om the
South Seas, about twelve years ago; and, in consequence of a mutiny
among the people, the ship was seized by the emperor, and Adams had
remained in the country ever since. After staying about an hour and a
half, the king took his leave, bidding us welcome to the country, and
promising me kind entertainment.

He was no sooner ashore than all his nobility came to see the ship,
attended by a vast number of soldiers, every person of any note bringing
a present; some of venison, some of wild-fowl, and some of wild-boar,
the largest and fattest we had ever seen, while others brought us fish,
fruits, and various things. They greatly admired the ship, and seemed
never to be satisfied with looking at her; and as we were much pestered
by the number of these visitors, I sent to the king, requesting he would
order them to remove, to prevent any inconveniences that might arise.
The king immediately sent a principal officer of his guard, with orders
to remain aboard, to see that no injury was done to us, and ordered a
proclamation to that effect to be made in the town. The same night,
Hendrik Brewer, who was chief of the Dutch factory at Firando, came to
visit me, or rather to see what had passed between the king and us. I
wrote this day to Mr Adams, who was then at _Jedo_,[11] nearly 300
leagues from Firando, to inform him of our arrival. King _Foyne_ sent my
letter next day by his admiral, to _Osackay_ (_Osaka_,) the nearest port
of importance on the principal island, whence it would go by post to
Jedo, and he sent notice to the emperor by the same conveyance, of our
arrival and purposes.

[Footnote 11: Called _Edoo_, in Purchas.]

In the morning of the 12th, we had fish brought to us in abundance, and
as cheap as we could desire. We this day weighed to make sail for the
road; and, on this occasion, the king sent at the least threescore large
boats, or gallies, well manned, to tow us into the harbour. On seeing
this multitude of boats, I was in some doubts of their intentions, and
sent my skiff to warn them not to come near the ship. But the king was
in the headmost boat, and observing my suspicions, waved his
handkerchief for all the boats to wait, and came aboard himself, telling
me that he had ordered all these boats to assist in bringing me round a
point which was somewhat dangerous, on account of the strength of the
tide, and could not be stemmed by even a good breeze of wind, and if the
ship fell into the eddy, we s