Our Chinese landlord came to our house on the 30th October, to inform me
of a general collection of provisions of all kinds, then making at every
house in Firando, to be sent to the two kings, in honour of a great
feast they were to give next day, together with a comedy or play. By his
advice, and after consulting with the other gentlemen of the factory, I
directed two bottles of Spanish wine, two roasted hens, a roasted pig, a
small quantity of rusk, and three boxes of confections and preserves to
be sent, as a contribution towards their feast. Before night the young
king sent one of his men to me, requesting me to furnish him with some
English apparel, for the better setting out their comedy, and
particularly to let him have a pair of red cloth breeches. I answered,
that I had nonesuch, and knew not any of our people who had; but any
clothes I had that could gratify his highness were much at his service.
At night the old king sent to invite me to be a spectator of their
comedy on the morrow, and to bring Mr Foster, our master, along with me.
Next day, being the 31st, I sent our present, formerly mentioned, to the
kings by our jurebasso before dinner, desiring their highnesses to
excuse the master and myself, and that we would wait upon them some
other time, when they had not so much company. This however did not
satisfy them, and they insisted on our company, and that of Mr Eaton; so
we went and had a place appointed for us, where we sat at our ease and
saw every thing. The old king himself brought us a collation in sight of
all the people; Semidono afterwards did the like in the name of both
kings, and a third was brought us in the sequel by several of their
principal nobles or attendants. But that which we most noted was their
play or comedy, in which the two kings, with their greatest nobles and
princes, were the actors. The subject was a representation of the
valiant deeds of their ancestors, from the commencement of their kingdom
or commonwealth to the present time, which was mixed with much mirth to
please the common people. The audience was very numerous, as every house
in the town of Firando, and every village, place, or hamlet in their
dominions brought a present, and all their subjects were spectators. The
kings themselves took especial care that every one, both high and low,
should eat and drink before they departed. Their acting, music, singing,
and poetry, were very harsh to our ears, yet the natives kept time to
it, both with hands and feet. Their musical instruments were small drums
or tabors, wide at both ends and small in the middle, resembling an
hour-glass, on one end of which they beat with one hand, while with the
other they strained the cords which surround it, making it to sound soft
or loud at their pleasure, and tuning their voices to its sound, while
others played on a fife or flute; but all was harsh and unpleasant to
our ears. I never saw a play of which I took such notice, as it was
wonderfully well represented, yet quite different from ours in
Christendom, which are only dumb-shews, while this was as truth itself,
and acted by the kings themselves, to preserve a continual remembrance
of their affairs.
On this occasion, the king did not invite the Dutch, which made our
being present seem the greater compliment. When I returned to our house,
I found three or four of the Dutchmen there, one of whom was in a
Japanese habit, and came from a place called Cushma,[37] which is
within sight of Corea. I understood they had sold pepper there and other
goods, and suspect they have some secret trade thence with Corea, or are
likely soon to have, and I trust if they do well that we shall not miss,
as Mr Adams was the man who put them upon this trade, and I have no
doubt he will be as diligent for the good of his own countrymen as he
has been for strangers. Hernando Ximenes was with Captain Brower when
the two men came from Cushma, and asked them whence they came, at which
Brower was very angry, telling him he should have no account of that
matter.
[Footnote 37: Key-sima, an island considerably to the N.E. of Firando,
and nearly midway between Niphon and Corea, from which it may be about
forty miles distant. - E.]
Towards night, I was informed that two Spaniards were arrived from
Nangasaki, and were lodged with Zanzibar. They sent for our jurebasso
to come to them, but I did not allow him, on which they and Zanzibar
came to our house. One of them was Andres Bulgaryn, a Genoese, who had
passed Firando only a few days before, and the other Benito de Palais,
pilot-major of the Spanish ship lately cast away on the coast of Japan,
the same person who came here formerly from Nangasaki to visit Captain
Adams. They said they had come to visit their friends, me in the first
place; and used many words of compliment, after which they entered into
conversation respecting our fugitives. They pretended that it was not
the fathers, as they called the jesuits, who kept our people from being
seen and spoken with, but the natives of Nangasaki, who they said were
very bad people. In fine, I shrewdly suspected these fellows of having
come a-purpose to inveigle more of our people to desert, as the others
did, wherefore I advised our master to have a watchful eye both to the
ship and boats, and to take special notice who kept company with our
men, as it was best to doubt the worst, for the best will save itself.
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