212 VOYAGE TO THE 



was too rude for me even to conjecture which of the 

 islands belonging to Japan it might be. 



In my narrative of Loo Choo I have made allusion 

 to the works of several Chinese and Japanese authors,* 

 who have written upon that island. As their ac- 

 counts generally wear the appearance of truth, and as 

 they are the only records we have of the early history 

 of a country so little visited by Europeans, I shall 

 give a sketch of them, that my reader may become 

 acquainted with what is known of the history of that 

 remote country, without having to search different 

 books, only one of which has as yet been published in 

 England. 



The inhabitants of Loo Choo are extremely jealous 

 of their antiquity as a nation. They trace their de- 

 scent from a male and a female, who were named 

 Omo-mey-keiou, who had three sons and two daug- 

 ters. The eldest of these boys was named Tien- sun 

 (or the grandson of heaven). He was afterwards the 

 first king of Loo Choo, and from the first year of his 

 reign to the first of that of Chun-tien, who ascended 

 the throne A. D. 1187, they reckon a period of no 

 less than 17,802 years. The kings were supposed to 

 be descended from the eldest son, the nobility from 

 the second, and the commoners from the youngest. 

 The eldest daughter was named Kun-kun, and had 

 the title of Spirit of Heaven ; the other, named Tcho- 

 tcho, was called the Spirit of the Ocean. 



* The works of these authors will be found in Lettres Edifiantes 

 et Curieuses, torn, xxiii. 1811; Grosier sur la Chine, torn. ii. ; 

 M. J. Klaproth, Memoires sur la Chine; Kaempfer's History of 

 Japan, vol. i. ; P. J. B. Duhalde. For other information on Loo 

 Choo, the reader is referred to the Voyages of Benyowsky, 

 Broughton, and of H. M. ships Alceste and Lyra. 



