* 
Portuguese Empire in the Eaft-Indies 
6 il 
Voyages thither afterwards, and did. not think them fb dfef- 
Chap. IL 
44 Henceforward, fo. long as the Sun fhall (nine upon the 
44 Earth, let not any Chriftian be fo hardy as to fee his 
44 Foot in Japan ; and be it known to all the World, that if 
44 King Philip in Perfon, the God of the Chriftians, or the 
* c great Xaca, one of the firft Deities of Japan , Hiall pre- 
44 fume to break this Ordnance, he fhall pay for it with his 
44 Head.” They then gave thefe poor People an old 
Ship to return ip, to Macao , which they chofe, rather than 
to be put on Board any of the five Dutch Ships that were 
then on the Coaft, and offered to fet them fafe on Shore in 
;hat Port r. 
In the Year 1641, arrived at Macao from Europe Don 
Antonio Ferreyra , with the News of the Revolution in Por- 
tugal, and that Don Juan, Duke of Braganfa , had mounted 
jthe Throne, and alTumed the Title of John the Fourth , to 
■ydiofe Obedience they readily returned, and as a Mark of their 
Loyalty, prefented him with two hundred Brafs Cannon; 
and a vaft Quantity of Ammunition. This Monarch, in 
the Year 1646, thought fit to make another Attempt in 
Favour of the City of Macao, and fent Don Gonzalo Se- 
gueyra as his Embaffador to the Emperor of Japan, to 
inform him, that Portugal no longer continued fubjeeft to 
the Crown of Spain, which as it was the principal Occafion 
of the Nation’s being prohibited all Commerce with the 
Japonefe, he hoped that a good Intelligence would now be 
reftored between the Citizens of Macao and the Subjects of 
his Imperial Majefty. The Embaffador was very civilly 
received, and an Exprefs fent to Court with the News of 
his Arrival. About a Month afterwards a Courier arrived 
with the Emperor’s Anfwer, which was to this Effedl ; That 
his Requeft could not be granted, but that he and all that 
belonged to him had free Liberty to depart. 
In the Year 1685, another favourable Opportunity 
'Offered, which the Portugueze, with great Alacrity, em- 
braced : A Japonefe Veffel being driven by a Storm from 
their own Coaft, was forced to take Shelter in the Port of 
Macao , where thofe who-were on Board it met with a very 
kind Reception, and having been entertained at the publick 
Expence, till they were recovered from the Hardfhips they 
met with at Sea, and were then put on Board one of 
the beft Veffels belonging to the Port of Macao , and fent 
back to their own Country. On their coming to an An- 
€hor in the Road of Nangazaqui, and fending the Japonefe 
on Shore, they received a Meffage from the Magifcrates, 
importing, that they were obliged to them for this kind 
and generous Return, but that for the future they would 
advife them not to give themfelves the Trouble of fending 
home any more of their People, fince it would not anfwer 
their Ends. Since that Time the City of Macao has declined 
very much, and tho’ it is at p.refent in a better Condition 
than it has been, yet it is rar from being fo confiderable as 
in the fixteenth Century, as we have already fhewn the 
Reader in another Place. But that it may poffibly make a 
better Figure than, it does, we fhall hereafter render pro- 
bable, when we come to fpeak of the prefent State of the 
Portugueze Dominions in this Part of the World. 
1 7. In the Year 1521, Magellan dilcovered the La dr one 
Iflands, near thofe which he called the Archipelago of Saint 
Lazarus, becaufe he difeovered them on the Feaft of that 
Saint. The Portugueze arrogate to themfelves this Dil- 
covery, becaufe he was their Countryman, though in the 
Service of the Crown of Spain ; and on the other hand, the 
Spaniards challenged the Difcovery of the Moluccas , be- 
caufe Magellan went to them from America in their Ser- 
vice ; but without doubt this Title was wrong placed, fince, 
as we have fhewn, the Portugueze had difeovered them long 
before. It cannot indeed be affirmed, on any good Au- 
thority, that the Portugueze had before this time vifited the 
Ladrone Iflands ; but it is very certain, they made feveral 
picable as they are now efteemed but on the contrary, 
drew from thence things of great Value ; and the Reafon. 
I have mentioned ..them here is, that I might have an Op- 
portunity of acquainting the Reader, that when this Nation, 
firft fettled in the Moluccas , they were informed by the In- 
habitants, that from thefe little Iflands they were wont to 
receive confiderable Sums in Silver, and the very fined 
Emeralds they had in Exchange for Spices. 
The Portugueze were in hopes of finding, according to 
this Information, Mines of Silver arid precious Stones 
amongft them; but on the clofeft Search; could meet with 
neither, which Was the true Reafon they never made any 
Settlements there. But this Account affords us room 
to conjecture, that before the Portugueze penetrated thus 
far into the Eaft, there had been fo me Commerce between 
thefe People and the Americans, from whom they might 
receive both Silver and Emeralds; This is a Point that 
deferves mature Confideration, becaufe, if there be any 
Truth in this Conjecture, it will give fome Light into the 
Means of peopling America, which hitherto has perplexed 
the ableft Enquirers into fuch Subjects. It is true, that at 
firft Sight there feems to be no great Authority for this 
Conjecture, fince it is founded on the Report of the Inha- 
bitants of the Moluccas, who were, according to the beft 
Accounts we have of them; a rude and barbarous People. 
Yet let them be ever fo rude and barbarous, they cduld not 
be miftaken as to a Matter of Fact ; they had Emeralds 
amongft them, and as their Country did not produce themq 
they muft know from whence they had them; and fince 
this could be learned no other way but from thefe People; 
there feems to be no Reafon why we lhould not accept of 
their Account. 
The ConjeClure, however, does not reft upon this alone, 
but upon another Fact, which cannot be difputed ; and it 
is this, that there are no Emeralds to be found in any of 
the Countries in the Eaft- Indies, and yet they were .fo com- 
mon there, when the Portugueze came firft into thofe Parts, 
that they brought confiderable Quan tides into Europe, from 
whence grew the Diftinction of Oriental and Occidental 
Emeralds; whereas in Truth there never were any that 
could be ftriCtly and properly called Oriental, becaufe, as I 
oblerve, they are not the natural Produce of any Country 
in the Eaft ; and yet in another Senfe they might be very- 
well fo called; becaufe they came firft to us from the Eaft. 
I cannot help adding to this Obfervation another, which is; 
that there is fame Reafon to doubt, whether the Inhabitants 
of the Ladrone Iflands were always fo rude and barbarous 
as the Portugueze and Spaniards found them ; and my Rea- 
fon for advancing this is, becaufe I find the beft Portugueze 
Writers agree, that the Chine fe had been Mailers of the 
Moluccas ■, and very probably of thefe Iflands aifo; as they 
certainly were of fome of the Philippines ; and if fo, then 
very probably they were more civilized, while under their 
Dominion, and grew rude and barbarous, by their being 
deferted by them, and left to themfelves h . 
This will appear ftill the more probable, if we confider 
on the one hand what the Ghinefe Writers tell us of their 
Emperors contracting their Dominions from Maxims of 
Policy ; and on the other, what appears very clear 'to us 
from what we know with Certainty of their Hiftory; which 
is, that their Empire had been fuhverted by the Tartars-, 
and confequently their CEconomy totally difturbed before 
the Portugueze came into the Indies at all. What I would 
conclude from hence is, that poffibly we may be miftaken 
in our Notions of thefe Countries, and that therefore it 
may be worth while to enquire more narrowly into this 
Matter, which may poffibly lead us to fome kind of Evi- 
dence of an Intercoiirfe between the Eaft and Weft-Indiesi 
% h reems a little extraordinary, that the Emperor of Japan fhould treat thefe People with fo much Severity, when it appears from this very Ac- 
count, that Juftice is as regularly adminiitered in his Dominions as in any part of the World ; but in all human probability, he was induced to ufe 
them in this manner by the fteprefentations of the Dutch, as to the Power of the King of Spain, and his Intentions of reducing both the Indies. 
h This Fact, that no fuch thing as a true and perfect Emefald is to be found in any of the Countries on the Continent, or in any of the Iflands of the 
htajt- Indies, is maintained by the famous M. ‘Tavernier, than whom I think a better Authority cannot be produced. He was indifputably as well 
f killed in jewels as any Man of his Time, and had travelled more in the Indies than almoft any other Writer, fo that to controvert his Authority oh 
this Head, is to refufe the bell Evidence that can be produced, in order to conclude, without any Evidence at all, that the Thing is ctherwife. It inay s 
and indeed it has been faid, that to fupporc this Opinion, we ought to Ihew, that there has been fuch a Commerce with America ; but there is a Dif- 
ference between proving a thing, and rendering it probable; and. yet in the next Chapter, fomething farther fhall be laid in Defence of this Opinion, 
which will approach very near a Proof. ■' 
Nu-m b. 4 6 i g L before. 
