78
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commercial acumen, of piety and profit. It demonstrates how in Macau as elsewhere in their far-flung empire, the Portuguese desire to win both converts to Christianity and fortunes by trade went hand in hand.
The Macaonese received the news with "tears of joy in their eyes, congratulating each other on such a piece of good fortune, especially the families and relatives of the martyrs, all of whom dressed not in mourning but in gala clothes. They did not shut the windows of their houses from grief, but opened them wide, placing many lights in them, and sounding shawms and other musical instruments for many days, singing many tuneful songs as a sign of their joy. It is a most noteworthy thing that, as the welfare, maintenance, and almost the very existence of this city depends chiefly on the Japan trade, if the news that the embassy had failed in its purpose had come without that of this glorious triumph, the citizens of Macau would have been aghast and their spirit would have sunk to their shoes. With this glorious news, however, everyone rejoiced exceedingly, and nobody spoke sadly or showed any sorrow because the trade was not reopened. On the contrary, they all rejoiced in the comforting thought that they had their ambassadors in Heaven, hoping with good reason that through their intercession, God would cast his eyes on that commonweal to save and sustain it, either by restoring the Japan trade or by opening some other way for its preservation".34
FOOTNOTES
1 Tomé Pires Suma Oriental. Trans. and ed. Armando Cortesão. 2 vols. Hakluyt Society 2nd series. LXXXIX, 1944. 1. p. 286.
2 Pires, op cit. 1 pp. 128-134. João de Barros. Da Asia, dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento das terras e mares do Oriente. Ed. N. Pagliarini 3 vols. Lisbon, 1777-1778. III. 2. ch. 8.
3 O. H. K. Spate. The Spanish Lake. London, 1979, pp. 147-148.
4 On Sino-Japanese relations and European dealings with the Japanese in the 16th century see C. R. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan. University of California Press and Cambridge University Press, 1951, G. Sansom, The Western World and Japan, London 1950, Idem, A History of Japan 1334-1615, London, 1961, J. Murdoch, A History of Japan II. 1542-1651, London 1949, M. Cooper S.J. (ed.), The Southern Barbarians. Tokyo, 1971, especially D. Pacheco SJ. The Europeans in Japan, 1543-1640, Knauth, Confrontación Transpacifica, el Japon y el Nuevo Mundo Hispánico. Mexico, 1972, and Kuichi Matsuda, The relations between Portugal and Japan. Lisbon, 1965.
73
78
JOHN VILLIERS
commercial acumen, of piety and profit. It demonstrates how in Macau as elsewhere in their far flung empire, the Portuguese desire to win both converts to Christianity and fortunes by trade went hand
in hand.
The Macaonese received the news with "tears of joy in their eyes, congratulating each other on such a piece of good fortune, especially the families and relatives of the martyrs, all of whom dressed not in mourning but in gala clothes. They did not shut the windows of their houses from grief, but opened them wide, placing many lights in them, and sounding shawms and other musical ins- truments for many days, singing many tuneful songs as a sign of their joy. It is a most noteworthy thing that, as the welfare, main- tenance and almost the very existence of this city depends chiefly on the Japan trade, if the news that the embassy had failed in its purpose had come without that of this glorious triumph, the citizens of Macau would have been aghast and their spirit would have sunk to their shoes. With this glorious news, however, everyone rejoiced exceedingly and nobody spoke sadly or showed any sorrow because the trade was not reopened. On the contrary, they all rejoiced in the comforting thought that they had their ambassadors in Heaven. hoping with good reason that through their intercession, God would cast his eyes on that commonweal to save and sustain it, either by restoring the Japan trade or by opening some other way for its preservation".34
FOOTNOTES
1 Tomé Pires Suma Oriental. Trans, and ed. Armando Cortesão. 2 vols. Hakluyt Society 2nd series. LXXXIX, 1944. 1. p. 286.
* Pires, op cit. 1 pp.
128-134. João de Barros. Da Asia, dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento das terrus e mares do Oriente. Éd. N. Pagliarini 3 vols. Lisbon, 1777-1778. III. 2. ch. 8.
73
O. H. K Spate. The Spanish Lake. London, 1979, pp. 147-148.
4 On Sino-Japanese relations and European dealings with the Japanese in the 16th century see C R. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan. University of California Press and Cambridge University Press, 1951, G. Sansom, The Western World and Japan, London 1950, Idem, A History of Japan 1334-1615, London, 1961, J Murdoch, A History of Japan II. 1542-1651, London 1949, M. Cooper S.J. (ed.), The Southern Barbarians. Tokyo, 1971, especially D. Pacheco SJ. The Europeans in Japan, 1543- 1640, Knauth, Confrontación Transpacifica, el Japon y el Nuevo Mundo Hispánico. Mexico, 1972, and Kuichi Matsuda, The relations between Portugal and Japan. Lisbon, 1965.
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