REPORTS OF JAPAN 



A.D. 



c. 1565. 



the citie. I have seene in this river a pretie kinde of 



fishing, not to be omitted in my opinion, and therefore 



I will set it downe. The king hath in many rivers Oderkus 



good store of barges full of sea-crowes that breede, are w " teth °f the 



fedde and doe die therein, in certaine cages, allowed 



monethly a certaine provision of rise. These barges the 



king bestoweth upon his greatest magistrates, giving to 



some two, to some three of them as he thinketh good, 



to fish therewithall after this manner. At the houre 



appointed to fish, all the barges are brought together in 



a circle, where the river is shalow, and the crowes tyed 



together under the wings are let leape downe into the 



water, some under, some above, woorth the looking 



upon : each one as he hath filled his bagge, goeth to 



his own barge and emptieth it, which done, he returneth 



to fish againe. Thus having taken good store of fish, 



they set the crowes at libertie, and do suffer them to 



fish for their owne pleasure. There were in that citie 



where I was, twentie barges at the least of these aforesayd 



crowes. I went almost every day to see them, yet could 



I never be throughly satisfied to see so strange a kind 



of fishing. 



Of the Hand Japan, and other litle lies in the 

 East Ocean. By R. Willes. 



He extreame part of the knowen world 

 unto us is the noble Hand Giapan, 

 written otherwise Japon and Japan. This 

 Island standeth in the East Ocean, be- 

 yond all Asia, betwixt Cathayo and the 

 West Indies sixe and thirtie degrees 

 Northward from the Equinoctial line, in 

 the same clime with the South part of Spaine and Portu- 

 gall, distant from thence by sea sixe thousand leagues : 

 the travaile thither, both for civill discord, great pyracie, 

 and often shipwracks is very dangerous. This countrey 

 is hillie and pestered with snow, wherefore it is neither 

 so warme as Portugall, nor yet so wealthy, so far as we 



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