At length they arrived in the bay of Nanking, and six days afterwards to the great city of Pamor, whose bay was almost hid under three thousand vessels. Fearing danger here they stood off and came to Tanquilem, where Similau and 36 Chinese seamen ran away for fear; because Antonio, weary of the voyage, and finding that Similau could give no good account of where they were, threatened to kill him. Similau was not indeed ignorant, but he was so terrified by the ill usage of the Portuguese that he knew not what he said, and they were afraid that either he knew not the coast or meant to betray them. It was a great error to believe him at Liampo, and to use him ill at Nanking where they had most need of him. In fine the Portuguese gave themselves up for lost, not knowing where they were till some of the natives informed them that they were only ten leagues from the island of Calempluy, on which they sore repented the ill usage they had given to Similau. Doubling Cape Guinaytarau, after a tedious voyage of two months and a half, they discovered the island of which they were in search in the middle of the river. This island is quite plain and seemed four miles round. Next morning Antonio sailed round it in his galliots, and found it surrounded by a wall of jasper so closely built that it seemed all one stone. The wall rose 19 feet above the surface of the water, and was terrassed on the inside. On the top of the wall was a massy twist, on which was a brass rail, having little columns at regular distances, on which were the statues of women having balls in their hands, all likewise of brass. At some distance from these were figures of iron, of monstrous shapes, that seemed to give each other their hands; and further on were several curious arches of stones of various colours. On the inside there were afterwards seen a delightful assemblage of small groves of orange trees, among which were 366 chapels dedicated to the gods of the year. On one side was a great building, not all of a piece, but divided into seven parts, all over splendidly ornamented with gold.
In the evening Antonio entered the island by one of its eight gates, accompanied by sixty men, four of whom were Portuguese. On entering one of the chapels, they saw a man who seemed an hundred years of age, who fell down with fear; but, on recovering, rebuked the soldiers for taking the bars of silver from the tombs. Having received information of what was in the other chapels, Antonio went on board with a considerable quantity of silver taken from the first chapel, meaning to return next day to plunder them all. About midnight, lights were seen on the top of the great building, and numbers of bell were heard all over the island. Antonio went again on shore, though advised to make off as the alarm was given. He brought away two old men with some candlesticks and a silver idol, and was informed that the island would soon be relieved, as the first hermit had given the alarm; on which Antonio found that he had erred in not bringing away that old man as he was advised. He departed therefore from the island, much dissatisfied at having missed the acquisition of so much treasure by his own fault. After sailing a month, there arose so great a storm on the 5th of August, that his galliot was swallowed up. The other galliot perished a few days afterwards, and only fourteen of the crew escaped. Thus perished the brave Antonio de Faria; a just judgment, doubtless, for the sacrilegious robbery he intended to have committed.
No less unfortunate was the end of the city of Liampo, where Antonio had been so nobly received, falling a sacrifice to the base and insatiable avarice of its inhabitants. Lancelot Pereyra, judge of that city, having lost a thousand ducats by some Chinese, went out with a body of troops to rob and plunder others in satisfaction of the debt. This unadvised and barbarous procedure brought the governor of the province against the city with 80,000 men, and in four hours burnt it to the ground, together with 80 ships that were in the port. Twelve thousand men were slain, among whom were 1000 Portuguese, and three millions of gold were lost. Thus scarce any thing was left of Liampo but the name; and thus what the Portuguese gained by their valour was lost by their covetousness. Liampo had above three thousand catholic inhabitants, almost the half of whom were Portuguese. Those who survived this cruel execution, obtained leave in 1547, by great presents, to settle in the province of Chincheo, in a village which began to flourish in consequence of a rich trade, but it came to the same end with the other.
In the year 1542, but whether under the government of De Gama or De Sousa is uncertain, Antonio de Mota, Francisco Zeymoto, and Antonio Peixoto, while on a voyage to China, were driven by a storm among the islands of Nipongi or Nijon, called Gipon by the Chinese, and known in Europe by the name of Japan. They were well received in one of these islands, of which they had the honour to be the first discoverers, though accidentally. These islands of Japan are far to the eastward of all India, being even beyond China, and lie between the latitudes of 30° and 40° N359. These islands are numerous, the principal and largest island being that peculiarly called Niphon, Nifon, Nipongi, or Japan, which gives name to the group, and in which is the city of Meaco the imperial residence. According to the natives this principal island is 366 leagues in length, but by our computation only 266360. The chief islands around the large one, are Cikoko, Toksosi, Sando, Sisime Bacasa, Vuoki, Taquixima, or Takishima, and Firando361. Fernan Mendez Pinto in his travels assumes the merit of this discovery to himself; pretending that he came to the island of Tanixima, by which I suppose he meant Taquixima, not by stress of weather, but by design, in the service of a pirate who had relieved him and his companions when cast away, naming Christopher Borallo and Diego Zeymoto as those who accompanied him. In both relations three names are mentioned as the discoverers of Japan, one only, Zeymoto, being the same in both, and both agree in the date of the discovery being in 1542. According to Pinto, the prince of the island of Tanixima was named Nautaquim who stood amazed on seeing the three Portuguese strangers, and uttered the following mysterious words: "These are certainly the Chinchicogies, spoken of in our records; who, flying over the waters, shall come to be lords of the lands where God has placed the greatest riches of the world. It will be fortunate for us if they come as friends!"
359
More rigidly from lat. 31° 28' to 40° 80' N. and between the longitudes of 127° 47' and 142° 33' E. from Greenwich. –E.
360
Meaning probably a different denomination of measure. The island of Niphon measures 824 English miles in extreme length, from S.W. to N.E. in a somewhat bent line. Its breadth varies from 55 to 240 miles, averaging about 100; but it is extremely irregular, owing to many deep bays and considerable peninsulae.
361
The only islands of magnitude besides Niphon, are