Oceania_, xxxiv, pp. 86--94; all the others are obtained from MSS. in
the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.

_Translations_: The first document is translated by Arthur B. Myrick,
of Harvard University; the second, by Frederic W. Morrison, of Harvard
University; the third and part of the seventh, by José M. and Clara
H. Asensio; the fourth and fifth, by Robert W. Haight; the sixth and
part of the seventh, by James A. Robertson.




Letter from Pedro de Carbajal to Felipe II


Sire:

It is well known that the emperor of Japon is powerful in men and arms,
and that his people are of great courage. He was making ready two
hundred ships, and casting quantities of artillery. Japon is distant
from the realm of the Philipinas four hundred leagues, which is a
voyage of fifteen or twenty days by sea. On his friendship depends
the preservation of the Philipinas, and of two hundred thousand
Christians in that same kingdom of Japon, as well as of the rest
of its people, who are being christianized from day to day. We have
great hopes that all of them will become Christians, because it is
known surely that many of the principal people of Japon would become
Christians, if they were not hindered by their fear of the said
emperor's indignation. He ordered me [21] to say to your Majesty,
on his part, that, if your Majesty would make friends with him,