ABSTRACT
ALTHOUGH the consequences of Matelieff’s failure to destroy the remaining half of the Portuguese armada off Pulo Buton were not immediately apparent, yet the seven ships thus spared were destined to exercise a decisive influence upon the future fortunes of the Portuguese in China and Japan, and to retard for several years the extension of Dutch trade to those countries. This fact is indisputably shown by a consideration of the events which took place in the China Seas in the autumn of 1607.
