Chap. I. Commodore Roggewein. 
c under are not the Effects of their own, but of the Chrif- 
6 tians ill Condufil. They are tied down to trade to one 
c fingle Port, which is that of Langi-Afahe , in the Lati- 
4 tilde of 36° 6 ' North, and in the Longitude of 15 1. 
6 They have, during their Stay, an Eland affigned them, 
« as well as the Butch , and are fubjefiled to many other 
4 Rules. They fail from Canton about the fir ft of May-, 
4 and, having always a fair Wind, they arrive at the Coafl 
* of Japan before the End of the Month. They dare not 
4 approach the Shore nearer than three Leagues, where 
6 they wait the coming of the Cuftom-houfe Officers on 
4 board, to whom they make the ftrifileft Declaration that 
4 can be of their Strength and Cargo : After which, a Ja- 
4 ponefe Pilot takes Charge of the Ship, and carries her into 
4 Port, where all the Goods are immediately fent on ffiore 
4 into the public Warehoufes. The Japonefe Officers meet, 
4 and fix a Day for the Sale of thefe Goods, of which they 
4 give a public Notice through the Country ; but make no 
4 mention of the Matter to the Chinefe, who have indeed little 
4 or nothing to do with the Affair. During this Sale, the 
4 Japonefe Merchants bring the Officers Notes of the Goods 
4 they want, and the Money they are content to give. The 
4 higheil Bidder has the Preference ; and, before the Goods 
4 are delivered, his Note is ffiewn to the Chine fe , to whom 
4 they belong ; who never fern pies the Price, be it what it 
4 will. Thus the Sale is quickly over; the Japonefe have 
4 the Goods, and the Chinefe their Money ; but not quite 
4 fo eafily as may be expected : For tho’ the Officers receive 
4 all in Cafh, yet they pay them above 60 per Cent . in 
4 Goods, and thefe too of their own chufing, which are 
4 generally Copper, and three or four forts of dried Fifli. 
4 The reft they have in Money, which they lay out in Por- 
4 celain. Pearls, fine Steel, wrought Copper, and a kind of 
4 Camphire, which is much efteemed in China. Generally 
4 fpeaking, the Chinefe Merchant leaves his Money in the 
4 Officer’s Hands; and, having purchafed what Goods he 
4 wants, draws on him, payable at Sight. There is nothing 
4 paid to the Emperor by way of Cuftom ; the only Duty 
4 he impofes is a Right of Pre-emption, which extends to 
4 a few fine Goods : Yet there is fomething equivalent to 
4 Duty in Japan ; for, as the Officers furnifh the Maga- 
4 zines, they are paid for them at a very high Rate ; which 
4 is equivalent to an Impoft. 
4 Of late Years, there have been great Alterations made 
4 with refpect to their Commerce : They are, in the firft 
4 place, limited to feventy Junks ; and there muft not be 
4 above thirty Men employed in each. The Quantity of 
4 Goods likewife is fixed, which they muft not exceed, and 
4 which is reported to be double what they allow to the 
4 Dutch. Their Quality alfo is preferibed, and even the 
4 Price fixed. They are obliged to depart as foon as their 
Sale is over ; and none of them are allowed to remain, as 
4 the Butch do, in Japan. In forge refpects, indeed, they 
Lem to be oettei treated ; but then they only feem to be 
4 fo : For inftance, they are allowed to buy Provifions, and 
4 to deal with whom they pleafe; whereas the Butch have 
no fort of Correfpondence, but with thofe who are ap- 
pointed to furnifh them with N"eceffaries. This arifes 
4 from their Apprehenfion of the Butch on one Side, and 
from their abfolute Contempt of the Chinefe on the other ; 
4 which appears by the Officers Behaviour towards both 
- Nations. Such as ti anficc Affairs with the Butch , behave 
<-0 them with the utmoft Civility ; but thofe that have to 
do with the Chinefe , ufe them like Slaves ; and, if ever 
they offer to complain, anfwer them with their Canes. 
6 AH this, however, they endure, becaufe their Profit is 
large ; for, in the firft place, the Price fixed on their 
4 Goods is much above their Value, and, in the next, they 
gain eXti avagantly upon feme of the Goods they purchafe 
4 in the Country, tho’ by others they lofe. 
They leave Japan about OPober 10. in order to return 
to Canton in the firft Week of November , that they may 
be there before the Ships fail for Bur ope , fince otherwife 
the belt Part of the Profit of the Voyage is loft, becaufe 
* T: 0iL , 01 *“ ar §° ^ es > that Cafe, upon their 
riands a full Y ear. Thus you fee what a mighty Advan- 
£ the Merchants in the Eafi Indies derive from the 
I rade- winds, which carry them to Japan at the proper 
* Seafon, and bring them back at the proper Seafon like- 
1 ' 
‘ wii " e - According to the befl Computations that can be 
made at Batavia , the Chinefe gain annually by the Trade 
of Japan eleven Million of Guilders, which make one 
‘ Million Sterling. This, I hope, you will confider as a 
full Anfwer to your Queftion, "tho’ it is certain I might 
have infilled upon many other Particulars ; but, as I con- 
ceive you aim chiefly at a Comparifon between the Com- 
4 merce of the Chinefe and of the Butch , I have infilled only 
4 on fuch Circumflances, as were neceffary for that Pur- 
4 pofe. 
4 VI. What is the true Name , Extent , Situation , and Pro - 
duce of the IJland , in which the Dutch have their Factory? 
and in what manner do they live there? The Butch were 
formerly fettled in the Eland of Firando ; and the Eland 
4 in which they are now fettled, is properly called Befima. 
c is ftridlly fpeaking, an artificial Ifland, which was 
4 raffed on purpofe to confine the Portuguefe in the Year 
‘ 16 3 5 - i This is generally reported to have been drawn 
c u P on them by the Intrigues of the Butch ; and, if the 
4 Eafi be true, they have buffered very juftly for their Con- 
trivance.^ This Eland is a kind of Oblong, joined to the 
4 City of Nangafaqui, which is fituated in the Latitude of 
3 3 0 North, by a ftone Bridge, with a wooden Draw-brido- e 
■ at the End. Where the Bridge joins the City, there Sa- 
ftrong Corps de Guard , where a confiderable Number of 
Men aie polled Night and Day. At the Entrance from 
toe Bridge there is a large ftone Pillar, upon which hang, 
c m /T ra i TableS ’ the Emperor’s Edicts for the Regulation 
°p the Dutch Trade ; and three high Polls are let up in 
t uic niai x the Places where the Butch Ships are to 
4 anchor, to prevent their coming near the City. The Eland 
4 _ palifadocd round, like a Park, and thofe Palifadoes 
4 fP h p ed - Ic IS not 5 m its greatefl Extent, above 240 Paces 
in Length, and not above eighty broad. There is a Street 
acrofs it, with Houfes, or rather Huts, on both Sides, 
tne lower otory of which ferves for a Warehoufe, and the 
upper tor the Lodging-rooms of fuch as refide there. 
< c I™ - S ’ * n t ' 1 ^ s ^ tt: ^ e S P ot ’ a vei T convenient Houfe 
c tor the Chinefe Director of Trade, who comes thither when 
4 the Ships arrive ; befides another handfome Houfe for the 
4 Japonefe Magiftrate, who always refides there, which has 
lixewife its Garden: For it is to be obferved, that, in all 
tneir great Cities, the Japonefe have a particular Maffi- 
4 ft rate in every Street, who is called the Oitona-, and they 
loo.v upon the Ifland of Befima as nothing more than a 
4 Street added to their City of Nangafaqui ; and therefore 
4 there is an Ottonti here, as well as in other Streets. Another 
Proof that this belongs abfolutely to the Natives, and is 
n 1 ° l t at ai ' conveyed to the Butch, is, that thefe lafl are 
4 obliged to pay a very high Rent for their little wooden 
Houfes to thofe who were originally at the Charge of 
building them, when the Portuguefe were fent thither. By 
this Account of the Ifland, you will eafily perceive, that 
4 it produces little or nothing, and that there is no Room 
4 to plant any thing in, if they were permitted to do it by 
4 the Japonefe , which they are not, but are furniffied from 
4 Day to Day with all the Neceffaries of Life at a very high 
4 Price, and by fuch only as have this Monopoly put into 
4 their Hands by the Governor. 
4 The Dutch, refident in this Ifland, feldom exceed the 
4 Number of forty-five ; and the Japonefe oblige them to 
4 change their Chief every Year* although, after he has 
4 been abfent two Years, the fame Perfon may be fent again % 
4 fo that commonly there are three Perfons, who have this 
4 Poll by way of Rotation ; viz. one refident in the Ifland, 
4 another on the Road, and a third repofing at Batavia s 
4 till his two 1 ears are expired. On the Whole therefore,, 
4 tho the Butch have taken all the Pains they can to make 
4 this Place as convenient as poffible, yet, in fpite of all 
4 their Care, it is a very indifferent Abode, and very little 
4 refembles any of their other Settlements in the Eaji Indies. 
4 They are alfo much reftrained in their adding any thing 
4 either to their Houfes, Magazines, or little Wharfs for 
4 landing their Goods, fince they cannot build, or make 
4 the leaft Alteration, without firft; delivering' a Petition, 
4 with a Plan annexed, to the Qttona , by whom it is trarl- 
4 mitted to the Governor ; fo that it is fometimes a full 
4 Year before they can obtain this Permiflion; and even 
4 then there is an Infpedor appointed to foe, that in 
4 nothing 
