Note 1 — Inadvisability of a Spanish Post on the Island of Formosa

Referring to William Adams, an Englishman who landed in Japan in April, 1600, and soon became a favorite with the ruler [157n] Iyéyasu. He was in the employ of the East India Company from November, 1613, to December, 1616; and at other times rendered various services to Iyéyasu, traded on his own account, or acted as interpreter to the English and the Dutch in Japan. He remained in that country until his death, May 16, 1620. See Cocks’s Diary (Hakluyt Society’s publications), i, pp. iii–xxxiv.