Note 1 — Trade Between Nueva España and the Far East

“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. Hidéyoshi repeatedly issued decrees threatening with death these Page 7nslave-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.)