At the beginning of December, General Viscaino had reached 40 degrees north latitude. On interrogating the natives he found that they knew the use of the compass, and was told that there was a distance of about sixty leagues from the extremity of Japan to Corea, and that before reaching Tartary, in the channel lay a great island called Yeso, which was inhabited by people like savages who were so covered by hair that only their eyes were visible, and who habitually visited Japan in the months of July and August for trading purposes. Intense cold set in, and as Viscaino concluded that ports situated on the northwestern and southeastern shores of Japan would be of little use to vessels trading from the Philippines, he decided to return to Uraga, where he arrived on the 4th of January and met the members of his crew who had remained behind. He lingered at Uraga until the end of May selling his woolen stuffs at Yedo, “with difficulty and poor profits,” and then started on a survey of the coast lying between Uraga and Nagasaki. He first went to Ito, however, where, as agreed upon, the ship was being built by Japanese workmen under the patronage of the shogun. He found that beyond the preparing of the timber nothing had been done to advance its construction, and was struck by the lukewarmness and slowness with which the work was progressing. The general gave instructions to the shipbuilders by word and by letter, and then proceeded on his journey. On returning to Miaco on July 2, he had four copies made of his survey charts, or as he calls them his “Discovery of Japanese Ports,” these being intended for Iyeyasu, the shogun, the King of Spain and himself. From Corunga, a week later, he sent a message to the emperor, asking permission to start on his homeward voyage. It is evident that the emperor understood that Viscaino intended to sail directly to New Spain, for he sent word that Viscaino was to go on to Uraga, whither his answer would reach him, and there the emperor sent him a gift and a letter for the Viceroy of Mexico. The fact of his not sending any letter or gift to the King of Spain by Viscaino proved that he, probably enlightened by William Adams, had not taken very seriously Viscaino’s pretence to be the ambassador of the king as well as of the viceroy. Viscaino, who had been informed that the emperor was so incensed at the Christians, on account of the treachery in his household, that no Christian dared approach him, complains that the emperor’s answer to the viceroy was very different from what had been promised, since in it his Majesty wrote “that he did not like” the Christian religion. The complete text of this remarkable letter has just been published by Señor Lera, who wrongly states, however, on page 23, that Spanish translations of both letters are contained on page 185, Vol. VIII, of the “Documentos Ineditos,” and on page 22, that the first galleon which sailed from Uraga for Acapulco carried six letters to the viceroy.