348
V i s i t e d by
M a r c o P o lo.
D is c o v e r e d
b y t h e P o r t
u g u e s e .
J A P A N .
are the moft celebrated, as having been the feat o f European
factories, and diftinguiihed in hiftory.
T h e Japanefe iilands were certainly vifited, in the thirteenth
century, by the famous Marco Polo. He defcribes the riches of
the country in high terms, and fays that the emperor’s palace
was covered with plates o f gold, and that the feas abounded with
fine pearls of a red caft. He adds, that the inhabitants were
idolaters, and worfhipped monftrous images with the heads of
beafts, and with many hands; and that i f they took any foreigner
who was able to ranfom himfelf, they let him g o ; other wife
they killed him, and with their friends made a feait on his
body,
Marco Polo * gives a long account of the imprudent invafion
of this ifiand by the great "Tartarian emperor Kublai Khan (the
Slu Tfuoi the Çpinefei) about the year 1281, whofent there his
general, Argas, with a moft numerous army and vaft fleet. The
greater part of his ihips periihed in a tempeft, and all the men
who efcaped to fhore were maflacred by the Japanefe, fo that
very few returned to give any account of the misfortune. The
Chinefe never more attempted the empire o f Japan..
T h a t country cannot properly be faidto have been difcovered
by the Europeans till the year 1542, by three Portuguefe, named
de Mota, Zeimoto, and Peixolo; thefe, as I have before mentioned,
in common with the reft of their countrymen, inftigated by
avarice, had failed from Malacca in fearch o f an imaginary fpot,
called the i/land of gold. Driven by a hurricane, they were
wrecked on the ihores o f Japan ; The lord of the diftridt re-
* Tray els, p, 125? 126.. + D.u Halde, i. 214..
céived
J A P A N; 249
ceived them with great humanityj and iignified an earneft de-
fire of entering into a commerce with a nation which he flattered
himfelf would he fo advantageous to him and his fubjedts.
I t was at this period that Francis de Xavier, the great apoftle F r a n c i s d e
o f the Indies, was deeply engaged in his miifion in the peninfula
of Malacca. His fame had reached Japan, when a native of
•the country determined to make a vifit to that part of India, to
be fatisfied o f the truth o f the wonders reported to have been
•wrought by de Xavier. He came, attended by two fervants, was
converted to Chriftianity, and adopted the name o f Paul o f the
Holy Faith; fo zealous was he in his new religion, that he may
truly be called the Apoftle of Japan. De Xavier determined to
attend him to his native country. He aflbciated with him two
Jefuits, failed and landed in 1551 a t Kangoxima, in the kingdom
:of Satzuma, on the fouthern part of the ifland of Kiufiu, and
foon after pafled to Firando, a fmall ifland, where he, affifted by
Paul, made converts innumerable. His zeal then determined introduces
’ . C h r i s t ia n i t y .
him to vifit the emperor, at the royal city of Miacor, he arrived
at the court, and was received with much refpect. The multitude
of profelytes was incredible. The benevolence and humanity
o f our religion were the principal inftruments with
which the miffionaries operated on the minds o f the people, who
compared the conduct of the Chriftian preachers with that o f
•their own Bongsees., The laft fuppofe that all fick and infirm
people are the pbjedls of the wrath of Heaven, and conilantly
leave them to perifli. The miflionaries obferved the precepts
o f our Saviour ; they fed the hungry, clpathed the naked* and
adminiftered to the fick. Thefeirrefiftible proofspf the fuperior
V o l . III. Klc excellency