“No Japanese, who seems to have any regard or friendship for the Dutch, is looked upon as an honest man and true lover of his country. This maxim is grounded upon the principle that it is absolutely contrary to the interests of the country, against the pleasure of their sovereign,—nay, by virtue of the oath they have taken, even against the supreme will of the gods, and the dictates of their conscience,—to show any favor to foreigners. Nay, they pursue this false reasoning still further, and pretend that a friend of foreigners must of necessity be an enemy to his country, and a rebel to his sovereign; for, they say, if the country should happen to be attacked or invaded by these foreigners, the laws and ties of friendship would oblige him to stand by them, and, consequently, to become a traitor to his country and sovereign. “Hence, to overreach a Dutchman; to ask extravagant prices of him; to cheat and defraud him (so much as they think will not prove prejudicial to their reputation, which they have a very tender regard for); to lessen the liberties and advantages of the Dutch; to propose new projects for making their servitude and condition still worse, and the like, are looked upon as good, handsome, and lawful things in themselves, and unquestionable proofs of a good patriot. “If anybody steals anything of the Dutch, and it be found upon him (which the kuri[141], or porters, we employ at the time of our sale are very dexterous at), there is seldom any other punishment inflicted upon him but restitution of the stolen goods, and a few lashes from soldiers upon duty at our gate. Sometimes he is banished from the island for a short time, or, if the crime be very notorious, from the town, though that is done but seldom. But the penalty inflicted upon smugglers is no less than an unavoidable death, either by beheading or the cross, according to the nature of the crime, and the degree of guilt. “The lading and unlading of our ships, and other business of this kind, must not be done by our own people, but by the natives, who are well paid for their work, whilst our people stand idle, and have nothing to do but to look at them. But this is not the only grievance, for they always hire at least twice as many people as there is occasion for, and, if they work but one hour, we must, nevertheless, pay them a whole day’s wages. “All the people who have anything to do for or with us, though never so numerous, and mere meddlers, must be maintained by us, either directly by appointed salaries, or indirectly by the money which the governors of the town detain from the price of our commodities.