Xapon when father Fray
Joan Cobos arrived there--where this witness was building a ship (the
one in which he came hither), and work on which he left and abandoned,
in order to go to see, protect, and serve the said father Fray Joan
Cobo, and to instruct him in the customs and usages of the country,
as the father came in behalf of his Majesty--he will relate here what
he knows. While this witness was in the kingdoms of Xapon last year,
the emperor resolved to send an embassy here. This he entrusted
to Faranda Queymon, but as the latter fell sick at the time of his
intended departure from that country, he sent in his stead a Christian
Xaponese, named Gaspar, otherwise called Faranda. This witness says
that what he heard and was told regarding that matter--not only by
the emperor himself, with whom he conversed several times, but by
other personages and nobles of the emperor's court--was always that
the intention of the king of Xapon was only to ascertain, by means
of this embassy, whether these Philippines Islands were friendly or
hostile to him; for if they were friendly, then he wished friendship
and alliance with the governor and the Spaniards, and trade and
intercourse. If they were not friendly, then he would consider them
as enemies, and would attack them. This was the object of the embassy,
and the emperor's intention, as he himself declared three or four times
in the presence of this deponent, in the following formal language:
"It is true that I sent Quiemon on that embassy, for, as a man who
knows that land, he gave me an account of it. But what I wished was
friendship, and trade and intercourse with the Castilians, as I have
been informed of the good treatment given to my Xaponese there. I do
not want silver, gold, soldiers, or anything else, but only to keep
them as friends." This witness, as he knew the emperor's nature, and
his veracity, and the punctiliousness with which he keeps his word,
thinks that he does not claim vassalage, tribute, or any recognition
from this community and kingdom, nor does he intend to commit any wrong
toward this kingdom; but rather this witness believes and knows that
the emperor will aid this kingdom with soldiers, and whatever else
might be asked from him. Therefore he thinks that he who interpreted
the letter could not read or interpret it, if he asserted that the
emperor demanded vassalage; for the characters used in their writing
are difficult to understand. Likewise this witn