Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 466

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ AUGUST, 1923
George Fenner made a voyage to the Cape Verde Islands. All of these adventures found French Captains already on the scene. Both English and French were ready to plunder the Portuguese and occasionally fell foul of each other. (Kerr, VII, 201, et seq.)
Chinese and Japanese 138. From 1552 34 to 1556 Japanese pirates ravaged the coasts of China. On landing, they traversed the country in bands of fifty or sixty, dressed in red and wearing yellow caps. These bands were divided into squads of ten, of whom three only were Japanese, the other seven being Chinese who were forced to join them. They were almost always victorious and against almost any odds, but on the rare occasions on which they were defeated their bands were exterminated. In 1555 the pirates were forced to raise the siege of Nankin by the Langpin or Wolf soldiers of Oua-chi, Princess of Tien-tcheou (de Mailla, X, 325). They were also defeated by a Chinese pirate Mau-hai-fung in Chusan and again in Lih-piau, and in the same year the Chinese authorities managed to introduce dissensions amongst the pirates of their own nationality. Su-hai, as evidence of his submission, made Chin. tung and Mayeh prisoners, but when he presented himself to the Chinese general, he was himself arrested and beheaded. Wang-chih, who had been ready to submit, now changed his mind and resumed his relations with the Japanese (Chin. Repos., XIX, 138-40). In 1557 Wang-chih was captured. His followers fled southward and plundered in Fokien and Kwangtung Provinces until the year 1563, when they were suppressed (China Review, III, 60). In 1561 the Japanese had been joined by a Chinese pirate named Seang Wen-Kwa with twelve ships, but in the same year they were defeated with a loss of 3,000 men. (China Review, XIX, 51).
139. According to Dalrymple (Memoir, p. 1) it was in 1557 (see para. 102 above) that the Chinese gave Macao to the Portuguese in return for their assistance against a pirate Ching-si-law who was besieging Canton. The Portuguese raised the siege and drove Chang-si-law to Macao, where they fought and killed him. Ljungstedt (Port. Sett., p. 12) however is of opinion that Macao was given to the Portuguese on account of their pretended humility and on the bare promise of assistance against the pirates, and that the story of Chang-si-law is really that of the pirate Chin-chi-lung, who flourished about a hundred years later, antedated in order to flatter Portuguese pride. Pinto (p. 513) says that the Mandarins of Canton handed over Macao to the Portuguese at the request of the country merchants.36
140. In 1563 bad government having caused many Chinese to become outlaws, piracy again flourished on the Chinese coast, the Japanese allying themselves with the Chinese pirates 36 and rebels. Nevertheless they were defcated this year and again in 1564 with very heavy loss by Tsi-ki-kouang, Lieutenant General of Fokien (do Mailla, X, 325).
141. In 1564 the Chinese Admiral Yu-ta-yew met the pirate Lin-tau-kyen (who had Heized the island of long-hu), defeated him after a desperate conflict and pursued him to Formosa, but returned to China without making sure of his death. Liu-tau-kyen is said to have cut the throats of all the inhabitants of the island whom he could catch and to have used their blood to caulk his leaky ships. He then set out to attack the province of Kwantung, but perished miserably (Duhalde, I, 90 ; de Mailla, Formosa, 14-15). In 1570 the Japanese pirates raided the Chinese coast, but were driven off without having done much damage (China Review, XIX, 51).
34 According to Boulger (Hist. of China, II, 146), the Japanese raid in 1555 was due to the failure of a Chinese merchant to deliver goods for which he had been paid by the Japanese.
35 Faria (III, 311) says simply that the island was inhabited by robbers who harassed the mainland and that the Portuguese were allowed to settle at Macao in 1557 as a recompense for clearing them out.
86 Boulge (II, 147) says the Japanese allied themselves with a band of Chinese pitatee under ODO Hoangchi ( 7 Wang-obih. See paru. 138 above).