Note 5 — Letters from Francisco Tello to Felipe II

The ambassador Don Luis de Navarrete, whom I sent to the Conbaco, arrived there safely with the present which he took with him. The elephant was very well received, and they tell me that on the day when he entered Meaco (where the court of Japon resides), the concourse of people in the plaza was so great—because they had never seen elephants before—that seven persons were suffocated. When the ambassador had ascended to the hall, the king came out to meet him with thirty kings who were his vassals. My letter, a copy of which was sent to your Majesty last year, was then read in public. It was well received, and the king said that he would reply Page 161thereto. Then he wished to see the present which had been put in twelve boxes. Greatly excited and enraged by a picture of myself, which represented me armed and with a cane in my hand, he asked in a loud voice whether this were intended as a threat. He was answered in the negative, but that it was a custom of persons who held high offices to send their portraits as tokens of regard and friendship when embassies were despatched. Thereupon he was appeased, and ordered the picture to be placed in a large hall, and directed his wives and children to go to see it. After this the ambassador was invited to dine with him three times, and was finally dismissed with a present of twelve coats of mail, thirty lances, and two horses. The despatch has not yet arrived, but I fear that the ambassador has died, for he was very ill at Nangasaque. The information which I give your Majesty was gained from a letter of his.5