PACIFIC Ai\D BEERING’S STRAIT. 
507 
obtained, and inlisted in his cause so powerful a body of the islanders, CHAP. 
that the king was defeated, his palace burned, and his magazines 
reduced to ashes. In this state of affairs he solicited the protection of May, 
1 1 8^7 
the Emperor of China, who readily assisted him ; and not only restored 
tranquillity to the island by his interference, but caused the king to be 
remunerated for all his losses. 
The commerce of Loo Choo with China afterwards daily increased ; 
and under the reign of this prince so great a trade was carried on 
between the two countries, that the provinces of Tche-kiang and Fo- 
chen were distressed by the quantity of silver and copper coin that 
was carried away to Loo Choo. The people even complained to the 
emperor of the scarcity, who ordered that in future the trade between 
these two places should be confined within certain limits. 
After a short reign of seven years, Chang-tai-kieou was succeeded 
by his son Chang-te, a prince whose name was rendered odious by the 
acts of cruelty he committed, and who was so much detested that 
after his death the people refused to acknowledge as king the person 
whom he had appointed to succeed him ; and elected in his stead 
Chan-y-ven, a nobleman of the island of Yo-pi-chan. Though the 
reign of this prince is distinguished in history only by the regulation 
of the number of persons who should accompany the ambassadors to 
Pekin, yet he is said to have been a great prince. His son, Chang- 
tching, was a minor at the time of the death of his father, and his 
paternal uncle was chosen to be his protector. In this reign Loo Choo 
became a comparatively great commercial nation. Many vessels were 
sent to Formosa, to the coasts of Bungo, Fionga, Satzuma, Corea, and 
other places. Her vessels became the carriers of Japanese produce 
to China, and vice versa ; and one of them even made the voyage to 
Malacca. 
By this extensive trade, and by being the entrepdt between the two 
empires of China and Japan, Loo Choo increased in wealth and rose 
into notice ; especially as it was found convenient by both these two 
great nations to have a mediator on any differences arising between 
them. The advantage thus derived by Loo Choo was particularly 
manifested on the occasion of a remonstrance on the part of China 
3 T 2 
