There Go However To These Places Some
Small Ships Belonging To The Moors From The Coast Of Java, Who Exchange
Or Barter Their Commodities In The Kingdom Of Acheen.
These are mace,
cloves, and nutmegs, which are sent from Acheen to the Red Sea.
The
voyages which the king of Portugal grants to his nobles, are those from
China to Japan and back to China, from China to India, and those of
Bengal, the Moluccas, and Sunda, with fine cloth and all kinds of cotton
goods.
Sunda is an island of the Moors near the coast of Java, whence pepper is
curried to China. The ship which goes yearly from India to China is
called the _drug ship_, because she carries various drugs of Cambaia,
but her principal lading consists of silver. From Malacca to China the
distance is 1800 miles; and from China there goes every year a large
ship to Japan laden with silk, in return for which she brings back bars
of silver which are bartered in China for goods. The distance between
Japan and China is 2400 miles, in which sea there are several islands of
no great size, in which the friars of St Paul, by the blessing of God,
have made many Christians _like themselves_: But from these islands the
seas have not been fully explored and discovered, on account of the
great numbers of shoals and sand banks [157].
[Footnote 157: The text in this place it erroneous or obscure. The
indicated distance between China and Japan is enormously exaggerated,
and probably ought to have been stated as between Malacca and Japan. The
undiscovered islands and shoals seem to refer to the various islands
between Java and Japan, to the east and north. - E.]
The Portuguese have a small city named Macao on an island near the
coast of China, in which the church and houses are built of wood. This
is a bishopric, but the customs belong to the king of China, and are
payable at the city of Canton, two days journey and a half from Macao,
and a place of great importance. The people of China are heathens, and
are so fearful and jealous that they are unwilling to permit any
strangers to enter their country. Hence when the Portuguese go there to
pay their customs and to buy goods, they are not allowed to lodge within
the city, but are sent out to the suburbs. This country of China, which
adjoins to great Tartary, is of vast size and importance, as may be
judged by the rich and precious merchandise which comes from thence,
than which I believe there are none better or more abundant in quantity
in all the world besides. In the first place it affords great quantities
of gold, which is carried thence to the Indies made into small plates
_like little ships_, and in value 23 _carats_ each[158]; large
quantities of fine silk, with damasks and taffetas; large quantities of
musk and of _occam_[159] in bars, quicksilver, cinabar, camphor,
porcelain in vessels of divers sorts, painted cloth, and squares, and
the drug called Chinaroot.
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