A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Ix Part 5

[Footnote 51: This account is very vaguely expressed; but in the t.i.tle in the Pilgrims, the sales are stated to be in _ma.s.ses_ and _canderines_, each canderine being the tenth part of a ma.s.se. The information contained in this short subdivision is hardly intelligible, yet is left, as it may possibly be of some use towards reviving the trade of j.a.pan, now that the Dutch are entirely deprived of their eastern possessions.--E.]

[Footnote 52: These articles, in italics, are unknown.]

The hundred cattees of vermilion are worth from three to six hundred.

Paint for women's faces, the hundred cattees are worth twenty-eight.

Cooper in plates, 125 Flemish pounds are worth from 90 to 100. Lead in small bars, the 100 cattees from 60 to 88. Lead in sheets is in greater request, the thinner the better, and 100 pounds Flemish sell for 80.

Fine tin, in logs or bars, 120 pounds Flemish bring 350. Iron, twenty five Dutch ounces worth four. Steel, the 100 cattees, worth from one to two hundred. Tapestry. Civet, the cattee worth from 150 to 200. China root, the 100 cattees or pekul worth 40. China sewing gold, the paper worth three ma.s.se three. Powdered Chinese sugar, the 100 cattees or pekul worth forty to fifty. Sugar-candy, the pekul or 100 cattees, from fifty to sixty. Velvets, of all colours, eight ells the piece, from 120 to 130. Wrought velvets, from 180 to 200. Taffetas of all colours, and good silk, worth, the piece, from twenty-four to thirty or forty. Satin, seven or eight ells long, the piece worth from 80 to 100. Figured satin, from 120 to 150. _Gazen_, of seven pikes or ells, from forty to fifty.

Raw silk, the cattee of twelve pounds Flemish, from thirty to forty.

Untwisted silk, the weight of twenty-eight pounds Flemish, from thirty to forty. Twisted silk, from twenty-eight to forty.

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

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

The following commodities are to be bought in j.a.pan, and at the rates here quoted. Very good hemp, 100 cattees, being 120 pounds of Holland, are worth from sixty-five to seventy. _Eye-colours_ for dying blue, almost as good as indigo, made up in round cakes, and packed 100 cakes in a fardel, worth fifty to sixty. Dye-stuff for white, turning to red colour, made up in fardels of fifty _gautins malios_, worth five to eight. Very good white rice, cased, worth, the _fares_, eight three-fifths. Rice of a worse sort, the bale, worth seven three-tenths.

At Jedo, Osaka, and Miaco, there is the best dying of all sorts of colours, as red, black, and green; and for gliding gold and silver, is better than the Chinese varnish. Brimstone is in great abundance, and the pekul may be bought for seven. Saltpetre is dearer in one place than another, being worth one and a half. Cotton-wool, the pekul, may be bought for ten.

--15. _Supplementary Notices of Occurrences in j.a.pan, after the Departure of Captain Saris_.[53]

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

[Footnote 53: These are appended in the Pilgrims, vol. I. pp. 406--413, to the observations of Mr. Richard c.o.c.ks, already given in conjunction with the voyage of Captain Saris.--E.]

No. I. _Letter from Mr Richard c.o.c.ks, dated Firando, 10th December, 1614_.[54]

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

[Footnote 54: This letter appears to have been written to Captain Saris.--E.]

Since your departure from j.a.pan, the emperor has banished all jesuits, priests, nuns, and friars, from the country, s.h.i.+pping them off for _Anacau_ [Macao] in China, or Manilla in the Philippine islands, and has caused all their churches and monasteries to be pulled down or burnt.

_Foyne Same_, the old king of Firando, is dead, and _Us.h.i.+andono_, his governor, with two other servants, cut open their bellies to bear him company, their bodies being burned, and their ashes entombed along with his. Wars are likely to ensue between _Ogusho Same_, the old emperor, and _Fidaia Same_, the young prince, son of _Tico Same_, who has strongly fortified himself in the castle of _Osaka_, having collected an army of 80,000 or 100,000 men, consisting of malcontents, runaways, and banished people, who have repaired from all parts to his standard, and he is said to have collected sufficient provisions for three years. The old emperor has marched against him in person, with an army of 300,000 men, and is at the castle of _Fusima_. The advanced parties of the two armies have already had several skirmishes, and many have been slain on both sides. The entire city of Osaka has been burned to the ground, excepting only the castle, so that Mr Eaton had to retire with his goods to _Sakey_,[55] yet not without danger, as a part of that town has likewise been burnt. So great a tempest or tuffoon has lately occurred at _Edoo_ [Jedo,] as had never been before experienced at that place.

The sea overflowed the whole city, obliging the people to take refuge on the hills: and the prodigious inundation has defaced or thrown down all the houses of the n.o.bles, which you know were very beautiful and magnificent.

[Footnote 55: It has been formerly explained that _Sakey_ was a town on the river Jodo, directly opposite to Osakey or Osaka, the river only being interposed.--E.]

Let this suffice for j.a.panese news; and I now proceed to inform you of our success in selling our goods. The emperor took all our ordnance, with most of our lead, and ten barrels of gunpowder, with two or three pieces of broad-cloth. Most of our other broad-cloths are sold, namely, black, hair-colour, and cinnamon-colour, at fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, and twelve tayes the _tattamy_; but they will not even look at Venice-reds and flame-colours, neither are _stammels_ in such request as formerly, but they enquire much for whites and yellows. As the Dutch sold most of their broad-cloths at low prices, we were forced to do so likewise. In regard to our Cambaya goods, they will not look at our _red Zelas_, blue _byrams_, or _dutties_, being the princ.i.p.al part of what is now left us; and only some white bastas sell at fourteen or fifteen ma.s.ses each. _Ca.s.sedys nill, alleias_, broad _pintados_, with spotted, striped, and checquered stuffs, are most in request, and sell at good profit. We have also sold nearly half of our Bantam pepper for sixty-five _ma.s.se_ the _pekull_, and all the rest had been gone before now, had it not been for the war. I am in great hope of procuring trade into China, through the means of Andrea, the China captain, and his two brothers, who have undertaken the matter, and have no doubt of being able to bring it to bear, for three s.h.i.+ps to come yearly to a place near _Lanquin_,[56] to which we may go from hence in three or four days with a fair wind. Of this I have written at large to the wors.h.i.+pful company, and also to the lord-treasurer.

[Footnote 56: As Nangasaki is uniformly named _Langasaque_ in this first English voyage to j.a.pan, I am apt to suspect the _Lanquin_ of the text may have been Nan-kin.--E.]

Some little sickness with which I have been afflicted is now gone, for which I thank G.o.d. Mr Easton, Mr Nealson, Mr Wickham, and Mr Sayer, have all been very sick, but are all now well recovered, except Mr Eaton, who still labours under flux and tertian ague. May G.o.d restore his health, for I cannot too much praise his diligence and pains in the affairs of the wors.h.i.+pful company. Jacob Speck, who was thought to have been cast away in a voyage from hence to the Moluccas, is now returned to Firando in the command of a great s.h.i.+p called the Zelandia, together with a small pinnace called the Jacatra. The cause of his being so long missing was, that in going from hence by the eastward of the Philippines, the way we came, he was unable to fetch the Moluccas, owing to currents and contrary winds, and was driven to the west of the island of Celebes, and so pa.s.sed round it through the straits of Desalon, and back to the Moluccas. The Chinese complain much against the Hollanders for robbing and pilfering their junks, of which they are said to have taken and rifled seven. The emperor of j.a.pan has taken some displeasure against the Hollanders, having refused a present they lately sent him, and would not even speak to those who brought it. He did the same in regard to a present sent by the Portuguese, which came in a great s.h.i.+p from Macao to Nangasaki. You thought, when here, that if any other s.h.i.+p came from England we might continue to sell our goods without sending another present to the emperor; but I now find that every s.h.i.+p which comes to j.a.pan must send a present to the emperor, as an established custom. I find likewise that we cannot send away any junk from hence without procuring the yearly licence from the emperor, as otherwise no j.a.panese mariner dare to leave the country, under pain of death. Our own s.h.i.+ps from England may, however, come in and go out again when they please, and no one to gainsay them.

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

[Footnote 57: No place or island of any name resembling _Tushma_ is to be found in our best maps. The name in the text probably refers to _Tausima_, called an some maps _Jasus_, an island about forty miles long, about midway between Kiusiu and Corea.--E.]

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

It is said that _Fico Same_, otherwise called _Quabicondono_, the former emperor of j.a.pan, pretended to have conveyed a great army in these sailing waggons, to make a sudden a.s.sault upon the emperor of China in his great city of Pekin, where he ordinarily resides; but was prevented by a n.o.bleman of Corea, who poisoned himself to poison the emperor and many of the n.o.bles of j.a.pan. On which occasion, as is said, the j.a.panese lost, about twenty-two years ago, all that they had conquered in Corea.

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

_No. 2. Letter from Mr Richard c.o.c.ks, dated Firando, 10th December, 1614, to the Wors.h.i.+pful Thomas Wilson, Esq. at his House in the Britain-burse[58] in the Strand._

[Footnote 58: Perhaps that now called Exeter Change.--E.]

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

There is one thing of which I cannot yet conceive the issue, and that is the robbing and plundering the Chinese junks, which is daily done by the Hollanders in these parts, the goods whereof must amount to great value, and suffice to fit out and maintain a great fleet, which is worthy of consideration. Should the emperor of j.a.pan fall out with the Hollanders, and debar them from the trade of his dominions, which is not unlikely, the Hollanders will then make prize of the j.a.panese junks as well as of those of China; for their strength at sea in these parts is sufficient to do what they please, if only they had a place to retire to for revictualling and refitting their s.h.i.+ps; for they are of late grown so stout, that they mock at those who were formerly their masters and teachers. It is very certain that they have got possession of several fortresses at the Moluccas and other parts; yet, to my certain knowledge, the natives in these parts are more inclined towards the Spaniards, although at the first they were glad of the arrival of the Hollanders, having been disgusted by the intolerable pride of the Spaniards. But now they have time to reflect, that the Spaniards brought them abundance of money, and were liberal though proud; while the poor Hollanders, who serve there both by sea and land, have such bare pay, that it can hardly supply clothes and food; and their commanders allege, that all the benefits derived from conquest or reprisals, belong to the states and the _Winthebbers_, as they call them. It is hard to judge how all these things may end.

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

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

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

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

[Footnote 59: _Turon_ is the port of Cochin-China in the present time, and _Quinham_ is unknown in modern geography; perhaps the old name of some island or village at the port or bay of Turon.--E.]

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

RICHARD c.o.c.kS.

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

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

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

[Footnote 60: The Liqueo islands are here obviously meant, a group to the south of the south-western extremity of j.a.pan, in 28 N. and long.

129 30' W. from Greenwich; such being the lat.i.tude and longitude of the centre of the great Liqueo, the princ.i.p.al island of the group.--E.]

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

EDMOND SAYER.

[Footnote 61: In the text of the Pilgrims, this loss is estimated at 400,000, and in a marginal note at 40,000, both in words at length; for which reason the number is omitted in the text.--E.]

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

Wors.h.i.+pful Sir,--My duty always remembered. Having a favourable opportunity, I could not omit to trouble you with a few lines. I am but newly arrived here in Firando from a difficult and tedious voyage to Siam, to which country we went in a junk belonging to the right honourable company, in which Mr Adams was master, and myself factor.

Having bought there more goods than our own junk could carry, we freighted another junk for j.a.pan, in which Mr Benjamin Fry, the chief in the factory at Siam, thought it proper for me to embark, for the safety of the goods. The year being far spent, we were from the 1st June to the 17th September in our voyage between Siam and _Shachmar_, during which we experienced many storms and much foul weather, and lost twenty of our men by sickness and want of fresh water. The great cause of our tedious and unfortunate voyage was in our not having a good pilot. The one we had was a Chinese, who knew nothing of navigation; for, when out of sight of land, he knew not where he was, nor what course to steer.

Besides he fell sick, and was unable to creep out of his cabin, so that I was obliged to do my best to navigate our junk; which, with what small skill I possessed, and by the aid of G.o.d, I brought safe to _Shachmar_, where we arrived on the 17th of September, having then only five men able to stand on their legs. In consequence, I arrived so late at Firando that I could not go this year to Siam. But Mr William Eaton has gone there in the company's junk, having two English pilots, named.

Robert and John Surges.--I am, &c. EDMOND SAYER.

_No. 5. Letter from Richard c.o.c.ks to Captain John Saris, dated Firando, 15th February, 1617.[62]_