1505.—"... and not far off they took a ship belonging to the King of Calichut; out of which they have brought me certain jewels of good value; including Mccccc. pearls worth 8,000 ducats; also three astrological instruments of silver, such as are not used by our astrologers, large and well-wrought, which I hold in the highest estimation. They say that the King of Calichut had sent the said ship to an island called Saponin to obtain the said instruments...."—Letter from the K. of Portugal (Dom Manuel) to the K. of Castille (Ferdinand). Reprint by A. Burnell, 1881, p. 8.
1521.—"In going by this course we passed near two very rich islands; one is in twenty degrees latitude in the antarctic pole, and is called Cipanghu."—Pigafetta, Magellan's Voyage, Hak. Soc., 67. Here the name appears to be taken from the chart or Mappe-Monde which was carried on the voyage. Cipanghu appears by that name on the globe of Martin Behaim (1492), but 20 degrees north, not south, of the equator.
1545.—"Now as for us three Portugals, having nothing to sell, we employed our time either in fishing, hunting, or seeing the Temples of these Gentiles, which were very sumptuous and rich, whereinto the Bonzes, who are their priests, received us very courteously, for indeed it is the custom of those of Jappon (do Japão) to be exceeding kind and courteous."—Pinto (orig. cap. cxxxiv.), in Cogan, E.T. p. 173.
1553.—"After leaving to the eastward the isles of the Lequios (see [LEW CHEW]) and of the Japons (dos Japões), and the great province of Meaco, which for its great size we know not whether to call it Island or Continent, the coast of China still runs on, and those parts pass beyond the antipodes of the meridian of Lisbon."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1572.—
"Esta meia escondida, que responde
De longe a China, donde vem buscar-se,
He Japão, onde nasce la prata fina,
Que illustrada será co' a Lei divina."
Camões, x. 131.