Japan and the Japanese

RECEPTION BY THE EMPEROR. 14&
by two ministers to a third apartment, whence other great officers
escorted him out of the palace with all ceremony.
Afterwards he was entertained by Konsekondono, the prime mi
ister, at a magnificent collation, the host pledging his health in
exquisite Japanese wine [saki ?] by placing the glass upon his
head.* The Spaniard presented at this time a memorandum of his
requests translated into Japanese. They were three first, that
the royal protection might be granted to the Christian priests of
different orders who then resided in the empire, and that they
might not be molested in the free use and disposal of their houses
and churches ; secondly, that amity might continue between the
emperor and the king of Spain ; and, lastly, that, as an evidence
of that friendship, the emperor would not permit the Dutch (whose
arrival has already been mentioned) to reside in his territories, but
would drive them out since, besides being enemies of Spain, they
were little better than pirates and sea-rovers.
The minister, the next day, after another collation, reported the
emperor's answer, who had remarked, with admiration, that Don
Rodrigo, though destitute, had asked nothing for himself, but had
regarded only the interests of his religion and his king. The two
first requests were granted. As to the expulsion of the Hollanders,
that, the
"
emperor said, will be difficult this
my royal
year, as they have
word for permission to sojourn in Japan; but I am
obliged to Don Rodrigo for letting me know what characters they
are." The emperor offered the shipwrecked Spaniard one of the
ships of European model, which the pilot Adams had built for him,
in which to proceed to New Spain ; and he begged him to request
King Philip to send to Japan fifty miners, as he understood those
of New Spain to be very skilful, whereas those of Japan did not
obtain from the ore half the silver it was capable of yielding.
Don Rodrigo soon after set out for Ximo, where he was to take
ship. From Seruga to Miako, estimated at one hundred leagues,
the country was mostly level and very fertile. Several considerable
rivers were crossed in large ferry-boats by means of a cable
stretched from bank to bank. Provisions were very cheap. His
* It is customary among the Japanese, on receiving a present from a
superior, to touch the top of the head with it. This custom is alluded to iu
the king of Bungo's letter to the Pope, page 90.
13*