On getting to our anchorage we felt as if we had arrived at the outer door of the hermetic empire that we had come so far to deal with, we being then only about eight or nine days’ sail from the bay of Yedo. As Loo-Choo had no doubt been selected as the base of operation, upon the principle of reaching the old hen by first going at the chickens, it will be as well to give an outline of its history.
The Loo-Choo islands—pronounced in Japanese Lu Kiu—are a dependency of the Japanese prince of Satsuma. There are thirty-six islands in all, which are divided in three groups: the Northern or Sanbok, the Middle or Tchusan, and the Southern or Sannan group. According to the belief of the inhabitants, the origin of the people of these islands, like that of nearly all the orientals, is divine, and nowise of the Lord Monboddo theory. Their annals always commence with a series of gods, then follow a race of demi-gods, and at last come human beings. To their great veneration for their ancestors, may probably be ascribed these conceits. A son reveres his father beyond everything else; this father likewise revered his progenitor. So the grandfather gets all the love of his son, with a large share of that of the grandson through the grandson’s father. A thousand years in Loo-Choo chronology is a small matter: they note the existence of their islands for seventeen thousand years, that is agreeably to what the Chinaman would call their “fash;” so compound interest for a thousand years in filial veneration gives divinity of origin to their nation.
The Chinese emperor, Kang-hy, in 1719, sent a man of great attainments to Loo-Choo. The report of this learned pig-tail, upon what he saw in the country, was translated by Father Gaubil of the French Jesuit mission in China, whose records probably contain more data relative to the ancient history of the East, than is to be found in any other mission.
The Chinese histories first make mention of Loo-Choo in the year 605. In that year a party of Chinese visited the islands, and on their return brought with them some of the natives, who were taken to Pekin. Here they were recognised as Loo-Chooans by the Japanese embassador at that court. They are described as being very ignorant and very poor. The emperor Yang-ti, however, sent embassadors and interpreters to claim sovereignty over the islands, but the king of Loo-Choo rejected all proposals of the kind, whereupon the emperor sent ten thousand men from Fokien to invade the islands. They landed on the island of Great Loo-Choo, and were bravely met by the king at the head of his army. A pitched battle was fought, in which the king was slain, when the Chinese triumphed, taking five thousand prisoners, and sacking the cities of Sheudi and Napa. The Chinese chronicle the fact that the Loo-Chooans were so lamentably destitute that they did not even know the use of “chop-sticks!” and also state that they sometimes sacrificed human beings at their religious festival, which barbarous custom was at once abolished.
The Chinese emperors of the Ting dynasty, and also those of the succeeding Song dynasty, did not exercise sovereign rights over the islands. A trade had sprung up between the two countries, and all went as well as a junk could sail, until 1291, when the emperor Chit-su, of the Eeven dynasty, resolved upon their conquest. He fitted out and despatched an armed expedition for this purpose, but the Tartars and Chinese, both disgusted and disheartened by the recollection of their terrible failure in a similar attempt on Japan, after a short absence returned to the port of Fokien, not having gone in sight of the islands. The history of the islands speaks of constant civil war, and bloody battles. In 1372 the largest island was divided into three kingdoms. Hong-u, the first of the Ming dynasty, sent an embassador to Loo-Choo, whose diplomacy was such as to induce T’say-too, one of the kings who resided at Sheudi, to declare himself tributary to China. His example was followed by the two other kings, and peace was restored. Thirty-six Chinese families, by order or with the consent of the emperor, emigrated to the island, who received their “quarter sections” from the king, and from that time dates the commencement of civilization and Chinese influence. Young men from Loo-Choo were annually sent to Nanking, to learn the Chinese language at the expense of the emperor; and presents were exchanged by the sovereigns. At the death of T’say-too the emperor sent his son to preside over the realm. Loo-Choo then became prosperous, trade sprang up; and during the reign of Chang-pat-shi, the great grandson of T’say-too, the three kingdoms of the islands were re-united, and the royal family assumed the title of Chang.
Revolutions and civil wars raged from time to time, and a feudal system was established. Commerce with China increased, and the Chinese complained of the scarcity of silver and copper coin in the provinces Tshe-kiang and Fokien, on account of the exportation of it to Loo-Choo. In 1500, the Loo-Choo people sent a trading junk to Malacca, many to the island of Formosa, and a great many to the southern ports of Japan. During the reign of Chang-tching, Loo-Choo became the market where Japanese and Chinese merchants met to exchange their goods. Commerce became brisk, and the constant quarrels between the Chinese and Japanese gave the king an opportunity to extend his influence. The extensive piratical operations of the Japanese, about the year 1525, having their headquarters at Ke-long-chan, on the island of Formosa, compelled the emperor of China to have recourse to the king of Loo-Choo as mediator between him and the emperor of Japan. The mediation did not suppress the piracy complained of, though backed by large squadrons sent to sea by the celestial emperor, to destroy the pirates, over whom his imperial confrere of Japan professed to have no control; indeed, the Japan monarch alleged that there were many Chinese among these outlaws.
The ascent of the throne of Japan by Taico Sama, proved an event of great importance. He was a man of great ability and shrewdness, and attained his high position by his own exertions, and not by birth. He put an end to feudalism in his country, and ruled with an iron hand. He conceived the idea of using to advantage the terror which prevailed because of the Japanese pirates, and the prestige which their daring acts had acquired. His ambition was as unbounded as his belief in manifest destiny, and his object was the conquest of China. He despatched officers to the king of Loo-Choo, ordering him to declare his kingdom tributary to Japan; and similar pressing invitations were sent to the governors of the Philippine islands, the king of Siam, &c. The sovereign of Loo-Choo temporized, and finally refused to submit, relying on Chinese protection. He informed the emperor of the plans of Taico Sama; a league of all these princes was formed against him, when Taico Sama invaded that fighting-ground between the Chinese and Japanese—the peninsula of Corea. Taico’s main object was attained. He reaped all the benefit proceeding from piracies licensed by him or enlisted in his service, and thus giving it the character of a regular warfare. He smothered civil war in its germ, and sent away his most influential opponents to fight in the Corea, not Crimea. Corea was then the safety-valve for ardent spirits against the government, as France keeps its Algiers, or keeps up a foreign war. Taico “savaad” a great deal.
During the reign of Taico, Loo-Choo suffered severely; trade was brought to a stand still, and, like a more modern nation that Americans wot of, Japan proclaimed herself mistress of the sea. The king of the islands, however, managed to send an embassador to China, who was received with great magnificence by the emperor, both on account of the dangers he had encountered from the voyage in the junk, and the risk incurred of falling into the hands of the pirates who swarmed in those seas.
After the death of Taico, and during the regency of Iyeyas for his son, in 1612, a Loo-Chooan chief, dissatisfied with his king, armed three thousand men in Japan, with whom he returned to his own country and made the kingdom by force tributary to Japan, that is, to the province of Satsuma. He took back the king a prisoner. The fallen sovereign of Loo-Choo behaved with so much dignity, that two years afterward he was generously sent back, and reinstated on his throne, remaining still a true friend to the emperor of China.
Commercial relations, but on a small scale, existed with China and Japan, when, in 1708, all the plagues came down on Loo-Choo: it was desolated by the ravages of terrible typhoons; the crops failed; cattle died; the king’s palace was entirely consumed by fire; and frightful epidemics prevailed among the natives. Cang-hi, the emperor of China, sent them assistance, and his embassador, Supas Kang, in his report, according to the translation in French, says the language of these people is so mixed up of Chinese and Japanese, that it forms almost a distinct language. He finds no wild animals or venomous reptiles or insects, but much fish. Their exports at that time consisted of sulphur, a peculiar red dye stuff, dried fish, saki, and timber, principally cedar-wood.