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A51184 Remarkable addresses by way of embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Emperor of Japan Containing a description of their several territories, cities, temples, and fortresses; their religions, laws, and customs; their prodigious vvealth, and gorgeous habits; the nature of their soil, plants, beasts, hills, rivers, and fountains: with the character of the ancient and modern Japanners. Collected out of their several writings and journals by Arnoldus Montanus. English'd, and adorn'd with a hundred several sculptures, by John Ogilby Esq; His Majesties cosmographer, geographick printer, and master of the revels in the Kingdom of Ireland.; Gedenkwaerdige gesantschappen der Oost-Indische maatschappy in 't Vereenigde Nederland, aan de Kaiseren van Japan. English. Montanus, Arnoldus, 1625?-1683.; Ogilby, John, 1600-1676.; Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie.; United Provinces of the Netherlands. 1671 (1671) Wing M2486A; ESTC R218646 565,250 480

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themselves all joyfully and lovingly together Drown themselves Why the Japanners ear no manner of death But nothing more their Religion prompts them to than a sleighting scorn of all the Terrors and Pangs of Death looking upon those that shrink at such fears as Vulgar and Ignoble Persons not fit to be convers'd withal because they all believe that Death is the certain way to Happiness which Opinion hath been anciently receiv'd in Japan and very old in many other places especially amongst the Gauls Brittains and Germanes and several other Nations That the Souls of those that fear'd not Death whether offering themselves for the publick good or the honor of their gods should immediately so dying be translated into Paradice Strange self-murder of the Goths Herod●s lib. 4. ¶ HErodotus says That the Goths held for the valliantest amongst the Thracians believe themselves immortal and that they never die but leaving this world they go to their God Zamolxis upon which account every fifth year by Lot they choose an Ambassador whom they send to this their God-amighty in such manner as followeth First Having well instructed him in his Message and made fit for so honorable an Embassy then they lift him up by the Arms and Legs placing under him three Arrows with the barbs upwards which done they let him drop upon the Points by which if he be so well transpierc'd that he dies suddenly then they believe that they have made a good choice but if so it happen that the sharps missing the Vitals he die a lingering death they judge him to be a vicious liver and not fit for the undertaking so presently go to a second Choice giving him the like Instructions The Grave Philosopher Seneca also hints thus concerning the Immortality of the Soul When the time comes that separates the Soul and Body leaving the Material Substance on the Earth the Spirit reascends to God the Donor Then also he makes the Soul thus a Speaker Now free from Earth I dwell in the Air or Etherial Sky This his Description of Dying and leaving this Mortal Life signifies his Opinion of a better and Immortal Residence We must remove says he for death which we fear destroys us not but gives us another and a happier Life which hereafter we shall assuredly know and rejoyce at our so blessed a change This Doctrine of a second Life though wanting the pure light of the Gospel most of the antient Heathens believ'd of which our Western and Eastern World have given notable Testimonies Strabo tells us That one Mandanis a Brachman Strabo lib. 15 Geograph being presented to Alexander the Great and he Courting him with fair Promises and rich Presents to be as his Companion and Councellor look'd upon him though he had Conquer'd the whole World as a contemptible Fellow he being fully satisfi'd from their own Principles of future Hopes Disputes of the old Brachmans concerning the ●●●e and after death for his Just and Meritorious Life to receive the great Rewards of Everlasting Beatitude said O Alexander I despise your Gifts neither need I any The saying of Mandanis to receive them from one that is poorer than he that is in the greatest want being hungry and still unsatisfi'd with all the Plunder and Spoil which thou hast got Neither fear I your threats since I by dying already worn out by Age shall remove to a far better and happier life than thou canst expect in the World which thou hast here unjustly gotten or in the World to come Cicero de D●vinat p●●o Calamus the Indian burns himself Cicero also tells of the Indian Calamus Who making a fire under a Gilded Bed covering himself over with Straw kindled the same and so by degrees felt the extremest of all tortures burning to death a brave and noble departure as he says out of this World the day of whose death Alexander the Great appointed to be kept holy and not long after he follow'd him Next he tells us of Hercules who with conjesting Trees which he had himself torn up by the roots erected his own Funeral Pyre where laying himself down and there consum'd to Ashes the greatest of Hero's they after his magnanimous departure reckon'd him among the number of Gods ¶ FUrthermore as to what was said before by the Japan Interpreter concerning the vanishing of one of the Bonzi which annually meet in the Castle on the Mountain Conay The Bouzies are often carry'd away none know whether the like happens as they say in several other meetings in which some of them vanish from thence or are snatch'd away how and by what means we know not Villela relates in his foremention'd Letter That this Romance or Hocus-Pocus of conveying bodies is generally believ'd to be real amongst the Japanners but always lookt upon as a bad Omen And in his time he says there dwelt one of the Bonzi in the City Sacci who being very rich liv'd as vicious a life and being seventy years old lying on his death-bed could not endure to hear of death but one day at high noon he was taken away on a sudden in the presence of all his friends and was never heard of after The Netherland Ambassadors leaving the Palace of the Bonzi Village Cancia they Rode towards the Village Cancia where they rested that night in the morning the Ways being frozen very hard they went on in their Journey and in a short time they reach'd the swift Current Oyengauwa River Oyengauwa which they crost very easily because it had not Rain'd there in a long time for in wet seasons the Floods are so high and the Current so strong that none can pass it but with great trouble There the Emperors Faulkoners met the Ambassadors Stepping on the opposite shore they spy'd three of their Emperors Faulkoners after their Game the Ambassadors Sedans in honor to the Emperor were set down on the ground the Horsemen alighted and the whole Train stood still till the Faulkoners were past by them Then travelling through the Villages Simanda Torisjeda and Ocambe over several steep Ascents and Declivings they enter'd Mirice Surunga a great City but ruinous and uninhabited ¶ SOmewhat farther they came to Surunga a great City but desolate because since the death of the Emperor Toxogunsama who was Crown'd Anno 1629. the Inhabitants deserted it resorting to other places for Trade The Emperor taking some distastes against his Brother forc'd him to rip up his own Belly which cruel Execution they commit in the following manner The manner of the Japanners ripping up their own bellies ¶ THe Criminals sit according to the Eastern manner in an open place before a Temple being bare from the middle upwards behind him stands one with a Cordial if he should faint and six Priests that give him Spiritual Comfort and take care of his Funeral before him sits one with the Knife that must perform the cruel Office on
Recess under a Mountain where he spent his time in Study Writing many Books and as the Chineses say Instructed eighty thousand Disciples but out of this number he selected first five thousand five hundred and out of them drew one hundred and at last he reduced that hundred to ten which he made great Masters of this so much follow'd Science And then dying he left them a great Legacy He dies being all those Books that he had Written in the Cave and that there should be no dispute hereafter concerning the Contents of these Written Volumns he Seal'd them and Indorst with this positive Superscription Thus I Xaca have Written the Truth His Opinion concerting the transmigration of the Soul Amongst others of the Pythagorean Assertions he maintains That the Soul is transmutated eighty thousand times into several Bodies and Shapes and that under six vile transformations they committed all sorts of wickedness and impiety and at last turn'd into a white Elephant by the Indians call'd Lothan hoe Laenses then they attain'd to the City of rest and everlasting happiness but before they come thither they Flye with Birds Graze with Oxen Crow with Cocks Swim with Fishes Creep with Serpents and grow with Trees Hermias a Learned Christian Of this their Opinion the Learned Hermias saith thus When I view my Body I am afraid thereof for I know not by what Name to call it whether a Man a Dog a Wolf Stier Bird or Serpent for they say that I exchange into all these several Shapes which live either on the Earth or in the Air and in the Water neither wild tame dumb prudent or foolish I flye in the Air I creep on the Earth I run I sit and sometimes I am enclos'd a Prisoner in the Bark of a Tree The Japanners and the Chineses which are of Xaca's Religion believe that the Soul changes into Trees or Plants A strange Story of a Tree that spake Philip Marimus in his Japan Voyage relates That in Cochinchina Anno 1632 a Tree of an hundred and twenty Foot high and a proportionable thickness was by a Storm blown down to the Ground which a hundred Men could not move whereupon being conjur'd as they say by one of their Exorcists to know the reason why it could not be stirr'd it answer'd I am a Chinse Pince my Soul having been transmigrated into several Bodies a hundred Years at last is setled in this Tree from which as an Oracle I am to tell you of Couchin China that a woful War is ready to fall upon you under whose pressure you shall suffer extremely This Story whether fabulous or an Illusion of the Devil is believ'd both through all China and Japan insomuch that ever since they put Dishes of Rice to the Roots of great Trees that the Souls dwelling within may not languish by long fasting and therefore they feed Animals and living Creatures also that they may not suffer by Hunger Within Camsana if we may credit Bollandus stands a Cloister of the Bonzi Of a Clovster in Camsana Bolland Vit. Sanctor A. ● L. ●an 15. C. 4. near which is a Hill shaded with pleasant Trees thither one of the Priests carry daily at a set time two great Baskets full of all manner of Food when drawing near the Hill he Rings his Bell at the found of which is summon'd all sorts of Creatures that in an incredible number come flocking from their several Shelters and Recesses to which he throws his Alms and so scatters that they are generally satisfi'd which done in the same manner he Rings them back again and they fairly retreat to their respective Receptacles These Animals they believe are animated with the Souls of formerly famous Persons which reside in several Creatures analogizing in their different kinds and natures with the humor and disposition of those Hero's when alive From whom the Japanners have the Opinion of Transmigration It is without contradiction that this Learning of Transmigration took original in Egypt And from them Plato and Pythagoras receiv'd that Doctrine which they Preach'd into Greece the Seminary then of Philosophy which at last spread through several Angles of the World The Gothes had it in the North the Germans and Gauls in the West and at the same time the Chineses and Japanners in the East who receiv'd it from the Indian Brachmans The Brachmans also affirm amongst a world of strange Fancies that some Men for their Crimes after Death become aerial Spirits fantastick Shapes unsubstantial Bodies wandering up and down so long till they have suffer'd enough to expiate their Offences These Spirits are not permitted to Eat the least Blade of Corn Herb Grass nor any thing whatsoever but onely what they receive by Alms to which purpose they throw Meat to Daws and Pies nine days together after their Friends departed Souls that so the wandring of their deceased Relations may pick up something with them These Spirits sometimes also appear in humane Shapes but are not to be fear'd because they are harmless The Brachmans believe there is a Hell Moreover the Brachmans also acknowledge a Hell by them call'd Jamma Locon from whence the Souls after great punishments are released and appear again in the World in several Shapes But besides their Jamma Locon they make mention of a deep dark and dismal Pit by them call'd Antam Tappes which as they say is full of Thorns Vultures and Ravens with Iron Beaks and Claws Mastiff-Dogs Stinging-Wasps and Hornets which heavily afflict and torture the Wicked condemn'd to that Dungeon in a most horrid and petulant manner without any cessation and that which is worse their punishment as they say never ends And also a Life after this They also hold two Conditions of such as are Saved entring into happiness some of them travel to an inferior Heaven call'd Surgam where no sins are committed nor death suffer'd to enter yet the Dewetas for so they call those that after death are believ'd to go to Surgam when their time of residence there is expir'd travel from thence Soul and Body again conjoyn'd but what becomes of the Body in their return the Brachmans have not well made out onely they affirm That some come back to the World and are regenerated and born again and those Feast on all manner of Delicacies and enjoy fair Women but without Issue But this they have not well anvill'd out neither for some they say never remove from Surgam but bear Children there which they number amongst the Stars this they hinted from the antient Astronomers that often as we do sometimes discover new Stars in the Firmament Their Opinion of Heaven But those which worship and obey Wistnou keeping themselves from all Offences are transported to Weicontam where God sits on a most glorious Throne But they say there are two Weicontams calling one Lela Weicontam which is a most pleasant and delightful Heaven but the first onely call'd Weicontam From thence none
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 F●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 Luci● 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
Children for they shew by their Looks and Conversation that they have a magnanimous Soul But these their good Qualifications they shew not always for they stand tax'd with as many Vices insomuch that all which we have said before may be thought rather to be a counterfeit and well acted Part as in a Play than otherwise Japan Religion is abominable ¶ THeir Religion or abominable Idolatry and Superstition by several perswasions inclines them not onely excellently well to dissemble and cover their ill nature under the Cloak of Zeal but also help'd by the inspiration of evil Spirits their gods we may suppose they take delight in cruelty bloodshed and the like of which their Preachers and Doctors are the Bonzies Bonzies Doctrine These though differing amongst themselves yet all agree concerning the Immortality of the Soul Some hold forth in publick to Congregations others of the superior Dignity inculcate their Divine Doctrine and are as Chaplains in Noble-mens Houses and the Families of Princes but these Grandees to whom they belong they little or seldom trouble with punishments for Offenders in the World to come but publick Ministers that openly Preach to the common People always belabor the Pulpit with terrors of tortures and eternal damnation in Hell Amida and Xaca are two Japan gods Besides these two Orders there are others who always make their Theme the praises of Amida and Xaca These are their Saviors on whom they build their Faith and are to them as Law and Gospel whom they must always implore not onely in calamity and trouble but also in their times of Joy and greatest Felicity That they would graciously be pleas'd by their merits to wash away their sins and offences that so their Souls may come to everlasting Bliss these and their other supreme gods they call Frotoques As also the Frotoques They have also their inferior or lesser rank which they follow onely for worldly benefits Praying for Health Wealth Children and all transitory blessings these they style Camis And Camis How they make Men gods Though their gods are numerous yet still they add and make more of their Princes for when any King famous and much honor'd for his great Exploits and valiant Atchievements deceases they also in the midst of their Funeral Solemnities Instal and Register in the Lift of their Deities paying them ever after Divine Worship as the antient Greek and Romans did so several of their eminent Hero's they having gods much resembling these such as Mars Bacchus Venus Mercury and others making them first Examples Wickedness of the Japanners after call upon them as Protectors in their hainous Debaucheries as Lust Drunkenness and the like Amongst other seeming Vertues one especial ability they have their Looks and Gestures still denote them to be the onely practisers of Piety and pure Zeal when their Bosoms swell with projects of all manner of mischief and where they bear the greatest and most inveterate malice resolving to be severely reveng'd there they Smile and Fawn and in their Speech Face and Gesture express nothing but their dear respects love and honor that they bear them This is so common amongst them that whosoever deals plain and honestly speaks as he thinks and performs what he promises becomes a mocking-stock and their onely May-game They murder one another on small occasions Revenge is so sweet to them that the first occasion of having any advantage in the very Streets where stealing close behind the Person drawing their Scymiter if the first Stroke fail the second dispatches him which done the Asassinate wipes his Sword and Sheathing it walks away unconcern'd as if a Jest or nothing done Nay sometimes having no Quarrel in a meer Frollick they will try whether the Edges of their Blades be so tender as to be bated or turn upon one anothers Heads Their cruelty on those which they Conquer But those Towns or Villages have a sad destiny which are taken in War by force of Arms for they grant no Quarter no respect of Age Sex or Degree but are all promiscuously and without mercy put to the Sword and so left weltring in one mothers Gore And in like manner any Party or Army when they are defeated in the open Field of those not one escapes either they are kill'd upon the Spot valiantly Fighting or if they flye are barbarously murder'd by the Countrey People all one to them Friend or Foe for whomsoever they find stragling they without mercy dispatch upon no other account but to strip them and enjoy what they have Filching and Stealing as we said before that they all abhor but Robbery and Bloodshed they glory in therefore all the whole Countrey groans under the Murders committed in Robberies by their Highway-men and the Sea as much molested with Pyrates Women with Child murder their Infanis ¶ THeir Women also are as strangely merciless to their own Issues murdering without any Motherly compassion their tender Infants either before their Birth or if failing soon after to which purpose the Bonzies their good Confessors teach them a Drink to cause Abortion which if by strength of Nature overcoming as soon as born they worse than brutish Tygers tread upon the Infants Neck and so dispatch it which they commonly do either hating the trouble of Nursing them up and giving Education or else counsell'd by ill advising Poverty as not being able to maintain them Poor and Needy Perish in Japan ¶ FOr Persons that are Sick Lame and Infirm or Travellers they have no publick Hospital or other private Reception but they are forc'd to take up their Lodgings under the cold Canopy of Heaven fled from and deserted of all Men so that either they must recover of themselves or else die there in a miserable manner and when dead thrown upon the Dunghil as Offal or Carrion ¶ FOr all Crimes or Offences whatsoever Punishments they use but three Punishments viz. Drubbing on the Soles of their Feet Banishment or Death their Heads being cut off by a Scymiter which they see not But in some Places the Robbers being accounted the greatest Offenders they carry and show them about in Waggons which done they Crucifie them and leave them nail'd to their Crosses in the High-ways near the City Strarge Punishment for the Robels in Japan When Persons are suspected for Treason or Plotting Rebellion the King sends a Party which surrounds the House so close that none can escape then makes them onely two Proffers either to kill themselves or yield to Mercy which if they accept they are stigmatizi'd with hot Irons so to be distinguish'd and known to have been Quondam-Traitors wheresoeuer they go but if they chuse rather to be Self-Executioners They cut up their own Bellies they rip up their own Bellies some of them with strange courage in a horrible manner open athwart so that when their Bowels hang out to be the sooner dispatch'd they lay down
also relates that the Lyflanders believe Adders and Serpents to be gods for which reason they shew'd them all honor imaginable every Master of a Family noble or ignoble keeping one in his House which they worshipp'd and fed with Milk and Cocks-flesh It was held for a certain ill Omen if any misfortune or ill happen'd thereto and the unfortunately wicked Offender that hurt the Vermin was generally cut Limb from Limb. The Prusians Antiquit. Boruss l. 1. according to the account of Erasmus Stella liv'd several Ages without acknowledging any Religion till at last they became devoted adorers of Serpents The same ignorance is at this day a Custome amongst the Samogithes if any ill happen to them they presently judge that it proceeds from their House-Serpent which hath not been well treated Sigismund Baron of Herbenstein tells us that he came from Muscovia to Troki Comment Muscovia where his Host in whose House he had Lodged the Year before told him that at that time he had bought some Bee-hives of a Servant to a worshipper of Serpents who by many convincing arguments was become a Christian for which cause he slew his Serpent which till then he had religiously worshipped but afterwards going to the Field to view his Bees he found by their Hives a Man with his Mouth wide open to his very Ears and of strange shape This deformed Creature cry'd out I have laid violent hands on my god the Serpent and am therefore thus purnish'd and if I do not return to my deserted Religion I shall suffer ten thousand times more Of whom the Japanners have learnt to worship Serpents It appears that the Japanners and also other antient and later People have erected the Images of Serpents in their Temples because Eve was deceived by a Serpent for who will contradict that the Heathens do not hide Gods Truth under their seeming Ignorance and shew through their greatest darkness a glimmering of light although by the Devils policy and falsness of Man-kind the glory and splendor of the holy Bible hath been more and more darkned which the Greek and Latine Poets have neatly adorn'd and chiefly that which they relate of the never-sleeping Dragon that kept the Golden Apples in the Garden of Hesperides which Hercules slew at last bringing away the Golden Fruit to his Father Eurystheus Is not this a likeness of the Serpent in Eden whose Head our Saviour bruis'd to pieces and doth it not represent the Religion of the antient Greeks According to the testimony of the Greek Writers Hesychius Clemens and Plutarch the Greeks say they cry aloud on their Feast-days Clem. in Protrept Plut. in Alex. Eva Eva pointing together at a Serpent And what a pudder the Ophites which came forth Anno 132. made about a Snake may be seen in the Church-Histories Ophites what kind of Hereticks They Preach'd that Christ was the Serpent that deluded Eve and afterwards entred into the Virgin Mary in the shape of a Snake They kept not the Sacrament without bringing forth by Charms a Serpent out of her Hole and sometimes out of a Box judging the Bread to be vile and not holy if the Viper had not tasted or at least touched it The Serpent under the Japan Creator of what kind BUt to return again to the Japan Serpent about the Tree whereon the Idol of the Creation fits This Snake stretches its Head to the right side of the Idol where two horrible Fiends stand on the edge of the Wall that incloses the Water and Tortoise before mention'd Description of a Japan Devil The foremost Spirit hath two hairy Feet a long Tail a Scarf wrapt under his Arms which hangs on his Back about his Neck a rich String of Pearls with both the Hands holding the Serpent close by the Head the Ears are great like an Asses that stand upright but Headed like a Dog with a long Snout In former times Anubis a famous Deity amongst the Egyptians appear'd with a Dogs Head because Isis made use of Anubis that thereby she might seek for her lost Husband Osiris King of Egypt who was murder'd by his Brother Typhon and at last in Syene found him in several Pieces Another very terrible Moreover between the Image with the Dogs Head and the chief Idol stands a second Shape likewise laying hold on the Serpent Clothed in a Coat cut sloapingly above the Knees a Scarf about his Neck made fast on his Breast the longest end thereof hanging over his right Arm His Head is most like unto that of a Roe-buck holding its Mouth wide open with large Ears and a pair of Harts-horns These two Monsters as they say us'd all their Force and endeavor to hinder the Creation of the World Why the Japanners offer them Sacrifice The Japanners offer Sacrifice to them when Herbs and Plants are in their first Growth to the end they should not hurt the tender Plants The worshippnig of the Devil brought from China to Japan Maff. Histor. Indie l. 6. ¶ It seemeth that this worshipping of evil Spirits was brought from China to Japan for the Chineses worship the Devil not for any good they desire of him but because he should not hurt them The Images of these Devils rest on horrible Dragons that spit forth Fire from their gaping Mouths and are made after a terrible manner Of them they desire to know the event of such things as they take in hand which they do thus Strange dealings with evil Shapes They have two Woodden Buttons as big as Acorns which are split in the middle and strung on a piece of Thred which they throw down at the Feet of one of these evil Spirits if they both fall with the flat sides downwards or one on the flat and the other on the round side that they look upon as a bad Omen for which cause they rail exceedingly against their Deity but immediately after as if they repented they again flatter him and sue for pardon by offering Sacrifice and whenever their lot falls out unluckily they fall from Words to Blows throwing the Image into the Water or burn some part off from his Body then they fall again to Praying This kind of scolding and worshipping continues so long till both the Buttons fall flat on the Ground whereupon they all rejoyce thanking the evil Spirit presenting him with all manner of Dainties curiously drest as Ducks Geese Rice and Swines Heads accounted one of their best Dishes and a Can of Wine When they have laid a little scrap of the foremention'd Dishes on the Altar before the Image as the Tip of the Hogs Ear the Claws of the foremention'd Fowls and some drops of Wine they fall upon the rest themselves and eat it up with a great deal of mirth and good appetite There are also Priests amongst the Chineses establish'd by Lanzis whose Mother went big with him eighty years These draw on yellow Paper horrible Shapes of evil Spirits which
by a People which know not one another and by Fountains that never cease to spout forth Waters through undiscoverableble Springs which all have their original under the Earth and either flow gently there or else descend into some deeper Caves and gather together again in several Places by which means swelling they lift up the upper Grounds so shaking the Earth and all that which it bears But Anaxagoras makes Fire to be one reason of Earthquakes so that the Fire hath the same operation in the Earth as in the Air when it drives the Clouds and rents them with Thunder Amongst the Modern Philosophers some are of Opinion That the dreadful gapings and Hiatus of Earth is occasion'd by Fire not unlike a Myne in which Powder being laid and set on Fire blows up the Earth according to the Invention which the Biskainer Peter Naverius being taught by Francis George of Scenen try'd first upon the Castle Ovi close by Naples Pliny also saith Lip 2. c. 79. That the shaking of the Earth is like Thunder in the Air. Moreover it cannot be deny'd but that the Earth feeds Fire under it which appears by the continual Smoak and sometimes by the Flames which ascend the Skie from several Mountains Burning of Mountains whereof Vesuvius in Italy Aetna in Sicily in Island Hecla and in Japan Siurpurama lying eight Leagues beyond Meaco near the great Lake Meacosche are sufficient testimonies The reason of the sinking of Cities It is not therefore improper which some believe That the sinking of Cities and Countreys proceeds from the Earths being consum'd by the Fire which requires Food not unlike a House which the Pillars and other Timber being devour'd by Flames wanting Supporters tumbles down Some also hold that the Fire in the Earth produces continual Smoak which finding no Vent forces and breaks its way out so that if the Smoak be very strong it rents and cleaves the Earth asunder but if it be weak it causeth onely a shaking of the upper Grounds But Anaxagoras judges the Earth it self to be the reason of her own unfirmness for he saith that it is nothing without which moves it but great Pieces within falling either loosned by moisture or consum'd by Fire or the Winds which rage under Ground blown down or else being decay'd by Age like an old Building of which the Foundation being rotted and not able to bear the Superstructure tumble down These Pieces are the great occasion oftentimes of a general sinking or at least a shaking of the upper Grounds by the blow which they give in the fall Winds the reasons of Earthquakes This Opinion is contradicted by Archelaus Aristotle Theophrastus and most of the chief and Learnedst Geographers which ascribe the Reason of Earthquakes to the Winds viz. The Earth produces always Mists either dry or moist which rise so high up into the Air that not able to get farther they descend again and creep into all the Crevises of the Earth which when they have fill'd up and the one Wind seems to force in upon another makes it seek for Vent which kind of striving occasions those violent Emotions oftentimes bursting open and swallowing up all that is on the top Several Opinions concerning it Yet some are of another Opinion concerning the Winds judging that it is with them as with a humane Body which is moistned by Blood and mov'd by the Spirits or Vitals which get in and out by some little Pores but gather in far greater Places so long as the Body is of a good Temper the Pulses beat temperate But if it meets with any stoppage inwardly then the Breath is stopp'd and troubled and sometimes strange Convulsions produced so likewise the Winds in the Earth being molested and wanting Vent make a rumbling and terrible motion till at length they force out their way It hath often been observ'd by the Japanners that the greatest Earthquakes have happen'd in calm Weather when the Winds are shut up into the bosom of the Earth But amongst all others according to our Judgment the famous Philosopher Epicurus seems to come nearest the truth who is of Opinion That Earthquakes may proceed from the falling of the Earth into deep Pits or its consuming by Fire whether the sulphurous Grounds occasion the Flame or whether a collection of fiery Spirits changes into Fire and breaks forth like Lightning or inclosed Winds have the greatest force But the Dutch Prisoners in Jedo were not so much in fear for the Earthquake as for a far more terrible Death than to be kill'd by the fall of a House for they knew the Japanners cruelty neither could they expect any good in their preparation being order'd to come before some of the Council so that they spent the whole Night with melancholly thoughts without sleeping yet in the Morning the Earthquake and their fear ceased both on a sudden at their coming the Interpreters Kitsbioie and Phatsiosaimon who brought them information of the occasion of their being commanded to come forth that day was only to return the Council thanks for the Presents of Japan Coats and accordingly the Interpreters conducting the Hollanders to the Presidents Palace they made humble returns of their thanks Strange dealings of the Councellors with the Hollanders But the Councellors delighted themselves with asking the Hollanders If they knew not where their Ship Breskens was at that present time having weighed Anchor and was gone from the Haven Namboe If they took the Roman Religion to be the onely true Faith Whereupon Captain Schaep answer'd That he did not know whether the Ship was gone to Batavia Taiovan or Nangesaque and that they abhorr'd the Papists Religion After this every Hollander received two Cups of Wine which having drank they were commanded to shew them some antick Postures to make wry Faces and look asquint to go splay-footed and swing their Arms to and again which the Japan Lords took great delight to see when they were at the heighth of their Pleasures they were commanded to depart Costly Buildings in Jedo Being conducted back to their Lodgings by the two Interpreters they saw in the Way which they pass'd several Palaces in which Beauty and Art seem'd to strive with each other being built exceeding high the Roofs in the Front jetting over before each Corner supported by Gilded Dragons and Bulls all the Front adorn'd with Carv'd Imagery the Windows richly Trimm'd with Gold The Dutch Prisoners are much troubled and why In the interim the Hollanders were exceedingly troubled because they had not told the Design of their Voyage at Court which was to Sail for Tartary and the River Polysanga to discover the Western America and the Gold and Silver Islands which Mr. Elserak might possibly have told to the Governor of Nangesaque Wherefore if they should be accus'd with Untruths they had nothing to expect but a miserable Death After serious Consideration of so weighty a Matter they found it convenientest
bathe require This Mystery of Nature is grounded on the Earthy Fire by which the Waters being heated in deep Pits spring upwards like a Fountain But some Rivers have several Avenues and narrow Passages under the Earth and so often lose their heat before they come to the top when as others detain their warmth because they flow through wide Channels nearer the Subterranean Fire from whence they rise up directly It therefore happens though very seldom that two Fountains of which one produces warm the other cold Water occasion'd by the foremention'd Reason flow in one Channel because each by its swift Course detains its own Property And so it is with the Brook that in Orismo affords Water for the Bath Baths very ancient and several It appears that the Japanners make use of the Profit which Nature bestows on these Waters according to the Custom of several other People after divers ways For though Bathing was customary in former Ages yet every Countrey observ'd a several way therein The ancient Biscayners took not Water but stinking Piss with which they wash'd their Gums and naked Body The Scythians us'd Women which pour'd Water on Mens Bodies and after painted them with red Stones The Dardanians and Illyrians permitted a Man to Bathe but thrice in his Life-time viz. at his Birth Marriage and Death The ancient Germans made use of a River in which they swam every day though sometimes they went before Meals into a Bath which was formerly observ'd by the Romans as at this day by the Turks Two remarkable Wonders in the Bath at Orismo It will not be amiss to make some inquiry why any one that before he bathes himself makes warm but having bathed it comes cold from him which happens because the Body before bathing is cold but warm'd by bathing makes the Urine cold It is also a strange Mystery that those that when they go to bathe are no ways thirsty by bathing become exceeding dry and on the contrary those that are desirous to drink when they go in shall have no mind at all to it when they come out The Reasons whereof may proceed hence viz. Thirst is occasion'd by Drought wherefore those that begin to bathe when adry the Body draws through the Pores by the inward force of the Vital Spirits the thinnest Moisture by which the Drought is quenched But those that do not go thirsty into the Bath force out their Drink by sweating so that the Body within becomes dry and occasions Thirst The Romans at first had dark and pittiful Baths but when by their Power they had made great Conquests they became Teachers of all Magnificence which amongst other things they express'd in their Baths the erecting and ordering of which Riches of the Baths amaz'd the Eyes of the Beholders A Roman says Seneca thought himself very poor if the Walls of his Bath were not made of Alexandrian Marble and adorn'd with Numidian Ledges a Thesian Stone inclos'd the Water the Floor consisted of pure Silver imboss'd with Pearls and Diamonds and the Edifice rested on stately Pillars being hung round with Pictures drawn by the Hand of the most excellent Masters Moreover they were attended by Barbers Chyrurgeons Men to rub them and help them out and in some to keep their Clothes and other Servants ¶ GReat delight the Holland Ambassador took in this strange Bath at Orismo But at length going forward in his Journey he was nobly entertain'd in the Provinces of Facata and Figen the Lords of which Countreys provided Horses and Men for him causing all the Streets of the Cities through which he pass'd to be clean swept against his coming The Governor of Oenewarimet rode out of the City to meet and fetch in the Ambassador in this order In the first Rank march'd five Japan Soldiers which the Governor follow'd on Horse-back holding a Standard in his Hand behind him came the Emperors Overseer and Warden one after the other under two Umbrelloes made fast on long Sticks each carried by three Men These were follow'd by three Chariots guarded on both sides with Japan Horse and Foot in the middlemost whereof the Holland Ambassador was carried De Stadt OUNEWARI CASTEEL The Citty Ounewari with the Castle Indiik arrives at Nangesaque ¶ THe sixteenth of May Indiik came safe to Nangesaque and found the Servants of the East-India Company on the Island Disma in good health Soon after the Watch on the Nomoan Hills told the Governor of Nangesaque that they descry'd two Sails not far from the Shore Whereupon Indiik having leave to send some small Vessels to discover the Ships sent Ernest Hoogenhoek with three Sloops who saw that it was the Frigat Graveland and the Fly boat call'd the Vinke which were Steering for Nangesaque They brought a Letter with them written the eighteenth of May 1661 in the Fort Zelandia sign'd by Frederick Cojet John Oetjens of Waveren Thomas of Ypre and David Harthouwen The Contents these A Letter from Cojet concerning Coxenga's On●et upon Formosa Coxenga coming with three hundred Sail extraordinarily Mann'd through the Lakjemonian Straights Landed in Formosa the thirteenth of April and instantly made himself Master of the whole Island The Fort Provincia yielded upon the first Assault of the Chineses The Hollanders that liv'd up and down Formosa are all cruelly murder'd The City near the Castle Zealandia lies in Ashes in several places but plunder'd in all The Fort Zelandia was closely besieg'd From the Hector Frigat which engag'd with several Jonks and was blown up by her own Powder none were sav'd The Ships Graveland and Mary found themselves unable to engage with Coxenga's Fleet wherefore they fled from them The Ships de Vink and Immenhorne come hither from Kelang if they should want Provisions or by their Enemies be forc'd to put to Sea again they shall come to Japan to fetch all things that you can send to our Assistance with Provisions as Rice Meal and Japan Wine for our Store in the Castle begins to grow very scarce Indiik immediately made this sorrowful News known by an Interpreter to the Governor of Nangesaque whilst the Ships Graveland and the Vink came to an Anchor before Disma The Governor desir'd to have the whole Business of Formosa in Writing And that he might have a true Account thereof Indiik order'd that the Merchant Nicholas Loenius the Minister Mark Massius and the Captain of the Graveland should come ashore and relate the whole Circumstance Chineses Storm the Fort Zelandia Indiik understood moreover That Coxenga fired day and night from a Platform with twelve Demiculverins against the Fort Zelandia and that already Waveren's House was shot down and a great Breach made in the Wall yet the Besieg'd remain'd not in his debt for Cojet sallying out with a Select Party made himself Master of the Platform and the twelve Guns two of which he carried into the Castle and the rest he made useless and that