ABSTRACT

As may well be imagined, the news of the loss of the Madre de Deus created the utmost consternation in Macau, and many and earnest were the debates held upon it by the City Fathers. It was at first thought that the trade of Japan would be forbidden to the Portuguese in the future, as it was quite easy to see that Iyeyasu hoped to be able to make use of the Spanish and Dutch merchants in their stead. The outlook for the city was grave indeed, and the more so since without the Japan trade the town was bound to perish from decay, for other means of support there were none. Trade with Manilla was stringently prohibited by the Crown; the commerce with the Moluccas and Malacca was so exposed to the raids of the Dutch that it was only practicable in oared vessels, whilst the trade with China depended, as we have seen, on the Japan market for its very existence. The commerce with Cochin-China and Tonquin, which the city carried on concurrently with Japanese junks from Kiūshū, was as yet far from the importance which it afterwards attained,3 and in fact the sole hope of averting the ruin of Macau-and with Macau, of India Portugueza-lay in the speedy recovery of the trade with Japan.