.
[384] Zie missive Firando 16 Dec. 1623 aan Commandeur Reijers: "Dese gaet per Cappiteijn China.... Hij is een doortrapt man, heeft in Nangasackij ende oock hier [Firando] treffelijcke huijsen met schoone vrouwen ende kinderen".
[385] "This Andrea Dittis is now chosen capten and cheefe comander of all the Chinas in Japon, both at Nangasaque, Firando and else wheare" (Diary of Richard Cocks, II, bl. 309, 10th of Marche 1619 [20]).
"The Chinese pirates who resorted to the island [Formosa] as a safe retreat, were as a rule divided into bands, and, according to the scanty historical material which we have at hand, established a rough form of government over their settlements. So admirable was the organization that the different bands lived together without discord and chose their leaders by vote, while a supreme chief was appointed to look after the interests of the combined bands whenever anything arose of common concern. The strongest of them was a powerful band under the leadership of one Gan Shi-sai. Their exploits brought large returns, and by combining legitimate trade with piratical raids they eventually attained a position so formidable that smaller bands combined with them for their own protection, and thus nearly the whole of the China and Formosa trade was brought under their control. In 1621 Gan Shi-sai died, and was succeeded by Ching Chi-lung, a famous character, and the father of Koxinga." (J. W. Davidson, The Island of Formosa (1903) bl. 8).
[386] "sijn genoegen van d'onsen over sijne gepretendeerde diensten seer cleijn was" (Miss. Firando 17 Nov. 1625).
[387] Miss. Firando 26 Oct. 1625.
[388] Miss. Firando 17 Nov. 1625.--Letters written by the English Residents in Japan 1611-1623, bl. 271.
[389] In berichten uit Formosa van dien tijd, komt meer voor dat "zoon" en "schoonzoon" worden verwisseld; zoo wordt Boijcko nu eens de zoon dan weer de schoonzoon genoemd van Limlacco, Kapitein der Chineezen te Batavia (1636-1645).
[390] Hoe Martinus M. van