A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 9 | Page 8

with looking at her; and as we were much
pestered by the number of these visitors, I sent to the king, requesting
he would order them to remove, to prevent any inconveniences that
might arise. The king immediately sent a principal officer of his guard,
with orders to remain aboard, to see that no injury was done to us, and
ordered a proclamation to that effect to be made in the town. The same
night, Hendrik Brewer, who was chief of the Dutch factory at Firando,
came to visit me, or rather to see what had passed between the king and
us. I wrote this day to Mr Adams, who was then at Jedo,[11] nearly 300
leagues from Firando, to inform him of our arrival. King Foyne sent my
letter next day by his admiral, to Osackay (Osaka,) the nearest port of
importance on the principal island, whence it would go by post to Jedo,
and he sent notice to the emperor by the same conveyance, of our
arrival and purposes.
[Footnote 11: Called Edoo, in Purchas.]
In the morning of the 12th, we had fish brought to us in abundance, and
as cheap as we could desire. We this day weighed to make sail for the
road; and, on this occasion, the king sent at the least threescore large
boats, or gallies, well manned, to tow us into the harbour. On seeing
this multitude of boats, I was in some doubts of their intentions, and
sent my skiff to warn them not to come near the ship. But the king was
in the headmost boat, and observing my suspicions, waved his
handkerchief for all the boats to wait, and came aboard himself, telling
me that he had ordered all these boats to assist in bringing me round a
point which was somewhat dangerous, on account of the strength of the
tide, and could not be stemmed by even a good breeze of wind, and if
the ship fell into the eddy, we should be driven upon the rocks. Having

got this explanation, we sent our hawsers to the Japanese boats, on
which they fell stiffly to work, and towed us into the harbour. In the
mean time, the king breakfasted with me, and when I proposed
rewarding his people for towing me in, after we were at anchor, he
would not allow them to accept of any thing.
We now anchored in five fathoms, on soft ooze, so near the shore that
we could have talked with the people in their houses. We saluted the
town with nine guns, but had no return, as there are no cannon at this
place, neither any fortifications, except barricades for small arms.
Several nobles came off to bid me welcome, two of whom were men of
high rank, named Nobusane and Simmadone. I entertained them well,
and, at their departing, they used extraordinary state, one remaining on
board till the other was landed, their children and chief followers using
the like ceremony. There came continually such numbers of people on
board, both men and women, that we were not able to go about the
decks. The ship likewise was quite surrounded by boats full of people,
greatly admiring her head and stern. I permitted several women of the
better sort to come into my cabin, where the picture of Venus and
Cupid was hung, rather wantonly executed. Some of these ladies,
thinking it to be Our Lady and her blessed Son, fell down to worship
with appearance of much devotion, whispering our men, so that their
companions might not hear, that they were Christians, having been
converted by the Portuguese jesuits.
The king came aboard again, bringing four principal women along with
him, who were attired in silken gowns, overlapped in front, and girt
round them. Their legs were bare, except that they had half buskins
bound about their insteps with silk ribbon. Their hair was very black
and long, tied up in a knot on the crown, in a very comely manner, no
part of their heads being shaven, like the men. They had comely faces,
hands, and feet, with clear white complexions, but wanting colour,
which they supplied by art. Their stature was low, but they were very
fat, and their behaviour was very courteous, and not ignorant of the
respect due according to their fashions. The king requested that no
person might remain in the cabin except myself and my linguist, who
was a native of Japan, brought along with me from Bantam. He was
well skilled in the Malay language, in which he explained to me what
was said by the king, in Japanese. The women were at first somewhat

bashful, but the king desired them to be frolicsome. They sung several
songs, and played on certain instruments, one of