8 ox A fuccinSi Account of the Adventures Book. I, 
when he was in a good Humour, promifing that he would 
do all in his Power to fupport it ; and affuring him at the 
fame time, that he had written fuch a Letter to the Infpec- 
tor, as would prevent their meeting with any Difficulties 
for the prefent, advifing them to leave the whole Affair to 
the Management of Mr. Adams , for whofe Succefs he would 
be anfwerable ; but all he could fay had no Effecft upon the 
Dutch , they were refolved to truft no body, and not to ftir 
from Court, till they had this Claufe inferred in their 
Licence. 
To fatisfy them therefore, if it was poffible, Mr. Adams 
drew up a proper Petition, and the very next Day pre- 
fented it to the Emperor himfelf, whofe Confent and Seal 
he procured ; fo that by his Intereft the Dutch obtained, on 
their frit Application, what the Portuguese were never able 
to obtain in the Courfe of fo many Years as they had been 
fettled in Japon , which is fuch a Proof of Mr. Adams’s In- 
tereft at that Court, as if it was not reported by the Dutch 
Writers them fe Ives, would fcarce deferve Credit ; but, as 
it is, 1 think there can be no fort of doubt raifed about it. 
Ail Things being thus fettled to their Satisfaction, and 
every thing done for them that they could defire, they re- 
turned to Firando , and having landed their Goods, and 
fettled a FaCtory there, they failed from thence on the 28th 
of September 1 6 1 1 . 
14. "It is of this Dutch Ship, and her Reception, that 
our Author fpeaks, at the Clofe of his Letter, in Terms 
which feem particularly defigned to {hew his Countrymen 
how eafy a matter it would be for them to eftablifh a Fac- 
tory likewife in that Empire, i have taken all the Pains I 
could to difeover how the Letters of Mr .Adams were con- 
veyed to the Engliflo, but to very little Purpofe ; for all 
that I can fay upon this SubjeCl is, that they were brought 
to Bantam in the Iiland of Java , -in the Month of October 
the next Year; that is, Anno Domini 1612. There was 
then there a configurable Number of Englifb Ships and Mer- 
' chants, to whom tin. ie Letters were read, and it was pre- 
fenriy agreed, that fuch an Opportunity was not to be loft ; 
whereupon Captain John Saris , whom the Portuguese 
are plealed to call Sir William Saris , was ordered to fail in 
the Clove , a large Eajl-Indiaman , from thence for Japan. 
He had on Board him feventy-four Englijh , one Spa- 
niard, one Jap on efe, and five Indians ; and on the 14th of 
January 1613, proceeded on his Voyage. On thelaft 
of that Month he had Sight of the great Ifland of Celebes , 
paffed happily through the Streights of Bouton , and to- 
wards the End of the Month of February reached the Mo- 
luccas ; He made forne Stay there, though he was but in- 
differently treated by the Dutch. On the 24th of April , 
he obferved an extraordinary Eclipfe of the Moon, about 
Seven in the Morning, which, he fays, lafted three Hours 
and an half. On the firft of June he paffed the Tropick 
of Cancer , and on the ninth of the fame Month had Sight 
of the Eland of 'Xiino, which is one of the Hands of Japm. 
On the eleventh he arrived at Firando , and was very well 
received ; but found it, however, impofilble to do any 
thing, till the King had fent to acquaint Mr. Adams with 
his Arrival, who was then at Eddo , three hundred Leagues 
from thence. The Meffenger, it feems, did not make fo 
much Hafte as he ought to have done, and therefore the 
King, upon his Return, fent him into Banifhment. 
On the 29th of July Mr. Adams arrived, and Captain 
Sari's conferred with him about the Means of fettling a 
Trade, and the Profpeft there was of making it worth their 
while. He was told upon this Subject, that the Commerce 
of Japan , like that of the reft of the World, was fome- 
times niore; fometimes lefs profitable ; but that, however, 
it would be always found worth the feeking, and worth the 
keeping too. Here I cannot but obferve, that in Captain 
Saris’s Opinion, Mr. Adams had acquired a great Affebtion 
for that Country, in which he had now fpent near twelve 
Years. This was a Remark natural enough to make, for one 
who was not acquainted, either with him, or with the Coun- 
try ; but the Dutch and Portuguese Writers, who, for what 
Reafon I know not, always ftile him Sir William Adams , 
report him to have been a Perfon of great Probity, and un- 
blemifhed Charabler, and one, whofe Candour and Since- 
rity made him highly efteemed, even by fuch as confidered 
him as their Enemy ; But Captain Saris feems to have 
looked upon him as a mere* Englijh Pilot, 
much his Inferior, without confidering that his Circum- 
ftances were now very much changed, .and. that therefore 
he ought to have been looked upon as a kind of Minifter 
to the Emperor of Japan. 
He took his Advice, however, : and agreed: fo Igo with 
him to the Emperor’s Court, to which he was the more 
readily induced, by the King of Firando’ s offering him all 
kind of Conveniencies for his Journey. He carried with 
him Prefe-nts for the Emperor, the Emperor’s. Son, their 
prime Minifters, for the Judge at Meaco\: for the- Admiral, 
and for the Treafurer ; all of which amounted- together ,.t© 
the Value of one hundred and eighty Pounds, which was 
no mighty Sum to expend for procuring the Privileges 
which he expebfed ; but it will be more agreeable to the 
Defign of this Work, and at the fame time will afford 
more Entertainment to the Reader, to -give the Hiftory of 
this Journey as near as may be, in Captain Saris’s, own 
Words, which I the more readily do, becaufe he has been 
always confidered, and, I think with good Reafon, as one 
of the moft fenfible of our old Writers, and in whole Tra- 
vels we find the feweft Miftakes; Thus then he relates the 
Story of his Journey. 
We fet Sail from Firando \ and paffed by ieveral lilands, 
the moft Part are very well inhabited, and had fair Towns 
upon them, but the firft of Note that we- put in at was 
Fuecate , a very large and confiderable Place, not much lefs 
than London ; within the Walls very well built, and fo even 
and uniform, that one might fee from one End of a Street 
to another. It has a ftrong Stone Caftle, a good Ditch, 
and a Draw-bridge, all kept in very good Repair ; but no 
Soldiers, or Ordnance. As for Ordnance, indeed, I did 
not fo much wonder to find none, fince there was no fuch 
thing at Firando ; and ’tis a fort of military Furniture that 
the Japonefe are wholly without. All along this Coaft, and 
fo up to Ofaca , we found Women that lived with their 
whole Families upon the Water, getting their Livelihood 
by Fiffiing, at which they were very great Artifts; but 
they had two Strings to their Bow, and ’twas next to im- 
poffible for the Fiffi to efcape them ; for what they miffed 
with their Lines and Nets, they would dive for, and catch 
that Way without fail ; and this they would .do with Eafe, 
to the Depth of eight Fathom. Thefe Women are very 
eafy to be known from all others, for by continual diving, 
their Eyes were ftrangely altered, and looked as red as 
Blood ; and by this Token the diving Women are diftin- 
guifhed in Japan. 
When we paffed the Streights of Xemina-fqq-ue, the next 
Town of note we came to was Ofaca , nothing inferior to 
the former in Compafs and Dirnenfions, and one of the 
principal Sea-ports of the Empire. There’s a River 
comes up to it as wide as the Thames , and feveral very 
fine Timber-bridges laid over it. It has a Caftle very ex- 
traordinary for Bignels and Strength, with very deep 
Trenches about it, and feveral Draw- bridges artificially 
made, and Grates fo ftrongly plated with Iron, as may 
feem to bid defiance to any Battery in the World. The 
whole Pudding of the Caftle is of Free-ftone, and the 
Walls are of the fame ; but a matter of feven Yards thick, 
and put together without any Mortar, or Cement ; the 
Stones being fo nicely cut, as to lie perfectly clofe toge- 
ther, and needs no other binding ; only if there happens 
to be a void Space any where, they throw a little Earth to 
fill up the Crevice ; and that’s all they do. It is regular- 
ly contrived, ftrengthned with Bulwarks, and Battlements, 
with good Store of Loop-holes for fmall Shot and Ar- 
rows ; and various Paffages for the throwing out of Stones 
upon thofe that fhould come to attempt it ; and one would 
eafily believe it to be a mighty ftrong and fecure Build- 
ing, without having a particular Account of it, when one 
hears what ufe the Emperor puts it to, and with what Im- 
portance the Jewel is here kept in fafe Cuftody, 
In ffiort, here lives (lock’d up in the Caftle) the true 
and genuine Eleir of Japon ; here, I fay, he lives, but 
fo happy as to be ignorant of his real Quality, Rights, 
and juft Pretenfions ; though, at the fame time, fo un- 
fortunate as to be excluded from them all. The truth of 
the matter is, the prefent Emperor is an Ufurper, and 
ftepped into the Throne, in a way not only contrary to the 
Law 
