— 45 — 



Whenever after his death anybody went as an envoy to the southern 

 seas, lic took great care to speak of Chêng Ho, in order to impress the 

 barbarians and therefore it was said that the voyage of the eunuch San-pau 

 to the western seas was the greatest event in the beginning of the Ming 

 dynasty (*). 



In the time of the Emperor Ch'êng-tsu (period Yung-lo, 1403 — 1424) 

 niuch care was given to the intercourse with the various foreign countries 

 and the envoy s sent to them were mostly eunuchs; Chêng Ho and Wang 

 Ching-hung were chietly employed as envoys to the western seas, whilst to 

 the other countries other men were sent. 



We are sorry to say tliat tlie memorials , wbicli tliis remarkable traveller is 

 sure to have presented to tlie Emperor after his different voyages, have never been 

 published, and there is very little chance of their having survived the fall of the Ming 

 dynasty, so that we must give them up as lost for ever. This loss is somewhat 

 compensated however by the care of two Chinese Mahomedan priests , Ma Huan and 

 Fei Hsin, who, knowing the Arab langüage, accompanied Chêng Ho as interpreters , 

 and each wrote an account of the countries they visited, respectively unter the title 

 of Ying-yai Shêng-lau or General Account of the Shores of the Ocean and Hsing-ch'a 

 Shêng-lan or General Account of Peregrinations on Sea. These two interesting little 

 books have been noticed at greater length in our introduction and as the plan and 

 the details of both works are almost identical, we shall only translate that account 

 which is most complete and add frorn the other as much as may seem desirable. 



Ying-yai Shêng-lan (1416). 



The country of Java ( 2 ) was formerly called Dja-pa ( 3 ); it has four 

 towns, all without walls. Ships from other countries going there first arrive 

 at a place called Tuban ( 4 ), next at a place called Ts'e-ts'un ( 5 ), then at 



( 2 ) ïhe name of San-pau or Sam-po is still living amongst the Chinese in Java, who call 

 him Ong Sam-po ^T — -_ 4EL mistaking his family name for that of his companion , whilst 

 he has become quite a legendary personage with them. 



C) J|\. flEJÉ Djiau-wa and 



O ^j -^^ Djapa are not different names, but the first is the Eukien transcription and 

 the second that of the ancient Chinese, which did not answer any more in modern times, when the 

 sound of the Chinese characters had been somewhat modified. 



^ MÖ \^} 5 * ue Chinese name for Grissé, q. v. 



