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27 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter eleven, the author leaves Lugnak and sails to Japan. From thence he
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  returns in a Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to England. I
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  thought this account of the Straldbrugs might be some entertainment to the reader, because
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  it seems to be a little out of the common way. At least I
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  do not remember to have met the like in any book of travels that has
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  come to my hands. And if I am deceived, my excuse must be
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  that it is necessary for travelers who describe the same country very often to agree
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  in dwelling on the same particulars, without deserving the censure of having borrowed or
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  transcribed from those who wrote before them. There is indeed a perpetual commerce between
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  this kingdom and the Great Empire of Japan, and it is very probable that
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  the Japanese authors may have given some accounts of the Straaldbruggs. But my stay
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  in Japan was so short, and I was so entirely estranged the language,
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  that I was not qualified to make any inquiries. But I hope the Dutch,
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  upon this notice will be curious and able enough to supply my defects.
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  His Majesty, having often pressed me to accept some employment in his court,
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  and finding me absolutely determined to return to my native country, was pleased to
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  grant me his license to depart, and honor me with a letter of recommendation
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  under his own hand to the Emperor of Japan. He likewise presented me with
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  four hundred and forty four large pieces of gold this nation, delighting in even
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  numbers, and a red diamond, which I sold in England for eleven hundred
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  pounds. On the sixth of May seventeen o nine, I took a solemn
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  leave of his Majesty and all my friends. This Prince was so gracious as
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  to order a guard to conduct me to Glangnstalled, which is a royal port
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  to the southwest part of the island. In six days I found a vessel
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  ready to carry me to Japan, and spent fifteen days in the voyage.
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  We landed at a small port town called Zamoshia, situated on the southeast part
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  of Japan. The town lies on the western point, where there is a
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  narrow strait leading northward into a long arm of the sea, upon the northwest
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  part of which Yedo, the metropolis stands at Landing, I showed the custom
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  house officers my letter from the King of Lucknak to his Imperial Majesty. They
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  knew the seal perfectly well. It was as broad as the palm of my
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  hand. The impression was a king lifting up a lame beggar from the earth.
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  The magistrates of the town, hearing of my letter, received me as
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  a public minister. They provided me with carriages and servants, and bore my
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  charges to Yedo, where I was omitted to an audience and delivered my letter,
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  which was opened with great ceremony and explained the Emperor by an interpreter,
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  who then gave me notice by His Majesty's order that I should signify my request,
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  and whatever it were, it should be granted for the sake of his
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  royal brother of Lugnak. This interpreter was a person employed to the transact affairs
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  with the Hollanders. He soon conjectured by my countenance that I was a European,
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  and therefore repeated His Majesty's commands in low Dutch, which he spoke perfectly
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  well. I answered, as I had before determined, that I was a
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  Dutch merchant shipwrecked in a very remote country. Whence I had traveled by sea
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  and land to Lugnack, and then took shipping for Japan, where I knew
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  my countrymen often traded, and with some of these I hoped to get an
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  opportunity of returning into Europe. I therefore, most humbly entreated his royal favor
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  to give order that I should be conduct acted in safety to Nagazac. To
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  this I added another petition that, for the sake of my patron, the
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  King of Lugnak, his Majesty would condescend to excuse my performing the ceremony imposed
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  on my countrymen of trampling upon the crucifix, because I had been thrown into
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  his kingdom by my misfortunes without any intention of trading. When this latter petition
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  was interpreted to the Emperor, he seemed a little surprised and said he believed
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  I was the first of my countrymen who ever made any scruple in this point,
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  and that he began to doubt whether I was a real Hollander or not,
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  but rather suspected I must be a Christian. However, for the reasons
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  I had offered, but chiefly to gratify the King of Lugnak by an uncommon
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  mark of his favor. He would comply with the singularity of my humor,
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  but the affair must be managed with dexterity, and his officers should be commanded
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  to let me pass as if if it were by forgetfulness. For he assured
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  me that if the secret should be discovered by my country and the Dutch,
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  they would cut my throat in the voyage. I returned my thanks by the
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  interpreter for so unusual a favor, and some troops being at that time on
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  their march to Nangazac, the commanding officer had orders to convey me safely thither
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  with particular instructions about the business of the crucifix. On the ninth day of
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  June seventeen o nine, I arrived at Nangazac after a very long and troublesome
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  journey. I soon fell into the company of some Dutch sailors belonging to the
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  Amboina of Amsterdam, a stout ship of four hundred fifty tons. I had
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  lived long in Holland pursuing my studies at Leyden, and I spoke Dutch well.
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  The seamen soon knew whence I came last, they were curious to inquire
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  into my voyages in course of life. I made up a store as short
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  and probable as I could, but concealed the greatest part. I knew many
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  persons in Holland. I was able to invent names from my parents, whom
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  I pretended to be obscure people in the province of Gelderland. I would have
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  given the captain one Theodorus van Grolt what he pleased to ask for my voyage
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  to Holland, but understanding I was a surgeon, he was contented to take
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  half the usual rate, on one condition that I would serve him in the
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  way of my calling. Before we took shipping, I was often asked by
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  some of the crew whether I had performed the ceremony above mentioned. I evaded
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  the question by general answers that I had satisfied the Emperor and court in all
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  particulars. However, a malicious rogue of a skipper went to an officer,
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  and, pointing to me, told him I had not yet trampled on the
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  crucifix. But the other, who had received instructions to let me pass,
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  gave the rascal twenty st strokes on the shoulders with a bamboo, after which
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  I was no more troubled with such questions. Nothing happened worth mentioning in this
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  voyage. We sailed with a fair wind to the Cape of Good Hope,
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  where we stayed only to take in fresh water. On the tenth of April
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  seventeen ten, we arrived save at Amsterdam, having lost only three men by
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  sickness in the voyage, and a fourth who fell from the foremast into the
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  sea not far from the coast of Guinea. From Amsterdam, I soon after
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  set sail for England in a small vessel belonging to that city. On the
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  sixteenth of April, we put in at the Downs. I landed next morning
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  and saw once more my native country after an absence of five years and six
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  months complete. I went straight to Redriff, where I arrived the same day
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  at two in the afternoon, and found my wife and family in good health,
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  and apart three each up to eleven