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

In my opinion, then, the purpose of the Dutch is to establish a factory in the island of Hermosa, in order to trade with the Chinese by buying silks from them, and to sail with these to Japon (although taking some of them to Europa also, as well as other goods), just as the Portuguese of Macan do. I am persuaded of this, for, while I was sailing from Filipinas to Nueva España as captain and master of the ship “San Francisco,” which was wrecked in Japon in the year 609—the first time when the Dutch went to that kingdom—the Dutch petitioned for a factory from him whom we style emperor of Japon, offering to take him silks from China. Thereupon it was given to them, notwithstanding that the emperor was informed by the Spaniards, and by one Guillermo Adan1—an Englishman who had been living married [157] in Japon for many years, to whom the emperor turned for information—that the Dutch were rebel vassals [of the Spaniards] and pirates; and that they could not get the silks if they did not plunder them from the Chinese. Thus did they establish their factory in the port of Firando, where they have maintained themselves to this very day, taking the silks that they have pillaged from the Chinese, and certain cloth stuffs from Europa, and buying food and supplies for their forces in the Malucas and other islands of those regions. Governor Don Juan de Silva, having conquered on the coasts of Filipinas the fleet of the Dutch who were robbing the Chinese in the year 610, it was learned from the instructions of Count Mauricio that they were forbidden to plunder the Chinese and other nations, and that they were only permitted to trade with them. Thus, although they robbed the Chinese, it was on their own responsibility, and incited by greed; and even that they palliated by making a price on the silks, by weighing them, and settling the account for that amount. Paying for the goods partly in reals—although only a small part—they gave to the Chinese due-bills on the factory of La Sunda. I saw those papers in their own flagship, as I was captured by the Dutch in the said year 610, when I was returning from the wreck at Japon to the Filipinas. Nor does it contradict this that since then they have continued to plunder the Chinese, since they have given out that they do [158] it because the silks were bought for silver which the Spaniards of Manila are sending to China; and because even supposing that the silks be some belonging to the Chinese, they do not wish the latter to trade with the Spaniards, their enemies. Consequently, although the Dutch have pillaged them, it has been by affecting this pretext, and giving them to understand that the Dutch were not their enemies.