But Fernam Mendez Pinto,(140) in his travels, etc., gives a detailed narrative of the visit which he and his companions made a few years later in a ship with a Chinese captain and merchandise. The exact year cannot be ascertained from Pinto’s narrative, but Hildreth(141) assumes that it could not have been earlier than A.D. 1545. Pinto landed on Tane-ga-shima, an island south of the extreme southern point of the island of Kyūshū. They were received with great cordiality by the prince, who evinced the utmost curiosity concerning the Portuguese who were on this ship. Pinto naïvely confesses that “we rendered him answers as might rather fit his humor than agree with the truth, ... that so we might not derogate from the great opinion he had conceived of our country.”(142) As a return for some of the kindnesses which the prince showed them, the Portuguese gave him a _harquebuse_, and explained to him the method of making powder. The present seems to have been most acceptable, and Pinto declares the armorers commenced at once to make imitations of it, “so that before their departure (which was five months and a half after) there were six hundred of them made in the country.” And a few years later he was assured that there were above thirty thousand in the city of Fucheo,(143) the capital of Bungo, and above three hundred thousand in the whole province. And so they have increased from this one _harquebuse_ which they gave to the prince of Tane-ga-shima, until every hamlet and city in the empire in a short time were supplied with them.(144) A short time after their reception at Tane-ga-shima the Prince of Bungo, who was a relative of the Prince of Tane-ga-shima, sent for one of the Portuguese, and Pinto, by his own consent, was selected as being of a “more lively humor.” He was received with great consideration, and proved himself of vast service in curing the prince of gout, with which he was affected. His success in this cure gave him immense repute, and he was initiated into all the gayeties and sports of the prince’s court. In particular he amused and interested them all by firing the matchlock which he had brought with him. A son of the prince of about sixteen or seventeen years of age was infatuated with this sport, and one day, unknown to Pinto, he undertook to load and fire the matchlock, as he had seen the foreigner do. An explosion occurred, by which the young prince was much injured, and owing to this Pinto came near being put to death for having wrought this disaster. But the young prince had more sense than the attendants, and at his request Pinto was given a chance to bind up the wounds and take care of him. The result was that the young prince quickly recovered, and the fame of this cure was spread everywhere. “So that,” says Pinto, “after this sort I received in recompense of this my cure above fifteen hundred ducats that I carried with me from this place.”