MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



421 



I 



ment of him as their sovereign. 

 The prince of Levvchew haughtily 

 repUed, that he would own none 

 as his superior. A fleet with ten 

 thousand men was now fitted out 

 from Amoi and the ports of Fo- 

 kien, which force, overcoming the 

 efforts of the islanders, landed at 

 Lewchew ; and the king, who 

 had put himself at the head of his 

 people to repel the enemy, being 

 killed, the Chinese burned the 

 capital, and, carrying off five thou- 

 sand of the natives, as slaves, re- 

 turned to China. From this, until 

 1291, the Lewchewans were left 

 unmolested, when Chit-soo, an 

 emperor of the Yuen family, re- 

 viving his pretensions, fitted out 

 a fleet against them from the ports 

 of Fo-kien ; but, from various 

 causes, it never proceeded farther 

 than the western coast of Formo- 

 sa, and from thence returned un- 

 successful to China. In the year 

 1372, Hong-ou, emperor of China, 

 and founder of the Ming dynasty, 

 sent a great mandarin to Tsay- 

 tou, who governed in Tchon-chan, 

 the country being at this period 

 divided, in consequence of civil 

 disturbances, into three kingdoms, 

 who, in a private audience, ac- 

 quitted himself with such address 

 as to persuade the king to declare 

 himself tributary to China, and to 

 request of the emperor the inves- 

 titure of his estate. 



" Having thus managed by 

 finesse what arms had been unable 

 to effect, the emperor took care to 

 receive, with great distinction, 

 the envoys sent by their master. 

 They brought offerings of fine 

 horses, scented woods, sulphur, 

 copper, and tin, and were sent 

 back again with rich presents for 



the king and queen ; among which 

 was a gold seal. 



" The two kings of the other 

 districts, Chan-pe and Chan-nan, 

 followed the example of Tchon- 

 chan, and their submission was 

 most graciously received. Thiity- 

 six Chinese families were sent to 

 live in Cheouli, where grants of 

 land were conceded to them ; here 

 they taught the Chinese written 

 characters, introduced Chinese 

 books, and the ceremonies in 

 honour of Confucius. The sons 

 of the Lewchewan grandees were 

 also sent to Nankin to study Chi- 

 nese, and were educated with dis- 

 tinction, at the expense of the em- 

 peror. 



" The reigns of Ou-ning and 

 Tse-chao, the son and grandson of 

 Tsay-tou, presented nothing ex- 

 traordinary ; but that of Chang- 

 pa-chi was marked by the re- 

 union of Chan-pe and Chan-nan 

 with Tchon-chan into one king- 

 dom, and the government has 

 since continued in the hands of a 

 single chief. Lewchew is said 

 henceforth to have had consider- 

 able intercourse with China and 

 Japan in the way of commerce, 

 much to her advantage, and to 

 have even mediated between those 

 two powers when misunderstand- 

 ings had occurred, 



" The famous Tay-cosama, 

 however, emperor of Japan, whom 

 the Chinese call ambitious, pirati- 

 cal, irreligious, cruel, and de- 

 bauched, because he had pillaged 

 their coasts, sent a haughty letter 

 to Chang-ning, commanding him 

 to transfer his homage from China 

 to Japan, which Chang-ning, as 

 firmly refused. Notwithstanding 

 the death of Tay-cosama, the Ja- 

 panese 



