of people which I omit as superfluous The City of Iudica the Metropolis of the Kingdom and seat of the King and his chiefest Nobles is scituate upon the River Menam in a little round Island encompassed with a thick stone wall about six English miles round the Suburbs are on the other side of the River closely builded and full of Temples and Cloysters lying in a flat and fruitful Country The Streets of the walled Town are many of them large straight and regular with channels running through them although for the most part of small narrow Lanes Ditches and Creekes most confusedly placed the Citizens have an incredible number of small Boats or Prawes which come to their very doors especially at floods and high water The building of the Houses is according to the Indian fashion slight and covered with Tiles but the City is beautified with more then three hundred faire Temples and Cloysters all curiously builded and adorned with many gilded Towers Pyramids and Pictures without number The Kings Palace is seated upon the River resembling a little Town apart great and magnificent many of its Buildings and Towers being entirely gilded This royal and admirable City is perfectly well seated and populous to a wonder being frequented by all Nations and is likewise impregnable as not to be besieged but six moneths in a year by reason of the innundations of the River which covers the Countrey round with its overflowings The Soveraignity and Government of Siam is in the King a Prince of a Noble and ancient family who hath been in possession of this Kingdom and the neighbouring Provinces many hundred of years this Prince is absolute in his Dominions disposing of War and Peace Alliances Justice Pardons and Remissions c. at his pleasure He maketh Laws without any advise or consent of his Council or Lords his will being the rule he walks by unlesse his goodnesse descend sometimes to counsel with his Mandoryns them of his Council these sometimes deliberate upon his Majesties propositions and present their result to him by way of humble supplication which he confirms changes or rejects as he thinks good He disposes Soveraignity of all the Dignities and great Offices of his Kingdom without respect of persons noble or otherwise except some of the Antientest and greatest Families to such as have or may serve him well whom he againe deprives of their honours for small faults so that they are all his Slaves and Vassals which the Great ones esteem an honour and put in their titles The King thus soveraignly disposing of all things doth notwithstanding nothing without some appearance of reason and conformity to the Laws of the Kingdom which however antient he by his usurped prerogative and power doth interpret and bow to his Arbitrary will and pleasure His Majesties Court and Train is exceeding great and glorious He seldom shews himselfe to the People and very sparingly to his Grandees and Officers of the Kingdom which happens at certain appointed times and daies when he gives them Audience he is richly clothed and crowned sitting upon a golden Throne at whose feet his Gentlemen and Attendants reverently kneel accompanied with three hundred armed Souldiers of his Lifeguard All as well Strangers as Subjects who have audience of his Majesty whilest they are in his presence must continually kneele with folded hands and heads hanging down when they speak to him it must be in this humble posture loading him with titles and praises his Answers are esteemed Oracles and his commands unchangeable so that he lives happy in all imaginable worldly pleasures having many magnificent Houses up and down the Kingdom as also other places Tents and Pavilions He eateth highly but his drink is simple water or Coco all strong drinks being prohibited by the Clergy and the Laws and esteemed scandalous His Majesty goeth ordinarily by water with eight or ten very costly and fine Barges each with eighty or a hundred rowers he sits under a gilded Pavilion upon a Throne accompanied with his Courtiers and other Barges to the number of three or four hundred with his Train and Guards waiting upon him most of the great Ones follow the Court at such times each in his rich gilded Barge or Praw so that the whole train of them is twelve or fourteen hundred and sometimes more When he goes by land he is mounted upon a gilded seat and carried upon mens shoulders the train being ordinarily the same all marching in order and great silence no body is seen in his way or sight but upon their knees with folded hands and bowed heads and bodies this reverence better becoming a celestial Diety then an earthly Majesty Once every year about the moneth of October the King of Siam shews himself by water and land in state to his people going to the principal Temple of the Gods to offer there for the welfare of his Person and Kingdom the manner follows When he goes by land the procession is led by two hundred Elephants each attended vvith three armed men these are follovved by many Musitians vvith Gomnies Pipes and Drums and a thousand men richly armed and provided vvith Banners Then march the great Lords of the Kingdom on horse-back many of them vvearing Crovvns of Gold upon their heads and every one vvaited upon by sixty eighty or an hundred men on foot Tvvo hundred Iapan Souldiers follovv these vvith bright Arms and rich Colours and much noise of Instruments then comes the Lifeguard vvith the King's Horses and Elephants richly adorned vvith pretious Stones and Gold furniture vvhich is follovved by many Servants loaden vvith fruits and presents for the Sacrifice accompanied vvith a svvet consort of Musick These are again follovved by many of the great Ones on foot vvith folded hands as also some Crovvned Grandees vvhereof one carrieth the gilded Standard and the other the Svvord of Justice his Majesty follovvs next in person in his royal Robes sitting upon an Elephant or else a gilded Throne carried upon mens shoulders and vvaited upon by many Lords and Courtiers the Prince or Heir of the Kingdom follovveth him and then in order the Kings Wives and Concubins seated upon Elephants in little enclosed Cabinets lastly the ordinary Courtiers follovv the vvhole provision consisting of fifteen or sixteen thousand persons having its rear brought up by six hundred armed men But if the King go by vvater then tvvo hundred Lords each in his Barge seated in a gilded Cabinet vvith eighty or ninety Rovvers lead the van these are follovved by ten extraordinary rich figured Pravvs or Barges the vvhich as also the Oars are all gilded each having ninety or an hundred Watermen The King is in the richest of them sitting like an Idol upon a golden Throne vvith his Lords in their humblest posture at his feet the royal Banner is borne by one of these Grandees at the head of the Barge in state The King's Brother follovveth next vvith his Train and after him his Majesties Wives and Concubins in
hath of old been great vvars betvvixt them of Pegu and Siam vvith various success the King of Pegu pretending to the Monarchy of the neighbouring Kingdoms vvhich he hath formerly had and as yet possesseth in part so that the borders of these Kingdoms are quite ruined and unpeopled and these Princes of late years content vvith inroads and sudden invasions vvith small flying Armies of tvventy or thirty thousand men vvhich they have ordinarily for defence of the frontiers The Siammers have had likevvise vvars against other Princes as the Kings of Jangoma Tangou Langhs-jaâ—ghâ— and lastly against the King of Siam and stoutly defended himself against those great Armies which were sent to reduce him of late the Kingdom hath been in peace until the usurpation of the last deceased King who having destroyed the true Heirs and possessed the Government contrary to order was likewise himself slain together with his Brothers and the Crown seized upon by another of the blood who after several civil and forraign broils enjoyed it peaceably and governs at present with great reputation and honour continuing still his wars with them of Pegu and the Rebel Cambodian This Prince as well as his Predecessors is kinde to Strangers but respects and esteems the Netherlanders more then the Portugals which the late King sufficiently testified when upon the taking of a Holland Yacht in the River Anno 1624. the Spanish Gally of Don Ferdinando de Silva was violently seized upon by his command and restitution and satisfaction made to our Company hereupon he was forced into a war with them of Manhila and suffered much in his China voyages which was well recompensed by the seasonable assistance of six Dutch men of war which were lent him to be employed against his Rebels of Patany The King hath more then three thousand tame Elephants in several parts of his Kingdom each attended by two or three men wherein much of his greatness doth consist for these Beasts are very much esteemed in India especially when trained up to the wars the rest are employed to carry Ordinances Tents and Provisions to the Camp These creatures being great very strong and strangely docible are taken in several parts of the Country and disciplined as followeth A Troop of fifteen or twenty tame she Elephants which were taken when they were young are driven into the Wilderness with two or three fellows to observe them the wilde ones upon sight of them associate with them one or two at once which are driven with the rest insensibly into a great square building with high stone walls and encompassed on the outside with trees which cover them as soon as these Beasts are decoyed in a great turn pike is shut behinde them and gates to hinder their return when they are entred further into the square place the tame Elephants being brought up to it by their teachers upon notice from them slip away through other gates for the purpose so that the wilde ones being left alone are out of other little squares whereof one is in the middle vexed and tormented with all manner of inventions to make them angry and furious the above mentioned squares are made of great thick posts well nigh two fathoms high but so far distant from each other that a man may creep betwixt them so that when the Elephant with his running turning and winding seeks to revenge himself upon his tormenters they save themselves behinde these posts at length when the beast is weary and sufficiently tormented thee is a great door opened into which he runs to save himself which is immediatly shut upon him and he restrained to a narrower prison and is there bound to two or three tame Elephants placed for the purpose this done they are led into a covered house where cross planks being contrived under the wilde ones belly they are hoyssed up with pullies and left as it were half hanging for some time so that with this invention and help of the tame ones they are wholly tamed in three or four moneths and rendred supple and useful The Court is for the most part present Galleries being builded for the Spectatours at the taking and tormenting of the Elephants which is most pleasant to behold These Beasts are sometimes taken in the open fields being environed with tame ones and caught in snares and jins but this way is dangerous although often practised and both shew how fabulously Writers have informed the World in this particular A white Elephant esteemed by the Indians a wonder in Nature hath been found in Siam and no other known Land it is esteemed by the inhabitants as the Prince of the Elephants and hath been so treated by the Kings of this Country who have had of them in the Palaces many times and caused them to be served in state often visited them and honoured their Vassals with more then ordinary respect These white Elephants have formerly occasioned great wars betwixt the Siammers and their Neighbours and some sixty years since against the King of Pegu who proving victorious did not only take the white Elephant prisoner but obliged the King of Siam to become his Tributary which yoke the following Princes did not only cast off but gloriously revenge their Predecessours misfortunes During my first residence in Siam the then King took two young white Elephants but both died shortly after to his great grief This Nation believes somewhat more then humain natue of this creature alledging they do not only respect him for his whiteness but for his divine understanding which appears in his pride and glorying when he is treated in state and of his melancholy and sorrow when those honours are denied him or that the black Elephant refuses him his obeissance The Siammers as also the Neighbouring Nations are all Idolaters and Heathens so that they have every where great and little Temples and Cloysters for the service of their Gods and the dwellings of their Priests These Edifices are builded of Wood and Stone very Artificial and sumptuous with guilded Towers and Pyramids each of the Temples and Cloysters being filled with an incredible number of Idols of divers materials and greatness gilded adorned and beautified very rich and admirable some of the Idols are four six eight and ten fathoms long amongst the rest there is one of an unimaginable greatness being one hundred and twenty foot high In these Temples and Cloysters there are many Priests and religious Men disciplined and very obedient to their superiours being all subject to the Arch Flamin or Prior of the great Temple of Iudica whose spiritual power is vastly great though subordinate to the Kings All the Clergy whereof there are in Iudica alone at least thirty thousand are clothed without any remarkale difference in yellow linnen clothes having their heads all shorn The learnedst amongst these are professed Priests out of which the Regents of their Temples are chosen who are held in great esteem and reverence by the People preaching teaching and offering
A true Description OF THE MIGHTY KINGDOMS OF JAPAN AND SIAM Written Originally in Dutch by FRANCIS CARON And JOOST SCHORTEN And novv rendred into English by Capt. ROGER MANLEY LONDON Printed by Samuel Broun and John de l'Ecluse at the Sign of the Queens Arms near the little North-Door of St. Paul's Church 1663. I Finde nothing in this Translation vvhy it may not properly enough be Printed Joseph Williamson By the appointment of the Right Honourable Mr Secretary Witehall November 10. 1662. BENNET To my dear BROTHER Major Francis Manley Dear Brother THe Dedication as vvell as Writing of Books being strongly vvarranted by Custom the great Moderatour of our Affairs and Actions it appeareth not injurious to me that this Translation pass into the World under your conduct vvhose pretentions as they stand fair to the Patronage of more sublime Labours so I am assured they vvill not be vvanting in their Indulgence to the Infirmities of this Trifle upon vvhich the Book-seller having prevailed vvith me to cast avvay some spare hours as a Complement to my Countrey at least to his Interests I vvas more easily tempted to undertake it as vvhat might be advertisement to you so that hovv cheap soever it appear in it self my dear Brother hath goodness enough to consider it as exposing me to the censure of thousands upon the single account of diverting him alone and that having been a principal design of my life I make this address vvhere my affection not my ambition leads me For the Matter it is the Author must stand accountable not I and I can assure you he is of a passable reputation in his ovvn Countrey but for the bad English I hope a Fourteen years Exile may excuse the Errataes in our very Mother-Tongue I vvill not further bespeak your protection left it be judged the effect of my importunity and not your kindeness I therefore commit you to Him vvho hath preserved you and me through no ordinary dangers to see the Land of our Canaan though not to enjoy the fruits of it but the happiness of our Soveraign doth virtually comprehend in it that of all His Creatures in vvhich number as it is your honour and mine upon the score of an unalterable loyalty attended vvith many sufferings and our best services to stand ranked so is it my extream contentment and satisfaction that I may style my self Dear BROTHER Your most faithful and most affectionate Brother and humble Servant Roger Manley The Contents 1. HOw great the Country of Japan is and whether it be an Island or no Page 3. 2. How many Provinces it contains p. 5. 3. VVhat quality and authority the supream Magistrate hath p. 15. 4. His dwelling Place Magnificence and Train p. 16. 5. The number of his Souldiers and their Arms p. 35. 6. The Authority of his Councellours and Vassals p. 37. 7. The quality of his Princes and Lords and their might p. 38. 8. Their manner of Iustice p. 52. 9. VVhat Crimes they punish most severely p. 53. 10. VVhat Divine Service they use p. 62. 11. VVhat Churches they have p. 62. 12. VVhat Priests they entertain p. 63. 13. VVhat Sects are prevalent among them p. 63. 14. The Persecution of the Romish Christians p. 66. 15. How this Nation lives in their Houses and Families p. 71. 16 17. How they receive each other and of their Hospitality p. 73. 18. Of their Conjugal state p. 74. 19. Of the bringing up of their Children p. 75. 20. VVhat Succession ab intestato p. 77. 21. VVhether they be faithful or false in their dealings p. 78. 22. VVhat Traffik and with what Nations p. 80. 23. Of their domestick Trading and Navigation p. 81. 24. The Profits amounting thence p. 84. 25. Their Correspondence with Strangers p. 84. 26. The Commodities which Japan yeilds p. 85. 27. Their Mint Measures and VVeights p. 85. 28. VVhat Beasts and Fowl they have p. 87. 29. VVhat Medicinal VVaters p. 87. 30. How the Kings Princes and Peers of the Kingdom receive Audience from his Imperial Majesty and what Train they must have p. 89. 31. Their Language manner of VVritings Reckonings and how far they transmit their History to Posterity p. 92. Directions for placing the four Figures belonging to the BOOK 1. THe Map of the Country of Iapan between page 2 and 3. 2. The manner of Cutting up their Bellies between page 50 and 51. 3. The Persecution of the Christians between page 66 and 67. 4. The Emperors Admittance of the Kings Princes and Peers of the Kingdom to his presence between page 88 and 89. Perfeckte Kaert vande gelegentheydt des Landts van IAPAN A True Description of the Mighty Kingdomes of IAPAN SIAM MY fourteene yeares residence in the low Countreys I may rather say my banishement thither being upon the rendition of one of the Kings Garrisons in the yeare 1646 obliged by my Articles to depart the Kingdome within six moneths As it hath in some measure furnished me with the knowledg of the Dutch tongue so hath it given me roome to observe the indefatigable industry of that people who all of them in their severall stations and according to their severall povvers and capacities doe unanimously conspire cooperate to their support and grovvth in the World And that I by their example or rather by the impulse of my owne Genius may cast my mite into the service of my Countrey I judged it not wholy unprofitable to put this short relation of the Great Kingdomes of Japan Siam into the English tongue which for the vastnesse of those Territories scarce knowne to us by name The Reputation of the Authour vvhose Collections are of great credit But principally as a spur to the Improvement of further discoveries Traffick by my ovvne Coūtrey men will not I hope be unacceptable to the Reader who I wish may so far indulge the bad English of one almost degenerated into a forreigner at least in his language that it may receive a faire acceptation which is all I propose to my self in this matter I am not ignorant that amongst the multitude of books under which the Presse groanes it is not enough to write well But I being restrayned to a Translation must not pretend to rise higher then my fountayne head And my Authour having made rather a collectiō then a History wherein he seemes to affect truth and brevity more then the ornament of words I thought it becoming me if I would walke in his ground to tread in his steps wherein if you will please to divert your selfe I shall in his Person proceed to tell you How great the Countrey of Iapan is whether it be an Island or no. THe Countrey of Japan is supposed to bee an Island though there bee no certainty of it this vast territorie not beeing yet wholy discovered to the inhabitants themselves I have often enquired and been informed that Travellers have gone from the Province of Quanto the principal of his Majesties dominions
lest the great Lords of his Kingdom reflecting upon the lowness of his former condition might contemn his present Authority as disdaining to be governed by one less then themselves thought it best to keep them in action the better to divert them from caviling a new he therefore sent those Kings and Chiefs that he feared most with an Army of sixty thousand Men to war against Corea and reduce that Country to the obedience of the Iapan Empire These he held there with kinde messages and reiterated promises of succours seven whole years commanding they should not return till they had subdued and made conquest of all But the Army longing for their Country their Wives and Children and despairing of a return mutined and destroying burning and plundering all they could meet endeavoured the satisfaction of their pretended wrongs by the desolation of others The Coreans unable to endure this violence any longer sent an Ambassador to the Emperour Taycko who being admitted into his Court found means to take away his life by poison in revenge of the manifold wrongs his Country had suffered by the injurious ambition of this Prince The Kings and Lords commanding the Army in Corea hearing of their Emperor's death resolved to quit that Country and to return every one to his own in expectation and hopes who amonst them might be chosen to succeed in the Soveraignty The Emperor being removed left one only Son behinde him called Fideri about six years of age but before he died he appointed him a Governor one of the greatest Lords of his Country by name Ongoschio one whom he had obliged by his favors and relied upon above all others for his fidelity To this Person he delivered his Infant-Son with command that when he was fifteen years of age he should cause him to be crowned by the Deyro with the usual Pomps and Ceremonies as Emperor of Iapan Ongoschio being thus declared Governor of the Princes Person was likewise by Taycko's will and the consent of his subject-Subject-Kings made Regent of the Kingdom during the minority which for some time he peaceably ruled in his Master's name But growing now weary of subordination he quickly forgot his promise made to Taycko and sealed with his blood Fideri being therefore to be removed to make place for his greatness he assaulted him first in his reputation by laying those things to his charge he was no way guilty of amongst others he accused him of distrust of his Tutor and that he made private preparations to extort the Government out of his hands by force before his time he laid likewise ambition and an untimely desire of honor to his charge in that he suffered himself to be adored as Emperor before he was invested with the Power and that the Kings and Lords of the Realm had done him that reverence which was only due to a received Emperor But armed ambition needs not many excuses Ongoschio musters his united forces in the Kingdom of Surnga and marching thence to Onsacka where Fideri held his Court besieged him with all his might Fideri having held out three moneths being now reduced to great extremity would prevent his ruine by a sordid submission he therefore sent to Ongoschio to beg his life quitting all his pretence to the Empire and desiring only to survive a Vassal to the Conqueror But Ongoschio refused all manner of capitulation and though Fideri sent out his Wife who was his Adversaries Daughter to supplicate his safety she could not be heard of her Father The Castle being taken the Palace where Fideri had retired himself with his Mother and chief Friends was encompassed with great posts and pallisadoes and much wood being piled up about it the unfortunate Prince and all them that were with him were miserably burnt and consumed with sire Ongoschio having thus destroyed his Master put all them to death who were considerable and of his party bringing the whole Empire under his obedience by force as Taycko had done before him The year following Ongoschio died not enjoying long what his violence had so quickly got him his Son Coubo or Coubosanna succeeded him who was Father to this present Emperor Chiongon now reigning The number of his Souldiers and their Arms. THe Revenue which is divided amongst the Kings and governing Lords amounts as is already demonstrated to 18400000 Coquyns or Pounds sterling according to which account each of them must proportionably entertain a select company of Souldiers always in readiness for the Emperor's service so that he who hath a thousand Coquyns yearly must bring into the field when ever he is commanded twenty Foot Souldiers two Horse-Men Thus the Lord of Fiarmor who hath 60000 Coquyns a year must entertain as he easily may one thousand two hundred Foot and one hundred and twenty Horse besides Servants Slaves and what more is necessary for the Train The number therefore of Souldiers which the Emperor hath continually in service entertained by the aforesaid Kings and Lords amount to three hundred sixty eight thousand Foot and thirty six thousand eight hundred Horse Besides these his Majesty hath one hundred thousand Foot and twenty thousand Horse which he paies out of his own Revenue and keeps for the Garrisoning of his Castles and Forts and the securing of his own Person Most of the Lords especially the most powerful do ordinarily keep double the number of Souldiers and many more then they are obliged to by their tax and all to out vie each other and the better to ingratiate themselves with their common Master as hath appeared at large in the late War The Horse-Men are all harnassed though the Foot have no other defensive arms then a Head-piece the Horse are armed some with short Guns some with short Pikes others with Bows and Arrows and all with Swords or Sables The Foot have likewise Sables Pikes and Halberts and those that are divided into Companies Fire-Arms every five Souldiers have their Commander armed as they are five of these Chiefs have likewise those who command them and their five and twenty and twice twenty five make a compleat Company commanded by two Heads who with their fifty are commanded by a Captain in chief five of these ordinary Companies are again commanded by another and fifty Companies have likewise their principal Officer the same method and order being held under the Horse His Majesty may easily and exactly know how many living souls how many Souldiers and how many Citizens he hath in his whole Kingdom Manieâ—e van Justitie in Jappon for the Houses being built by five and five and every five having their Commander who must register all them that are born and die within their Jurisdiction and report the same to their Lords who again are obliged to tell it their Kings and they to two Officers appointed by the Emperor for that purpose The Authority of his Councellors and Vassals THe Senators or Councellors hath each his Office apart excepting only four who are the principal
him out of his distress and misfortune they will die nay suffer the worst of tortures rather then discover their complices although in evil thinking the breach of covenants inexpiable and the dishonour of not helping their neighbour and one that hath thrust him into misery worse then any death whatsoever What Traffick and with what Nations THe Trade of this Country which is but small in respect of the vastness of it and it abounds with all sorts of Merchandise is carried on by Strangers the principal whereof are the Chinesses who from the first peopling of this Empire to this day have been constant frequenters of their yearly Marts The Spaniards and Portugals have been acquainted with this People above an hundred years the English but of late who finding but little profit and great expences abandoned this Traffick again The Siammers and Camboiders used also to arrive with a ship or two though not now so often as formerly Lastly the Netherlander got footing there where they have seated themselves fast enough and traded these forty years The principal Commodities as well those which Strangers bring as such which are of the growth of the Country are all brought to the great City of Meaco which is the Staple of the whole Empire it is here that the Merchants and Factors from every part of the Land do assemble bringing with them such things as their several Provinces do produce which they sell or change for others which they stand in need of These Merchandises are carried sometimes two or three hundred miles to and fro over hills and dales all upon horses whereof they have an incredible number The Traffick consists of all sorts of wares as well for the pride as use of man Strangers bring yearly four or five thousand Picols of Silk each Picol weighing one hundred twenty five pounds weight besides a great quantity of wrought Silks two hundred thousand Harts-skins one hundred thousand Rochvellenskins a great abundance of Hemp Cloth Cotton and red Wool Carpets to sit upon Pewter Quick-silver and all sorts of Drugs Nutmegs Peper Musk Sugar Porcelan Camphier Borax Eliphants-Teets red Coral and all sorts of small Wares which the Chineses bring thither What domestick Trading and Navigation HEre are many very rich Merchants who drive great Trades these go themselves or have Factours at Meaco where they exchange their Commodities for Silver Gold or other Wares each according to his fancy and convenience The Japanners of old had great correspondencie with them of China whose Kings sent Ambassadors yearly to each other for entertaining their alliance and the negotiation of their Subjects it happened that the Japanners who were numerous in China did mutiny and in a tumult destroy a whole City plundering ravishing and spoyling all but the Chinesses getting into a body fell upon the Japanners again and put all they could meet with to the sword The King of China hearing of these discords was no less amazed then in a wonder that so few could do so much mischief and therefore resolved to banish the Japanners for ever out of his Kingdom in memory whereof he caused a great stone Pillar to be set up with the story of their exile in letters of Gold He likewise set out a Proclamation that none of his Subjects upon paine of death should saile any more to Japan which order was then more exactly observed then at present and yet they do not directly go thither for the Chinesses under a colour of other voyages do often slip into Japan The Emperour of Iapan doth not at all obstruct their traffick permitting them to enter and leave his Countrey when they please Saying he will not reward evil for evil considering also that the reason of this prohibition on the other side came not through any fault of the Chinesses but by the disorders of his own People Since the Iapanners have been banished out of China they used to sail to Tayouan where the Chinesses brought them their Merchandises but that being discovered by the Court of China they were prohibited this Traffick likewise Many years after the Iapanners obtained leave to return to Tayouan as also to go to Touckien Cambodia and Sian which negotiation was again disturbed upon this consideration that the Emperour of Iapan would neither offend nor be offended by any Strangers which had already happened by the extortions of the Governours of Sian and Tayouan and therefore none of his Subjects should any more traffick or deal with Strangers out of their own Country Another reason was because he would have no Arms transported out of his Empire which could not be hindred by no way but this insomuch that two Chinesses Father and Son were both crucified at Finando for endeavouring to convey some away in private and five Iapanners who had sold them the said Arms without knowing their design were beheaded But the chief cause of this inhabition is least the Natives of this Country travelling into strange places might be converted to the Christian Religion and upon their returne infuse those forraigne principles into their Country-Men which they have endeavoured to suppress with so much blood and violence The Profits amounting thence NEither the Emperour nor his subordinate Kings or Lords do gain any thing at all by the Commerce of their Subjects the Merchants onely profit by it although the gaine be not extraordinary by reason of the greatness of the Country the charge of transport and the multitudes of people which must live by it Their correspondency with Strangers THe Iapanners hold no correspondency at all abroad having never yet sent their Ambassadours into any forraigne Countries except China which they have also long discontinued The King of Spain the Pope and the King of Siam have sent several extraordinary Ambassadours to this Court which were indeed honourably received and feasted though never any returns made again by this Prince The Commodities which Japan yeildeth THere is nothing necessary for the use of Man but this Country doth abundantly produce as Silver Gold Brass Iron Tin and Lead in great quantity also Cotton Hemp Silk Filoselle Harts-skins Wooden Manufactures Drugs and whatever can be required to feed and cloath its innumerable inhabitants Their Mint Measures and VVeights THe Iapanners have one Language one fashion in their Clothes one Mint and one Weight they have indeed besides their Gold and Silver Coins a sort of Copper Monies which they call Casies and is of differing value in many of the Kingdoms but his Majesty hath resolved to re-coin these Casies into one fashion to which end he hath ordered all the old ones to be called in and bought them of their owners at their full worth and price where with his Officers have been busied these four years They have three sorts of Gold coin the first and greatest weigheth six Royals and is worth forty six Tayles each Tayle being valued at fifty seven Stivers or Pennies the second sort is worth six Tayles and one half and the third
being the least one and one sixth of a Tayle Their Silver Money is of the Alloy of Dollers cast into long figures of no certain weight but by guess they put so many of these together as weigh fifty Tayles the which being neatly lapped up in papers are distributed as occasion serveth They have yet a lesser Silver coin like a Bean weighing from one Dutch Shilling to ten and lastly the Casiens already mentioned of differing worth from one Doller to three one fourth the thousand Their Yard the Measure of their Grain and their Weights are equal and not differing at all VVhat Beasts and Fowl they have THis Countrey produceth Horses Bulls for they never geld their Cattle Cows Deare and Swine both wilde and tame in great abundance There are likewise plenty of Bears Dogs Cats and the like there is no end of their Fowl especially Swans Geese Ducks Herns Eagles Hawks Pheasants Pigeons Snipes Quails Partridges and all manner of lesser Birds VVhat Medicinal VVaters THey have several Fountains and Springs of hot Medicinal Waters proper for the curing of many Diseases and succesfully used for that purpose some are Sulphurous some taste of Copper others Iron Tin Allom and the like Mettals and Minerals partaking of the qualities of those they pass by I have seen of these Springs one whereof being Tinish burst out of a hollow in the side of a Mountain some ten foot in the round this â—ole was by reason of its depth very obscure within its Orifice or Mouth being strangely beset with sharp Stones not much unlike the short teeth of an Elephant or those which Painters appropriate to Divels The Water flows continually out of this Cavern in a great quantity and is not hot but a man may sit in without disturbance I have seen another at the foot of a Mountain near the Sea which rendered its Water but at times ordinarily twice in twenty four hours but this flowing did not continue above an hour when the winde blows East and stifly it flows thrice and sometimes four times in a day and night This Water rises out of a stony Pit being covered with huge massie Stones of very great weight when the time of flowing comes it bursts out of the earth in so great a quantity and with such a forceable winde that those great Stones are violently moved and shaken the streams gushing and spouting three or four fathoms high with so dreadful a noise that it equals that of a Cannon or the falls of the greatest Rivers This Water is so very hot that it is impossible to boyl ordinary Water to its height it singes where it falls and left to its self continues hot thrice longer then any other This Well is surrounded with a Wall for fear of harm little Conduits being made to convey its Streams to the neighbouring houses where it is used by way of bath for the curing of all distempers and maladies How the Kings Princes and Peers of the Kingdom receive Audience of his Imperial Majesty and what train they must have THe solemn and great feasts of this People are manifold the first and greatest is New-Years-Day then the second and third Day of the third Moneth the third and fifth Day of the fifth Moneth the fourth and seventh Day of the seventh Moneth and the fifth and ninth Day of the ninth Moneth Besides these his Majesty gives publick Audience twice every Moneth at new and full Moon to all his Kings Princes Lords and Gentry who according to their qualities and orders do homage and reverence to him The train and attendance of these Grandees are appointed the greatest of them may not exceed an hundred followers the lesser being also stinted and proportioned according to their revenues Some of these Princes have indeed four or five thousand as well Men as Women in their services but these they keep in their Palaces and may not enter the first ring of the Castle nor into the City with them Now such as are permitted to come into these two places with an hundred Servants may not enter the second ring of the Castle with more then twenty Attendants neither may they be seen there on horse-back it being the dwellings of the Princes of the blood and the Councellours the great ones are carried here in Pallaquins or Sedans others of less quality going on foot which is no difficult thing the waies and streets being finely paved and the middle of them set with great flat free-stones which are kept extraordinary neat and clean But no Man whosoever is suffered to enter the third ring of the Castle where the Emperours Palace is but on foot and only accompanied with two Servants and a Boy to carry his Shoes they of the second rank are allowed but one Servant and a Shoe-carrier and those of the last rank only a Shoe-carrier There never happens any the least disorder running playing bawling or confusion among the people at these shows every one continuing in a serious and silent posture as if they were in the Emperours presence Every one in this Procession marches in his order and rank so that there is not the least stir even amongst the Servants The Souldiers stand in the Galleries we formerly mentioned and certain sworn Commissioners go to and fro to observe both them and all others so that the least stir and noise is capital This strictness is not burthensome but grown so familiar by custom that the least irregularity or tumult is not heard of The same order is observed in all the Towns of the Countrey the streets being all uniform each end of each of them being shut with Barrocadoes in the night and kept with watches so that no body is suffered to go out without a Ticket from the chief Magistrate which is delivered to the Magistrate of the street for the conveniency of those who need them to fetch a Midwife Physitian or some near Friend in case of necessity the Barrocadoes are opened to such messengers as these and none else so that they never have any tumults in their streets roberies murthers house-breakings or any such unwarrantable disorders Their Language manner of VVritings and Reckonings and how far they transmit their History to posterity THe Chineses Iapanners Corees and Torquains have their distinct Languages wholly strange to each other neither have their Characters any resemblance and yet they have another fashion of Letter common and understood by the Studious and Learned of these four Nations in this their Sciences Wisdom are written although the Contents and Characters be general understood and read by each in his own Tongue They write with Pencils and ready enough most of their Errands are done by Letters which by reason of their quickness in dispatch is no let to them and the surer way A man that can contract much matter into few lines and intelligible which is that which they all practice is greatly esteemed amongst them for such they imploy to write their Letters Petitions and
with his wings spread of pure Gold This structure was very beautiful being adorned on all sides with carved Images its angles plaited with pure Gold and the roof of it intimating the Heaven with Sun Moon and Stars There were fifty Persons all Gentlemen belonging to the Emperours clothed with long white Robes and Wax Head-pieces that carried this ambulatory Pallace Forty Gentlemen antickly dressed although armed with Europian Head-pieces and Pikes gilded at the ends went before the Deyro and these were of his Life-guard One of his principal Lords did immediately follow him armed as the other bearing in his hand a Shield stuck full of Arrows then came forty great Quirosols all covered with fine white linnen and belonging to the aforesaid Guards These were again followed by thirteen great Wax Chests carried by the Palanquyn Porters And lastly the whole procession was closed with four hundred persons all in white vestments marching six in a ranke in very good order The Deyro and his Traine were no sooner past but the evening came on and an innumerable company of people of all sorts the Stages and Houses which had been filled with Spectators had disgorged their burthens in the Streets so that the multitude was so immensly great that very many disorders happened as cutting of purses stealing murthering and robbing each other very many were stifled in the crouds and such as but once fell were sure never to rise being troden to death The noise all night was so great as if the City had been in an uproar and the insolencies grew to that heighth that many persons of quality who could not get out of the throng or were retiring to their houses were set upon and very many of them spoiled and murthered among others the Lord of Firandos Secretary saw his Servant robbed and a rich Cabinet of his taken from him before his own face whilest he himselfe had much ado to defend himself from the violence of these assaulters We were forced with our Servants to quit our stage and put our selves into the crowd because of the night and the danger to continue where we were which we durst not do without running the hazzard of being murthered the preass was so great that we were borne up by the people most of our way being but seldom able to put a foot upon the ground yet at length by Gods great blessing we got all without any considerable loss safely to our lodgings The Deyro and his Wives were lodged three daies and three nights in the Emperors Palace being served by their Majesties and their Brothers and the greatest Princes of their Court every meale consisting of one hundred and forty services This feasting being done the young Emperour gave the Deyro these following presents Three thousand Boates of Silver each of four Tayls and three Marses Two rich Sables Two hundred Iapan Gowns Three hundred pieces of wrought Sattin Twenty picols of raw Silk One great piece of Calombacq Five great Silver pots full of Musk. And ten beautiful Horses with their accoutrements The old Emperour gave him Two hundred pieces of Gold each worth fifty four Silver ones One hundred Indian gowns richly wrought Two great Silver pots full of Musk. Five Catti Calombacq Two hundred pieces of red Silk Five Silver pots full of Amber Greece And five brave Horses with their accoutrements His Secretary had given him Three hundred Boats of Silver equal with the other in worth And twenty Indian Gowns A Description of the Government Might Religion Customes Traffick and other remarkable Affairs in the Kingdom of SIAM Written in the Yeare 1636. by Joost Schouten Directour of the East-India-Company in that Countrey SIAM is a famous and potent Kingdom scituate upon the continent of Asia eighteen degrees Northern Latitude where it bordereth upon the Countries of Pegu and Ava twelve degrees it extendeth it selfe Westward to the Bengasche sea of Martavan to seven degrees where it borders upon the Kingdoms of Pay tany and Queda Southward from the Bengasche to the Patanys Ocean this Coast turns Northward to thirteen degrees making with its bowing the Gulf of Siam thence the Coast runs again Southward to twelve degrees and leaving the Sea terminates Eastward upon the Desart of Cambodia and the Kingdoms of Iangonia Tangou and Langjang to eighteen degrees even to Ava and Pegu so that the form of this Land is like an halfe Moon and containeth in its circuit four hundred and fifty Dutch miles one Dutch mile makes six English This Country which is in many places mountainous woody and moorish especially towards the Sea although for the most part even and clay and is likewise full of all sorts of Beasts and Fowls and Rivers replenished with abundance of Fish hath where it bordereth upon the Benga and Siams Seas many Islands Bays Havens and Rivers most commodious for the receipt of great and small Vessels I shall not particularize all only mention the chief River as the most frequented Haven of the whole Kingdom This River called by the name of Menam or the Mother of Waters is great wide and very long its course being not known unto them It passeth from the North Southward very swiftly through the Land of Ava and Pegu and several Provinces of Siam until that it discharge it self by three mouthes into the Sea of Siam it partaketh of the nature of those famous Rivers Ganges and Nilus flowing once a year so high that it covereth most part of the Countrey making it incredibly fruitful and destroying by this innundation which continueth four or five moneths all obnoxious vermin and creatures The greatest mouth of this River is that which lies most Eastward thirteen degrees and a half Northern latitude and in the middle of the inlet there is a great flat or sand a mile long that crosses the entry of the River five or six foot deep at low water but at heighth is fifteen or sixteen and in the Winter moneths when the the floods are great there is ordinarily seventeen or eighteen foot and more great Ships that go deep are forced to anker at four five or six fathoms water without this banck the ground being clay and good but those that pass this flat at high water enter the River without any more danger of runing on ground till they come to the Town of Banckock six Dutch miles upwards then the River grows narrower and more shallow Ships drawing eleven or twelve foot water being scarceable to mount to the City of India where they are sometimes forced to stay till the moneths of September October and November for water to return The Country is generally well peopled especially the lower part of it being full of Villages and Towns the principal whereof are Iudica Picelouck Sourckelouk Capheng Soutcethay Kephinpet Conseywan Pytsyay Pitsidi Lydure Tenou Mormelon Martenayo Lygor Bordelong Tannassary Banckock Pypry Rapry Mergy and several other all which are governments and heads of Provinces besides these there are many Cities and Burroughs full
gilded Cabinets and Tents each in their Barges apart lastly the Gentry Courtiers Guards and other Attendants follovv the vvhole amounting to five or six and tvventy thousand persons The River is bordered on both sides vvith Boats and an infinite number of People vvho reverence and adore their King in his passage vvith bended heads and folded hands The Dominion and Revenue of the Crovvn is great amounting yearly to many Millions arising out of in-land Commodities as Rice Sappang Tin Lead Salt-peter as also the profits of the Sand and Mountain Gold which are only sold by the Kings Factors to forraign Merchants He hath also his Customs for outlandish Wares his Tributes and Presents from Subject-Princes and Governours of Cities and Provinces who know how much they must contribute as also the profits of his Traffick with Chormandel and China add to these the inland trade carried on by his Factours in the City Iudica or elsewhere and his Majesty of Siam will be found to be one of the richest Princes of India There are several Officers appointed for the receipt of incomes who must account every year and that exactly Most of these monies are expended in building and repairing of Temples in rewarding of merits and defraying the publick charges of the Kingdom the residue being brought into the Treasury which is esteemed rich and great The Laws and Customes of Siam are strange though orderly in the succession of their Princes when the King dies it is not his Son but his Brother who is Heir to the Crown but in case he have no Brother then indeed his Son steps in by course whose Brothers do succeed successively lastly all the Sons of the eldest Brother who hath reigned follow by turns the Daughters being wholly excluded any pretence to the Government But this order is not alwaies observed the Scepter being sometimes usurped by him of the family who is most powerful and most gracious with the people which is the present Kings case who having raised himself before his turn caused all his Competitors and their Adherents to be slain to the end he might peaceably enjoy what he had unjustly got and leave the Crown to his Brother or Children after him The ordinary Justice both Criminal and Civil is administred through the Kingdom according to their ancient Customes and Laws by Officers purposely appointed But in the City of Judica they have besides the ordinary Courts of Judicature a Colledge of twelve Councellours with one principal President which doth definitively decide all Appeals and other businesses whether Criminal or Civil It is indeed permitted though with extraordinary expence and cost to appeal to the King and his Council who ordinarily confirm and cause the former sentence to be put in execution In this and lesser Courts all Civil disputes are brought in by Lawyers and the cause being pleaded and witnesses examined on both sides before the Commissioners the Secretary makes an extract of the whole which being writ in a Book it is signed by both Plantiff and Defendant or others deputed by them that done the Book is sealed up and kept by the Judge till next Sessions at which time it is again opened in the presence of both parties and their debates heard noted and sealed as before So that the Lawyers by their several exceptions demurs and practices do very often delay and keepe up the parties for many years until at length after much sollicitings and expence the cause is anew opened and examined and finally adjudged and ended by a full Colledge But in Criminal matters as injuries robberies murther treason or the like the guilty or suspected person is apprehended imprisoned and examined if he deny the fault against witnesses or great presumptions he is forced by torture to confession all which being noted in a Book and presented to the Judges they immediatly proceed to Sentence and Execution except in Capitall crimes such being reserved for the Kings pleasure who either pardons banishes or causes the condemned person to be put to death according to the sentence Offences are ordinarily punished as they are more or less heynous with cashiering banishments into Desarts slavery confiscations mutilation of hand or foot burning in oyl quartering and other severe executions Where the case is doubtfull no witnesses appearing nor no strong presumptions against the accused so that the Judge knows not how or what to do he then permits both parties to try it out by common purgation either by ducking under water holding their hands in boyling oyl to go bare-foot upon hot coales or to eat a mess of charmed rice this conjured mess being made up into balls is given them by the Priest with much ceremony and he that can swallow it without casting it up again and behaves himself in this and the other trials with most courage is esteemed most innocent and acquitted whilest the other whether accusor or accused is most severely punished according to the nature of the crime The Kings power and military force by water and land consists most of his own Vassals and Natives he hath indeed some few Strangers as Moors Malayers and some five hundred Iapanners the most esteemed for their courage and fidelity although the Prince now reigning drove them out of his Country but they are now crept in again so that most of his forces are Siammers who must serve without pay and be alwaies in a readiness the hundredth fiftieth twentieth tenth or fifth man being levied according to the Kings pleasure and occasions Besides these the Grandees have ordinarily some hundreds of men in their service who wait upon them in the field so that his Majesty can raise an Army when he thinks good of two or three thousand men with two or three hundred Elephants Victuals Ammunition and other warlike Instruments for all this his Armies seldom exceed one hundred thousand men and not ordinarily forty or fifty thousand as his affairs require either for offensive or defensive His foot are in reasonable good order though merely armed with Bows and Arrows Shields Swords Pikes and a few Guns the horse are not better though generally armed with Swords Shields Bows and Lances Most of their force consists in some hundreds of tramed Elephants each of them furnished vvith three armed men and they have a good quantity of Cannons but do not well know how to use them At sea his Majesty hath several Gallies and Frigots vvell provided vvith great Guns though the Seamen and Mariners are but pitiful The Pravvs vvherevvith the Siammers can stoutly scuffle are vvithout number but ill ordered and armed and yet sufficient to deal vvith their neighbouring enemies as unskilful as they are though far short of our Europian Vessels and Mariners either to fight or sail These Mariners especially vvhen their Princes have been brave have conquered many of the neighbouring Kingdoms and Provinces but being all human things they have their vicissitudes these victories did but follovv the fortune of their favorites There