that time also the Jesuits Church in Osacca was pull'd down by Sangamido who was impower'd by the Emperor to persecute the Romanists which was perform'd with all manner of Cruelty all imaginable Tortures being us'd on them Osacca is oftentimes ruin'd in the Japan Civil-Wars But above all Osacca suffer'd much by the Civil Wars which the Japanners maintain'd one against another each striving to obtain the Imperial Crown insomuch that the City and Castle fell now into the hands of one and then of the other After the Death of the Emperor Taycosama Anno 1601. Japan was exceedingly turmoyl'd in a Civil War nine Princes joyning against Dayfusama of whom the Chief Commander was Morindono King of nine Provinces out of which he rais'd Forty thousand Men many Great Persons amongst them and had also
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
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
end with their lives but remain'd barbarously salvage to their dead Bodies which they permitted no Burial but left exposed as a Prey for the Fowls of the Air. Thus was the Sentence pronounc'd against the Martyrs Claudius Asterius and Neon Let them be Nail'd to the Cross that their Flesh may be devour'd by the Ravens Those that were not by excess of Scourging before-hand tir'd out liv'd a long time on the Cross whereof some according to Seneca did spit on those that stood gazing on them Others Just l. 22. as Justinus witnesses of the Carthaginians concerning their General Bomilcar rail'd at those that had caus'd them to be Crucifi'd Bomilcar unhappily lay in Sicily in the Field against Agathocles from whence returning he was taken in the Market-place in Carthage and Nail'd to a Cross and from thence as from a Stage he related the treacherous dealings of his Subjects charging sometimes Hanno then Gisgo and at last Hamilcar with several Crimes of which he wish'd them to clear themselves Whilst these cruel ways of Crucifying were us'd it happen'd sometimes though very seldom that by the favor and compassion of the Princes the Crucifi'd were taken off and recover'd Josephus in sua vita Josephus relates how that going from a Village to the Roman Army he saw a great many Jews hanging on Crosses amongst which were three that had formerly been his intimate Friends and seeing them in that miserable condition he immediately went to the General Titus Vespasianus to beg of him that he would grant him leave to take them down which he permitted but of those three onely one was preserv'd alive To Rack the Crucifi'd for a quicker dispatch was perform'd on the two Murderers which suffer'd with Christ but that is not according to the Roman but the Levitical Law as you may read in Deuteronomy Deut. 21. Vers 22 23. If a man have committed a sin worthy of death and he be put to death and thou hang him on a tree his body shall not remain all night on the tree but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day for he that is hanged is accursed of God that thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance Ambrosius gives us his opinion thereof It seemed says he Ambr. in c. 3. in Rom. to be enough for a condemn'd Person that he is hang'd up and dies on the Wood for if he should hang longer his Death would suffer more shame than his Crime had deserv'd and would be a continual disgrace to his Posterity when his Death should daily be reported up and down Rack the Crucifi'd But Racking was not usual with the Romans who sought by long torturing to make their Death the more miserable so delighting their Ears with the Cries and Shreeks of the poor dying Wretches Yet the Spectators seem'd not satisfi'd by beholding onely the misery of these poor condemn'd Creatures How it is The Roman Emperors Dioclesian and Maximinus began first to Rack the Crucifi'd which they perform'd in this manner They held an Iron Anvil under their Legs and Arms whilst another with a great Mallet broke their Bones all to pieces Why the Heathens and Japanners Crucifie the Christians It is thought that the Heathens in antient times and the Japanners under Daifusama's Government chose that Death on purpose for the Christians because they believed in a Crucifi'd Christ Wherefore Daifusama also gave them charge to run them through the Sides with two long Spears because our Saviour was transpierced And whilst the Heathens sought thus to disgrace the Christians by Crucifying them they took it as a great glory dying the same Death as the Son of God had done for their Sins Concerning this kind of Punishment and the Cross it self several Authors have Written at large especially Minutius Felix Maximus Taurinensis Tertullianus and others Justin Apol. 2. I will out of all select onely two viz. Justin Martyr who says View all things in the World can they be Govern'd or any ways us'd without the Sign of the Cross The Earth is not Plough'd without it The Diggers perform not their Labor nor other Handicrafts unless they have a Cross amongst their Tools or Instruments Man differs no way in his shape from a Beast onely that he is upright and can spread his Arms into the form of a Cross Hieronymus says Hieronim in Mar. c. 11. The fashion of a Cross represents the four corners of the World The Birds when they flye in the Air take upon them the shape of a Cross A Man Swimming or Praying shews also like a Cross It is also worthy our observation what Ruffinus Ruff. l. 2.2 c. 29. Sozom. l. 3. c. 15. Sozomenus and Suidas have publish'd namely That in the time of the Emperor Theodosius the Great the Idol Temples were all pull'd down In Egypt was also destroy'd an antient Temple dedicated to the famous Serapis The Walls round about being pull'd to the Ground discover'd several Stones Engraven with strange Characters which onely the Priests of Serapis could Read many of which were made like a Cross signifying the Life which was to come Lactantius Firmianus relates Lact. l. 4. c. 13. That the Oracle of Apollo long before our Saviours Birth roar'd out this Verse of Christ's Suffering By Nails and Crucifying Pain A bitter Death he did sustain It seems no wonder that Daifusama according to the example of the Roman Heathens for the Reasons aforemention'd when he perceiv'd that the Beheading of the Christians seem'd too easie a Death he Crucifi'd them The Spanish Forces the occasion of the Japanners persecuting the Christians But among the five Occasions which made Daifusama persecute the Christians was the suspected Forces of the Spaniards who made themselves Masters of divers Places in the World as the far-spreading Coasts of Guinee and Angola in the Confines of Africa and to the West a whole new World divided into New-Spain Mexico Peru Chili and Chaca besides many brave Islands which they had Conquer'd And since Anno 1581. the Portuguese fell under the King of Spain all those vanquish'd Territories in India were likewise become their Acquests so that they could in a short time bring great Forces from Goa Malacca Macao and other Places to Sea But chiefly the Spaniards in the Philippines were most suspected as being too near the Japanners they not desiring such Potent Neighbors who but a few years before had Landed there and since endeavor'd continually to enlarge their Dominions But this business requires our farther Description Who first discover'd the Philippines ¶ AT the time when Lodowick de Velasco in the Name of Philip the Second King of Spain bore the Chief Command over Mexico he receiv'd Orders from Madrid Anno 1564. to Rig out a great Fleet and with them seek to discover some of those Islands that lay to the Southward of Japan where formerly Ferdinand Magellanus first Landed
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
into Cloysters to the end their Goods at the time of their Death may go the farther and that so they may keep up their Family The Bonzies Sermons ¶ THe Doctrines which the Bonzi teach are commonly Reprehensions against Worldly Care by which the ordinary Man is so taken up that he minds nothing of the Laws tending to Salvation for which the Bonzi proffer their Service to take upon them their Offences and sue for their Pardon from the Gods so that none shall be damn'd how great soever their Sins are for the Gods will deliver them from the Flames of Hell-fire Yet with this Proviso If they set a high esteem on and are bountifully liberal to the Bonzi that intercede for them Women and poor People can scarce be sav'd This Promise of Salvation is only to Rich and Eminent People but for the Poor People there is no Redemption from Hell The Womens Condition is also very bad not withstanding they give great Presents to the Bonzi because by their natural Purgations they are stain'd with many filthy and grievous Sins so that it is very hard for them to attain to Salvation Bonzi give Bills of Exchange The Bonzi also in their Publick Preachings declare That those that give them any Money shall receive the same again with ten times the Interest in the Life to come And since few there are that misdoubt so great a gain the Bonzies have labor enough to make them Bills of Exchange for their Money which they preserve very carefully and chiefly all dying Persons give strict charge that they bury the foremention'd Bills with them that so they may receive both Principal and Interest in the other World and also because the Devil flies from all such Papers Description of the Bonzies Preaching The Bonzies make their Sermons in a handsom manner for he that Preaches stands on a high Pulpit hung round about with a rich Japan Cloth The Ascent thereof is made on the right side not without curious Rails and Steps On the left side sits an Idol with his Legs under him after the Japan manner on a high Altar either of Amida Xaca Canon or any other according to the Sect of which the Bonzies are Next to the Idol are those that bring Offerings being all manner of Dainties which after performance of Service they and the Bonzies together devour Both the Idol and Offerers sit on a high Seat rail'd about Over the Pulpit is a square Covering which rests forward on two thick Pillars made fast behind in the Walls On the top also hang on both sides of the Preacher two burning Lamps each hanging by four Strings and with as many Lights Before the Pulpit stands a square Scaffold rail'd in on three sides and three Foot in height in the middle of which stands the Pulpit On this Scaffold sit or stand the Readers or Servants to the Bonzies In the Pulpit lies the Holy Book of Foquequium and near it a Shell The Priest getting into the Pulpit looks a considerable time about him In his right Hand he holds a broad golden Fan his Head is cover'd with an Umbrello of Silk not much unlike a Straw Hat Before he speaks aloud he makes a great shew in silence of his intended Design Lastly he rings the Bell as a Sign commanding Silence after which none makes the least noise Then the Priest begins to read some Rules out of their Law-Book Foquequium on which he makes a long Sermon Bonzi speak well in their Sermons Gasper Villela well-experienc'd in the Japan Tongue relates That he hath oftentimes admir'd the excellent Language of the Bonzi which are no ways inferior to any Greek or Latin Preachers either in their compleat Behavior and elegant Style or for their curious Words and moving Arguments to their purpose The Nobleness of their Discourse borrows also a little from the Lustre of their Apparel for the Minister standing on a rich Stool is cloth'd in Silk from Head to Foot about his Middle is ty'd a broad Girdle The Applications to their Sermons are commonly these or the like After what manner they end their Sermons It is requisite to bestow good and plentiful Gifts on the Cloysters because Priests reside in them that intercede for Men to the Gods by their Prayers and Pious Works so that in this Life they receive Worldly Blessings by their means and in the Life to come ten times more than they bestow on the Bonzi During the time that one of the Bonzi preaches the rest sit one by another on the Steps of the Altar with their Hands wrapp'd in their Coats and their Eyes cast downwards All the twelve Sects affirm That none can be sav'd without the Holy Book Foquequium but as for other things they differ in their Opinions Those that shew Reverence to the Idol Canon Amida's Son would be taken for the most Pious and Religiousest Persons going with their Beads in their Hands and praying in all places without ceasing The Bonzies Sects differ amongst themselves Moreover the Bonzi according to their several Sects wear different Apparel some going in Black others in Gray between which two great Contests and Quarrels oftentimes arise And as there are a vast number of these Bonzies in Japan so there are also an incredible company of the Clerks belonging to them For every one hath free liberty to be of either of the twelve Sects when he betakes himself to the voluntary Retirements of a Cloyster And also the Japanners In like manner all the Japanners embrace and hold with that Sect which they fancy best so that oftentimes in one Family the Father is of one Sect the Children of another and the Mother differs from both Some hold That there are three hundred and fifty Commandments yet all agree That there are five Principal ones which observ'd make Men capable of Salvation namely Not to murder Not to steal Not to commit adultery Not to lie and To abstain from Wine In what they all agree All of them believe and affirm That their Gods suffer'd willingly long and painful Tortures that they might free every one that really believes in those Sufferings and worships them with Zeal and an upright Heart In their Devotions they use as Xaverius relates long Strings with round Knobs or Beads and at the end of every Prayer they turn over or let fall one of them ¶ FUrthermore the Japan Idolatry is mixt with many pleasant or rather ridiculous Fantasies as amongst others things they affirm Xaca how often born That Xaca was Born eight thousand times which Opinion seems somewhat to agree with the Doctrine of the Bramines Wistnow born ten times whose Supreme Deity Wistnow took upon him to have been bom eight times and that first he appear'd in the shape of a Fish call'd Matsja to pursue a Raetsjasja who was fled into the Sea with four parts of the Heathens Law-Book but he was overtaken and kill'd by Wistnow