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OUt of the fear I am in left coming to relate in particular all those things which we saw with∣in the large inclosure of this City of Pequin, they that shall chance to read them may call
them in question, and not to give occasion also unto detractors, who judging of things accord∣ing to the little world they have seen, may hold those truths for fables, which mine own eyes have beheld, I will forbear the delivery of many matters, that possibly might bring much con∣tentment to more worthy spirits, who not judging of the riches and prosperity of other Coun∣tres by the poverty and misery of their own, would be well pleased with the relation thereof. Howbeit on the other side I have no great cause to blame those, who shall not give credit to that which I say, or make any doubt of it, because I must acknowledge, that many times when I call to mind the things that mine eyes have seen, I remain confounded therewith, whither it be the Grandeurs of this City of Pequin, or the magnificence wherewith this Gentile King is served, or the pomp of the Chaems, and Anchacys of the Government, or the dread and awe wherein all men are of these Ministers, or the sumptuousness of their Temples and Pagodes, together with all the rest that may be there, for within the only inclosure of the Kings Pallace there are above a thousand Eunuchs, three thousand women, and 12 thousand men of his Guard, unto whom the King gives great entertainment and pentions: also twelve Tutons, dignities that are Soveraign above all others, whom, as I have already declared, the vulgar call, The beams of the Sun; Under these twelve Tutons, there are forty Chaems, or Vice-roys, besides many other inferiour dignities, as Judges, Majors, Governours, Treasurers, Admirals, and Ge∣nerals, which they term, Anchacys, Aytaos, Ponchacy, Lauteas, and Chumbims, whereof there are above five hundred always residing at the Court, each of them having at the least two hundred men in his train, which for the most part to strike the greater terror are of di∣vers Nations, namely, Megores, Persians, Curazens, Moems, Calaminhams, Tartars, Cau∣chins, and some Braamas of Chaleu, and Tanguu; for in regard of valour▪ they make no ac∣count of the Natives, who are of a weak and effeminate complection, though otherwise I must confess they are exceeding able and ingenious in whatsoever concerneth Mechanick Trades Tillage, and Husband••y; they have withall a great vivacity of spirit, and are exceeding proper and apt for the inventing of very subtle & industrious things. The women are fair and chaste, and more inclined to labour then the men, The Country is fertile in victual, and so rich & abound••ng in all kind of good things, as I cannot sufficiently express it, & such is their blindness as they attri∣bute all those blessings to the only merit of their King, and not to the Divine Providence, and to the goodness of that Soveraign Lord, who hath created all things. From this blindness and in∣credulity of these people are these great abuses, and confused superstitions derived, which are ordinary amongst them, and wherein they observe a world of diabolical ceremonies; For they are so brutish and wicked as to sacrifice humane blood, offering it up with divers sorts of per∣fumes, and sweet savors; Moreover they present their Priests with many gifts, upon assurance from these profane wretches, of great blessings in this life, and infinite riches and treasure in the other; To which effects the same Priests grant them I know not what Certificates, as it were Bills of Exchange, which the common people call Couchinnoces, that after their death they may serve above in Heaven to procure for them a recompence of an hundred for one; wherein these miserable creatures are so blinded, that they save the very meat & drink from their own mouths to furnish those accursed priests of Satan with all things necessary, believing that these goodly ••ills they have from them, will assuredly return them that benefit. There are also Priests of another Sect, called Naustolins, who contrary to those others preach, and affirm with great oaths, that reasonable creatures live and die like beasts, & therfore that they are to make merry▪ & spend their goods jovially whiles life shall last, there being no other after this, as all but fools & ignorants are to believe. There is another Sect, named Trimechau, who are of opinion that so long time as a man shall live in this world, so long shall he remain under ground, until at length by the prayers of their priests his soul shall reassume the body of a child of seven days old, wherein he shall live again till he shall grow so strong, as to re-enter into the old body, which he hed left in the grave, and so be transported into the Heaven of the Moon, where they say he shal live many years, & in the end be converted into a star, which shall remain fixed above in the Firmament for ever. Another Sect there is called Gyson, who believe that only the beasts in regard of their sufferings, and the labour which they endure in this life, shall possess Heaven after their death, & not man, that leadeth his life according to the lusts of the flesh, robbing, killing, and committing a world of other offences, by reason whereof, say they, it is not possible for him to be saved, unless at the hour of death he leave all his estate to the Pagodes, and to the Priests, that they may pray for him; where∣by one may see that all the intentions of their diabolical Sects is not founded but upon a very tyranny, and upon the interests of the Bonzes, who are they that preach this pernicions doctrine
to the people, and perswaded them with many fables to believe it; In the mean time these things seem so true to these wretches that hear them, as they very willingly give them all their goods, imagining that thereby only they can be saved, and freed from those punishments and fears, wherewithall they threaten them if they do otherwise. I have spoken here of no more then these three Sects, omitting the rest of the two and thirty, which are followed in this great Empire of China, as well because I should never have done (as I have said heretofore) if I would relate them all at large, as for that by these it may be known what the others are, which are nothing better, but in a manner even the very same; wherefore leaving the remedy of such evils, and great blindness to the mercy and providence of God, unto whom only it appertains; I will pass on to the declarations of the miseries we indured during our exille in the Town of Quancy, until such time as we were made slaves by the Tartars, which hap∣pened in the year, 1544.
We had been now two months and an half in this City of Pequin, when as on Saturday, the thirteenth of Iuly, 1554. we were carried away to the Town of Quansy, there to serve all the time that we were condemned unto: Now as soon as we arrived there, the Chaem cau∣sed us to be brought before him, and after he had asked us some questions, he appointed us to be of the number of fourscore Halberdiers, which the King assigned him for his Guard; This we took as a special favour from God, both in regard this imployment was not very painful, as also because the entertainment was good, and the pay of it better, being assured besides that at the time we should recover our liberty. Thus lived we almost a month very peaceably▪ and well contented for that we met with a better fortune then we expected, when as the divel, seeing how well all we nine agreed together (for all that we had was in common amongst us, and whatsoever misery any one had we shared it with him like true brothers,) he so wrought that two of our company tell into a quarrel, which proved very prejudicial to us all; This di∣vision sprung from a certain vanity too familiar with the Portugal Nation, whereof I can ren∣der no other reason, but that they are naturally sensible of any thing that touches upon honour•• Now see what the difference was, two of us nine falling by chance in contest about the extra∣ction of the Madureyras and the Fonsecas, for to know which of these two houses was in most esteem at the King of Portugals Court, the matter went so far, that from one word to another they came at length to terms of oyster-wives, saying one to the other, Who are you? and again, who are you? so that thereupon they suffered themselves to be so transported with choller, that one of them gave the other a great box on the ear, who instantly returned him a blow with his sword, which cut away almost half his cheek, this same feeling himself hurt caught up an halbert, and therewith ran the other through the arm; this disaster begot such part-taking amongst us, as of nine that we were seven of us found our selves grievously wound∣ed; In the mean time the Chaem came running in person to this tumult with all the Anchacys of Justice, who laying hold of us gave us presently thirty lashes a piece, which drew more blood from us then our hurts; This done, they shut us up in a dungeon under ground, where they kept us six and forty days with heavy iron collers about our necks, manacles on our hands, and irons on our legs, so that we suffered exceedingly in this deplorable estate. This while our business was brought before the Kings Atturny, who having seen our accusations, and that one of the articles made faith, that there were sixteen witnesses against us, he stuck not to say, That we were people without the fear or knowledge of God, who did not confess him otherwise with our mouths, then as any wild beast might do if he could speak; that these things presup∣posed it was to be believed, that we were men of blood, of a Language, of a Law, of a Nati∣on, of a Country, and of a Kingdom, the inhabitants whereof wounded and killed one another most cruelly, without any reason or cause, and therefore no other judgment could be made of us, but that we were the servants of the most gluttenous Serpent of the profound pit of smoak, as appeared by our worke, since they were no better then such as that accursed Serpent had accustomed to do, so that according to the Law of the third Book of the will of the Son of the Sun, called Mileterau, we were to be condemned to a banishment from all commerce of people, as a venemous and contagious plague; so that we deserved to be confined to the Mountains of Chabaguay, Sumbor, or Lamau, whither such as we were use to be exiled, to the end they might in that place hear the wild beasts howl in the night, which were of as vile a breed and nature as we. From this prison we were one morning led to a place, called by them Pitau Calidan, whe••e the Anchacy sat in judgment with a majestical and dreadful greatness; He was accom∣panied by divers Chumbims, Vppes, Lanteas, and Cypatons, besides a number of other persons;
there each of us had thirty lashes a piece more given us, and then by publique sentence we were removed to another prison, where we were in better case yet then in that out of which we came, howbeit for all that we did not a little detest amongst our selves both the Fonsecas, and the Madureyras, but much more the divel, that wrought us this mischief. In this prison we continued almost two months, during which time our stripes were throughly healed, howbeit we were exceedingly afflicted with hunger, and thirst. At length it pleased God that the Cha∣em took compassion of us; for on a certain day, wherein they use to do works of charity for the dead, coming to review our sentence he ordained, That in regard we were strangers, and of a Country so far distant from theirs, as no man had any knowledge of us, nor that there was any book, or writing which made mention of our name, and that none understood our language; as also that we were accustomed, and even hardned to misery and poverty, which many times puts the best and most peaceable persons into disorder, and therefore might well trouble such, as made no profession of patience in their adversities, whence it followed, that our discord pro∣ceeded rather from the effects of our misery, then from any inclination unto mutiny and tumult, wherewith the Kings Atturny charged us; and furthermore representing unto himself what great need there was of men for the ordinary service of the State, and of the Officers of Iustice, for which provision necessarily was to be made, he thought fit, that the punishment for the crimes we had committed, should in the way of an alms bestowed in the Kings name be mode∣rated, and reduced to the whipping which we had twice already had, upon condition neverthe∣less that we should be detained there as slaves for ever, unless it should please the Tuton o∣therwise to ordain of us. This sentence was pronounced against us, and though we shed a ma∣ny of tears to see our selves reduced unto this miserable condition, wherein we were, yet this seemed not so bad unto us as the former. After the publication of this Decree we were pre∣sently drawn out of prison, and tied three and three together, then led to certain iron Forges, where we past six whole months in strange labours, and great necessities, being in a manner quite naked, without any bed to lie on, and almost ••amished. At last after the enduring of so many evils, we fell sick of a Lethargy, which was the cause, in regard it was a contagious dis∣ease, that they turned us out of doors for to go and seek our living, until we became well again. Being thus set at liberty we continued four months sick, and begging the alms of good people from door to door, which was given us but sparingly, by reason of the great dearth that then reigned over all the Country, so as we were constrained to agree better together, and to pro∣mise one another by a solemn oath, that we took, to live lovingly for the future, as good Chri∣stians should do, and that every month one should be chosen from amongst us to be as it were a kind of Chief, whom, by the oath we had taken, all the rest of us were to obey, as their Su∣perior, so that none of us was to dispose of himself, nor do any thing, without his command, or appointment; and those rules were put into writing by us, that they might be the better ob∣served; As indeed God gave us the grace to live ever afterward in good peace and concord, though it were in great pain, and extream necessity of all things.
We had continued a good while living in peace and tranquility, according to our fore-men∣tioned agreement, when as he, whose lot it was to be our Chief that month, named Christo∣vano Boralho, considering how necessary it was to seek out some relief for our miseries by all the ways that possibly we could, appointed us to serve weekly two and two together, some in begging up and down the Town, some in getting water and dressing our meat, and others in fetching wood from the Forrest, both for our own use, & to sell. Now one day my self & one Ga∣spar de Meyrelez being enjoyned to go to the Forrest, we rose betimes in the morning, & went forth to perform our charge; And because this Gaspar de Meyrelez was a pretty Musician, play∣ing well on a Cittern, whereunto he accorded his voice, which was not bad, being parts that are very agreeable to those people, in regard they imploy the most part of their times in the delights of the flesh, they took great pleasure in hearing of him, so as for that purpose they invited him very often to their sports, from whence he never returned without some reward, wherewith we were not a little assisted: As he and I then were going to the wood, and before we were out of the Town, we met by fortune in one of the streets with a great many of people, who full of jollity were carrying a dead corps to the grave with divers banners, and other funeral pomp, in the midst whereof was a Consort of musick and voices; Now he, that had the chief ordering of the Funeral, knowing Gaspar de Meyrelez, made him stay, and putting a Cittern into his hands, he said unto him, Oblige me, I pray thee, by singing as loud as thou canst, so as thou mayst be heard by this dead man whom we are carrying to burial, for I swear unto thee, that he went away very sad for that he was separated from his wife and children, whom he
dearly loved all his life time. Gaspar de Meyrelez would fain have excused himself, alledging many reasons thereupon to that end, but so far was the Governour of the Funeral from ac∣cepting them, that contrarily he answered him very angerly. Truly, if thou wilt not deign to benefit this defun••t with the gift, that God hath given thee, of singing, and playing on this instrument, I will no longer say, that thou art an holy man, as we all believed hitherto, but that the excellency of that voice which thou hast comes from the inhabitants of the house of smoak, whose nature it was at first to sing very harmoniously, though now they weep and wail in the profound lake of the night, like hunger-starved dogs, that gnashing their teeth, and foaming with rage against men discharge the froth of their malice by the offences, which they commit against him, that lives in the highest of the Heavens. After this ten or eleven of them were so earnest with Gaspar de Meyrelez, as they made him play almost by force, and led him to the place, where the deceased was to be burnt, according to the custom of those Gen∣tiles. In the mean time seeing my self left alone without my comrade I went along to the For∣rest for to get some wood according to my Commission, and about evening returning back with my load on my back I met with an old man in a black damask Gown furred clean through with white Lamb, who being all alone, as soon as he espied me, he turned a little out of the way, but perc••iving me to pass on without regarding him, he cried so loud to me, that I might hear him, which I no sooner did, but casting my eye that way, I observed that he beckened to me with his hand, as if he called me, whereupon imagining there was something more then ordi∣nary, herein I said unto him in the Chinese Language, Potauquinay, which is, Doest thou call me? whereunto returning no answer, he gave me to understand by signes that in effect he called me; conjecturing then that there might be some thieves thereabouts, which would be∣reave me of my load of wood, I threw it on the ground to be the better able to defend my self, and with my staff in my hand, I went fair and softly after him, who seeing me follow him began to double his pace athwart a little path, which confirmed me in the belief I had before that he was some thief, so that turning back to the place where I left my load, I got it up a∣gain on my back as speedily as I could, with a purpose to get into the great high way, that led unto the City; But the man guessing at my intention, began to cry out louder to me then be∣fore, which making me turn my look towards him, I presently perceived him on his knees, and shewing me afar off a silver cross about a span long, or thereabout, lifting up withall both his hands unto Heaven; whereat being much amazed, I could not imagine what this man should be, in the mean time he with a very pitiful gesture ceased not to make signes unto me to come to him; whereupon somewhat recollecting my self, I resolved to go and see who he was, and what he would have, to which end with my staff in my hand I walked towards him, where he stayed for me; when as then I came near him, having always thought him before to be a Chinese, I wondred to see him cast himself at my feet, and with tears and sighs to say thus unto me, Blessed and praysed be the sweet Name of our Lord Iesus Christ, after so long an exile hath shewed me so much grace, as to let me see a Christian man, that professeth the Law of my God fixed on the Cross. I must confess that when I heard so extraordinary a matter, and so far beyond my expectation, I was therewith so surprised, that scarcely knowing what I said, I conjure thee, answered I unto him, in the Name of our Lord Iesus to tell me who thou art? At these words this unknown man redoubling his tears, Dear Brother, replyed he, I am a poor Christian, by Nation a Portugal, and named Vasco Calvo, brother to Diego Calvo, who was somtime Captain of Don Nuna Manoel his ship, and made a Slave here in this Country about seven and twenty years since, together with one Tome Perez, who Loppo Soarez sent as Am∣bassador into this Kingdom of China, and that since died miserably by the occasion of a Portu∣gal Captain. Whereupon coming throughly to my self again, I lifted him up from the ground where he lay weeping like a child; and shedding no fewer tears then he, I intreated him that we might sit down together, which he would hardly grant, so desirous he was to have me go presently with him to his house, but sitting down by me he began to discourse the whole suc∣cess of his travels, and all that had befallen him since his departure from Portugal, till that very time, as also the death of the Ambassador Tome Perez, and of all the rest, whom Fernand Perez d' Amdrada had left at Canton to go to the King of China, which he recounted in ano∣ther manner then our Historians have delivered it. After we had spent the remainder of the day in entertaining one another with our passed adventures, we went to the City, where having shewed me his house, he desired me that I would instantly go and fetch the rest of my fellows, which accordingly I did, and found them all together in the poor lodging where we lay, and
having declared unto them what had befallen me, they were much abashed at it, as indeed they had cause, considering the stratagems of the accident, so they went presently along with me to Vasco Calvo's house, who waiting for us, gave us such hearty welcome, as we could not chuse but weep for joy; Then he carried us into a Chamber where was his wife, with two little boys, and two girls of his; she entertained us very kindly, and with as much demonstration of love, as if she had been the mother or daughter to either of us; After this we sat down at the table, which he had caused to be covered, and made a very good meal of many several dishes provided for us: Supper done, his wife arose very courteously from the table, and taking a key which hung at her girdle, she opened the door of an Oratory, where there was an altar, with a silver cross, as also two candlesticks, and a lamp of the same, and then she and her four chil∣dren falling down on their knees, with their hands lift up to Heaven, began to pronounce these words very distinctly in the Portugal tongue: O thou true God, we wretched sinners do confess before thy Cross, like good Christians, as we are, the most sacred Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons, and one God; and also we promise to live and dye in thy most Ho∣ly Catholique Faith, like good and true Christians, confessing and believing so much of thy holy truth, as is held and believed by thy Church; In like manner we offer up unto thee our souls, which thou hast redeemed with thy most precious bloud, for to be wholly imployed in thy service all the time of our lives, and then to be yielded unto thee at the hour of our death, as to our Lord and God, unto whom we acknowledge they appertain both by Creation and Redemp∣tion. After this Confession they said the Lords Prayer, and the Creed, which they pronoun∣ced very distinctly, whereat we could not chuse but shed a world of tears to see these inno∣cents, born in a Country, so far remote from ours, and where there was no knowledge of the true God, thus to confess his Law in such religious terms. This being done, we returned be∣cause it was three of the clock in the morning to our lodging, exceedingly astonished at that we had seen, as at a thing which we had great reason to admire.
§. 2.
§. 3