Japan and the Japanese

136 JAPAN. A. D. 15131607.
land more than two or three men at once, the captain approached
the shore with all the force he had. Great numbers of peojde were
Been, who made signs for the boats to land ; and in the end, as the
people would not come near the boats, twenty-three men landed
with muskets, and marched up toward four or five houses ; but
before they had gone the distance of a musket-shot, they found
themselves in an ambush, and the whole, including Thomas Adams,
a brother of William, the chief pilot, were slain or taken.
" So our
boats waited long," says Adams, "to see if any of them would conu
again ; but seeing no hope to recover them, our boats returned,
with this sorrowful news, that all our men that landed were Jain,
which was a lamentable thing to hear, for we had scarce so many
men left as could wind up our anchor."
After waiting a day longer, they went over to the neighboring
island of Santa Maria, where they found the Hope, which had just
arrived, but in as great
distress as themselves, having, at the island
of Mocha, the day before the Charity had passed there, lost their
commander and twenty-seven men in an attempt to land to obtain
provisions. Some provisions were finally got, by detaining two
Spaniards, who came to visit the ships, and requiring them to pay a
ransom in sheep and oxen. It was proposed to burn one of the
ships, as there were not men enough ibr both ; but the new captains,
of whom the one in command of the Charity was named Quacker-
nack, could not agree which of the ships to burn.
At length, the men being somewhat refreshed, a council was
called to consider what should be done to make the voyage as
profitable as possible to the merchants. It was stated by one of
the sailors, who had been to Japan in a Portugue.se ship, that wool-
len cloth, of which they had much on board, was good merchandise
there; and considering that the Moluccas, and most parts of the
East Indies, were not countries in which woollen cloths would be
likely to be very acceptable ; hearing also from the people
on shore
that Spanish cruisers were after them, by whom, in fact, their
third vessel was captured, news of their intentions and force having
been sent from Spain to Peru about the time of their departure from
Holland, it was finally resolved to stand away for Japan. Leav-
ing the coast of Chili on the 27th of November, and standing northwesterly
across the equator for three or four months, they had the