of that province, who assured them of harbor, tackle, and repairs, entered the port, after having sounded and examined the entrance, and whether the water was deep enough. The Japanese, who were faithless, and did this with evil intent, towed the ship into the port, leading and guiding it onto a shoal, where, for lack of water, it touched and grounded. Therefore the Spaniards were obliged to unload the ship and take all the cargo ashore close to the town, to a stockade which was given them for that purpose. For the time being the Japanese gave the Spaniards a good reception, but as to repairing the ship and leaving port again, the latter were given to understand that it could not be done without permission and license from Taicosama, the sovereign of Japon, who was at his court in Miaco, one hundred leguas from that port. General Don Matia de Landecho and his companions, in order to lose no time, resolved to send their ambassadors to court with a valuable gift from the ship's cargo for Taicosama, to beg him to order their departure. They sent on this mission Christoval de Mercado, three other Spaniards, Fray Juan Pobre, of the Franciscan order, and Fray Juan Tamayo, of the Augustinian order, who were aboard the vessel. They were to confer concerning this affair with Taico in Miaco, and were to avail themselves of the Franciscan fathers who were in Miaco. The latter had gone as ambassadors from the Filipinas to settle matters between Xapon and Manila, and were residing at court in a permanent house and hospital, with Taico's sufferance. There they were making a few converts, although with considerable opposition from the religious of the Society of Jesus established in the same kingdom. The latter asserted other religious to be forbidden by apostolic briefs and royal decrees to undertake or engage in the conversion of Japon. The king of Hurando, although to all appearances friendly and kind to the Spaniards in his port, took great care to keep them and their merchandise secure. He immediately sent word to court that that ship of foreigners called Nambajies [85] had been wrecked there, and that the Spaniards had brought great riches. This kindled Taicosama's greed, who, in order to get possession of them, sent Ximonojo, one of his favorites and a member of his council, to Hurando. Ximonojo, upon his arrival, took possession of all the merchandise, and imprisoned the Spaniards within a well-guarded palisade, after having forced them to give up all their possessions and what they had hid, under pain of death. Having exercised great rigor therein, he returned to court, after granting permission to the general and others of his suite to go to Miaco. The ambassadors who had been sent before to Miaco with the present, were unable to see Taico, although the present was accepted; nor did they succeed in making any profitable arrangement, although father Fray Pedro Baptista, superior of the Franciscan religious