90 
INHABITANTS OF LIEOU-KIEOU. 
is certain that the existence of the country called Lieou-kieou was not 
known in China before the year 605 ol the Christian era. In the 
course of that year, one of the emperors, of the dynasty of Soui, hav- 
ing heard of these isles, wished to know their situation. He first 
sent some Chinese for this purpose ; but their expedition proved fruit- 
less, for want of interpreters. They, however, brought some of the 
islanders with them to Sig-nan, the capital ofChen-si, and the usual 
residence of the emperors of that dynasty. An ambassador of the 
king of Japan being then at court, he and his attendants knew the 
strangers to be natives of Lieou-kieou ; but they described these 
isles as a wretched country, the inhabitants of which had never been 
civilized. The emperor of China afterwards learned that the princi- 
pal island lay east of the city of Fou-tcheou, the capital of Fo-kien ; 
and that in a passage of five days one might reach the island where 
the king kept his court. 
On this information, the emperor Yan-ki sent a party, with inter- 
preters, to summon the prince to do homage to the emperor of China, 
and to pay him tribute. The king of Lieou-kieou sent back the 
Chinese, telling them sternly, that he acknowledged no prince to be his 
superior. This answer irritated the 'emperor, who caused a fleet to 
be immediately equipped at Fo-kien, in which he embarked 10,000 
men. This fleet arrived in safety at the port of Napa-kiang. The 
army, in spite of every effort made by the natives, landed in the island ; 
and the king, who had put himself at the head of his troops, having 
fallen in battle, the Chinese pillaged, sacked, and burnt the royal city, 
made more than 5000 slaves, and returned to China. The emperor 
of the dynasties of Tuang, and those of the dynasties of Song, made 
no attempts to render these isles tributary. 
In 1291, Chi-tsou, emperor of thedynasty ofYu-len, wished to revive 
the pretensions of his predecessors. He fitted out a fleet to subdue these 
islands, but the schemes of conquest had become disagreeable to 
the Chinese, since the disaster that befell their army in an expedition 
against Japan. The fleet of Chi-tsou went no farther than the isles 
of Pong-heu, and the west coast of Formosa, when they returned - 
to Fo-kien. But in 1372, in the reign of Hong-vou, founder of the 
dynasty of Mino, these islands submitted voluntarily to the Chinese 
government. Hong-vou had sent one of his grandees to the court 
of Tsay-tou, when reigning at Lieou-kieou, to inform him of his acces- 
sion to the throne The Chinese ambassador acquitted himself of 
his commission with all the address of an able minister. In a private 
audience he exhorted Tsay-tou to own himself a tributary of the 
empire, and laid before him various advantages he w'ould derive from 
this step. His reasoning made so much impression on Tsay-tou, that 
he sent immediately to the emperor to demand the investiture of his 
states. Hong-vou received his envoys in a magnificent manner, and 
loaded them with presents. He solemnly declared Tsay-tou a vas- 
sal of the empire, and after having received his first tribute, consisting 
of horses, aromatic wood, sulphur, copper, tin, &c. he sent to this 
prince a golden seal, and confirmed the choice he had made of one 
of nis sons for successor. Hong-voU sent thirty-six families, almost 
all from Fo-kien, to Lieou-kieou. Tsay-tou assigned them lands 
