Japan and the Japanese

PIXTO'S FIRST VISIT. 27
changed soon into a gale, before which the corsair ran for the Lew
Chew islands, with which he was familiar; but being without a
pilot, and the wind shifting to the north-east, they had to beat
against it for twenty-three days before they made land. After running
along the coast for some distance they anchored off an island
in seventy fathoms.* " Immediately," says Pinto, " two little skiffs
put off the shore to meet us, in which were six men, who, on com-
ing on board, after having saluted us courteously, asked us whence
our junk came ; and being answered that it came from China, with
merchandise to trade there, if permission should be obtained,
one of the six said to us that the Nantaquim, the lord of that
island, which was called Tonixuma, would willingly permit us to
trade, if we would pay the duties customarily paid in Japan ;
which, said he, is that great island which you see there over against
us." Whereupon the ship was piloted into a good harbor, on
which was seated a considerable town, and was soon surrounded
with boats bringing provisions to sell.
In a short time they were visited by the Nantaquim himself,
accompanied by many gentlemen and merchants, with chests of
silver. As he approached the ship, the first persons who attracted
his attention were Pinto and his companions. Perceiving how dif-
ferent they were in complexion, features and beard, from the others,
he eagerly inquired who they were.
" The corsair captain made
answer to him," says Pinto, " that we were from a land called
Malacca, to which many years before we had gone from another
very distant country, called Portugal ; at which the prince, greatly
astonished, turning to those about him, said, '
May I die, if these
be not the Chenchicogis, of whom it is written in our ancient books,
that, flying on the tops of the waves, they will subdue all the lands
about them, until they become masters of all the countries in which
God has placed the riches of the world ! Wherefore we should
esteem it a great piece of good fortune if they come to us with
* It is difficult to understand by what mistake Charlevoix, in his Hisloire
du Japan, ascribes this discovery to the same year, 1542, as that of
the three Japanese mentioned by Galvano. Pinto's chronology is rather
confused, but it is impossible to fix this voyage to 1545.
Japan earlier than