INTRODUCTION. 23 



he interspersed his narrative with as few lies as some of his more accredited successors of modei'n 

 times. 



Pinto was a good representative of the Portuguese discoverer of the sixteenth century. In 

 his day Portugal was a power. In less than two centuries she had traversed the Atlantic, 

 conquered Madeira, tlie Cape de Verds, tire coast of Guinea and Congo ; liad planted herself on 

 the shores of India, and ohtained a foothold in China. She had founded in her wealtliy 

 metropolis of Goa what has heen called "the Kome of India." She possessed Macao, and was 

 among the first of European maritime powers in the east. Alhuquerque had laid for her the 

 foundations of a magnificent oriental empire, which it needed a man like Alhuquerque to 

 consolidate and retain. The man was wanting, and the empire never grew to maturity. But 

 this her prosperous day produced for her many a hardy sailor, half hero, half adventurer ; now 

 exhibiting a toucli of chivalry and now a touch of trafiic ; a soldier on land to-day and a corsair 

 of the seas to-morrow; exceedingly devout or surpassingly profane, according to circumstances; 

 hut always ready to encounter fatigue, privation or peril, to promote the gain of himself and 

 the grandeur of his country, which on most occasions he felicitously contrived to reconcile and 

 blend into one common end. Of this class Pinto was a type. 



He visited Jajmn, and has told us the story of his adventures ; and the better authorities of 

 this day believe that he was an eye-witness and actor in such scenes as he relates of personal 

 incidents. 



There is, however, some room for discussion on the subject of dates ; for if we may credit the 

 Japanese annals, it would seem that about the same time there must have been two visits of 

 Europeans to Japan ; but if there were^ both were made by natives of Portugal, so that to them 

 unquestionably belongs the honor of having first landed on the Japanese soil, and of having 

 brought that country into communication with Europe. The discovery, indeed, was acci- 

 dental in both cases, if two there were, but that does not alter the fact that it was made by the 

 Portuguese. 



We incline to think, however, that there was but one visit. Tlie annals of Japan record the 

 arrival of the first Europeans, and substantially they agree with Pinto's story. So remarkable 

 was the event, and so strange the appearance of the new comers, that the Japanese preserved 

 portraits of them. Tlie date assigned in the annals would correspond with our October, in the year 

 1543. Pinto makes the date of his arrival in 1545. Still the details given by Pinto, and confirmed 

 by the annals, force us to believe that both are telling the story of the same event. Whether it 

 were in the one year or the other of those named above, the story is, that a Portuguese shiji or 

 Chinese corsair, (we know not which,) on board of which was Pinto, after great stress of weather, 

 was driven to the shores of Japan, and anchored at last in the harbor of Bun go, on the island 

 of Kiu-siu. The Japanese at that time, though vigilant, yet manifested no reluctance to admit 

 the strangers and hold communication with them. They extended courtesy and kindness to 

 them, and no obstacle was interposed to a free trade with the inhabitants. The names of those 

 who first landed are said by various writers, from Mafleius ujj to Thunberg, to have been 

 Antonio Mota, Francisco Zeimoto, and Antonio Peixoto. Fraissinet, however, thinks that the 

 names have been disfigured or altered, and that the individuals meant were Fernan Mendez Pinto, 

 Diego Zeimoto, and Cliristoval Borallo. The Japanese annals speak of two under the names of 

 Moura Siouksia and Krista Mota, and Fraissinet suggests tliat Siouksia may be the Jajmnese 

 pronunciation of Zeimoto, and Krista their nearest approach to Christoval. The natives and 



