504 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, setting fire to the royal abode, and making five thousand slaves, returned 
to China. 
May, It is said that at this time the inhabitants of Loo Choo had neither 
1 
letters nor characters, and that all classes of society, even the king him- 
self, lived in the most simple manner. It does not, however, appear 
that the people were entitled to the appellation of barbarinas, which 
was given to them by the ambassador of Japan in China, nor that they 
merited the title of poor devils, w'hich the word lieu-kieu implies in 
Japanese; as they had fixed laws for marriages and interments, and 
paid great respect to their ancestors and other departed friends ; and they 
had other well-regulated institutions which fully relieved them from the 
charge of barbarism. Their country was not so poor nor so destitute of 
valuable productions, or even of manufactures, but that Chinese mer- 
chants were glad to open a trade with it, and to continue it through 
five dynasties which successively ruled in China after the conquest of 
Loo Choo, notwithstanding the inditference of the emperors who, during 
that period, ceased to exact the tribute that had been made to their 
predecessors. It is not improbable, therefore, that this stigma, which 
ought properly to belong to Formosa — which, though a much larger 
island, was then called Little Loo Choo — may have been attached to 
the island we visited, from the similarity of names. 
Chun-tien was said to be descended from the kings of Japan, but 
it is not known at what period his family settled in Loo Choo. Before 
he came to the throne, he was governor of the town of Potien. On 
his accession his title was disputed by a nobleman named Li-yong ; but 
he being defeated and killed, Chun-tien was acknowledged King of Loo 
Choo by the people. Having reigned fifty-one years, and bestowed 
many benefits upon his subjects, whose happiness was his principal 
care, he died at the age of seventy-two. In this reign reading and 
writing are said to have been first introduced from Japan, the character 
being that of Y-rofa. 
Very little mention is made of the son and successor of Chun-tien; 
but the reign of his grandson Y-pen is marked by the occurrence of a 
famine and a plague, which nearly desolated the island, and by his ab- 
dication in favour of any person whom the people might appoint to 
succeed him. The choice fell upon Ynt-sou, the governor of a small 
