[7] “At this time (i.e., late in the sixteenth century], also, political and religious war was almost universal in Europe, and the quarrels of the various nationalities followed the buccaneers, pirates, traders, and missionaries to the distant seas of Japan ....  All foreigners, but especially Portuguese, were then slave traders, and thousands of Japanese were bought and sold, and shipped to Macao, in China, and to the Philippines.  Hideyoshi repeatedly issued decrees threatening with death these slave-traders, and even the purchasers.  The seaports of Hirado and Nagasaki were the resort of the lowest class of adventurers from all European Nations, and the result was a continual series of uproars, broils, and murders among the foreigners, requiring ever and anon the intervention of the native authorities to keep the peace.” (Griffis’s Mikado’s Empire, p. 254.)

[8] A small island—­the name meaning “Vay Island,” Pulo being simply the Malay word for “island”—­situated near the island of Banda.  The English post thereon which is mentioned in the text was of little consequence, according to Richard Cocks—­see his Diary, 1615-22 (Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1883), i, pp. 269, 274, 275, 292; he states that there were “5 or 7 English men in that iland,” and that they were slain by the Dutch and the natives.  The editor of the Diary, E.M.  Thompson, cites (p. 269) mention of this event in Purchas His Pilgrimes.  The name Pulovay is also applied to a small island north of Achen, Sumatra.

[9] This document is also contained in the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), i, pp. 443-471.  Certain variations occur therein from the text we follow, which is transcribed from the original MS. in the Real Academia de Historia, Madrid; and that of Ventura del Arco purports to be taken from the same MS. This apparent discrepancy probably arises from the two transcriptions being made from different copies of the same document.  In the collection of the Real Academia more than one copy exists, in the case of certain documents; and there may be more than one copy of the one here presented.  It should be remembered, in this connection, that in the religious houses in Europe manuscript copies of letters from distant lands were largely circulated, at that period, for the edification of their members (as we have before noted); and these copies were often not verbatim, the transcriber sometimes making slight changes, or omissions, or adding information which he had received later or by other channels.  Our own text has been collated with that of Ventura del Arco, and variations or additions found in the latter are indicated as above, in brackets, followed by “V.d.A.”—­omitting, however, some typographical and other slight variations, which are unimportant.  In the Ventura del Arco transcript there are considerable omissions of matter contained in the MS. that we follow.

[10] For account of the arrival of these vessels in Japan, and various details regarding their exploits in the Philippines, see Cocks’s Diary, i, pp. 259-281.  The name “Leon Rojo” signifies “Red Lion;” and “Fregelingas” is apparently a Spanish corruption of “Vlissingue” ("Flushing").