The first voyage round the world, by Magellan

Though Magellan’s enterprise was the greatest ever undertaken by any navigator, yet he has been deprived of his due fame by the jealousy which has always existed between the two nations inhabiting the Peninsula: the Spaniards would not brook being commanded by a Portuguese, and the Portuguese have not yet forgiven Magellan for having abandoned them to serve Castile. But Magellan really had no choice; for if the western passage which he expected to discover was to be sought for, it could only be under the auspices of Spain, within whose demarcation those waters lay.

	PAGE
Introduction	i–lx
The Genoese Pilot’s Account of Magellan’s Voyage	1–29
Narrative of the Anonymous Portuguese	30–32
Pigafetta’s Account of Magellan’s Voyage	35–163
Pigafetta’s Treatise of Navigation	164–174
Names of the First Circumnavigators	175–176
Magellan’s Order of the Day in the Straits	177–178
Letter of Maximilian, the Transylvan	179–210
Log-Book of Francisco Albo or Alvaro	211–236
Account of the “Trinity” and her Crew	237–242
Account of the Mutiny in Port St. Julian, and Gaspar Correa’s Account of the Voyage	243–256
Cost of Magellan’s Fleet	257
Appendix	i–xiv
Index	xvii–xx

iiIt would seem that D. Manuel had only himself to blame for the loss of Magellan’s services; and, as M. Amoretti well observes, D. Manuel ought to have been well aware of the value of those services, since Charles V knew it, and showed his appreciation of them. It is difficult to believe that the injury of which Magellan complained, and which led him to seek other service, was merely, as Osorio says, the refusal of promotion in palace rank, and which he had well deserved, especially since the motive ascribed by Osorio to the king’s refusal, namely the necessity of avoiding a bad precedent, was not alone a sufficient affront to account for Magellan’s sacrificing all his hopes and property in his own country, had he not also felt that the king was condemning him to inaction, obscurity, and uselessness. Barros, indeed, says that:

The king, moreover, refused to receive Magellan, and showed his ill-will against him. It is therefore highly probable that before Magellan took the step of leaving Portugal, D. Manuel, prompted by his niggardly disposition, iiihad refused to entertain Magellan’s desire for employment at sea, or his projects of discovery, from which no immediate profit was to be expected. This is apparent from the statement of Barros, Decad. iii, lib. v, cap. viii, that letters of Magellan to Francisco Serrano were found after the death of the latter in Maluco, in which Magellan said that he should soon see him; and, if it were not by way of Portugal, it would be by way of Castile, and that Serrano should therefore wait for him there. Further on, Barros says that recourse to Castile appears from these letters to have been in Magellan’s mind some time before the occurrence of the king’s dismissal of his business: and that this was shown by his always associating with pilots, and occupying himself with sea-charts.

The Portuguese exaggerated very much the injury they expected to result, and, later, which they thought had resulted from Magellan’s voyage, which could not change the position of the Moluccas, nor consequently the Portuguese title to them; but the apprehensions which they felt, arose from their fear of others sharing in the spice trade, and from the limited geographical knowledge of the period, which left both parties very much in doubt as to the true position of those islands, or as to the extent of the circumference of the globe. The question of the exact position of the Moluccas was not definitely ascertained till much later, though a compromise was arrived at in 1529 by the treaty between Spain and Portugal, by which Charles V gave up whatever rights to the Moluccas he imagined he possessed, to Portugal, for a sum of three hundred and ivfifty thousand ducats.⁠[1] As late as 1535, Gaspar Correa mentions, tom. iii, p. 661, a Dominican friar in Portuguese India, who was learned in cosmography, and who asserted that the Moluccas fell within the demarcation of Castile.

The grounds of complaint of the Portuguese against Magellan are, perhaps, best expressed, and in the strongest terms, by Bishop Osorio, so it may be well to quote from him the following passage. Lib. xi, § 23.

Against this view of Osorio may be set the following passage from Vattel, which has all the more weight, in that it is simply an enunciation of law and right, and is not written to support or to denounce any particular person.

There are also some remarkable passages in a pamphlet by Condorcet, dated October 25th, 1791, named Opinion sur les Emigrants. This opinion deserves attention, both on account of its author and the time in which it was written, when popular passions and viiiprejudices were much excited against those who were expatriating themselves from France.

Further on, Condorcet proposes two years as the period during which a citizen who renounces his nationality shall engage not to enter the service of any xforeign power, unless he has been authorised so to do by a decree of the national assembly. He also proposes various measures for different classes of emigrants, and the full enjoyment of their property on the same footing as foreigners, by those who sign an engagement not to take foreign service for two years, nor during that time to solicit the aid of any foreign power against the nation or its constituted authorities.

Magellan fully satisfied the conditions specified by Vattel, as may be seen by his conversations with Sebastian Alvarez, the King of Portugal’s agent: at this date, also, it is sufficiently clear that Magellan not only did no harm to his native country, but that he increased its renown by his own services, and by those of the other Portuguese officers whom he associated with his labours. If his countrymen have preferred Gama to him, it is because he only served the interests of science, whilst Gama served the passions of his countrymen, and aided them to enrich themselves. After D. Manuel had refused employment and advancement to Magellan, and seemed inclined to leave him in the obscurity of a small garrison in Africa, the Portuguese would seem to have no more right to complain of Magellan’s profiting by the opportunities offered by Spain, than the Genoese would have had, if they had reproached Columbus for availing himself in a similar way of the resources of that country. D. Manuel, it is true, made offers to Magellan if he would leave Spain and return to Portugal, but it was then too late, for the great navigator had already pledged his word to Charles V.

xiThere is another circumstance which justifies Magellan still more than if he had been an Englishman or a Frenchman, a circumstance peculiar to Spain and Portugal. In the Peninsula, the kingly power was of recent origin, and had been divided amongst several crowns: the wearers of these crowns had been at first only the equals of other great lords, and, after they had acquired these crowns, they were only the first amongst their equals; and such they recognised themselves to be by their coronation oaths, even long after the time of Magellan. In these coronation oaths they also bound themselves more than did other European sovereigns to respect all the privileges of the great nobles; any infraction of which was held to justify these in revolt from the sovereign. At the same time there existed the custom and tradition of disnaturalisation, in accordance with which any noble who felt aggrieved, formally renounced his fealty to the sovereign, and betook himself to some neighbouring state. Osorio and Mariana, who wrote when the kingly power had become consolidated, ridicule this custom; but it must have had the advantage of giving time and opportunity for a peaceable settlement instead of an immediate recourse to arms. But whether the custom was good or bad, there is no doubt that it was generally and constantly acted upon; and Magellan was following precedents that were generally received in the Peninsula. It is unfortunate that the document mentioned by historians, by which Magellan formally renounced fealty to D. Manuel, is not forthcoming in the archives either of Spain or Portugal; but it may xiibe supposed to be similar in substance to those renunciations which Osorio mentions and reproves.

Among those who disnaturalised themselves may be cited various Condes de Haro of Biscay, and Guzman, who gave his services to Marocco, and who bears the title of El Bueno. With regard to Count Diego de Haro, who in 1216 withdrew from Castile to Navarre, Mariana makes the following observations.

There seems to be some inconsistency on the part of those who refuse to admit of disnaturalisation, yet at the same time maintain that rebellion can be justified. If there is a justification of rebellion, the right of expatriation, or of withdrawal from amongst those who provoke rebellion, must exist; and there can be no doubt that the peaceable withdrawal of those who are oppressed or injured is preferable in the interests of all to armed insurrection. Even Bishop Osorio and Mariana would probably admit that the disnaturalisation of Prim and Serrano would have been better than xivtheir treason, which has plunged Spain in anarchy and bloodshed for so many years.⁠[3] Rebellions have almost always been conducted by minorities; and as their justification does not depend upon the numerical importance of those engaged in them, it would follow that in the case of disnaturalisation, where numbers are not requisite, as in the case of armed insurrection, the right would exist equally even if the minority consisted only of one.

There are some writers on the Law of Nations, with whom I am agreed in general, who disapprove of the Naturalisation and Disnaturalisation Act of the Session of 1869. I am compelled to differ from them with respect to that measure, for the foregoing reasons, and also because it seems to me that they have lost sight of another circumstance which affects the question. So long as kingly power was a reality, personal allegiance and duty to the sovereign was a reality also. But now that modern innovation and corruption have substituted the rule of majorities for the kingly power, the feeling of the personal duty of the subject is almost lost; and the subject, or citizen, has become only one of an aggregation of individuals, or of an association of persons with equal rights; and each member of such an association has clearly the right to choose whether he will form part of it or not: so that whatever rights of expatriation may have existed in xvthe times of Magellan, Grotius, and Vattel, have become much stronger at the present time, when the conscience of the subject is no longer considered by some as held bound by duty to the sovereign, who has become almost impersonal: instead of loyalty and fealty, we have the duty of fair dealing as between partners and associates on equal terms, as is exemplified by the argumentation of Condorcet in the passage quoted above. That this view is in accordance with the common sense and consent of mankind is shown by the general repudiation of the pretension of the northern portion of the United States to term the secession of the southern states a rebellion; and this pretension was seen to be especially illogical on the part of those who had repudiated the name of rebels when they departed from the duty of obedience to their lawful sovereign.

Magellan has not had the good fortune of Vasco da Gama, whose exploits have been narrated by Camoens and Gaspar Correa; he did not survive to give his own account of his great voyage, and the only accounts preserved were written by two Italians of very small literary capacity. There are, however, more documents concerning Magellan in existence than are to be found with respect to Gama.

The birth-place of Magellan is doubtful; according to his will executed in Lisbon, December 29th, 1504, in favour of his sister, Theresa de Magalhāes, wife of Joan da Sylva Telles, he was born at Villa de Sabroza, in the district of Villa Real, Traz os Montes; in his will of August 24th, 1519, he calls himself “Vezino de xviPorto,” or domiciled at Porto; documents quoted by M. Ferdinand Denis make him to be born at Villa de Figueiro in Portuguese Estremadura. His family was “hidalgo,” with a known coat of arms, of which a plate is given in this volume.

The book of noble genealogies of Portugal, by Bernardo Pimenta do Avelar Portocarrero, states, in the vol. M, done and copied in the year 1721, fo. 641, that Ruy de Magalhaēs, whose parents are unknown, was Alcaide-mōr of Aveiro. He married Alda de Mesquita, daughter of Martin Gonzalves Pimentel and Ignez de Mesquita. Antonio de Lima (another genealogist) represents her as the wife of Gil de Magalhaēs, fifth son of Gil de Magalhaēs; and he gives her the same children as others give to Ruy de Magalhaēs: who had

Fernāo de Magalhaēs, who married Da. Brites Barbosa, daughter of his relation Diogo Barbosa, alcaidemōr of Seville, in the absence of D. Alvaro of Portugal; he had

Da. Anna de Magalhaēs, his heiress, the wife of D. Hernando de Henao e Avila, from whom his lineage continues. She was his only child.

This does not agree with the archives of Seville, from which it appears that Beatriz Barbosa was daughter of Diego Barbosa and Maria Caldera, and that Fernan Magalhaēs and Beatriz Barbosa had a son named Rodrigo; and that after the death of these three, Diego Barbosa became their heir; and he having died in 1525, his son Jayme inherited.

Fernan Magellan executed a will in Seville on the xvii24th day of August, 1519. He instituted by it a mayorazgo for his son, grandson, or relation, who should bear the name of Magallanes, and who should be bound to live in the kingdoms of Castille. He also bequeathed a sum of 12,500 maravedis to the Convent of N. S. de la Victoria in Triana.

Two facsimiles of the signature of Magellan are given, one taken from his signature to the protocol of the Council of War, held at Cochim in 1510; there is also a facsimile of the signature of another Magellan, taken from the book of Moradias or Palace stipends, attached to a receipt printed by Navarrete, who appears to have supposed it to have been that of the navigator: and a facsimile of the signature of Magellan’s brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa.

Gaspar Correa states, in his Lendas da India, tom. ii, p. 28, that, in January of 1510, Alfonso d’Alboquerque despatched the ships from Cochim to the kingdom.

Correa again refers to the incident of Magellan remaining with the wreck, in his tome ii, p. 625, where he says:

xxBarros relates the incident of the two vessels wrecked on the banks of Padua, and says that Antonio Pacheco was sent with a caravel to their assistance; and that:

Thus Castanheda and Barros, who are both of them very hostile to Magellan, have preserved one of the finest traits of his life. Whether the motive of Magellan in remaining by the wreck was fidelity to the interests of his friend, or devotion to the common seamen, or the repugnance of an officer and a gentleman to abandon a ship which had not broken up, this trait is alone sufficient to show that he was incapable of disloyalty, or of being influenced by pique, as the Portuguese historians have represented.

The next mention we find of Magellan is in the following document, preserved in the archives of Lisbon, which contains an account of a Council of War held by Albuquerque respecting his attack on Goa. This document confirms what Correa says of Albuquerque’s departure from Cochym for Goa.

Council held by Alfonso d’Albuquerque with the Captains with respect to going to Goa.

(N.B. Albuquerque said at the end of these opinions that he was determined to sail on the following day, the eleventh of October, with the captains who wished to accompany him. Therefore, we are at the twelfth of October, means that that day was close at hand, and not that the council was held on that day.)

Albuquerque then went to Cananor, which G. Correa says he again left on the 3rd October for Goa (tom. ii, p. 140); tres is probably an error for treze, the 13th, which would be in accordance with the statement of the document that Albuquerque sailed from Cochim on the 11th of October. Gaspar Correa gives the following names of captains who accompanied Albuquerque against Goa.

He also mentions, p. 145, the following gentlemen as being with Albuquerque in the attack on Goa:

The supposition may be hazarded that it was this opinion which Magellan gave at the Council of War in opposition to Alfonso d’Albuquerque, which set D. Manuel against him. Such opposition was enough to have made Albuquerque write unfavourably of Magellan to D. Manuel; and the ill-will of D. Manuel to Magellan, and his refusal to grant him a due recognition of his services is not otherwise sufficiently accounted for. On the other hand, Gaspar Correa, who was Albuquerque’s secretary at one time, does not indicate this; but Correa is the most friendly to Magellan of all the Portuguese historians, and does not appear, like the others, to have taxed Magellan with treason.

After this, Magellan appears to have left India, and to have been stationed at Azamor in Morocco, where, in a skirmish with the Arabs, he was wounded in the leg by a javelin, which left him somewhat lame. After that, some disputes arose as to the distribution amongst the townsmen of some cattle that had been captured from the Arabs. When João Soarez, Captain of Azamor, left that place, and was succeeded by D. Pedro de Sousa, Magellan left Azamor without leave from D. Pedro de Sousa, and came to Portugal; xxvhis petition with regard to the increase of his palace stipend had already been sent to D. Manuel; but D. Pedro de Sousa having written to the king of Magellan having left Azamor without leave of absence, and of the complaints made about the cattle, the king refused to receive Magellan, and commanded him to return at once to Azamor, and there give himself up as he was accused. When he arrived there, as Barros says, either because he was free from blame, or, as was mostly asserted, because the frontier officers of Azamor, in order not to vex him, would not accuse him, he received a sentence of acquittal, and returned with it to Portugal; but the king always bore ill-will to him, and, Magellan’s requests not being granted, he set about that business of which he had written to his friend Francisco Serrano, who was in Maluco.

After Magellan had disnaturalised himself, he took refuge in Spain, accompanied by the astrologer Ruy Faleiro, and having arrived at Seville on the 20th of October, 1517, he entered upon negotiations with the ministers of Charles V; and the King of Portugal did his utmost, through his agents, to thwart him; Osorio says that the king would have succeeded in dissuading Charles V from employing Magellan, had not the Spanish nobles persuaded him not to lose such an opportunity of increasing the Spanish empire. Charles V then ordered ships to be provided for Magellan, by which he might discover a new way to the east.

Here follows an abstract of documents, copies of which are contained in the Torre do Tombo, relating to the appointment of Magellan, and the privileges and xxvipowers conferred upon him: these documents are dated in the spring of 1518, more than a year before Magellan sailed; and it appears that delay was caused partly through the procrastination of the Spanish authorities in Seville, who were charged with equipping the fleet, and partly by the intrigues of the agents of the King of Portugal. These intrigues appear to have been partially successful, and to have caused delay. A final order for the departure of Magellan was given in Barcelona, April 19th, 1519. The original of this document is preserved in the Lisbon archives, and it was probably carried out with the fleet, and fell into the possession of the Portuguese in the Moluccas after Magellan’s death; a translation of this order is given below, and the text is in the Appendix.

After this document, translations are given of two letters (the text of which is given in the Appendix) from Alvaro da Costa, the Portuguese ambassador in Spain, and from Sebastian Alvarez, the Portuguese factor, about the efforts made by them to prevent Magellan’s expedition. M. Ferdinand Denis, in the Biographie Universelle, mentions that Alvaro da Costa is said to have pushed his zeal to the extremity of wishing to assassinate Magellan, and even his poor associate, Ruy Faleiro; this, with regard to the latter, seems hardly probable, judging from Costa’s own letter. Navarrete states that the Portuguese agents succeeding in exciting the mob of Seville against Magellan on the 22nd of October, 1518, under the empty pretext that he was substituting the arms of Portugal for those of Castile in his ships. Faria y xxviiSousa, in his Europa Portuguese, tom. ii, pt. iv, cap. i, p. 543, says:

Another letter, also dated Valladolid, March 22nd, 1518, and signed by the king, and the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, and signed at the back by Joanes Beijamanse, Fonseca Archiepiscopus, Episcopus, registered, Johan de Samana, Guillermo Chancellor, confers upon Magellan the power of deciding and executing short and summary justice by sea or land in case of suits or disputes arising in the fleet.

Another royal letter of the same date as the above xxxiiorders the officers of the India House to provide Magellan with five ships, crews, provisions, etc., according to the memorial which is signed by our chancellor of Bargonha and by the Archbishop of Rosano and Bishop of Burgos; and bids them use all dispatch.

Another royal letter, dated Aranda, 17th of April, 1518, to Magellan and Ruy Faleiro, says that if, after they shall have sailed, either or both of them should die, and that they should have given to the people in the fleet instructions and orders which should be necessary for the discovery; and if they, profiting by them, should discover the isles and parts which they were going to discover, then their heirs and successors should enjoy the favours and privileges contained in the said capitulations.

The document then states that Magellan and Ruy Faleiro having presented the capitulations and letters and royal orders of his highness to the said judges, they summoned and required them to fulfil them according to their contents, and they requested this in the presence of the witnesses, Francisco de Santa Cruz, alguazil Lorenzo Pinelo, and Francisco de Collantes, porter of the Audiencia of the said House. Then the judges took the letters in their hands, and kissed them, and put them on their heads, as the orders of their king, and natural sovereign, whom may God suffer to live and reign many years; and they would answer more at length in complying with the orders. Witnesses the above-named.

After that, on Monday, at the Audiencia de la Nona, on the thirty-first day of May of 1518, the said judges, xxxiiiDr. Sancho de Matienzo and the contador Juan Lopez de Ricalde, appeared before me, the said Juan Gutierrez Calderon, the above-mentioned clerk and notary, and presented an answer signed with their names to the presentation made by the Portuguese captains of the royal orders and letters. And this reply is as follows.

The said judges state, in reply, that the king’s letters order them to provide five ships, and men and provisions as may be necessary, in conformity with a memorial which the captains bring, signed by the great Chancellor of Burgundy and by the very Reverend Archbishop of Rosano and Bishop of Burgos, which said memorial up to this time has not been shown to us, and without it we cannot undertake anything; so let his Highness send us orders according to that the said despatch signed, as has been said, by the chancellor and bishop; and we are ready to fulfil the orders which his Highness sends, having at the time moneys of his Highness in our power. This they said, and gave as their answers, and signed it with their names, Doctor Matienzo, Juan Lopez de Ricalde.

Magellan and Ruy Faleiro asked from Juan Gutierres Calderon, Clerk and Notary Public, a certificate and legalised copy of what had passed for the conservation of their rights, which he accordingly gave him, dated on the said day and month (31st May) of 1518.

The letter, the text of which is given in the Appendix No. iii, the original of which appears to have fallen into the hands of the Portuguese at the Moluccas, is as follows:

Letter of Alvaro da Costa, giving an Account to the King Dom Manuel of what passed with the King of Castile, to dissuade him from the discovery which he determined to order the execution of, by Fernan de Magalhaes.

Letter from Sebastian Alvarez, Factor of Dom Manuel, to the King, dated Seville, July 18, 1519.

The long interval which elapsed before the example set by Magellan was followed by Drake and Van Noort (for the expedition of the Comendador Loaysa in 1527, and two others having failed, this voyage was not again attempted in those times by the Spaniards) is a proof that greater hardihood was displayed in Magellan’s voyage than in those of Columbus and Gama; and the fortitude and constancy of Magellan appear strongly from the foregoing despatches, since in addition to the physical difficulties of his enterprise, he had to struggle against intrigues, jealousy, and the alternate upbraiding and cajolery of the King of Portugal’s agents. The despatch of Sebastian Alvarez to Dom Manuel, though biassed as it naturally is, shows that whatever he and the Portuguese of that day thought of Magellan’s design, he himself did not consider that he was doing anything injurious to his king or country, and Camoens, though he repeats the hackneyed accusation of disloyalty against Magellan, yet boasts of his achievements as a lasting honour to Portugal, in the following lines:

The poet of the Lusiad, who had said that the Muses sang of Gama unwillingly, here concludes his praises of Magellan with a promise to the Portuguese of ever renewed praise—a promise which will be fulfilled by posterity whenever the character and enterprise of Magellan are compared with those of his contemporaries; for whilst the cruelty and violence of Gama, and the difficulty his companions had in restraining him, were very serious defects in his character, Magellan gave xlviiimany noble examples of the opposite virtues and of other qualities of a very high order. His conduct on the occasion of the shipwreck near the Maldive Islands has been already described; the clemency with which he tempered justice when he put down the mutiny in Port St. Julian—a mutiny which Sebastian Alvarez, the King of Portugal’s agent, would appear to have been privy to, if indeed he did not prepare it, shows great self-restraint, and the whole of his conduct in the islands of Sebu and Matan, where he fell, defending the retreat of his companions, is more like that of the knights errant of an earlier date, than that of his contemporaries. Pigafetta, who was with him at his death, was deeply affected by it, and recounts his many virtues and qualities in an appeal to the Grand Master of Rhodes not to allow Magellan’s memory to be lost.

Most of the captains of ships at this time, and long afterwards, were soldiers put into naval commands; but Magellan, besides being a military officer, was also an experienced and learned navigator, and Pigafetta’s Treatise of Navigation may be taken as the result of Magellan’s instruction in that art.⁠[22] The xlix voyage of Columbus, which employed only thirty-three days out and twenty-eight homeward-bound, cannot be compared with that of Magellan, and if Columbus was as good a seaman and navigator as Magellan, yet a certain superiority must be allowed to the latter on account of his numerous military exploits in India and Africa.

I have not been able to ascertain who was Juan Serrano, who remained in the hands of the Sebu islanders after the massacre of Duarte Barbosa and his companions, and in Navarrete he is sometimes spoken of as an inhabitant of Seville and sometimes as a Portuguese. Pigafetta speaks of him as a Spaniard, but the despatch of Sebastian Alvarez leaves no doubt as to his being Portuguese, which otherwise might have been inferred from his being a compadre of Joan Carvalho. It is probable that he was a relation of Francisco Serrano, the friend and correspondent of Magellan, who died in Ternate about eight months before the arrival at Tidore of Magellan’s ships: it is also probable that he was the same Juan Serrano whose voyage with Francisco Serrano in 1512 from Malacca to the Java Seas is related in the book of Duarte Barbosa on the coasts of East Africa and Malabar (Hakluyt Society).

Sebastian de Elcano, a native of Guetaria in Biscay, had the good fortune to be in command of the Victoria on her return to Seville, and though his name is not mentioned during the voyage in any of the narratives, he reaped the principal rewards of the expedition, and on his arrival at Court, received from lCharles V a pension of five hundred gold crowns, and was authorised to take for arms a globe, with the motto “Primus me circumdedisti”. Amongst other sonnets to his memory, are the following:

This volume contains six contemporary accounts of Magellan’s voyage for the circumnavigation of the globe: one was written by a Genoese pilot of the fleet; the second by a Portuguese companion of Duarte Barbosa, which has been preserved by Ramusio; the third by Antonio Pigafetta of Vicenza; and the fourth is a letter of Maximilian Transylvanus, a Secretary of the Emperor Charles V; the fifth a log book of a pilot named Francisco Albo or Alvaro; the sixth is taken from Gaspar Correa’s Lendas da India.

Of Pigafetta’s account, four manuscripts are known, three of them are in French, and one in Italian. Two of the French manuscripts are in the Bibliothèque Impériale of Paris; one of these, numbered li5,650, is on paper; the other, numbered 68, of the Lavallière collection, is on vellum, and is richly illuminated; it does not contain the Brazilian and Patagonian vocabularies given in No. 5,650, and some rather indecent details are omitted or softened down, which leads to the conclusion that this copy was the one presented by Pigafetta to the Regent, Louise of Savoy. The third French manuscript, and the most complete, was in the possession of M. Beaupré of Nancy till 1855, it then passed into the Solar collection, and in 1861 was sold for 1,650 francs to a London book-seller, and, later, was bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps at Libri’s sale.

M. Rd. Thomassy published a memoir in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie of Paris, September 1843, in which he examines the question whether Pigafetta composed his account of his voyage in French. He has come to a conclusion (which M. Ferdinand Denis has also adopted) in favour of the French manuscript having been originally composed by Pigafetta, and not translated from the Italian, on the grounds of its being addressed to the grand master of Rhodes, Villiers de l’Ile-Adam, who was himself a Frenchman, and that Pigafetta had recently been made a Knight of Rhodes; and that Pigafetta used the French language for the device which he set up over his paternal house in the street of la Luna in Vicenza, “Il n’y a pas de roses sans épines”; that other Italians of the time had written in French; that the Italian MS. of the Ambrosian Library of Milan, published in 1800 by Amoretti, is in bad Italian, mixed with Venetian and liiSpanish, so that M. Amoretti saw in it rather a copy than the original of the relation presented to the Pope or to the Grand Master; these defects M. Amoretti removed by translating them into good Italian: also that the French edition of Fabre, though stated to be a translation from the Italian, was used in 1536 to publish an Italian edition; whereas if an Italian edition had existed before, that of Fabre would not have been required. Fabre’s edition, moreover, is very imperfect; and he puts what Pigafetta says in the third person. M. Thomassy concludes, therefore, that the version of Fabre was made from some Italian resumé.

In addition to the motives urged by M. Thomassy for believing that Pigafetta himself composed the French manuscripts, there is evidence of it in the phraseology of the MSS.; had these been translations from the Italian, every word would have been translated into French, whereas, instead of that, we find a great many Italian words used, especially in the vocabularies, also some Italian idioms. It was natural that Pigafetta, if he had not the French word at command, should write down an Italian one, such as “calcagno” for “talon”.

For the same reason, I should be inclined to believe that the Ambrosian MS., with its mixture of Spanish words, was composed by Pigafetta himself, in whom such a mixture of words would be more natural after so long a voyage in a Spanish ship, than in an Italian scribe.

That Pigafetta did compose a work in Italian appears liiifrom a document in the archives of Venice, containing a petition of Pigafetta to the Doge and Council of Venice, dated August 5th, 1524, applying for leave to print his account of his circumnavigation of the globe, and to have a privilege for twenty years. This is followed by a statement that the prayer of the petition was granted by the Doge and 152 of the Council, six members of which voted against Pigafetta. The text of this document is given in the Appendix; it was communicated to me by the Geographical Society of Paris, which has published a translation of it in its bulletin of February 1869.

Until M. Amoretti published his edition of Pigafetta from the Ambrosian MS. in 1800, there never was a complete or an original Italian edition of Pigafetta; for the quarto edition of 1536 (Grenville, 6,977), without name of author or printer, is, as is mentioned in the address to the reader, a translation from the edition of Jacques Fabre. This edition of 1536 had a privilege for fourteen years; it must be by Ramusio, for the address to the reader is almost the same as his more abridged “discourse” in his collection of travels of Venice, 1550, and Venice, 1613, folio, 346 v. In Ramusio’s collection, and in the edition of 1536, Pigafetta’s voyage is preceded by the letter of Maximilian Transylvanus, Secretary of the Emperor Charles V, to the Cardinal of Salzburg. This letter of Maximilian’s is not quite the same in the two books in the division of the paragraphs; in Pigafetta’s voyage there is greater similarity, and the paragraphs are numbered lividentically in the edition of 1536 and in Fabre’s French edition. Ramusio says:

This book of Don Pietro’s having been lost, says Ramusio, he thought of translating the Latin letter of Maximilian, and of adding to it the summary of a book which was written by the valiant knight of Rhodes, Messer Antonio Pigafetta, a Vicentine; and this said book was abridged and translated into French by a lvvery learned philosopher, named Messer Jacopo Fabri, of Paris, at the instance of the most serene mother of the most Christian King Francis, Madame Louisa the Regent, to whom the aforesaid knight had made a present of one [of his books].

This French epitome by Fabre is a small octavo of seventy-six leaves, in Gothic type (Grenville, 7,065); it is without date; the title is as follows:

Simon de Colines, the printer, issued his last work in 1546, and his heirs are mentioned on a work of 1550.⁠[24]

In 1801, a French translation of Amoretti’s edition of Pigafetta was published by H. J. Jansen, who added a translation from the German of M. de Murr’s Notice on the Chevalier M. Behaim. In this translation, some liberties have been taken with the text; and it is to be regretted that this translation was published instead of the French text contained in the two MSS. of the Bibliothèque Impériale; these, even were they not Pigafetta’s own composition, possess a philological interest of their own.

An English translation of Pigafetta by Richard lviWren, London, 1625, is mentioned in l’Art de Vérifier les Dates, depuis 1770, folio, vol. iii, p. 333. There is no copy of this in the British Museum Library.

The other contemporaneous account of Magellan’s voyage, a translation of which precedes that of Pigafetta’s account, is by a Genoese pilot. This pilot probably was named Mestre Bautista, since Barros mentions him as a Genoese who, on the death of the pilot Joan Carvalho, was charged with piloting the Trinidad, which got as far as Ternate. Correa (tom. ii, p. 632) also mentions that Mestre Joan Bautista was made captain instead of Carvalho, after he had allowed the son of the King of Luzon to escape at Borneo. Of this account, three manuscripts exist; all three are in Portuguese. From two of these MSS. a printed edition was published in the Noticias Ultramarinas, No. ii, by the Academy of History of Lisbon. The text which served for this publication was a MS. which belonged to the library of the monks of S. Bento da Saude; and it has been supplemented and annotated from another manuscript, which is in the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris, numbered 7158⁄33, a copy of which was made by Dr. Antonio Nunes de Carvalho in 1831. A third manuscript of this pilot’s narrative exists in the library of the Academy of History of Madrid, No. 30, Est. 11a, grada 2a.

After the Genoese pilot’s narrative follows that of an anonymous Portuguese taken from Ramusio.

The letter of Maximilian, the Transylvanian, follows Pigafetta’s account; this has been translated from the Latin by Mr. James Baynes, of the Printed Book lviiDepartment of the British Museum. After that comes the log-book of Francisco Albo or Alvaro, translated from a MS. in the British Museum, which is a copy from a document in Simancas. This log-book has been printed, in Navarrete’s collection, apparently from the British Museum MS., and it appears to have escaped the notice of Captain Burney. It is especially valuable because it helps to fix the position of the “Unfortunate Islands”, and because it establishes that the Island of Amsterdam in the Southern Indian Ocean to the North of St. Paul’s Island, the discovery of which is usually attributed to the Dutch navigator Vlaming, in 1696, was discovered March 18th, 1522, by the Victoria, the first ship which went round the world.

There is a confusion as to the names of these two islands, which are rightly named in the Admiralty and other sea charts, but which are wrongly named in common English maps, which place St. Paul to the north of Amsterdam. The southern island is bare and arid, and the northern island has bushes and a high peak visible eighteen or twenty leagues off. Francisco Albo says this Island had no trees; but the Victoria may not have approached near enough to see the bushes, which, from the views of the island, appear to be near its base; it is clear that the Victoria approached the northern island, or Amsterdam, because not only does the latitude given by F. Albo differ from that of modern observation by only eight miles, but also because from the course steered by the Victoria on leaving this island, she must have sighted the lviiinorthern island had the one discovered by her been the southern one. Plates are given of these two islands, taken from Valentyn’s Dutch work on the East Indies. A French Geographical Dictionary sets up a claim to these islands as belonging to the government of the Isle of France or Mauritius; it does not say on what grounds; but if ever they were dependencies of Mauritius, they will have passed with that island into the possession of Great Britain.

Correa’s narrative contains two details not given in any of the other accounts, viz., the warning given to Magellan at Tenerife by Diogo Barbosa of the intended mutiny; and the incident of the Portuguese ship speaking the Victoria off the Cape of Good Hope. Correa’s having been in India at the time, and relating what he heard from the Portuguese, would account for his misplacing the death of Magellan as having happened at the same time as that of Duarte Barbosa. His narrative also contains additional evidence of the violent animosity of the Portuguese against Magellan, though he himself is more favourable than other Portuguese historians to him who is one of the most renowned of their countrymen, as he undoubtedly is the greatest of ancient and modern navigators.

He sailed from Seville on the 10th day of August of the said year, and remained at the bar until the 21st day of September, and as soon as he got outside, he steered to the south-west to make the island of Tenerife, and they reached the said island on the day of St. Michael, which was the 29th of September.⁠[28] Thence he made his course to fetch the Cape Verde islands, and they passed between the islands and the Cape without sighting either the one or the other. Having got as far as this neighbourhood, he shaped his course so as to make for Brazil, and as soon as they sighted the other coast of Brazil, he steered to the south-east⁠[29] along the coast as far as Cabo-frio, which is in twenty-three degrees south latitude; and from this cape he steered to the west, a matter of thirty leagues, to make the Rio de Janeiro, which is in the same latitude as Cabo-frio, and they entered the said Rio on the day of St. Lucy, which was the 13th December, in which place they took in wood, and they remained there until the first octave of Christmas, which was the 26th of December of the same year.

They sailed from this Rio de Janeiro on the 26th December, and navigated along the coast to make the Cape of St. Mary, which is in thirty-four degrees and two-thirds; as soon as they sighted it, they made their course west-north-west, thinking they would find a passage for their voyage, and they found that they had got into a great river of fresh water, to which they gave the name of river of St. Christopher, and it is in thirty-four degrees, and they remained in it till the 2nd of February, 1520.⁠[30]

He sailed from this river of St. Christopher on the 2nd of the said month of February; they navigated along the said coast, and further on to the south they discovered a point which is in the same river more to the south, to which they gave the name of Point St. Antony; it is in thirty-six degrees, hence they ran to the south-west, a matter of twenty-five leagues, and made another cape which they named Cape St. Apelonia, which is in thirty-six degrees; thence they navigated to the west-south-west to some shoals,⁠[31] which they named Shoals of the Currents, which are in thirty-nine degrees; and thence they navigated out to sea, and lost sight of land for a matter of two or three days, when they again made for the land, and they came to a bay, which they entered, and ran within it the whole day, thinking that there was an outlet for Maluco, and when night came they found that it was quite closed up, and in the same night they again stood out by the way which they had come in. This bay is in thirty-four degrees;⁠[32] they name it the island⁠[33] of St. Matthew. They navigated from this island of St. 3Matthew along the coast until they reached another bay, where they caught many sea-wolves and birds; to this they gave the name of “Bay of Labours;”⁠[34] it is in thirty-seven degrees; here they were near losing the flag-ship in a storm. Thence they navigated along the said coast, and arrived on the last day of March of the year 1520 at the Port of St. Julian, which is in forty-nine and one-third degrees,⁠[35] and here they wintered, and found the day a little more or less than seven hours.⁠[36]

In this port three of the ships rose up against the Captain-major, their captains saying that they intended to take him to Castile in arrest, as he was taking them all to destruction. Here, through the exertions of the said Captain-major, and the assistance and favour of the foreigners whom he carried with him, the Captain-major went to the said three ships which were already mentioned, and there the captain of one of them was killed, who was treasurer of the whole fleet, and named Luis de Mendoça; he was killed in his own ship⁠[37] by stabs with a dagger by the chief constable of the fleet, who was sent to do this by Fernando de Magalhāes in a boat with certain men. The said three ships having thus been recovered, five days later Fernando de Magalhāes ordered Gaspar de Queixada to be decapitated and quartered; he was captain of one of the ships,⁠[38] and was one of those who had mutinied.

In this port they refitted the ship. Here the captain-major made Alvaro de Mesquita, a Portuguese,⁠[39] captain of 4one of the ships the captain of which had been killed. There sailed from this port on the 24th of August four ships, for the smallest of the ships had been already lost;⁠[40] he had sent it to reconnoitre, and the weather had been heavy, and had cast it ashore, where all the crew had been recovered along with the merchandise, artillery and fittings of the ship. They remained in this port, in which they wintered, five months and twenty-four days,⁠[41] and they were seventy degrees less ten minutes to the southward.⁠[42]

They sailed on the 24th day of the month of August of the said year from this port of St. Julian and navigated a matter of twenty leagues along the coast, and so they entered a river which was called Santa Cruz, which is in fifty degrees,⁠[43] where they took in goods and as much as they could obtain: the crew of the lost ship were already distributed among the other ships, for they had returned by land to where Fernando de Magalhāes was, and they continued collecting the goods which had remained there during August and up to the 18th September, and there they took in water and much fish which they caught in this river; and in the other, where 5they wintered, there were people like savages, and the men are from nine to ten spans in height, very well made; they have not got houses, they only go about from one place to another with their flocks, and eat meat nearly raw: they are all of them archers and kill many animals with arrows, and with the skins they make clothes, that is to say, they make the skins very supple, and fashion them after the shape of the body, as well as they can, then they cover themselves with them, and fasten them by a belt round the waist. When they do not wish to be clothed from the waist upwards, they let that half fall which is above the waist, and the garment remains hanging down from the belt which they have girt round them.⁠[44] They wear shoes which cover them four inches above the ankle, full of straw inside to keep their feet warm. They do not possess any iron, nor any other ingenuity of weapons, only they make the points of their arrows with flints, and so also the knives with which they cut, and the adze and awls with which they cut and stitch their shoes and clothes. They are very agile people, and do no harm, and thus they follow their flocks: wherever night finds them there they sleep; they carry their wives along with them with all the chattels which they possess. The women are very small and carry heavy burdens on their backs; they wear shoes and clothes just like the men. Of these men they obtained three or four and brought them in the ships, and they all died except one, who went to Castile in a ship which went thither.⁠[45]

They sailed from this river of Santa Cruz on the 18th of October:⁠[46] they continued navigating along the coast until 6the 21st day of the same month, October, when they discovered a cape, to which they gave the name of Cape of the Virgins, because they sighted it on the day of the eleven thousand virgins; it is in fifty-two degrees, a little more or less, and from this cape a matter of two or three leagues distance, we found ourselves at the mouth of a strait.⁠[47] We sailed along the said coast within that strait which they had reached the mouth of: they entered in it a little and anchored. Fernando de Magalhāes sent to discover what there was further in, and they found three channels, that is to say, two more in a southerly direction, and one traversing the country in the direction of Maluco, but at that time 7this was not yet known, only the three mouths were seen. The boats went thither, and brought back word, and they set sail and anchored at these mouths of the channels, and Fernando de Magalhāes sent two ships to learn what there was within, and these ships went: one returned to the Captain-major, and the other, of which Alvaro de Mesquita was captain, entered into one of the bays which was to the south, and did not return any more. Fernan de Magalhāes seeing that it did not come back, set sail,⁠[48] and the next day he did not choose to make for the bays, and went to the south, and took another which runs north-west and south-east, and a quarter west and east. He left letters in the place from which he sailed, so that if the other ship returned, it might make the course which he left prescribed. After this they entered into the channel, which at some places has a width of three leagues, and two, and one, and in some places half a league, and he went through it as long as it was daylight, and anchored when it was night: and he sent the boats, and the ships went after the boats, and they brought news that there was an outlet, for they already saw the great sea on the other side; on which account Fernando 8de Magalhāes ordered much artillery to be fired for rejoicing;⁠[49] and before they went forth from this strait they found two islands, the first one larger, and the other nearer towards the outlet is the smaller one: and they went out between these islands and the coast on the southern side, as it was deeper than on the other side. This strait is a hundred leagues in length to the outlet; that outlet and the entrance are in fifty-two degrees latitude.⁠[50] They made a stay in this strait from the 21st October to the 26th of November,⁠[51] 9which makes thirty-six days of the said year of 1520, and as soon as they went out from the strait to sea, they made their course, for the most part, to west-north-west, when they found that their needles varied to the north-west almost two-fourths, and after they had navigated thus for many days, they found an island in a little more or less than eighteen degrees, or nineteen degrees, and also another, which was in from thirteen to fourteen degrees, and this in south latitude;⁠[52] they are uninhabited. They ran on until they reached the line, when Fernan de Magalhāes said that now they were in the neighbourhood of Maluco, as he had information that there were no provisions at Maluco, he said that he would go in a northerly direction as far as ten or twelve degrees, and they reached to as far as thirteen degrees north, and in this latitude they navigated to the west, and a quarter south-west, a matter of a hundred leagues, where on the 6th of March, 1521, they fetched two islands inhabited by many people, and they anchored at one of them, which is in twelve degrees north; and the inhabitants are people of little truth, and they did not take precautions against them until they saw that they were taking away the skiff of the flagship, and they cut the rope with which it was made fast, and took it ashore without their being able to prevent it. They gave this island the name of Thieves’ Island (dos ladrōes).⁠[53]

Fernando de Magalhāes seeing that the skiff was lost, set sail, as it was already night, tacking about until the next day; as soon as it was morning they anchored at the place where they had seen the skiff carried off to, and he ordered two boats to be got ready with a matter of fifty or sixty men, and he went ashore in person, and burned the whole village, and they killed seven or eight persons, between men and women, and recovered the skiff, and returned to the ships; and while they were there they saw forty or fifty paros⁠[54] come, which came from the same land, and brought much refreshments.⁠[55]

Fernan de Magalhāes would not make any further stay, and at once set sail, and ordered the course to be steered west, and a quarter south-west; and so they made land, which is in barely eleven degrees. This land is an island, but he would not touch at this one, and they went to touch at another further on which appeared first.⁠[56] Fernando de Magalhāes sent a boat ashore to observe the nature of the island; when the boat reached land, they saw from the ships two paráos come out from behind the point; then they called back their boat. The people of the paraos seeing that the boat was returning to the ships, turned back the paraos, and the boat reached the ships, which at once set sail for another island very near to this island, which is in ten degrees, and they gave it the name of the island of Good Signs, because they found some gold in it.⁠[57] Whilst 11they were thus anchored at this island, there came to them two paráos, and brought them fowls and cocoa nuts, and told them that they had already seen there other men like them, from which they presumed that these might be Lequios or Mogores;⁠[58] a nation of people who have this name, or Chiis;⁠[59] and thence they set sail, and navigated further on amongst many islands, to which they gave the name of the Valley Without Peril, and also St. Lazarus,⁠[60] and they ran on to another island twenty leagues from that⁠[61] from which they sailed, which is in ten degrees,⁠[62] and came to anchor at another island, which is named Macangor,⁠[63] which is in nine degrees; and in this island they were very well received, and they placed a cross in it.⁠[64] This king conducted them thence a matter of thirty leagues to another island named Cabo,⁠[65] 12which is in ten degrees, and in this island Fernando de Magalhāes did what he pleased with the consent of the country, and in one day eight hundred people became Christian, on which account Fernan de Magalhāes desired that the other kings, neighbours to this one, should become subject to this who had become Christian: and these did not choose to yield such obedience. Fernan de Magalhāes seeing that, got ready one night with his boats, and burned the villages of those who would not yield the said obedience;⁠[66] and a matter of ten or twelve days after this was done he sent to a village about half a league from that which he had burned, which is named Matam, and which is also an island, and ordered them to send him at once three goats, three pigs, three loads of rice, and three loads of millet for provisions for the ships; they replied that of each article which he sent to ask them three of, they would send to him by twos, and if he was satisfied with this they would at once comply, if not, it might be as he pleased, but that they would not give it. Because they did not choose to grant what he demanded of them, Fernan de Magalhāes ordered three boats to be equipped with a matter of fifty or sixty men,⁠[67] and went against the said place, which was on the 28th day of April, in the morning;⁠[68] there they found many people, who might well be as many as three thousand or four thousand men, who fought with such a good will that the said Fernan de Magalhāes was killed there, with six of his men,⁠[69] in the year 1521.

When Fernan de Magalhāes was dead the Christians got back to the ships, where they thought fit to make two captains and governors whom they should obey;⁠[70] and having done this, they took counsel [and decided] that the two captains should go ashore where the people had turned Christians to ask for pilots to take them to Borneo, and this was on the first day of May of the said year; when the two captains went, being agreed upon what had been said, the same people of the country who had become Christians, armed themselves against them, and whilst they reached the shore let them land in security as they had done before. Then they attacked them, and killed the two captains and twenty-six gentlemen,⁠[71] and the other people who remained got back to the boats, and returned to the ships, and finding themselves again without captains they agreed, inasmuch as the principal persons were killed, that one Joam Lopez,⁠[72] who was the chief treasurer, should be captain-major of the fleet, and the chief 14constable of the fleet should be captain of one of the ships; he was named Gonzalo Vaz Despinosa.⁠[73]

Having done this they set sail, and ran about twenty-five leagues with three ships, which they still possessed; they then mustered, and found that they were altogether one hundred and eight men⁠[74] in all these three ships, and many of them were wounded and sick, on which account they did not venture to navigate the three ships, and thought it would be well to burn one of them—the one that should be most suitable for that purpose⁠[75]—and to take into the two ships those that remained: this they did out at sea, out of sight of any land. While they did this many paraos came to speak to them; and navigating amongst the islands, for in that neighbourhood there are a great many, they did not understand one another, for they had no interpreter, for he had been killed with Fernan de Magalhāes. Sailing further on amongst islets they came to anchor at an island which is named Carpyam,[4] where there is gold enough, and this island is in fully eight degrees.

Whilst at anchor in this port of Capyam,⁠[76] they had speech with the inhabitants of the island, and made peace with them, and Carvalho, who was captain-major, gave them the boat of the ship which had been burnt: this island has three⁠[77] islets in the offing; here they took in some refreshments, and sailed further on to west south-west, and fell in with another island, which is named Caram, and is in eleven degrees; from this they went on further to west south-west,⁠[78] 15and fell in with a large island, and ran along the coast of this island to the north-east,⁠[79] and reached as far as nine degrees and a half,⁠[80] where they went ashore one day, with the boats equipped to seek for provisions, for in the ships there was now not more than for eight days. On reaching shore the inhabitants would not suffer them to land, and shot at them with arrows of cane hardened in the fire, so that they returned to the ships.

Seeing this, they agreed to go to another island, where they had had some dealings, to see if they could get some provisions. Then they met with a contrary wind, and going about a league in the direction in which they wished to go, they anchored, and whilst at anchor they saw that people on shore were hailing them to go thither; they went there with the boats, and as they were speaking to those people by signs, for they did not understand each other otherwise, a man at arms, named Joam de Campos, told them to let him go on shore, since there were no provisions in the ships, and it might be that they would obtain some means of getting provisions; and that if the people killed him, they would not lose much with him, for God would take thought of his soul; and also if he found provisions, and if they did not kill him, he would find means for bringing them to the ships: and they thought well of this. So he went on shore, and as soon as he reached it, the inhabitants received him, and took him into the interior the distance of a league, and when he was in the village all the people came to see him, and they gave him food, and entertained him well, especially when 16they saw that he ate pig’s flesh; because in this island they had dealings with the Moors of Borneo, and because the country and people were greedy, they made them neither eat pigs nor bring them up in the country. This country is called Dyguasam,⁠[81] and is in nine degrees.

The said Christian seeing that he was favoured and well treated by the inhabitants, gave them to understand by his signs that they should carry provisions to the ships, which would be well paid for. In the country there was nothing except rice not pounded. Then the people set to pounding rice all the night, and when it was morning they took the rice and the said Christian, and came to the ships, where they did them great honour, and took in the rice and paid them, and they returned on shore. This man being already set on shore, inhabitants of another village, a little further on, came to the ships and told them to go to their village, and that they would give them much provisions for their money; and as soon as the said man whom they had sent arrived, they set sail and went to anchor at the village of those who had come to call them, which was named Vay Palay Cucara Canbam,⁠[82] where Carvalho made peace with the king of the country, and they settled the price of the rice, and they gave them two measures of rice which weighed one hundred and fourteen pounds⁠[83] for three fathoms of linen stuff of Britanny; they took there as much rice as they wanted, and goats and pigs, and whilst they were at this place there came a Moor, who had been in the village 17of Dyguaçam,⁠[84] which belongs to the Moors of Borneo, as has been said above, and after that he went to his country.

While they were at anchor near this village of Diguaçam,⁠[84] there came to them a parao in which there was a negro named Bastiam, who asked for a flag and a passport for the governor of Diguaçam, and they gave him all this and other things as a present. They asked the said Bastiam, who spoke Portuguese sufficiently well, since he had been in Maluco, where he became a Christian, if he would go with them and shew them Borneo; he said he would very willingly, and when the departure arrived he hid himself, and seeing that he did not come, they set sail from this port of Diguaçam on the 21st day of July⁠[85] to seek for Borneo. As they set sail there came to them a parao, which was coming to the port of Diguaçam, and they took it, and in it they took three Moors, who said they were pilots, and that they would take them to Borneo.

Having got these Moors, they steered along this island to the south-west, and fell in with two islands at its extremity, and passed between them; that on the north side is named Bolyna, and that on the south Bamdym.⁠[86] Sailing to the west south-west a matter of fourteen leagues, they fell in with a white bottom, which was a shoal below the water, and the black men they carried with them told them to draw near to the coast of the island, as it was deeper there, and that was more in the direction of Borneo, for from that neighbourhood the island of Borneo could already be sighted. This same day they reached and anchored at some islands, to which they gave the name of islets of St. Paul, which 18was a matter of two and a half or three leagues from the great island of Borneo, and they were in about seven degrees at the south side of these islands. In the island of Borneo there is an exceedingly great mountain, to which they gave the name of Mount St. Paul; and from thence they navigated along the coast of Borneo to the south-west, between an island and the island of Borneo itself; and they went forward on the same course and reached the neighbourhood of Borneo,⁠[87] and the Moors whom they had with them told them that there was Borneo, and the wind did not suffer them to arrive thither, as it was contrary. They anchored at an island which is there, and which may be eight leagues from Borneo.

Close to this island is another which has many myrobolans, and the next day they set sail for the other island, which is nearer to the port of Borneo; and going along thus they saw so many shoals that they anchored, and sent the boats ashore in Borneo, and they took the aforesaid Moorish pilots on shore, and there went a Christian with them; and the boats went to set them on land, from whence they had to go to the city of Borneo, which was three leagues off, and there they were taken before the Shahbender of Borneo, and he asked what people they were, and for what they came in the ships; and they were presented to the King of Borneo with the Christian. As soon as the boats had set the said men on shore, they sounded in order to see if the ships could come in closer: and during this they saw three junks which were coming from the port of Borneo from the said city out to sea, and as soon as they saw the ships they returned inshore: continuing to sound, they found the channel by which the port is entered; they then set sail, and entered this channel, and being within the channel they anchored, and would not go further in until they received a message from 19the shore, which arrived next day with two paraos: these carried certain swivel guns of metal, and a hundred men in each parao, and they brought goats and fowls, and two cows, and figs, and other fruit, and told them to enter further in opposite the islands which were near there, which was the true berth; and from this position to the city there might be three or four leagues. Whilst thus at anchor they established peace, and settled that they should trade in what there was in the country, especially wax, to which they answered that they would willingly sell all that there was in the country for their money. This port of Borneo is in eight degrees.

For the answer thus received from the King they sent him a present by Gonzalo Mendes Despinosa,⁠[88] captain of the ship Victoria, and the King accepted the present, and gave to all of them China stuffs: and when there had passed twenty or twenty-three days that they were there trading with the people of the island, and had got five men on shore in the city itself, there came to anchor at the bar, close to them, five junks, at the hour of vespers, and they remained there that evening and the night until next day in the morning, when they saw coming from the city two hundred paraos, some under sail, others rowing. Seeing in this manner the five junks and the paraos, it seemed to them that there might be treachery, and they set sail for the junks, and as soon as the crews of the junks saw them under sail, they also set sail and made off where the wind best served them; and they overhauled one of the junks with the boats, and took it with twenty-seven men;⁠[89] and the ships went and anchored abreast of the island of the Myrololans, with the junk made fast to the poop of the flagship, and the paraos returned to shore, and when night came there came on a squall from the 20west in which the said junk went to the bottom alongside the flagship, without being able to receive any assistance from it.⁠[90]

Next day in the morning they saw a sail, and went to it and took it; this was a great junk in which the son of the King of Lucam came as captain, and had with him ninety men, and as soon as they took them they sent some of them to the King of Borneo; and they sent him word by these men to send the Christians whom they had got there, who were seven men, and they would give him all the people whom they had taken in the junk; on which account the King sent two men of the seven whom he had got there in a parao, and they again sent him word to send the five men who still remained, and they would send all the people whom they had got from the junk. They waited two days for the answer, and there came no message; then they took thirty men from the junk, and put them into a parao belonging to the junk, and sent them to the King of Borneo, and set sail with fourteen men of those they had taken and three women; and they steered along the coast of the said island to the north-east, returning backwards; and they again passed between the islands and the great island of Borneo, where the flagship grounded on a point of the island, and so remained more than four hours, and the tide turned and it got off, by which it was seen clearly that the tide was of twenty-four hours.⁠[91]

Whilst making the aforesaid course the wind shifted to north-east, and they stood out to sea, and they saw a sail coming, and the ships anchored, and the boats went to it and took it; it was a small junk and carried nothing but 21cocoa-nuts; and they took in water and wood, and set sail along the coast of the island to the north-east, until they reached the extremity of the said island, and met with another small island, where they overhauled the ships. They arrived at this island on the day of our Lady of August, and in it they found a very good point for beaching the ships, and they gave it the name of Port St. Mary of August, and it is in fully seven degrees.

As soon as they had taken these precautions they set sail and steered to the south-west until they sighted the island which is named Fagajam,⁠[92] and this is a course of thirty-eight to forty leagues: and as soon as they sighted this island they steered to the south-west, and again made an island which is called Seloque,⁠[93] and they had information that there were many pearls there: and when they had already sighted that island the wind shifted to a head-wind, and they could not fetch it by the course they were sailing, and it seemed to them that it might be in six degrees. This same night they arrived at the island of Quipe, and ran along it to the south-east, and passed between it and another island called Tamgym,⁠[94] and always running along the coast of the said island, and going thus, they fell in with a parao laden with sago in loaves, which is bread made of a tree which is named cajare,⁠[95] which the people of that country eat as bread. This parao carried twenty-one men, and the chief of them had been in Maluco in the house of Francisco Serram, and having gone further along this island they arrived in sight of some islands which are named Semrryn;⁠[96] they are in five degrees, a little more or less. The inhabitants of this land came to see the ships, and so they had speech of one another, and an old man of these people told them that he would conduct them to Maluco.

In this manner, having fixed a time with the old man, an agreement was made with him, and they gave him a certain price for this; and when the next day came, and they were to depart, the old man intended to escape, and they understood it, and took him and others who were with him, and who also said that they knew pilot’s work, and they set sail; and as soon as the inhabitants saw them go they fitted out to go after them: and of these paraos there did not reach the ships more than two, and these reached so near that they shot arrows into the ships, and the wind was fresh⁠[97] and they could not come up with them. At midnight of that day they sighted some islands, and they steered more towards them; and next day they saw land, which was an island; and at night following that day they found themselves very close to it, and when night fell the wind calmed and the currents drew them very much inshore; there the old pilot cast himself into the sea, and betook himself to land.

Sailing thus forward, after one of the pilots had fled, they sighted another island and arrived close to it, and another Moorish pilot said that Maluco was still further on, and navigating thus, the next day in the morning they sighted three high mountains, which belonged to a nation of people whom they called the Salabos;⁠[98] and then they saw a small island where they anchored to take in some water, and because they feared that in Maluco they would not be allowed to take it in; and they omitted doing so, because the Moorish pilot told them that there were some four hundred⁠[99] men in that island, and that they were all very bad, and might do them some injury, as they were men of little faith; and that he would give them no such advice as to go to that island; and also because Maluco, which they were seeking, was now 23near, and that its kings were good men, who gave a good reception to all sorts of men in their country; and while still in this neighbourhood⁠[100] they saw the islands themselves of Maluco, and for rejoicing they fired all the artillery, and they arrived at the island⁠[101] on the 8th of November of 1521, so that they spent from Seville to Maluco two years, two months and twenty-eight days, for they sailed on the 10th of August of 1519.⁠[102]

As soon as they arrived at the island of Tydor,⁠[103] which is in half a degree, the King thereof did them great honour, which could not be exceeded: there they treated with the King for their cargo, and the King engaged to give them a cargo and whatever there was in the country for their money, and they settled to give for the bahar of cloves fourteen ells of yellow cloth of twenty-seven tem,⁠[104] which are worth in Castile a ducat the ell; of red cloth of the same kind ten ells; they also gave thirty ells of Brittany linen cloth, and for each of these quantities they received a bahar of cloves, likewise for thirty knives eight bahars:⁠[105] having thus settled all the above mentioned prices, the inhabitants of the country gave them information that further on, in another island near, there was a Portuguese man. This island might be two leagues distant, and it was named Targatell;⁠[106] this man was the chief person of Maluco; there we now have got a fortress.⁠[107] They then wrote letters to the said Portuguese, to come and speak with them, to which he answered that he did not dare, 24because the King of the country forbade it; that if they obtained permission from the King he would come at once; this permission they soon got, and the Portuguese came to speak with them.⁠[108] They gave him an account of the prices which they had settled, at which he was amazed, and said that on that account the King had ordered him not to come, as they did not know the truth about the prices of the country; and whilst they were thus taking in cargo there arrived the King of Baraham,⁠[109] which is near there, and said that he wished to be a vassal of the King of Castile, and also that he had got four hundred bahars of cloves, and that he had sold it to the King of Portugal, and that they had bought it, but that he had not yet delivered it, and if they wished for it, he would give it all to them; to which the captains answered that if he brought it to them, and came with it, they would buy it, but otherwise not. The King, seeing that they did not wish to take the cloves, asked them for a flag and a letter of safe conduct, which they gave him, signed by the captains of the ships.

While they were thus waiting for the cargo, it seemed to them, from the delay in the delivery, that the King was preparing some treachery against them, and the greater part of the ships’ crews made an uproar and told the captains to go, as the delays which the King made were for nothing else than treachery: as it seemed to them all that it might be so, they were abandoning everything, and were intending to depart; and being about to unfurl the sails, the King, who 25had made the agreement with them, came to the flagship and asked the captain why he wanted to go, because that which he had agreed upon with him he intended to fulfil it as had been settled. The captain replied that the ships’ crews said they should go and not remain any longer, as it was only treachery that was being prepared against them. To this the King answered that it was not so, and on that account he at once sent for his Koran, upon which he wished to make oath that nothing such should be done to them. They at once brought him this Koran, and upon it he made oath, and told them to rest at ease with that. At this the crews were set at rest, and he promised them that he would give them their cargo by the 15th December 1521, which he fulfilled within the said time without being wanting in anything.

When the two ships were already laden and about to unfurl their sails, the flagship⁠[110] sprung a large leak, and the King of the country learning this, he sent them twenty-five divers⁠[111] to stop the leak, which they were unable to do. They settled that the other ship should depart, and that this one should again discharge all its cargo, and unload it; and as they could not stop the leak, that they [the people of the country] should give them all that they might be in need of. This was done, and they discharged the cargo of the flagship; and when the said ship was repaired, they took in her cargo, and decided on making for the country of the Antilles, and the course from Maluco to it was 2,000 leagues a little more or less. The other ship, which set sail first, left on the 21st of December of the said year, and went out to sea for Timor, and made its course behind Java, 2,055 leagues to the Cape of Good Hope.⁠[112]

They refitted the ship, and took in the cargo in four months and sixteen days: they sailed on the 6th of April of the year 1522, and took their course for the mainland of the Antilles by the strait through which they had come; and at first they navigated to the North, until they came out from the islands of Ternate and Tymor;⁠[113] afterwards they navigated along the island of Betachina, ten or eleven leagues to the North-east;⁠[114] after that they steered about twenty leagues to the North-east, and so arrived at an island, which is named Doyz,⁠[115] and is in three and a half degrees South latitude at its South-eastern side: from this place they navigated three or four leagues eastwards, and sighted two islands, one large and the other small; the large one was named Porquenampello,⁠[116] and passed between it and Batechina, which lay on their starboard side. They reached a cape, to which they gave the name Cape of Palms, because they sighted it on the vigil of Palms. This cape is in two and a half degrees: thence they steered to the South to make Quimar,⁠[117] which is land belonging to the King of Tydor, and the said King had ordered that they should receive whatever there was in the country for their money, and there they took pigs and goats, and fowls and cocoa-nuts and hava:⁠[118] they remained in this port eight or nine days. This port of Camarfya⁠[119] is in one and a quarter degree.

They sailed from this port on the 20th⁠[120] of April, and steered for about seventeen leagues,⁠[121] and came out of the channel of the island of Batechina and the island Charam;⁠[122] and as soon as they were outside, they saw that the said island of Charam⁠[123] ran to the South-east a good eighteen or twenty leagues, and it was not their course, for their direction was to the East⁠[124] and a quarter North-east; and they navigated in the said course some days, and always found the winds very contrary for their course. On the 3rd of May they made two small islands, which might be in five degrees more or less, to which they gave the name of islands of St. Antony.⁠[125] Thence they navigated further on to the North-east, and arrived at an island which is named Cyco,⁠[126] which is in fully nineteen degrees, and they made this island on the 11th of July.⁠[127] From this island they took a man, whom they carried away with them, and they navigated further on, tacking about with contrary winds, until they reached forty-two degrees North latitude.

When they were in this neighbourhood, they were short of bread, wine, meat, and oil; they had nothing to eat only water and rice, without other provisions; and the cold was great, and they had not sufficient covering, the crews began to die, and seeing themselves in this state, they decided on putting back in the direction of Maluco, which they at once carried into effect. When at a distance of five hundred leagues from it, they desired to make the island which is 28named Quamgragam,⁠[128] and as they sighted it at night, they did not choose to make it; they waited thus till it dawned next day, and they were unable to fetch the said island; and the man whom they carried with them, and whom before they had taken from that island, told them to go further on, and they would make three islands, where there was a good port, and this which the black man said, was in order to run away at them, as indeed he did run away. On arriving at these three islands, they fetched them with some danger, and anchored in the middle of them in fifteen fathoms. Of these islands, the largest was inhabited by twenty persons between men and women: this island is named Pamo;⁠[129] it is in twenty degrees more or less: here they took in rain-water, as there was no other in the country. In this island the black man⁠[130] ran away. Thence they sailed to make the land of Camafo, and as soon as they sighted it they had calms, and the currents carried them away from the land; and afterwards they had a little wind, and they made for the land, but could not fetch it; they then went to anchor between the islands of Domi and Batechina, and while at anchor, a parao passed by them with some men who belonged to the King of an island named Geilôlo,⁠[131] and they gave them news that the Portuguese were in Maluco making a fortress. Learning this, they at once sent the clerk of the ship with certain men⁠[132] to the captain-major of those Portuguese, who was named Antonio de Bryto, to ask him to come and bring the ship to the place where they were; because the crew of the ship had mostly died, and the rest were sick, and could not navigate the ship. As soon as Antonio de Bryto saw the 29letter and message, he sent down Dom Gonzalo⁠[133] Amriquiz, captain of the ship Sam Jorge,⁠[134] and also a fusta with some country parāos, and they went thus in search of the ship, and having found it, they brought it to the fortress, and whilst they were discharging its cargo, there came a squall from the north,⁠[135] which cast it on shore. Where this ship turned to put back to Maluco was a little more or less than 1050 or 1100 leagues from the island.

This was transcribed from the paper-book of a Genoese pilot, who came in the said ship, who wrote all the voyage as it is here. He went to Portugal in the year 1524 with Dom Amriqui de Menezes.⁠[136] Thanks be to God.

In the name of God and of good salvation. We departed from Seville with five ships on the tenth of August, in the year 1519, to go and discover the Molucca Islands. We commenced our voyage from San Lucar for the Canary Islands, and sailed south-west 960 miles, where we found ourselves at the island of Tenerife, in which is the harbour of Santa Cruz in twenty-eight degrees of north latitude. And from the island of Tenerife we sailed southwards 1680 miles, when we found ourselves in four degrees of north latitude. From these four degrees of north latitude we sailed south-west, until we found ourselves at the Cape of Saint Augustin, which is in eight degrees of south latitude, having accomplished 1200 miles. And from Cape Saint Augustin we sailed south and by south-west 864 miles, where we found ourselves in twenty degrees of south latitude. From twenty degrees of south latitude, being at sea, we sailed 1500 miles south-west, when we found ourselves near the river, whose mouth is 108 miles wide, and lies in thirty-five degrees of the said south latitude. We named it the river of Saint Christopher. From this river we sailed 1638 miles south-west by west, where we found ourselves at the point of the Lupi Marini, which is in forty-eight degrees of south latitude. And from the point of the Lupi Marini we sailed south-west 350 miles, where we found ourselves in the harbour of Saint Julian, and stayed there five months waiting for the sun to return towards us, because in June and July it appeared for only four hours each day. From this harbour of Saint Julian, which is in fifty degrees, we departed on the 24th of August, 1520, and sailed westward a hundred miles, where we found a river to 31which we gave the name of River of Santa Cruz, and there we remained until the 18th of October. This river is in fifty degrees. We departed thence on the 18th of October, and sailed along the coast 378 miles south-west by west, where we found ourselves in a strait, to which we gave the name Strait of Victoria, because the ship Victoria was the first that had seen it: some called it the Strait of Magalhaens, because our captain was named Fernando de Magalhaens. The mouth of this strait is in fifty-three degrees and a half, and we sailed through it 400 miles to the other mouth, which is in the same latitude of fifty-three degrees and a half. We emerged from this strait on the 27th of November, 1520, and sailed between west and north-west 9858 miles, until we found ourselves upon the equinoctial line. In this course we found two uninhabited islands, the one of which was distant from the other 800 miles. To the first we gave the name of Saint Peter, and to the other the island of the Tiburones. Saint Peter is in eighteen degrees, the island of the Tiburones in fourteen degrees of south latitude. From the equinoctial line we sailed between west and north-west 2046 miles, and discovered several islands between ten and twelve degrees of north latitude. In these islands there were many naked people as well men as women, we gave the islands the name of the Ladrones, because the people had robbed our ship: but it cost them very dear. I shall not relate further the course that we made, because we lengthened it not a little. But I will tell you that to go direct from these islands of the Ladrones to the Moluccas it is necessary to sail south-west a 1000 miles, and there occur many islands, to which we gave the name of the Archipelago of Saint Lazarus. A little further there are the islands of the Moluccas, of which there are five, namely, Ternate, Tidor, Molir, Machiam, Bachian. In Ternate the Portuguese had built a very strong castle before I left. From the Molucca Islands to the islands of Banda there are three hundred miles, and one goes thither by different 32courses, because there are many islands in between, and one must sail by sight. In these islands until you reach the islands of Banda, which are in four degrees and a half of south latitude, there are collected from thirty to forty thousand cantaros of nutmegs annually, and there is likewise collected much mastic; and if you wish to go to Calicut you must always sail amidst the islands as far as Malacca, which is distant from the Moluccas 2000 miles, and from Malacca to Calicut are 2000 miles more. From Calicut to Portugal there are 14,000 miles. If from the islands of Banda you wish to round the Cape of Good Hope, you must sail between west and south-west until you find yourself in thirty-four degrees and a half of south latitude, and from there you sail westward, always keeping a good look-out at the prow not to run aground on the said Cape of Good Hope or its neighbourhood. From this Cape of Good Hope one sails north-west by west 2400 miles, and there finds the island of Saint Helena, where Portuguese ships go to take in water and wood, and other things. This island is in sixteen degrees south latitude, and there is no habitation except that of a Portuguese man, who has but one hand and one foot, no nose, and no ears, and is called Fornam-lopem.

Sailing 1600 miles north-west from this island of Saint Helena you will find yourself upon the equinoctial line: from which line you will sail 3534 miles north-west by north, until you find yourself in thirty-nine degrees north latitude. And if you wish to go from these thirty-nine degrees to Lisbon you will sail 950 miles eastward, where you will find the islands of the Azores, of which there are seven, namely, Terceira, San Jorge, Pico, Fayal, Graciosa, on the east, the island of Saint Michael, and the island of Saint Mary, all are between thirty-seven and forty degrees of north latitude. From the island of Terceira you will then sail eastward 1100 miles, where you will find yourself on the land of Lisbon.

Since there are several curious persons (very illustrious and very reverend lord) who not only are pleased to listen to and learn the great and wonderful things which God has permitted me to see and suffer in the long and perilous navigation, which I have performed (and which is written hereafter), but also they desire to learn the methods and fashions of the road which I have taken in order to go thither, [and who do] not grant firm belief to the end unless they are first well advised and assured of the commencement. Therefore, my lord, it will please you to hear that finding myself in Spain in the year of the Nativity of our Lord, one thousand five hundred and nineteen, at the court of the most serene king⁠[138] of the Romans, with the reverend lord, Mons. Francis Cheregato,⁠[139] then apostolic proto-notary, and ambassador of the Pope Leon the Tenth, who, through his virtue, afterwards arrived at the bishoprick of Aprutino and the principality of Theramo, and knowing both by the reading of many books and by the report of many lettered and well-informed persons who conversed with the said proto-notary, the very great and awful things of the ocean, I deliberated, with the favour 36of the Emperor and the above-named lord, to experiment and go and see with my eyes a part of those things. By which means I could satisfy the desire of the said lords, and mine own also. So that it might be said that I had performed the said voyage, and seen well with my eyes the things hereafter written.

Now in order to decypher the commencement of my voyage (very illustrious lord); having heard that there was in the city of Seville, a small armade to the number of five ships, ready to perform this long voyage, that is to say, to find the islands of Maluco, from whence the spices come: of which armade the captain-general was Fernand de Magaglianes, a Portuguese gentleman, commander of St. James of the Sword, who had performed several voyages in the ocean sea (in which he had behaved very honourably as a good man), I set out with many others in my favour from Barcelona, where at the time the Emperor was, and came by sea as far as Malaga, and thence I went away by land until I arrived at the said city of Seville. There I remained for the space of three months, waiting till the said armade was in order and readiness to perform its voyage. And because (very illustrious lord) that on the return from the said voyage, on going to Rome towards the holiness of our Holy Father,⁠[140] I found your lordship at Monterosa,⁠[141] where of your favour you gave me a good reception, and afterwards gave me to understand that you desired to have in writing the things which God of His grace had permitted me to see in my said voyage; therefore to satisfy and accede to your desire,⁠[142] I have reduced into this small book the principal things, in the best manner that I have been able.

Finally (very illustrious lord), after all provisions had been made, and the vessels were in order, the captain-general, a 37discreet and virtuous man, careful of his honour, would not commence his voyage without first making some good and wholesome ordinances, such as it is the good custom to make for those who go to sea. Nevertheless he did not entirely declare the voyage which he was going to make, so that his men should not from amazement and fear be unwilling to accompany him on so long a voyage, as he had undertaken in his intention. Considering the great and impetuous storms⁠[143] which are on the ocean sea, where I wished to go; and for another reason also, that is to say that the masters and captains of the other ships of his company did not love him: of this I do not know the reason, except by cause of his, the captain-general, being Portuguese, and they were Spaniards or Castilians, who for a long time have been in rivalry and ill will with one another. Notwithstanding this all were obedient to him. He made his ordinances such as those which follow, so that during the storms at sea, which often come on by night and day, his ships should not go away and separate from one another. These ordinances he published and made over in writing to each master of the ships, and commanded them to be observed and inviolably kept, unless there were great and legitimate excuses, and appearance of not having been able to do otherwise.

Firstly, the said captain-general willed that the vessel in which he himself was should go before the other vessels, and that the others should follow it; therefore he carried by night on the poop of his ship a torch or faggot of burning wood, which they called farol, which burned all the night, so that his ships should not lose sight of him. Sometimes he set a lantern, sometimes a thick cord of reeds⁠[144] was lighted, which was called trenche.⁠[145] This is made of reeds well soaked in the water, and much beaten, then they are dried in the sun or in the smoke, and it is a thing very suitable for such a matter. When the captain had made one of 38his signals to his people, they answered in the same way. In that manner they knew whether the ships were following and keeping together or not. And when he wished to take a tack on account of the change of weather, or if the wind was contrary, or if he wished to make less way, he had two lights shown; and if he wished the others to lower their small sail,⁠[146] which was a part of the sail attached to the great sail, he showed three lights. Also by the three lights, notwithstanding that the wind was fair for going faster, he signalled that the studding sail should be lowered; so that the great sail might be quicker and more easily struck and furled when bad weather should suddenly set in, on account of some squall⁠[147] or otherwise. Likewise when the captain wished the other ships to lower the sail he had four lights shown, which shortly after he had put out and then showed a single one, which was a signal that he wished to stop there and turn, so that the other ships might do as he did. Withal, when he discovered any land, or shoal, that is to say, a rock at sea, he made several lights be shown or had a bombard fired off. If he wished to make sail, he signalled to the other ships with four lights, so that they should do as he did, and follow him. He always carried this said lantern suspended to the poop of his vessel. Also when he wished the studding sail to be replaced with the great sail, he showed three lights. And to know whether all the ships followed him and were coming together, he showed one light only besides the fanol, and then each of the ships showed another light, which was an answering signal.

Besides the above-mentioned ordinances for carrying on seamanship as is fitting, and to avoid the dangers which may come upon those who do not keep watch, the said captain, who was expert in the things required for navigation, ordered that three watches should be kept at night. The 39first was at the beginning of the night, the second at midnight, and the third towards break of day, which is commonly called La diane, otherwise the star of the break of day. Every night these watches were changed; that is to say, he who had kept the first watch, on the following day kept the second, and he who had kept the second kept the third; and so on they changed continually every night. The said captain commanded that his regulations both for the signals and the watches should be well observed, so that their voyage should be made with greater security. The crews of this fleet were divided into three companies; the first belonged to the captain, the second to the pilot or nochier, and the third to the master. These regulations having been made, the captain-general deliberated on sailing, as follows.

Monday, the day of St. Laurence, the 10th of August, in the year above mentioned, the fleet, provided with what was necessary for it, and carrying crews of different nations, to the number of two hundred and thirty-seven men in all the five ships, was ready to set sail from the mole of Seville; and firing all the artillery, we made sail only on the foremast, and came to the end of a river named Betis, which is now called Guadalcavir. In going along this river we passed by a place named Gioan de Farax, where there was⁠[148] a large population of Moors, and there there was a bridge over the river by which one went to Seville. This bridge was ruined, however there had remained two columns which are at the bottom of the water, on which account it is necessary to have people of the country of experience and knowledge to point out the convenient spot for safely passing between these two columns, from fear of striking against them. Besides that, it is necessary in order to pass safely by this bridge and by other places on this river, that the water should be rather high. After having passed the two 40columns we came to another place named Coria, and passing by many little villages lying along the said river, at last we arrived at a castle, which belongs to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, named St. Lucar, where there is a port from which to enter the ocean sea. It is entered by the east wind and you go out by the west wind. Near there is the cape of St. Vincent, which, according to cosmography, is in thirty-seven degrees of latitude, at twenty miles distance from the said port; and from the aforesaid town to this port by the river there are thirty-five or forty miles. A few days afterwards the captain-general came along the said river with his boat, and the masters of the other ships with him, and we remained some days in this port to supply the fleet with some necessary things. We went every day to hear mass on shore, at a church named Our Lady of Barrameda, towards St. Lucar. There the captain commanded that all the men of the fleet should confess before going on any further, in which he himself showed the way to the others. Besides he did not choose that anyone should bring any married woman, or others to the ships, for several good considerations.

Tuesday, the 20th September of the said year,⁠[149] we set sail from St. Lucar, making the course of the south-west otherwise named Labeiche;⁠[150] and on the twenty-sixth of the said month we arrived at an island of great Canaria, named Teneriphe, which is in twenty-eight degrees latitude; there we remained three days and a half to take in provisions and other things which were wanted. After that we set sail thence and came to a port named Monterose, where we sojourned two days to supply ourselves with pitch, which is a thing necessary for ships. It is to be known that among the other isles which are at the said great Canaria, there is one, where not a drop of water is to be found proceeding from a fountain or a river, only once a day at the hour of 41midday, there descends a cloud from the sky which envelops a large tree which is in this island, and it falls upon the leaves of the tree, and a great abundance of water distils from these leaves, so that at the foot of the tree there is so large a quantity of water that it seems as if there was an ever-running fountain. The men who inhabit this place are satisfied with this water; also the animals, both domestic and wild, drink of it.

Monday, the third of October of the said year, at the hour of midnight, we set sail, making the course auster, which the levantine mariners call Siroc,⁠[151] entering into the ocean sea. We passed the Cape Verd and the neighbouring islands in fourteen-and-a-half degrees, and we navigated for several days by the coast of Guinea or Ethiopia; where there is a mountain called Sierra Leona, which is in eight degrees latitude according to the art and science of cosmography and astrology. Sometimes we had the wind contrary and at other times sufficiently good, and rains without wind. In this manner we navigated with rain for the space of sixty days until the equinoctial line, which was a thing very strange and unaccustomed to be seen, according to the saying of some old men and those who had navigated here several times. Nevertheless, before reaching this equinoctial line we had in fourteen degrees a variety of weather and bad winds, as much on account of squalls as for the head winds and currents which came in such a manner that we could no longer advance. In order that our ships might not perish nor broach to⁠[152] (as it often happens when the squalls come together), we struck our sails, and in that manner we went about the sea hither and thither until the fair weather came. During the calm there came large fishes near the ships which they called Tiburoni (sharks), which have teeth of a terrible kind, and eat people when they find them in the sea either alive or dead. These fishes are caught with a device which 42the mariners call hamc, which is a hook of iron. Of these, some were caught by our men. However, they are worth nothing to eat when they are large; and even the small ones are worth but little. During these storms the body of St. Anselme appeared to us several times; amongst others, one night that it was very dark on account of the bad weather, the said saint appeared in the form of a fire lighted at the summit of the mainmast,⁠[153] and remained there near two hours and a half, which comforted us greatly, for we were in tears, only expecting the hour of perishing; and when that holy light was going away from us it gave out so great a brilliancy in the eyes of each, that we were near a quarter-of-an-hour like people blinded, and calling out for mercy. For without any doubt nobody hoped to escape from that storm. It is to be noted that all and as many times as that light which represents the said St. Anselme shows itself and descends upon a vessel which is in a storm at sea, that vessel never is lost. Immediately that this light had departed the sea grew calmer, and then we saw divers sorts of birds, amongst others there were some which had no fundament.⁠[154] There is also another kind of bird of such a nature that when the female wishes to lay her eggs she goes and lays them on the back of the male, and there it is that the eggs are hatched. This last kind have no feet and are always in the sea. There is another kind of bird which only lives on the droppings of the other birds, this is a true thing, and they are named Cagaselo, for I have seen them follow the other birds until they had done what nature ordered them to do; and after it has eat this dirty diet it does not follow any other bird until hunger returns to it; it always does the same thing.⁠[155] There are also fish which fly, and we saw a 43great quantity of them together, so many that it seemed that it was an island in the sea.

After that we had passed the equinoctial line, towards the south, we lost the star of the tramontana, and we navigated between the south and Garbin, which is the collateral wind [or point] between south and west; and we crossed as far as a country named Verzin, which is in twenty-four degrees and a half of the antarctic sky. This country is from the cape St. Augustine, which is in eight degrees in the antarctic sky. At this place we had refreshments of victuals, like fowls and meat of calves,⁠[156] also a variety of fruits, called battate, pigne (pine-apples), sweet, of singular goodness, and many other things, which I have omitted mentioning, not to be too long. The people of the said place gave, in order to have a knife, or a hook⁠[157] for catching fish, five or six fowls, and for a comb they gave two geese, and for a small mirror, or a pair of scissors, they gave so much fish that ten men could have eaten of it. And for a bell (or hawk’s-bell)⁠[158] they gave a full basket⁠[159] of the fruit named battate; this has the taste of a chestnut, and is of the length of a shuttle.⁠[160] For a king of cards, of that kind which they used to play with in Italy, they gave me five fowls, and thought they had cheated me. We entered into this port the day of Saint Lucy⁠[161] [13th December], before Christmas, on which day we had the sun on the zenith,⁠[162] which is a term of astrology. This zenith is a point in the sky, according to astrologers, and only in imagination, and it answers to over our head in a straight line, as may be seen by the treatise of the sphere,⁠[163] and by Aristotle, in the first book, De Cælo et Mondo. On the day that we had the sun in the zenith 44we felt greater heat, as much as when we were on the equinoctial line.

The said country of Verzin is very abundant in all good things, and is larger than France, Spain, and Italy together. It is one of the countries which the King of Portugal has conquered [acquired]. Its inhabitants are not Christians, and adore nothing, but live according to the usage of nature, rather bestially than otherwise. Some of these people live a hundred, or a hundred and twenty, or a hundred and forty years, and more; they go naked, both men and women. Their dwellings are houses that are rather long, and which they call “boy”; they sleep upon cotton nets, which they call, in their language, “amache.” These nets are fastened to large timbers from one end of their house to the other. They make the fire to warm themselves right under their bed. It is to be known that in each of these houses, which they call “boy,” there dwells a family of a hundred persons, who make a great noise. In this place they have boats, which are made of a tree, all in one piece, which they call “canoo.” These are not made with iron instruments, for they have not got any, but with stones, like pebbles, and with these they plane⁠[164] and dig out these boats. Into these thirty or forty men enter, and their oars are made like iron shovels: and those who row these oars are black people, quite naked and shaven, and look like enemies of hell. The men and women of this said place are well made in their bodies. They eat the flesh of their enemies, not as good meat, but because they have adopted this custom. Now this custom arose as follows: an old woman of this place of Verzin had an only son, who was killed by his enemies, and, some days afterwards, the friends of this woman captured one of the said enemies who had put her son to death, and brought him to where she was. Immediately the said old woman, seeing the 45man who was captured, and recollecting the death of her child, rushed upon him like a mad dog, and bit him on the shoulder. However, this man who had been taken prisoner found means to run away, and told how they had wished to eat him, showing the bite which the said old woman had made in his shoulder. After that those who were caught on one side or other were eaten. Through that arose this custom in this place of eating the enemies of each other. But they do not eat up the whole body of the man whom they take prisoner; they eat him bit by bit, and for fear that he should be spoiled, they cut him up into pieces, which they set to dry in the chimney, and every day they cut a small piece, and eat it with their ordinary victuals in memory of their enemies. I was assured that this custom was true by a pilot, named John Carvagio, who was in our company, and had remained four years in this place; it is also to be observed that the inhabitants of this place, both men and women, are accustomed to paint themselves with fire, all over the body, and also the face. The men are shaven, and wear no beard, because they pluck it out themselves, and for all clothing they wear a circle surrounded with the largest feathers of parrots,⁠[165] and they only cover their posterior parts, which is a cause of laughter and mockery. The people of this place, almost all, excepting⁠[166] women and children, have three holes in the lower lip, and carry, hanging in them, small round stones, about a finger in length. These kind of people, both men and women, are not very black, but rather brown,⁠[167] and they openly show their shame, and have no hair on the whole of their bodies. The king of this country is called 46Cacich, and there are here an infinite number of parrots, of which they give eight or ten for a looking-glass; there are also some little cat-monkeys⁠[168] having almost the appearance of a lion; they are yellow, and handsome, and agreeable to look at. The people of this place make bread, which is of a round shape, and they take the marrow of certain trees which are there, between the bark and the tree, but it is not at all good, and resembles fresh cheese. There are also some pigs which have their navel on the back,⁠[169] and large birds which have their beak like a spoon, and they have no tongue. For a hatchet or for a knife they used to give us one or two of their daughters as slaves, but their wives they would not give up for anything in the world. According to what they say the women of this place never render duty to their husbands by day, but only at night; they attend to business out of doors, and carry all that they require for their husband’s victuals inside small baskets on their heads, or fastened to their heads. Their husbands go with them, and carry a bow of vergin,⁠[170] or of black palm, with a handful of arrows of cane. They do this because they are very jealous of their wives. These carry their children fastened to their neck, and they are inside a thing made of cotton in the manner of a net. I omit relating many other strange things, not to be too prolix; however, I will not forget to say that mass was said twice on shore, where there were many people of the said country, who remained on their knees, and their hands joined in great reverence, during the mass, so that it was a pleasure and a subject of compassion to see them. In a short time they built a house for us, as they imagined that we should remain a long time with them, and, at our departure thence, they gave us a large quantity of verzin. It is a colour which proceeds from the trees which are in this country, 47and they are in such quantity that the country is called from it Verzin.

It is to be known that it happened that it had not rained for two months before we came there, and the day that we arrived it began to rain, on which account the people of the said place said that we came from heaven, and had brought the rain with us, which was great simplicity, and these people were easily converted to the Christian faith. Besides the above-mentioned things which were rather simple, the people of this country showed us another, very simple; for they imagined that the small ships’ boats were the children of the ships, and that the said ships brought them forth when the boats were hoisted out to send the men hither and thither; and when the boats were alongside the ship they thought that the ships were giving them suck.

A beautiful young girl came one day inside the ship of our captain, where I was, and did not come except to seek for her luck: however, she directed her looks to the cabin of the master, and saw a nail of a finger’s length, *and went and took it as something valuable and new, and hid it in her hair, for otherwise she would not have been able to conceal⁠[171] it, because she was naked,* and, bending forwards, she went away; and the captain and I saw this mystery.⁠[172]

Some Words of this People of Verzin.
	Milan Edition.
Millet	Au mil	Maize.
Flour	Farine	Huy.
A hook	Ung haim	Pinda.
A knife	Ung coutteau	Taesse	Tarse.
A comb	Ung peigne	Chignap	Chipag.
A fork	Une forcette	Pirame.
A bell	Une sonnette	Itemnaraca	Hanmaraca.
Good, more than good	Bon, plus que bon tum maraghatom.

We remained thirteen days in this country of Verzin, and, departing from it and following our course, we went as far as thirty-four degrees and a third towards the antarctic pole; there we found, near a river, men whom they call “cannibals,”⁠[173] who eat human flesh, and one of these men, great as a giant, came to the captain’s ship to ascertain and ask if the others might come. This man had a voice like a bull, and whilst this man was at the ship his companions carried off all their goods which they had to a castle further off, from fear of us. Seeing that, we landed a hundred men from the ships, and went after them to try and catch some others; however they gained in running away. This kind of people did more with one step than we could do at a bound. In this same river there were seven little islands, and in the largest of them precious stones are found. This place was formerly called the Cape of St. Mary, and it was thought there that from thence there was a passage to the Sea of Sur; that is to say, the South Sea. And it is not found that any ship has ever discovered anything more, having passed beyond the said 49cape. And now it is no longer a cape, but it is a river which has a mouth seventeen leagues in width, by which it enters into the sea. In past time, in this river, these great men named Canibali ate a Spanish captain, named John de Sola,⁠[174] and sixty men who had gone to discover land, as we were doing, and trusted too much to them.

Afterwards following the same course towards the Antarctic pole, going along the land, we found two islands full of geese and goslings, and sea wolves, of which geese the large number could not be reckoned; for we loaded all the five ships with them in an hour. These geese are black, and have their feathers all over the body of the same size and shape, and they do not fly, and live upon fish; and they were so fat that they did not pluck them, but skinned them. They have beaks like that of a crow. The sea wolves of these two islands are of many colours, and of the size and thickness of a calf, and have a head like that of a calf, and the ears small and round. They have large teeth, and have no legs, but feet joining close on to the body, which resemble a human hand; they have small nails to their feet, and skin between the fingers like geese. If these animals could run they would be very bad and cruel, but they do not stir from the water, and swim and live upon fish. In this place we endured a great storm, and thought we should have been lost, but the three holy bodies, that is to say, St. Anselmo, St. Nicolas, and Sta. Clara, appeared to us, and immediately the storm ceased.

Departing thence as far as forty nine degrees and a half in the Antarctic heavens (as we were in the winter), we entered into a port to pass the winter, and remained there two whole months without ever seeing anybody. However, one day, without anyone expecting it, we saw a giant, who was on the shore of the sea, quite naked, and was dancing and leaping, and singing, and whilst singing he put the 50sand and dust on his head. Our captain sent one of his men towards him, whom he charged to sing and leap like the other to reassure him, and show him friendship. This he did, and immediately the sailor led this giant to a little island where the captain was waiting for him; and when he was before us he began to be astonished, and to be afraid, and he raised one finger on high,⁠[175] thinking that we came from heaven. He was so tall that the tallest of us only came up to his waist;⁠[176] however⁠[177] he was well built. He had a large face, painted red all round, and his eyes also were painted yellow around them, and he had two hearts painted on his cheeks; he had but little hair on his head, and it was painted white. When he was brought before the captain he was clothed with the skin of a certain beast, which skin was very skilfully sewed. This beast⁠[178] has its head and ears of the size of a mule, and the neck and body of the fashion of a camel, the legs of a deer, and the tail like that of a horse, and it neighs like a horse. There is a great quantity of these animals in this same place. This giant had his feet covered with the skin of this animal in the form of shoes, and he carried in his hand a short and thick bow, with a thick cord made of the gut of the said beast, with a bundle of cane arrows, which were not very long, and were feathered like ours,⁠[179] but they had no iron at the end, though they had at the end some small white and black cut stones, and these arrows were like those which the Turks use. The captain caused food and drink to be given to this giant, then they showed him some things, amongst others, a steel mirror. When the giant saw his likeness in it, he was greatly terrified, leaping backwards, and made three or four of our men fall down.

After that the captain gave him two bells, a mirror, a comb, and a chaplet of beads, and sent him back on shore, having him accompanied by four armed men. One of the companions of this giant, who would never come to the ship, on seeing the other coming back with our people, came forward and ran to where the other giants dwelled. These came one after the other all naked, and began to leap and sing, raising one finger to heaven, and showing to our people a certain white powder made of the roots of herbs, which they kept in earthen pots, and they made signs that they lived on that, and that they had nothing else to eat than this powder. Therefore our people made them signs to come to the ship and that they would help them to carry their bundles.⁠[180] Then these men came, who carried only their bows in their hands; but their wives came after them laden like donkeys, and carried their goods. These women are not as tall as the men, but they are very sufficiently large. When we saw them we were all amazed and astonished, for they had the breasts half an ell⁠[181] long, and had their faces painted, and were dressed like the men. But they wore a small skin before them to cover themselves. They brought with them four of those little beasts of which they make their clothing, and they led them with a cord in the manner of dogs coupled together. When these people wish to catch these animals with which they clothe themselves, they fasten one of the young ones to a bush, and afterwards the large ones come to play with the little one, and the giants are hid behind some hedge, and by shooting their arrows they kill the large ones. Our men brought eighteen of these giants, both men and women, whom they placed in two divisions, half on one side of the port, and the other half at the other, to hunt the said animals. Six days after, our people on going to cut wood, saw another giant, with his face painted and clothed like the above-mentioned,52 he had in his hand a bow and arrows, and approaching our people he made some touches on his head and then on his body, and afterwards did the same to our people. And this being done he raised both his hands to heaven. When the captain-general knew all this, he sent to fetch him with his ship’s boat, and brought him to one of the little islands which are in the port, where the ships were. In this island the captain had caused a house to be made for putting some of the ships’ things in whilst he remained there. This giant was of a still better disposition than the others, and was a gracious and amiable person, who liked to dance and leap. When he leapt he caused the earth to sink in a palm depth at the place where his feet touched. He was a long time with us, and at the end we baptised him, and gave him the name of John. This giant pronounced the name of Jesus, the Pater noster, Ave Maria, and his name as clearly as we did: but he had a terribly strong and loud voice. The captain gave him a shirt and a tunic⁠[182] of cloth, and seaman’s breeches,⁠[183] a cap, a comb, some bells, and other things, and sent him back to where he had come from. He went away very joyous and satisfied. The next day this giant returned, and brought one of those large animals before mentioned, for which the captain gave him some other things, so that he should bring more. But afterwards he did not return, and it is to be presumed that the other giants killed him because he had come to us.

Fifteen days later we saw four other giants, who carried no arrows, for they had hid them in the bushes, as two of them showed us, for we took them all four, and each of them was painted in a different way. The captain retained the two younger ones to take them to Spain on his return; but it was done by gentle and cunning means, for otherwise they would have done a hurt to some of our men. The manner in which he retained them was that he gave them 53many knives, forks, mirrors, bells, and glass, and they held all these things in their hands. Then the captain had some irons brought, such as are put on the feet of malefactors: these giants took pleasure in seeing the irons, but they did not know where to put them, and it grieved them that they could not take them with their hands, because they were hindered by the other things which they held in them. The other two giants were there, and were desirous of helping the other two, but the captain would not let them, and made a sign to the two whom he wished to detain that they would put those irons on their feet, and then they would go away: at this they made a sign with their heads that they were content. Immediately the captain had the irons put on the feet of both of them, and when they saw that they were striking with a hammer on the bolt which crosses the said irons to rivet them, and prevent them from being opened, these giants were afraid, but the captain made them a sign not to doubt of anything. Nevertheless when they saw the trick which had been played them, they began to be enraged,⁠[184] and to foam like bulls, crying out very loud Setebos,⁠[185] that is to say, the great devil, that he should help them. The hands of the other two giants were bound, but it was with great difficulty; then the captain sent them back on shore, with nine of his men to conduct them, and to bring the wife of one of those who had remained in irons, because he regretted her greatly, as we saw by signs. But in going away one of those two who were sent away, untied his hands and escaped, running with such lightness that our men lost sight of him, and he went away where his companions were staying; but he found nobody of those 54that he had left with the women because they had gone to hunt. However he went to look for them, and found them, and related to them all that had been done to them. The other giant whose hands were tied struggled as much as he could to unfasten himself, and to prevent his doing so, one of our men struck him, and hurt him on the head, at which he got very angry; however he led our people there where their wives were. Then John Cavagio,⁠[186] the pilot who was the chief conductor of these two giants, would not bring away the wife of one of the giants who had remained in irons on that evening, but was of opinion that they should sleep there, because it was almost night. During this time the one of the giants who had untied his hands came back from where he had been, with another giant, and they seeing their companion wounded on the head, said nothing at that moment, but next morning they spoke in their language to the women, and immediately all ran away together, and the smallest ran faster than the biggest, and they left all their chattels. Two of these giants being rather a long way off shot arrows at our men, and fighting thus, one of the giants pierced with an arrow the thigh of one of our men, of which he died immediately. Then seeing that he was dead, all ran away. Our men had cross-bows and guns,⁠[187] but they never could hit one of these giants, because they did not stand still in one place, but leaped hither and thither. After that, our men buried the man who had been killed, and set fire to the place where those giants had left their chattels. Certainly these giants run faster than a horse, and they are very jealous of their wives.

When these giants have a stomach-ache, instead of taking medicine they put down their throats an arrow about two feet long; then they vomit a green bile⁠[188] mixed with blood: and the reason why they throw up this green matter is because they sometimes eat thistles. When they have headaches55 they make a cut across the forehead, and also on the arms and legs, to draw blood from several parts of their bodies. One of the two we had taken, and who was in our ship, said that the blood did not choose to remain in the place and spot of the body where pain was felt. These people have their hair cut short and clipped in the manner of monks with a tonsure: they wear a cord of cotton round their head, to this they hang their arrows when they go a-hunting....⁠[189]

When one of them dies, ten or twelve devils appear and dance all round the dead man. It seems that these are painted, and one of these enemies is taller than the others, and makes a greater noise, and more mirth than the others: that is whence these people have taken the custom of painting their faces and bodies, as has been said. The greatest of these devils is called in their language Setebos, and the others Cheleule. Besides the above-mentioned things, this one who was in the ship with us, told us by signs that he had seen devils with two horns on their heads, and long hair down to their feet, and who threw out fire from their mouths and rumps. The captain named this kind of people Pataghom,⁠[190] who have no houses, but have huts made of the skins of the animals with which they clothe themselves, and go hither and thither with these huts of theirs, as the gypsies⁠[191] do; they live on raw meat, and eat a certain sweet root, which they call Capac. These two giants that we had in the ship ate a large basketful⁠[192] of biscuit, and rats without skinning them, and they drank half a bucket of water at each time.

We remained in this port, which was called the port of St. Julian, about five months, during which there happened to us many strange things, of which I will tell a part. One was, that immediately that we entered into this port, the 56masters of the other four ships plotted treason against the captain-general, in order to put him to death. These were thus named: John of Carthagine, conductor⁠[193] of the fleet; the treasurer, Loys de Mendoza; the conductor,⁠[194] Anthony Cocha; and Gaspar de Casada.⁠[195] However, the treason was discovered, for which the treasurer was killed with stabs of a dagger, and then quartered. This Gaspar de Casada had his head cut off, and afterwards was cut into quarters; and the conductor having a few days later attempted another treason, was banished with a priest, and was put in that country called Pattagonia.⁠[196] The captain-general would not put this conductor to death, because the Emperor Charles had made him captain of one of the ships. One of our ships, named St. James, was lost in going to discover the coast; all the men, however, were saved by a miracle, for they were hardly wet at all. Two men of these, who were saved, came to us and told us all that had passed and happened, on which the captain at once sent some men with sacks full of biscuit for two months. So, each day we found something of the ship of the other men who had escaped from the ship which was lost; and the place where these men were was twenty-five leagues from us, and the road bad and full of thorns, and it required four days to go there, and no water to drink was to be found on the road, but only ice, and of that little. In this port of St Julian there were a great quantity of long capres,⁠[197] called Missiglione; these had pearls in the midst. In this place they found incense, and ostriches, foxes, sparrows, and rabbits⁠[198] 57a good deal smaller than ours.⁠[199] We set up at the top of the highest mountain which was there a very large cross, as a sign that this country belonged to the King of Spain; and we gave to this mountain the name of Mount of Christ.

Departing thence, we found in fifty-one degrees less one-third (50° 40′ S.), in the Antarctic, a river of fresh water, which was near causing us to be lost, from the great winds which it sent out; but God, of his favour, aided us. We were about two months in this river, as it supplied fresh water and a kind of fish an ell long, and very scaly,⁠[200] which is good to eat. Before going away, the captain chose that all should confess and receive the body of our Lord like good Christians.

CHAPTER.⁠[201]

After going and taking the course to the fifty-second degree of the said Antarctic sky, on the day of the Eleven Thousand Virgins [October 21], we found, by a miracle, a strait which we called the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, this strait is a hundred and ten leagues long, which are four hundred and forty miles, and almost as wide as less than half a league,⁠[202] and it issues in another sea, which is called the peaceful sea;⁠[203] it is surrounded by very great and high mountains covered with snow. In this place it was not possible to anchor⁠[204] with the anchors, because no bottom was found, on which account they were forced to put the moorings⁠[205] of twenty-five or thirty fathoms 58length on shore. This strait was a round place surrounded by mountains, as I have said, and the greater number of the sailors thought that there was no place by which to go out thence to enter into the peaceful sea. But the captain-general said that there was another strait for going out, and said that he knew it well, because he had seen it by a marine chart of the King of Portugal, which map had been made by a great pilot and mariner named Martin of Bohemia.⁠[206] The captain sent on before two of his ships, one named St. Anthony and the other the Conception, to seek for and discover the outlet of this strait, which was called the Cape de la Baya. And we, with the other two ships, that is to say, the flagship named Trinitate, and the other the Victory, remained waiting for them within the Bay, where in the night we had a great storm, which lasted till the next day at midday, and during which we were forced to weigh the anchors and let the ships go hither and thither about the bay. The other two ships met with such a head wind⁠[207] that they could not weather⁠[208] a cape which the bay made almost at its extremity; wishing to come to us, they were near being driven to beach the ships.⁠[209] But, on approaching the extremity of the bay, and whilst expecting to be lost, they saw a small mouth, which did not resemble a mouth but a corner,⁠[210] and (like people giving up hope⁠[211]) they threw themselves into it, so that by force they discovered the strait. Seeing that it was not a corner, but a strait of land, they went further on and found a bay, then going still further they found another strait and another bay larger 59than the first two, at which, being very joyous, they suddenly returned backwards to tell it to the captain-general. Amongst us we thought that they had perished: first, because of the great storm; next, because two days had passed that we had not seen them. And being thus in doubt⁠[212] we saw the two ships under all sail, with ensigns spread, come towards us: these, when near us, suddenly discharged much artillery, at which we, very joyous, saluted them with artillery and shouts. Afterwards, all together, thanking God and the Virgin Mary, we went to seek further on.

After having entered inside this strait we found that there were two mouths, of which one trended to the Sirocco (S.E.), and the other to the Garbin (S.W.). On that account the captain again sent the two ships, St. Anthony and Conception, to see if the mouth which was towards Sirocco had an outlet beyond into the said peaceful sea. One of these two ships, named St. Anthony, would not wait for the other ship, because those who were inside wished to return to Spain: this they did, and the principal reason was on account of the pilot⁠[213] of the said ship being previously discontented with the said captain-general, because that before this armament was made, this pilot had gone to the Emperor to talk about having some ships to discover countries. But, on account of the arrival of the captain-general, the Emperor did not give them to this pilot, on account of which he agreed with some Spaniards, and the following night they took prisoner the captain of their ship, who was a brother⁠[214] of the captain-general, and who was named Alvar de Meschite; they wounded him, and put him in irons. So they carried him off to Spain. And in this ship, which went away and returned, was one of the two above-mentioned giants whom we had taken, and when he felt the heat he 60died. The other ship, named the Conception, not being able to follow that one, was always waiting for it, and fluttered hither and thither. But it lost its time, for the other took the road by night for returning. When this happened, at night the ship of the captain and the other ship went together to discover the other mouth to Garbin (S.W.), where, on always holding on our course, we found the same strait. But at the end⁠[215] we arrived at a river which we named the River of Sardines, because we found a great quantity of them. So we remained there four days to wait for the other two ships. A short time after we sent a boat well supplied with men and provisions to discover the cape of the other sea: these remained three days in going and coming. They told us that they had found the cape, and the sea great and wide. At the joy which the captain-general had at this he began to cry, and he gave the name of Cape of Desire to this cape, as a thing which had been much desired for a long time. Having done that we turned back to find the two ships which were at the other side, but we only found the Conception, of which ship we asked what had become of her companion. To this the captain of the said ship, named John Serrano (who was pilot of the first ship which was lost, as has been related), replied that he knew nothing of her, and that he had never seen her since she entered the mouth. However, we sought for her through all the strait, as far as the said mouth, by which she had taken her course to return. Besides that, the Captain-General sent back the ship named the Victory as far as the entrance of the strait to see if the ship was there, and he told the people of this ship that if they did not find the ship they were looking for, they were to place an ensign on the summit of a small hill, with a letter inside a pot placed in the ground near the ensign, so that if the ship should by chance return, it might see that ensign, and also find the 61letter which would give information of the course which the captain was holding. This manner of acting had been ordained by the captain from the commencement, in order to effect the junction of any ship which might be separated from the others. So the people of the said ship did what the captain had commanded them, and more, for they set two ensigns with letters; one of the ensigns was placed on a small hill at the first bay, the other on an islet in the third bay, where there were many sea wolves and large birds. The captain-general waited for them with the other ship near the river named Isles: and he caused a cross to be set upon a small island in front of that river, which was between high mountains covered with snow. This river comes and falls into the sea near the other river of the Sardines.

If we had not found this strait the captain-general had made up his mind to go as far as seventy-five degrees towards the antarctic pole; where at that height in the summer time there is no night, or very little: in a similar manner in the winter there is no day-light, or very little, and so that every one may believe this, when we were in this strait the night lasted only three hours, and this was in the month of October.

The land of this strait on the left hand side looked towards the Sirocco wind, which is the wind collateral to the Levant and South; we called this strait Pathagonico. In it we found at every half league a good port and place for anchoring, good waters, wood all of cedar, and fish like sardines, missiglioni, and a very sweet herb named appio (celery).⁠[216] There is also some of the same kind which is bitter. This herb grows near the springs, and from not finding anything else we ate of it for several days. I think that there is not in the world a more beautiful country, or better strait than this one. In this ocean sea one sees a 62very amusing chase of fish, which are of three sorts, of an ell or more in length, and they call these fish Dorades, Albacores, and Bonitos; these follow and pursue another sort of fish which flies, which they call Colondriny,⁠[217] which are a foot long or more, and are very good to eat. When these three sorts of fish find in the water any of these flying fish, immediately they make them come out of the water, and they fly more than a cross bow-shot, as long as their wings are wet; and whilst these fishes fly the other three run after them under the water, seeing the shadow of those that fly: and the moment they fall into the water they are seized upon and eaten by the others which pursue them, which is a thing marvellous and agreeable to see.

Vocables des Geants Pathagoniens.
	Milan Edition.
Le chef	Her...idem.
Yeulx	Ather...oter.
Le nez	Or...id.
Les silz	Occhechl...id.
Paupieres des yeulx	Sechechiel...id.
Aux deux narines	Orescho...id.
La bouche	Xiam...chian.
Les leures	Schiane...schiaine.
Les dentz	Phor...for.
La langue	Schial...id.
Le menton	Sechen...secheri.
Les cheueulx⁠[218]	Ajchir...archiz.
Le visaige	Cogechel.
La gorge	Ohumer...ohumez.
La copa⁠[*] (le cou)	Schialeschin.
Les epaulles	Peles.
Le coude	Cotel.
La main	Chene.
La paulme de la main	Canneghin.
Les oreilles	Sane...id.
Les esselles	Salischin...id.
La mamelle	Othen...oton.
La poitrine	Ochy...ochii.
Le corps	Gechel.
Le vit	Scachet...sachet.
Le couillons	Scancos...sachancos.
Le con	Isse...id.
Le foutre	Johoi.
Les cuisses	Chiaue...id.
Le genouil	Tepin...id.
Le cul	Schiachen...schiaguen.
Les fesses	Hoy...hoii.
Le braz	Mar...riaz.
Le poulse	Ohoy...holion.
Les jambes	Choss...id.
Les piedz	Teche...ti.
Alcalcagno⁠[*]	There...tire.
La cheuille du pied	Perchi...id.
63Le doit	Cori...id.
Les ongles	Colim...colmi.
Le cueur	Chol...tol.
Le grater	Ghecare...id.
Homo sguerzo⁠[*]	Calischen...id.
Au jeune	Calemi...id.
L’eau	Oli...holi.
Le feu	Ghialeme...gialeme.
La fumée	Jaiche...giache.
La fortune (storm)	Ohone...id.
Le poisson	Hoi...id.
Le manger	Mecchiere...id.
Une escuelle	Elo...etlo.
A combatre	Oamaghei...ohomagse.
Alle frezze	Sethe...seche.
Ung chien	Holl...id.
Ung loup	Ani...id.
A aller loing	Schien.
A la guide	Anti.
Aladorer⁠[219]	Os...id.
Ung papegault⁠[220]	Cheche.
La caige doyseau	Cleo...id.
Al missiglion⁠[*] (oyster)	Siameni...id.
Drap rouge	Terechai...id.
Al cocinare⁠[*]	Ixecoles...irocoles.
La ceincture	Cathechin...id.
Une oye	Chache...cache.
La plante ou sole du pied	Cartschem...caotchoni.
Nous	Chen.
Si ou ouy	Rei.
L’or	Pelpeli...id.
Petre lazure⁠[221]	Secheghi...sechey.
Le soleil	Calexchem...id.
Les estoilles	Settere...id.
La mer	Aro...id.
Le vent	Om...oni.
A la pignate⁠[*]	Aschame...id.
A demander	Ghelhe...gheglie.
Vien icy	Haisi...hai.
Au regarder	Conne...id.
A aller	Rhei...id.
A la nef⁠[222]	Theu...id.
A courir⁠[223]	Hiam...tiam.
Al struzzo vcelo⁠[*]⁠[224]	Hoihoi.
A ses œufs⁠[225]	Jan.
La pouldre d’herbe⁠[225]	Qui.
Mangent⁠[226]	Capac...id.
Le bonnet	Aichel...id.
Coulernoire	Amet...oinel.
Rouge	Theiche...faiche.
Jaulne	Peperi...id.
Le diable grand	Setebos...id.
Les petitz diables	Cheleule...id.
[†]

These words were given me by that giant whom we had in the ship, because he asked me for capac, that is to say bread, since they thus name that root which they use for bread, and oli that is to say water. When he saw me write these names after him, and ask for others he understood (what I was doing) with my pen in my hand.⁠[227] Another time I made a cross and kissed it in showing it to him; but suddenly he exclaimed Setebos! and made signs to me that if I again made the cross it would enter into my stomach and make me die. When this giant was unwell⁠[228] he asked for the cross, and embraced and kissed it much, and he wished to become a Christian before his death, and we named him Paul. When these people wish to light a fire they take a pointed stick and rub it with another until they make a fire in the pith of a tree which is placed between these sticks.

(In the Milan Edition here begins Book II.)

Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of November, 1520, we came forth out of the said strait, and entered into the Pacific sea, where we remained three months and twenty days without taking in provisions or other refreshments, and we only ate old biscuit reduced to powder, and full of grubs, and stinking from the dirt which the rats had made on it when eating the good biscuit, and we drank water that was yellow and stinking. We also ate the ox hides which were under the main-yard,⁠[229] so that the yard should not break the rigging:⁠[230] they were very hard on account of 65the sun, rain, and wind, and we left them for four or five days in the sea, and then we put them a little on the embers, and so ate them; also the sawdust of wood,⁠[231] and rats which cost half-a-crown⁠[232] each, moreover enough of them were not to be got. Besides the above-named evils, this misfortune which I will mention was the worst, it was that the upper and lower gums of most of our men grew so much⁠[233] that they could not eat, and in this way so many suffered, that nineteen died, and the other giant, and an Indian from the county of Verzin. Besides those who died, twenty-five or thirty fell ill of divers sicknesses, both in the arms and legs, and other places, in such manner that very few remained healthy. However, thanks be to the Lord, I had no sickness. During those three months and twenty days we went in an open sea,⁠[234] while we ran fully four thousand leagues in the Pacific sea. This was well named Pacific, for during this same time we met with no storm, and saw no land except two small uninhabited islands, in which we found only birds and trees. We named them the Unfortunate Islands; they are two hundred leagues apart from one another, and there is no place to anchor, as there is no bottom. There we saw many sharks, which are a kind of large fish which they call Tiburoni. The first isle is in fifteen degrees of austral latitude,⁠[235] and the other island is in nine degrees. With the said wind we ran each day fifty or sixty leagues,⁠[236] or more; now with the wind astern, sometimes on a wind⁠[237] or otherwise. And if our Lord and his Mother had 66not aided us in giving us good weather to refresh ourselves with provisions and other things, we should all have died of hunger in this very vast sea, and I think that never man will undertake to perform such a voyage.

When we had gone out of this strait, if we had always navigated to the west we should have gone⁠[238] without finding any land except the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, which is the eastern head of the strait in the ocean sea, with the Cape of Desire at the west in the Pacific sea. These two capes are exactly in fifty-two degrees of latitude of the antarctic pole.

The antarctic pole is not so covered with stars as the arctic, for there are to be seen there many small stars congregated together, which are like to two clouds a little separated from one another, and a little dimmed,⁠[239] in the midst of which are two stars, not very large, nor very brilliant, and they move but little:⁠[240] these two stars are the antarctic pole. Our compass needle still pointed a little to its arctic pole; nevertheless it had not as much power as on its own side and region.⁠[241] Yet when we were in the open sea,⁠[242] the captain-general⁠[243] asked of all the pilots, whilst still 67going under sail, in what direction they were navigating and pointing the charts. They all replied, by the course he had given, punctually [pricked in]; then he answered, that they were pointing falsely (which was so), and that it was fitting to arrange the needle of navigation, because it did not receive so much force as in its own quarter. When we were in the middle of this open sea we saw a cross of five stars, very bright, straight, in the west, and they are straight one with another.⁠[244]

During this time of two months and twelve days we navigated between west and north-west (maestral), and a quarter west of north-west, and also north-west, until we came to the equinoctial line, which was at [a point] one hundred and twenty-two degrees distant from the line of repartition. This line of delimitation is thirty degrees distant from the meridian,⁠[245] and the meridian⁠[246] is three degrees distant from the Cape Verd towards the east.⁠[247] In going by this course we passed near two very rich islands; one is in twenty degrees latitude in the antarctic pole, and is called Cipanghu; the other, in fifteen degrees of the same pole, is named Sumbdit Pradit. After we had passed the equinoctial line we navigated between west, and north-west and a quarter west, by north-west. Afterwards we made two 68hundred leagues to westwards, then changed the course to a quarter of south-west, until in thirteen degrees north latitude, in order to approach the land of Cape Gaticara,⁠[248] which cape (under correction of those who have made cosmography), (for they have never seen it), is not placed where they think, but is towards the north, in twelve degrees or thereabouts.

After having navigated sixty leagues⁠[249] by the said course, in twelve degrees latitude, and a hundred and forty-six of longitude, on Wednesday, the 6th of March, we discovered a small island in the north-west direction,⁠[250] and two others lying to the south-west. One of these islands was larger and higher than the other two. The captain-general wished to touch at the largest of these three islands to get refreshments of provisions; but it was not possible because the people of these islands entered into the ships and robbed us, in such a way that it was impossible to preserve oneself from them. Whilst we were striking and lowering the sails to go ashore, they stole away with much address and diligence the small boat called the skiff, which was made fast to the poop of the captain’s ship, at which he was much irritated, and went on shore with forty armed men, burned forty or fifty houses, with several small boats, and killed seven men of the island; they recovered their skiff. After this we set sail suddenly, following the same course. Before we went ashore some of our sick men begged us that if we killed man or woman, that we should bring them their entrails, as they would see themselves suddenly cured.

CHAPTER.

It must be known that when we wounded any of this kind of people with our arrows, which entered inside their bodies, they looked at the arrow, and then drew it forth with much astonishment, and immediately afterwards they died.⁠[251] Immediately after we sailed from that island, following our course, and those people seeing that we were going away followed us for a league, with a hundred small boats, or more, and they approached our ships, showing to us fish, and feigning to give it to us. But they threw stones at us, and then ran away, and in their flight they passed with their little boats between the boat which is towed at the poop and the ship going under full sail; but they did this so quickly, and with such skill that it was a wonder. And we saw some of these women, who cried out and tore their hair, and I believe⁠[252] that it was for the love of those whom we had killed.

CHAPTER.

These people live in liberty and according to their will, for they have no lord or superior; they go quite naked, and some of them wear beards, and have their hair down to the waist. They wear small hats, after the fashion of the Albanians; these hats are made of palm leaves. The people are as tall as us, and well made: they adore nothing, and when they are born they are white, later they become brown, and have their teeth black and red. The women also go naked, except that they cover their nature with a thin bark, pliable like paper, which grows between the tree and the 70bark of the palm. They are beautiful and delicate, and whiter than the men, and have their hair loose and flowing, very black and long, down to the earth. They do not go to work in the fields, nor stir from their houses, making cloth and baskets of palm leaves. Their provisions are certain fruits named Cochi, Battate; there are birds, figs a palm long,⁠[253] sweet canes, and flying fish. The women anoint their bodies and their hair with oil of cocho and giongioli (sesame). Their houses are constructed of wood, covered with planks, with fig leaves, which are two ells in length: they have only one floor: their rooms and beds are furnished with mats,⁠[254] which we call matting,⁠[255] which are made of palm leaves, and are very beautiful, and they lie down on palm straw, which is soft and fine. These people have no arms, but use sticks,⁠[256] which have a fish bone at the end. They are poor, but ingenious, and great thieves, and for the sake of that we called these three islands the Ladrone Islands. The pastime of the men and the women of this place, and their diversion, is to go with their little boats to catch those fish which fly, with hooks made of fish bones. The pattern of their small boats is painted here-after, they are like the fuseleres,⁠[257] but narrower. Some of them black and white, and others red. On the opposite side to the sail, they have a large piece of wood, pointed above, with poles across, which are in the water, in order to go more securely under sail: their sails are of palm leaves, sewed together, and of the shape of a lateen sail, fore and aft. They have certain shovels like hearth shovels,⁠[258] and there is no difference between the poop and the prow in these boats, and they are like dolphins bounding from wave to wave. These thieves thought, according to the signs they made, 71that there were no other men in the world besides them.

Saturday, the 16th of March, 1521, we arrived at daybreak in sight of a high island, three hundred leagues distant from the before-mentioned Thieves’ island. This isle is named Zamal.⁠[259] The next day the captain-general wished to land at another uninhabited island near the first,⁠[260] to be in greater security and to take water, also to repose there a few days. He set up there two tents on shore for the sick, and had a sow⁠[261] killed for them.

Monday, the 18th of March, after dinner, we saw a boat come towards us with nine men in it: upon which the captain-general ordered that no one should move or speak without his permission.⁠[262] When these people had come into this island towards us, immediately the principal⁠[263] one amongst them went towards the captain-general with demonstrations of being very joyous at our arrival. Five of the most showy⁠[264] of them remained with us, the others who remained with the boat went to call some men who were fishing, and afterwards all of them came together.⁠[265] The captain seeing that these people were reasonable,⁠[266] ordered food and drink to be given them, and he gave them some red caps, looking glasses, combs, bells, ivory, and other things. When these people saw the politeness of the captain, they presented some fish, and a vessel of palm wine, which 72they call in their language Uraca;⁠[267] figs more than a foot⁠[268] long, and others smaller and of a better savour, and two cochos.⁠[269] At that time they had nothing to give him, and they made signs to us with their hands that in four days they would bring us Umai, which is rice, cocos, and many other victuals.

To explain the kind of fruits above-named it must be known that the one which they call cochi, is the fruit which the palm trees bear. And as we have bread, wine, oil, and vinegar, proceeding from different kinds, so these people have those things proceeding from these palm trees only. It must be said that wine proceeds from the said palm trees in the following manner. They make a hole at the summit of the tree as far as its heart, which is named palmito, from which a liquor comes out in drops down the tree, like white must, which is sweet, but with somewhat of bitter.⁠[270] They have canes as thick as the leg, in which they draw off this liquor, and they fasten them to the tree from the evening till next morning, and from the morning to the evening, because this liquor comes little by little. This palm produces a fruit named cocho, which is as large as the head, or thereabouts: its first husk is green, and two fingers in thickness, in it they find certain threads, with which they make the cords for fastening their boats. Under this husk there is another very hard, and thicker than that of a walnut. They burn this second rind, and make with it a powder which is useful to them. Under this rind there is a white marrow of a finger’s thickness, which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as we do bread, and it has the taste of an almond, and if anyone dried it⁠[271] he might make bread of it. From the middle of this marrow there comes out a clear sweet water, 73and very cordial, which, when it has rested a little, and settled, congeals and becomes like an apple.⁠[272] When they wish to make oil they take this fruit, the coco, and let it get rotten, and they corrupt this marrow in the water, then they boil it, and it becomes oil in the manner⁠[273] of butter. When they want to make vinegar, they let the water in the cocoa-nut get bad, and they put it in the sun, when it turns to vinegar like white wine. From this fruit milk also can be made, as we experienced, for we scraped this marrow and then put it with its water, and passed it through a cloth, and thus it was milk like that of goats. This kind of palm tree is like the date-palm,⁠[274] but not so rugged. Two of these trees can maintain a family of ten persons: but they do not draw wine as above-mentioned always from one tree, but draw from one for eight days, and from the other as long. For if they did not, otherwise the trees would dry up. In this manner they last a hundred years.⁠[275]

These people became very familiar and friendly with us, and explained many things to us in their language, and told us the names of some islands which we saw with our eyes before us. *The island where they dwelt is called Zuluam, and it is not large.*⁠[276] As they were sufficiently agreeable and conversible we had great pleasure with them. The captain seeing that they were of this good condition, to do them greater honour conducted them to the ship, and showed them all his goods, that is to say, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, mace,⁠[277] gold, and all that was in the ship. He also had some shots fired with his artillery, at which they were so much afraid that they wished to jump 74from the ship into the sea. They made signs that the things which the captain had shown them grew there where we were going. When they wished to leave us they took leave of the captain and of us with very good manners and gracefulness, promising us to come back to see us. The island we were at was named Humunu; nevertheless because we found there two springs of very fresh water we named it the Watering Place of good signs,⁠[278] and because we found here the first signs of gold. There is much white coral to be found here, and large trees which bear fruit smaller than an almond, and which are like pines. There were also many palm trees both good and bad. In this place there were many circumjacent islands, on which account we named them the archipelago of St. Lazarus, because we stayed there on the day and feast of St. Lazarus. This region and archipelago is in ten degrees north latitude, and a hundred and sixty-one degrees longitude from the line of demarcation.

Friday, the 22nd of March, the above-mentioned people, who had promised us to return, came about midday, with two boats laden with the said fruit cochi, sweet oranges, a vessel of palm wine, and a cock, to give us to understand that they had poultry in their country, so that we bought all that they brought. The lord of these people was old, and had his face painted, and had gold rings suspended to his ears, which they name Schione,⁠[279] and the others had many bracelets and rings of gold on their arms, with a wrapper of linen round their head. We remained at this place eight days: the captain went there every day to see his sick men, whom he had placed on this island to refresh them: and he gave them himself every day the water of this said fruit the cocho, which comforted them much. Near this isle is another where there are a kind of people who wear 75holes⁠[280] in their ears so large that they can pass their arms through them; these people are Caphre, that is to say, Gentiles, and they go naked, except that round their middles they wear cloth made of the bark of trees. But there are some of the more remarkable of them who wear cotton stuff, and at the end of it there is some work of silk done with a needle. These people are tawny,⁠[281] fat, and painted, and they anoint themselves with the oil of coco nuts and sesame,⁠[282] to preserve them from the sun and the wind. Their hair is very black and long, reaching to the waist, and they carry small daggers and knives, ornamented with gold, and many other things, such as darts,⁠[283] harpoons, and nets to fish, like...,⁠[284] and their boats are like ours.

The Monday of Passion week, the 25th of March, and feast of our Lady, in the afternoon, and being ready to depart from this place, I went to the side of our ship to fish, and putting my feet on a spar to go down to the store room,⁠[285] my feet slipped, because it had rained, and I fell into the sea without any one seeing me, and being near drowning by luck I found at my left hand the sheet of the large sail which was in the sea, I caught hold of it and began to cry out till they came to help and pick me up with the boat. I was assisted not by my merits, but by the mercy and grace of the fountain of pity. That same day we took the course between west and southwest,⁠[286] and passed amidst four small islands, that is to say, Cenalo, Huinanghar, Ibusson, and Abarien.

Thursday, the 28th of March, having seen the night before fire upon an island, at the morning we came to 76anchor at this island; where we saw a small boat which they call Boloto, with eight men inside, which approached the ship of the captain-general. Then a slave of the captain’s, who was from Sumatra, otherwise named Traprobana, spoke from afar to these people, who understood his talk,⁠[287] and came near to the side of the ship, but they withdrew immediately, and would not enter the ship from fear of us. So the captain seeing that they would not trust to us showed them a red cap, and other things, which he had tied and placed on a little plank,⁠[288] and the people in the boat took them immediately and joyously, and then returned to advise their king. Two hours afterwards, or thereabouts, we saw come two long boats, which they call Ballanghai, full of men. In the largest of them was their king sitting under an awning of mats; when they were near the ship of the captain-general, the said slave spoke to the king, who understood him well, because in these countries the kings know more languages than the common people. Then the king ordered some of his people to go to the captain’s ship, whilst he would not move from his boat, which was near enough to us. This was done, and when his people returned to the boat, he went away at once. The captain gave good entertainment to the men who came to his ship, and gave them all sorts of things, on which account the king wished to give the captain a rather large bar of solid gold, and a chest⁠[289] full of ginger. However, the captain thanked him very much but would not accept the present. After that, when it was late, we went with the ships near to the houses and abode of the king.

The next day which was Good Friday, the captain sent on shore the before-mentioned slave, who was our interpreter, to the king to beg him to give him for money some provisions for his ships, sending him word that he had not 77come to his country as an enemy, but as a friend. The king on hearing this came with seven or eight men in a boat, and entered the ship, and embraced the captain, and gave him three china dishes covered with leaves full of rice, and two dorades, which are rather large fish, and of the sort above-mentioned, and he gave him several other things. The captain gave this king a robe of red and yellow cloth, made in the Turkish fashion, and a very fine red cap, and to his people he gave to some of them knives, and to others mirrors. After that refreshments were served up to them. The captain told the king, through the said interpreter, that he wished to be with him, cassi⁠[290] cassi, that is to say, brothers. To which the king answered that he desired to be the same towards him. After that the captain showed him cloths of different colours, linen, coral, and much other merchandise, and all the artillery, of which he had some pieces fired before him, at which the king was much astonished; after that the captain had one of his soldiers armed with white armour, and placed him in the midst of three comrades, who struck him with swords and daggers. The king thought this very strange, and the captain told him, through the interpreter, that a man thus in white armour was worth a hundred of his men; he answered that it was true; he was further informed that there were in each ship two hundred like that man. After that the captain showed him a great number of swords, cuirasses, and helmets, and made two of the men play with their swords before the king; he then showed him the sea chart and the ship compass, and informed him how he had found the strait to come there, and of the time which he had spent in coming; also of the time he had been without seeing any land, at which the king was astonished. At the end the captain asked⁠[291] if he would be pleased that two of his people 78should go with him to the places where they lived, to see some of the things of his country. This the king granted, and I went with another.

When I had landed, the king raised his hands to the sky, and turned to us two, and we did the same as he did; after that he took me by the hand, and one of his principal people took my companion, and led us under a place covered with canes, where there was a ballanghai, that is to say, a boat, eighty feet long or thereabouts, resembling a fusta. We sat with the king upon its poop, always conversing with him by signs, and his people stood up around us, with their swords, spears, and bucklers. Then the king ordered to be brought a dish of pig’s flesh and wine.⁠[292] Their fashion of drinking is in this wise, they first raise their hands to heaven, then take the drinking vessel in their right hand, and extend the left hand closed towards the people. This the king did, and presented to me his fist, so that I thought that he wanted to strike me; I did the same thing towards him; so with this ceremony, and other signs of friendship, we banqueted, and afterwards supped with him.

I ate flesh on Good Friday, not being able to do otherwise, and before the hour of supper, I gave several things to the king, which I had brought. There I wrote down several things as they name them in their language, and when the king and the others saw me write, and I told them their manner of speech, they were all astonished. When the hour for supper had come, they brought two large china dishes, of which one was full of rice, and the other of pig’s flesh, with its broth⁠[293] and sauce. We supped with the same signs and ceremonies, and then went to the king’s palace, which was made and built like a hay grange, covered with 79fig and palm leaves. It was built on great timbers high above the ground, and it was necessary to go up steps and ladders to it. Then the king made us sit on a cane mat, with our legs doubled as was the custom; after half an hour there was brought a dish of fish roast in pieces, and ginger fresh gathered that moment, and some wine. The eldest son of the king, who was the prince, came where we were, and the king told him to sit down near us, which he did; then two dishes were brought, one of fish, with its sauce, and the other of rice, and this was done for us to eat with the prince. My companion enjoyed the food and drink so much that he got drunk. They use for candles or torches the gum of a tree which is named Animé, wrapped up in leaves of palms or fig trees. The king made a sign that he wished to go to rest, and left with us the prince, with whom we slept on a cane mat, with some cushions and pillows of leaves. Next morning the king came and look me by the hand, and so we went to the place where we had supped, to breakfast, but the boat came to fetch us. The king, before we went away, was very gay, and kissed our hands, and we kissed his. There came with us a brother of his, the king of another island,⁠[294] accompanied by three men. The captain-general detained him to dine with us, and we gave him several things.

In the island belonging to the king who came to the ship there are mines of gold, which they find in pieces as big as a walnut or an egg, by seeking in the ground. All the vessels which he makes use of are made of it, and also some parts of his house, which was well fitted up according to the custom of the country, and he was the handsomest man that we saw among these nations. He had very black hair coming80 down to his shoulders, with a silk cloth on his head, and two large gold rings hanging from his ears, he had a cloth of cotton worked with silk, which covered him from the waist to the knees, at his side he wore a dagger, with a long handle which was all of gold, its sheath was of carved wood.⁠[295] Besides he carried upon him scents of storax and benzoin. He was tawny and painted all over. The island of this king is named Zuluan and Calagan, and when these two kings wish to visit one another they come to hunt in this island where we were.⁠[296] Of these kings the painted king is called Raia Calambu, and the other Raia Siani.⁠[297]

On Sunday, the last day of March, and feast of Easter, the captain sent the chaplain ashore early to say mass, and the interpreter went with him to tell the king that they were not coming on shore to dine with him, but only to hear the mass. The king hearing that sent two dead pigs. When it was time for saying mass the captain went ashore with fifty men, not with their arms, but only with their swords, and dressed as well as each one was able to dress, and before the boats reached the shore our ships fired six cannon shots as a sign of peace. At our landing the two kings were there, and received our captain in a friendly manner, and placed him between them, and then we went to the place prepared for saying mass, which was not far from the shore. Before the mass began the captain threw a quantity of musk rose water on those two kings, and when the offertory of the mass came, the two kings went to kiss the cross like us, but they offered nothing, and at the elevation of the body of our Lord they were kneeling like us, and adored our Lord with joined hands. The ships fired all their artillery at the elevation of the body of our Lord. After mass had been said each one did the duty of a Christian,81 receiving our Lord. After that the captain had some sword-play by his people, which gave great pleasure to the kings. Then he had a cross brought, with the nails and crown, to which the kings made reverence, and the captain had them told that these things which he showed them were the sign of the emperor his lord and master, from whom he had charge and commandment to place it in all places where he might go or pass by. He told them that he wished to place it in their country for their profit, because if there came afterwards any ships from Spain to those islands, on seeing this cross, they would know that we had been there, and therefore they would not cause them any displeasure to their persons nor their goods; and if they took any of their people, on showing them this sign, they would at once let them go. Besides this, the captain told them that it was necessary that this cross should be placed on the summit of the highest mountain in their country, so that seeing it every day they might adore it, and that if they did thus, neither thunder, lightning, nor the tempest could do them hurt. The kings thanked the captain, and said they would do it willingly. Then he asked whether they were Moors or Gentiles, and in what they believed. They answered that they did not perform any other adoration, but only joined their hands, looking up to heaven, and that they called their God, Aba. Hearing this, the captain was very joyful, on seeing that, the first king raised his hands to the sky and said that he wished it were possible for him to be able to show the affection which he felt towards him. The interpreter asked him for what reason there was so little to eat in that place, to which the king replied that he did not reside in that place except when he came to hunt and to see his brother, but that he lived in another island where he had all his family. Then the captain asked him if he had any enemies who made war upon him, and that if he had any he would go and defeat them with his men and ships, to 82put them under his obedience. The king thanked him, and answered that there were two islands the inhabitants of which were his enemies; however, that for the present it was not the time to attack them. The captain therefore said to him that if God permitted him to return another time to this country, he would bring so many men that he would put them by force under his obedience. Then he bade the interpreter tell them that he was going away to dine, and after that he would return to place the cross on the summit of the mountain. The two kings said they were content, and on that they embraced the captain, and he separated from them.

After dinner we all returned in our dress coats⁠[298], and we went together with the two kings to the middle of the highest mountain we could find, and there the cross was planted. After that the two kings and the captain rested themselves; and, while conversing, I asked where was the best port for obtaining victuals. They replied that there were three, that is to say, Ceylon, Zzubu,⁠[299] and Calaghan, but that Zzubu was the largest and of the most traffic. Then the kings offered to give him pilots to go to those ports, for which he thanked them, and deliberated to go there, for his ill-fortune⁠[300] would have it so. After the cross had been planted on that mountain, each one said the Paternoster and Ave Maria, and adored it, and the kings did the like. Then we went down below to where their boats were. There the kings had brought some of the fruit called cocos and other things to make a collation and to refresh us. The captain, being desirous to depart the next day in the morning, asked the king for the pilots to conduct us to the above-mentioned ports, promising him to treat them like themselves, and that he would leave one of his own men as a hostage. The first king said that he would 83go himself and conduct him to this port, and be his pilot, but that he should wait two days, until he had had his rice gathered in and done other things which he had to do, begging him to lend him some of his men so as to get done sooner. This the captain agreed to.

This kind of people are gentle, and go naked, and are painted. They wear a piece of cloth made from a tree, like a linen cloth, round their body to cover their natural parts: they are great drinkers. The women are dressed in tree cloth from their waists downwards; their hair is black, and reaches down to the ground: they wear certain gold rings in their ears. These people chew most of their time a fruit which they call areca, which is something of the shape of a pear; they cut it in four quarters, and after they have chewed it for a long time they spit it out, from which afterwards they have their mouths very red. They find themselves the better from the use of this fruit because it refreshes them much, for this country is very hot, so that they could not live without it. In this island there is a great quantity of dogs, cats, pigs, fowls, and goats, rice, ginger, cocos, figs, oranges, lemons, millet, wax, and gold mines. This island is in nine degrees and two-thirds north latitude, and one hundred and sixty-two longitude⁠[301] from the line of demarcation: it is twenty-five leagues distant from the other island where we found the two fountains of fresh water. This island is named Mazzava.

We remained seven days in this place; then we took the tack of Maestral, passing through the midst of five isles, that is to say, Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan, Baibai, and Satighan.⁠[302] In this island of Satighan is a kind of bird⁠[303] called Barbastigly, which are as large as eagles. Of these we 84killed only one, because it was late. We ate it, and it had the taste of a fowl. There are also in this island doves, tortoises, parrots, and certain black birds as large as a fowl, with a long tail. They lay eggs as large as those of a goose. These they put a good arm’s length⁠[304] under the sand in the sun, where they are hatched by the great heat which the heated sand gives out; and when these birds are hatched they push up⁠[305] the sand and come out. These eggs are good to eat. From this island of Mazzabua⁠[306] to that of Satighan there are twenty leagues, and on leaving Satighan we went by the west; but the King of Mazzabua could not follow us; therefore we waited for him near three islands, that is to say, Polo, Ticobon, and Pozzon. When the king arrived he was much astonished at our navigation, the captain-general bade him come on board his ship with some of his principal people, at which they were much pleased. Thus we went to Zzubu, which is fifteen leagues off from Satighan.

Sunday, the 7th of April, about midday, we entered the port of Zzubu, having passed by many villages. There⁠[307] we saw many houses which were built on trees. On approaching the principal town the captain-general commanded all his ships to hang out their flags. Then we lowered the sails in the fashion in which they are struck when going to fight, and he had all the artillery fired, at which the people of this place were greatly frightened. The captain sent a young man whom he had brought up,⁠[308] with the interpreter to the king of this island Zzubu. These having come to the town, found a great number of people and their king with them, all alarmed by the artillery which had been fired. But the interpreter reassured them, saying that it was the fashion and custom to fire artillery when they arrived at ports, to show signs of peace and friendship; and also, to do more honour to the king of the country, they had fired all the artillery.85 The king and all his people were reassured. He then bade one of his principal men ask what we were seeking. The interpreter answered him that his master was captain of the greatest king in the world, and that he was going by the command of the said sovereign to discover the Molucca islands. However, on account of what he had heard where he had passed, and especially from the King of Mazzava, of his courtesy and good fame, he had wished to pass by his country to visit him, and also to obtain some refreshment of victuals for his merchandise. The king answered him that he was welcome, but that the custom was that all ships which arrived at his country or port paid tribute, and it was only four days since that a ship called the Junk of Ciama,⁠[309] laden with gold and slaves, had paid him his tribute, and, to verify what he said, he showed them a merchant of the said Ciama, who had remained there to trade with the gold and slaves. The interpreter said to him that this captain, on account of being captain of so great a king as his was, would not pay tribute to any sovereign in the world; and that if he wished for peace he would have peace, and if he wished for war he would have war. Then the merchant above-mentioned replied to the king in his own language, “Look well, oh king,⁠[310] what you will do, for these people are of those who have conquered Calicut, Malacca, and all greater India; if you entertain them well and treat them well you will find yourself the better for it, and if ill, it will be so much the worse for you, as they have done at Calicut and Malacca.” The interpreter, who understood all this discourse, said to them that the king, his master, was a good deal more powerful in ships and by land than the King of Portugal, and declared to him that he was the King of Spain and Emperor of all Christendom, wherefore, if he would not be his friend and treat his subjects well, he would another time send against 86him so many men as to destroy him. Then the king answered that he would speak to his council, and give an answer the next day. Afterwards the king ordered a collation to be brought of several viands, all of meat, in porcelain dishes, with a great many vessels of wine. When the repast was over, our people returned, and related all to the captain; and the King of Mazzabua, who was on board the captain’s ship, and who was the first king after him of Zzubu, and the lord of several isles, wished to go on shore to relate to the king the politeness and courtesy of our captain.

Monday morning our clerk went with the interpreter to the town of Zzubu, and the king, accompanied by the principal men of his kingdom, came to the open space, where we made our people sit down near him, and he asked whether there was more than one captain in all those ships, and whether he wished that the king should pay tribute to the emperor, his master, to which our people answered, no, but that the captain only wished to trade with the things which he had brought with the people of his country, and not with others. Then the king said that he was content, and as a greater sign of affection he sent him a little of his blood from his right arm, and wished he should do the like. Our people answered that he would do it. Besides that, he said that all the captains who came to his country had been accustomed to make a present to him, and he to them, and therefore they should ask their captain if he would observe the custom. Our people answered that he would; but as the king wished to keep up the custom, let him begin and make a present, and then the captain would do his duty.

Tuesday morning following the King of Mazzava, with the Moor, came to the ship, and saluted the captain on behalf of the King of Zzubu, and said that the king was preparing a quantity of provisions, as much as he could, to make a present of to him, and that after dinner he would send two of his nephews, with others of his principal people, to make 87peace with him. Then the captain had one of his men armed with his own armour, and told him that all of us would fight armed in that manner, at which the Moorish merchant was rather astonished; but the captain told him not to be afraid, and that our arms were soft to our friends and rough to our enemies; and that as a cloth wipes away the sweat from a man, so our arms destroy the enemies of our faith. The captain said this to the Moor, because he was more intelligent than the others, and for him to relate it all to the King of Zzubu.

After dinner, the nephew of this king, who was a prince,⁠[311] with the King of Mazzava, the Moor, the governor, and the chief of police,⁠[312] and eight of the principal men, came to the ship to make peace with us. The captain-general was sitting in a chair of red velvet, and near him were the principal men of the ships sitting in leather chairs, and the others on the ground on mats. Then the captain bade the interpreter ask the above-mentioned persons if it was their custom to speak in secret or in public, and whether the prince who was come with them had power to conclude peace. They answered yes, that they would speak in public, and that they had the power to conclude peace. The captain spoke at length on the subject of peace, and prayed God to confirm it in heaven. These people replied that they had never heard such words as these which the captain had spoken to them, and they took great pleasure in hearing them. The captain, seeing then that those people listened willingly to what was said to them, and that they gave good answers, began to say a great many more good things to induce them to become Christians. After many other subjects, the captain asked them who would succeed the king in their country after his death. They answered that the king had no son, but several daughters, and that this prince was his 88nephew, and had for a wife the king’s eldest daughter, and for the sake of that they called him prince. They also said that when the father and mother were old they took no further account of them, but their children commanded them. Upon which the captain told them how God had made heaven and earth and all other things in the world, and that He had commanded that everyone should render honour and obedience to his father and mother, and that whoever did otherwise was condemned to eternal fire. He then pointed out to them many other things concerning our faith. The people heard these things willingly, and besought the captain to leave them two men to teach and show them the Christian faith, and they would entertain them well with great honour. To this the captain answered that for the moment he could not leave them any of his people, but that if they wished to be Christians that his priest would baptise them, and that another time he would bring priests and preachers to teach them the faith. They then answered that they wished first to speak to their king, and then would become Christians. Each of us wept for the joy which we felt at the goodwill of these people, and the captain told them not to become Christians from fear of us, or to please us, but that if they wished to become Christian they must do it willingly, and for the love of God, for even though they should not become Christian, no displeasure would be done them, but those who became Christian would be more loved and better treated than the others. Then they all cried out with one voice, that they did not wish to become Christians from fear, nor from complaisance, but of their free will. The captain then said that if they became Christians he would leave them the arms which the Christians use, and that his king had commanded him so to do. At last they said they did not know what more to answer to so many good and beautiful words which he spoke to them, but that they placed themselves in his 89hands, and that he should do with them as with his own servants. Then the captain, with tears in his eyes, embraced them, and, taking the hand of the prince and that of the king, said to him that by the faith he had in God, and to his master the emperor, and by the habit of St. James which he wore, he promised them to cause them to have perpetual peace with the King of Spain, at which the prince and the others promised him the same. After peace had been concluded, the captain had refreshments served to them. The prince and the King of Mazzava, who was with him, presented to the captain on behalf of his king large baskets full of rice, pigs, goats, and fowls, and desired the captain to be told he should pardon them that their present was not as fine as was fitting for him. The captain gave to the prince some very fine cloth and a red cap, and a quantity of glass and a cup of gilt glass. Glasses are much prized in this country. To the other people belonging to the Prince he gave various things. Then he sent by me and another person to the King of Zzubu a robe of yellow and violet silk in the fashion of a Turkish jubbeh, a red cap, very fine, and certain pieces of glass, and had all of them put in a silver dish, and two gilt glasses.

When we came to the town we found the King of Zzubu at his palace, sitting on the ground on a mat made of palm, with many people about him. He was quite naked, except that he had a cloth round his middle, and a loose wrapper round his head, worked with silk by the needle. He had a very heavy chain round his neck, and two gold rings hung in his ears with precious stones. He was a small and fat man, and his face was painted with fire in different ways. He was eating on the ground on another palm mat, and was then eating tortoise eggs in two china dishes, and he had four vessels full of palm wine, which he drank with a cane pipe.⁠[313] We made our obeisance, and presented to him 90what the captain had sent him, and told him through the interpreter that it was not as a return for his present which he had sent to the captain, but for the affection which he bore him. That done, his people told him all the good words and explanations of peace and religion which he had spoken to them. The king wished to detain us to supper, but we made our excuses and took leave of him. The prince, nephew of the king, conducted us to his house, and showed us four girls who played on four instruments, which were strange and very soft, and their manner of playing is rather musical. Afterwards he made us dance with them. These girls were naked except from the waist to the knees, where they wore a wrap made of the palm tree cloth, which covered their middles, and some were quite naked. There we made a repast, and then returned to the ships.

Wednesday morning, because the night before one of our men had died, the interpreter and I, by order of the captain, went to ask the king for a place where we might bury the deceased. We found the king accompanied by a good many people, and, after paying him due honour, we told him of the death of our man, and that the captain prayed him that he might be put into the ground. He replied that if he and his people were ready to obey our master, still more reason was there for his land and country being subject to him. After that we said we wished to consecrate the grave in our fashion and place a cross on it. The sovereign said that he was content, and that he would worship that cross as we did. The deceased was buried in the middle of the open space of the town, as decently as possible, and performing the above-mentioned ceremonies to set them a good example, and in the evening we buried another. This done, we brought a good quantity of merchandise into the town of this king, and placed it in a house, and he took it under his charge and promised that no one would do harm or injury to the king. Four of our men were chosen to despatch 91and sell this merchandise. These people live with justice, and good weight and measure, loving peace, and are people who love ease and pleasure.⁠[314] They have wooden scales, after the fashion of those of north of the Loire,⁠[315] for weighing their merchandise. Their houses are made of wood and beams and canes, founded on piles, and are very high, and must be entered by means of ladders; their rooms are like ours, and underneath they keep their cattle, such as pigs, goats, and fowls. The young people sound bag-pipes,⁠[316] made like ours, and call them Subin.⁠[317]

In this island of the king’s there is a kind of animal carrying a shell called carniolle, fine to look at, which cause the whale to die. For the whale swallows them alive; then, when they are inside its body, they come out of their shell and go and eat the whale’s heart: and the people of this country find this animal alive inside the whale. These animals, the carniolles, have the teeth and skin black, and their shell is white. Their flesh is good to eat, and they call them Laghan.⁠[318]

The following Friday we showed them a shop full of our merchandise, which was of various strange sorts, at which they were surprised. For metal, iron, and other big goods they gave us gold, and for the other small and sundry goods they gave us rice, pigs, goats, and other provisions. They gave us ten weights of gold for fourteen pounds of iron: each weight is a ducat and a half. The captain-general would not allow a large quantity of gold to be taken, so that the sailors should not sell what belonged to them too 92 cheap from thirst for gold, and lest by that means he might be constrained to do likewise with his merchandise, for he wished to sell it better.

Saturday following a scaffolding was made in the open space, fitted with tapestry and palm branches, because the king had promised our captain to become Christian on Sunday. He told him not to be afraid when our artillery fired on that day, for it was the custom to load it on those feasts without firing stones or other balls.

Sunday morning, the fourteenth day of April, we went on shore, forty men, of whom two were armed, who marched before us, following the standard of our king emperor. When we landed the ships discharged all their artillery, and from fear of it the people ran away in all directions. The captain and the king embraced one another, and then joyously we went near the scaffolding, where the captain and the king sat on two chairs, one covered with red, the other with violet velvet. The principal men sat on cushions, and the others on mats, after the fashion of the country. Then the captain began to speak to the king through the interpreter to incite him to the faith of Jesus Christ, and told him that if he wished to be a good Christian, as he had said the day before, that he must burn all the idols of his country, and, instead of them, place a cross, and that everyone should worship it every day on their knees, and their hands joined to heaven: and he showed him how he ought every day to make the sign of the cross. To that the king and all his people answered that they would obey the commands of the captain and do all that he told them. The captain took the king by the hand, and they walked about on the scaffolding, and when he was baptised he said that he would name him⁠[319] Don Charles, as the emperor his sovereign was named; and he named the prince Don Fernand, after the brother of the emperor, and the King of Mazzava 93Jehan: to the Moor he gave the name of Christopher, and to the others each a name of his fancy. Thus, before mass, there were fifty men baptised. After mass had been heard the captain invited the king and his other principal men to dine with him, but he would not. He accompanied the captain, however, to the beach, and on his arrival there the ships fired all their artillery. Then, embracing one another, they took leave.

After dinner our chaplain and some of us went on shore to baptise the queen. She came with forty ladies, and we conducted them on to the scaffolding; then made her sit down on a cushion, and her women around her, until the priest was ready. During that time they showed her an image of our Lady, of wood, holding her little child, which was very well made, and a cross. When she saw it, she had a greater desire to be a Christian, and, asking for baptism, she was baptised and named Jehanne, like the mother of the emperor. The wife of the prince, daughter of this queen, had the name of Catherine, the Queen of Mazzava Isabella, and the others each their name. That day we baptised eight hundred persons of men, women, and children. The Queen was young and handsome, covered with a black and white sheet; she had the mouth and nails very red, and wore on her head a large hat made of leaves of palm, with a crown over it made of the same leaves, like that of the Pope. After that she begged us to give her the little wooden boy to put in the place of the idols.⁠[320] This we did, and she went away. In the evening the king and queen, with several of their people, came to the sea beach, where the captain had some of the large artillery fired, in which they 94took great pleasure.⁠[321] The captain and the king called one another brother.

At last, in eight days, all the inhabitants of this island were baptised, and some belonging to the neighbouring islands. In one of these we burned a village because the inhabitants would not obey either the king or us. There we planted a cross because the people were Gentiles: if they had been Moors, we should have erected a column, as a sign of their hardness of heart, because the Moors are more difficult to convert than the Gentiles. The captain-general went ashore every day to hear mass, to which there came many of the new Christians, to whom he explained various points of our religion. One day the queen came with all her state. She was preceded by three damsels, who carried in their hands three of her hats: she was dressed in black and white, with a large silk veil with gold stripes, which covered her head and shoulders. Very many women followed her, with their heads covered with a small veil, and a hat above that: the rest of their bodies and feet were naked, except a small wrapper of palm cloth which covered their natural parts. Their hair fell flowing over their shoulders. The queen, after making a bow to the altar, sat upon a cushion of embroidered silk, and the captain sprinkled over her and over some of her ladies rose water and musk, a perfume which pleases the ladies of this country very much. The captain on that occasion approved of the gift which I had made to the queen of the image of the Infant Jesus, and recommended her to put it in the place of her idols, because it was a remembrancer of the Son of God. She promised to do all this, and to keep it with much care.

In order that the king might be more respected and obeyed, the captain-general got him to come one day at the hour of mass with his silk robe, and summoned his two brothers, one named Bondara, who was the father of the 95prince, and the other named Cadaro, and some of his chief men, whose names were Simiut, Sibuaia, Sisacai,⁠[322] Magalibe, and others whom it is unnecessary to name separately; and he made them all swear to be obedient to their king, whose hand they all of them kissed. He then asked the king to swear that he would always be obedient and faithful to the King of Spain, and he took the oath. Then the captain drew a sword before the image of the Virgin Mary, and said to the king that when such an oath had been taken by anyone, he should rather die than be wanting to his oath. After that he himself promised to be always faithful to him, swearing by the image of our Lady, by the life of the emperor his sovereign, and by the habit which he wore. He then made a present to the king of a velvet chair, and told him that wherever he went he should always have it carried before him by some of his attendants, and showed him the way in which it should be carried. The king told the captain that he would do all this on account of the affection which he bore him, of which he wished to give him a token, preparing for that purpose some jewels to present to him; these were two rather large gold rings for the ears, two others for the arms, and two for the ancles, all of them adorned with precious stones. The finest ornaments of the kings of these countries consist in these rings, for otherwise they go naked and barefooted, with only a piece of cloth from the waist to the knees.

The captain-general, who had informed the king and all those who had been baptised of the obligation they were under of burning their idols, which they had promised to do, seeing that they retained them and made them offerings of meat, reproved them severely for it. They thought to excuse themselves sufficiently by saying that they did not do that now on their own account, but for a sick person, for the idols to restore him his health. This sick man was a brother of the prince, and was reputed to be the most valiant and 96wise man in the island, and his illness was so severe that for four days he had not spoken. Having heard this, the captain, seized with zeal for religion, said that if they had a true faith in Jesus Christ, they should burn all the idols, and the sick man should be baptised, and he would be immediately cured, of which he was so certain that he consented to lose his head if the miracle did not take place. The king promised that all this should be done, because he truly believed in Jesus Christ. Then we arranged, with all the pomp that was possible, a procession from the place to the house of the sick man. We went there, and indeed found him unable to speak or to move. We baptised him, with two of his wives and ten girls. The captain then asked him how he felt, and he at once spoke, and said that by the grace of Our Lord he was well enough. This great miracle was done under our eyes. The captain, on hearing him speak, gave great thanks to God. He gave him a refreshing drink to take, and afterwards sent to his house a mattress, two sheets, a covering of yellow wool, and a cushion, and he continued to send him, until he was quite well, refreshing drinks of almonds, rosewater, rosoglio, and some sweet preserves.

On the fifth day the convalescent rose from his bed, and as soon as he could walk, he had burned, in the presence of the king and of all the people, an idol which some old women had concealed in his house. He also caused to be destroyed several temples constructed on the sea shore, in which people were accustomed to eat the meat offered to the idols. The inhabitants applauded this, and, shouting “Castile, Castile,” helped to throw them down, and declared that if God gave them life they would burn all the idols they could find, even if they were in the king’s own house.

These idols are made of wood, they are concave or hollowed out behind, they have the arms and legs spread out, and the feet turned upwards; they have a large face, with 97four very large teeth like those of a wild boar, and they are all painted.

Since I have spoken of the idols, it may please your illustrious Highness to have an account of the ceremony with which, in this island, they bless the pig. They begin by sounding some great drums (tamburi), they then bring three large dishes, two are filled with cakes of rice and cooked millet rolled up in leaves, and roast fish, in the third are Cambay clothes, and two strips of palm cloth. A cloth of Cambay is spread out on the ground: then two old women come, each of whom has in her hand a reed trumpet. They step upon the cloth and make an obeisance to the Sun: they then clothe themselves with the above mentioned cloths. The first of these puts on her head a handkerchief which she ties on her forehead so as to make two horns, and taking another handkerchief in her hand, dances and sounds her trumpet, and invokes the Sun. The second old woman takes one of the strips of palm cloth, and dances, and also sounds her trumpet; thus they dance and sound their trumpets for a short space of time, saying several things to the sun. The first old woman then drops the handkerchief she has in her hand, and takes the other strip of cloth, and both together sounding their trumpets, dance for a long time round the pig which is bound on the ground. The first one always speaks in a low tone to the sun, and the second answers her. The second old woman then presents a cup of wine to the first, who, whilst they both continue their address to the sun, brings the cup four or five times near her mouth as though going to drink, and meanwhile sprinkles the wine on the heart of the pig. She then gives up the cup, and receives a lance which she brandishes, whilst still dancing and reciting, and four or five times directs the lance at the pig’s heart, at last with a sudden and well aimed blow she pierces it through and through. She withdraws the lance from the wound, which is then 98closed and dressed with herbs. During the ceremony a torch is always burning, and the old woman who pierced the pig takes and puts it out with her mouth, the other old woman dips the end of her trumpet in the pig’s blood, and with it marks with blood the forehead of her husband, and of her companion, and then of the rest of the people. But they did not come and do this to us. That done the old women took off their robes, and ate what was in the two dishes, inviting only women to join them. After that they get the hair off the pig with fire. Only old women are able to consecrate the boar in this manner, and this animal is never eaten unless it is killed in this manner.

(Here follows an account of a custom, for a description of which see De Morga’s Philippine Islands, p. 304.)

When our people went on shore by day or by night, they always met with some one who invited them to eat and drink. They only half cook their victuals, and salt them very much, which makes them drink a great deal; and they drink much with reeds, sucking the wine from the vessels. Their repasts always last from five to six hours.

When one of their chiefs dies they always use the following funeral ceremonies, of which I was witness. The most respected women of the country came to the house of the deceased, in the midst of which lay the corpse in a chest; round which were stretched cords after the manner of an enclosure, and many branches of trees were tied to these cords: a strip of cotton was fastened to each of these branches like a pennant. Under these the women I have mentioned sat down covered with white cotton cloth. Each of them had a damsel who fanned her with a palm fan. The other women sat sadly round the room. Meanwhile a woman cut off by degrees the hair of the dead man with a knife: another who had been his principal wife, lay extended on him, with her mouth hands and feet on the mouth hands 99and feet of the dead man. When the first woman cut off the hair, she wept, and when she stopped cutting, she sung. Round the room there were many vases of porcelain, with embers in them, on which, from time to time, they threw myrrh, storax, and benzoin, which gave out a good and strong smell in the room. These ceremonies last for five or six days, during which the corpse is kept in the house, and I believe that they anoint it with oil of camphor to preserve it. They afterwards put it in a chest, closed with wooden bolts, and place it in an enclosed place covered with logs of wood.

The islanders told us that every evening towards midnight, there used to come to the city, a black bird of the size of a crow, which perching on the houses whistled, and caused all the dogs to howl, and these double cries lasted four or five hours. They would never tell us the cause of that phenomenon, of which we also were witnesses.

Friday, the 26th of April, Zula, who was one of the principal men or chiefs of the island of Matan, sent to the captain a son of his with two goats to make a present of them, and to say that if he did not do all that he had promised, the cause of that was another chief named Silapulapu, who would not in any way obey the King of Spain, and had prevented him from doing so: but that if the captain would send him the following night one boat full of men to give him assistance, he would fight and subdue his rival. On the receipt of this message, the captain decided to go himself with three boats. We entreated him much not to go to this enterprise in person, but he as a good shepherd would not abandon his flock.

We set out from Zubu at midnight, we were sixty men armed with corslets and helmets; there were with us the Christian king, the prince, and some of the chief men, and many others divided among twenty or thirty balangai. We arrived at Matan three hours before daylight. The captain before attacking wished to attempt gentle means, and sent 100on shore the Moorish merchant to tell those islanders who were of the party of Cilapulapu, that if they would recognise the Christian king as their sovereign, and obey the King of Spain, and pay us the tribute which had been asked, the captain would become their friend, otherwise we should prove how our lances wounded. The islanders were not terrified, they replied that if we had lances, so also had they, although only of reeds, and wood hardened with fire. They asked however that we should not attack them by night, but wait for daylight, because they were expecting reinforcements, and would be in greater number. This they said with cunning, to excite us to attack them by night, supposing that we were ready; but they wished this because they had dug ditches between their houses and the beach, and they hoped that we should fall into them.

We however waited for daylight; we then leaped into the water up to our thighs, for on account of the shallow water and the rocks the boats could not come close to the beach, and we had to cross two good crossbow shots through the water before reaching it. We were forty-nine in number, the other eleven remained in charge of the boats. When we reached land we found the islanders fifteen hundred in number, drawn up in three squadrons; they came down upon us with terrible shouts, two squadrons attacking us on the flanks, and the third in front. The captain then divided his men in two bands. Our musketeers and crossbow-men fired for half an hour from a distance, but did nothing, since the bullets and arrows, though they passed through their shields made of thin wood, and perhaps wounded their arms, yet did not stop them. The captain shouted not to fire, but he was not listened to. The islanders seeing that the shots of our guns did them little or no harm would not retire, but shouted more loudly, and springing from one side to the other to avoid our shots, they at the same time drew nearer to us, throwing arrows, javelins, spears hardened in fire, stones, and 101even mud, so that we could hardly defend ourselves. Some of them cast lances pointed with iron at the captain-general.

He then, in order to disperse this multitude and to terrify them, sent some of our men to set fire to their houses, but this rendered them more ferocious. Some of them ran to the fire, which consumed twenty or thirty houses, and there killed two of our men. The rest came down upon us with greater fury; they perceived that our bodies were defended, but that the legs were exposed, and they aimed at them principally. The captain had his right leg pierced by a poisoned arrow, on which account he gave orders to retreat by degrees; but almost all our men took to precipitate flight, so that there remained hardly six or eight of us with him. We were oppressed by the lances and stones which the enemy hurled at us, and we could make no more resistance. The bombards which we had in the boats were of no assistance to us, for the shoal water kept them too far from the beach. We went thither, retreating little by little, and still fighting, and we had already got to the distance of a crossbow shot from the shore, having the water up to our knees, the islanders following and picking up again the spears which they had already cast, and they threw the same spear five or six times; as they knew the captain they aimed specially at him, and twice they knocked the helmet off his head. He, with a few of us, like a good knight, remained at his post without choosing to retreat further. Thus we fought for more than an hour, until an Indian succeeded in thrusting a cane lance into the captain’s face. He then, being irritated, pierced the Indian’s breast with his lance, and left it in his body, and trying to draw his sword he was unable to draw it more than half way, on account of a javelin wound which he had received in the right arm. The enemies seeing this all rushed against him, and one of them with a great sword, like a great scimetar⁠[323] gave him a 102great blow on the left leg, which brought the captain down on his face, then the Indians threw themselves upon him, and ran him through with lances and scimetars, and all the other arms which they had, so that they deprived of life our mirror, light, comfort, and true guide. Whilst the Indians were thus overpowering him, several times he turned round towards us to see if we were all in safety, as though his obstinate fight had no other object than to give an opportunity for the retreat of his men. We who fought to extremity, and who were covered with wounds, seeing that he was dead, proceeded to the boats which were on the point of going away. This fatal battle was fought on the 27th of April of 1521, on a Saturday; a day which the captain had chosen himself, because he had a special devotion to it. There perished with him eight of our men, and four of the Indians, who had become Christians; we had also many wounded, amongst whom I must reckon myself. The enemy lost only fifteen men.

He died; but I hope that your illustrious highness will not allow his memory to be lost, so much the more since I see revived in you the virtue of so great a captain, since one of his principal virtues was constance in the most adverse fortune. In the midst of the sea he was able to endure hunger better than we. Most versed in nautical charts, he knew better than any other the true art of navigation, of which it is a certain proof that he knew by his genius, and his intrepidity, without any one having given him the example, how to attempt the circuit of the globe, which he had almost completed.⁠[324]

The Christian king could indeed have given us aid, and would have done so; but our captain far from forseeing that which happened, when he landed with his men, had charged him not to come out of his balangai, wishing that he should 103stay there to see how we fought. When he knew how the captain had died he wept bitterly for him.

In the afternoon the king himself, with our consent, sent to tell the inhabitants of Matan, that if they would give up to us the body of our captain, and of our other companions who were killed in this battle, we would give them as much merchandise as they might wish for; but they answered that on no account would they ever give up that man, but they wished to preserve him as a monument of their triumph. When the death of the captain was known, those who were in the city to trade, had all the merchandise at once transported to the ships. We then elected in the place of the captain, Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese, and a relation of the captain’s, and Juan Serrano a Spaniard.

Our interpreter, who was a slave of the captain-general, and was named Henry, having been slightly wounded in the battle, would not go ashore any more for the things which we required, but remained all day idle, and wrapped up in his mat (Schiavina). Duarte Barbosa, the commander of the flag ship, found fault with him, and told him that though his master was dead, he had not become free on that account, but that when we returned to Spain he would return him to Doña Beatrice, the widow of the captain-general; at the same time he threatened to have him flogged, if he did not go on shore quickly, and do what was wanted for the service of the ships. The slave rose up, and did as though he did not care much for these affronts and threats; and having gone on shore, he informed the Christian king that we were thinking of going away soon, but that if he would follow his advice, he might become master of all our goods and of the ships themselves. The King of Zubu listened favourably to him, and they arranged to betray us. After that the slave returned on board, and showed more intelligence and attention than he had done before.

Wednesday morning, the 1st of May, the Christian king 104sent to tell the two commanders that the jewels prepared as presents for the King of Spain were ready, and he invited them to come that same day to dine with him, with some of his most honoured companions, and he would give them over to them. The commanders went with twenty-four others, and amongst them was our astrologer named San Martin of Seville. I could not go because I was swelled with a wound from a poisoned arrow in the forehead. Juan Carvalho, with the chief of police, who also were invited, turned back, and said that they had suspected some bad business, because they had seen the man who had recovered from illness by a miracle, leading away the priest to his own house. They had hardly spoken these words when we heard great lamentations and cries. We quickly got up the anchors and, coming closer to the beach, we fired several shots with the cannon at the houses. There then appeared on the beach Juan Serrano, in his shirt, wounded and bound, who entreated us, as loudly as he could, not to fire any more, or else he would be massacred. We asked him what had become of his companions and the interpreter, and he said that all had been slain except the interpreter. He then entreated us to ransom him with some merchandise; but Juan Carvalho, although he was his gossip, joined with some others, refused to do it, and they would not allow any boat to go ashore, so that they might remain masters of the ships. Serrano continued his entreaties and lamentations, saying, that if we departed and abandoned him there, he would soon be killed; and after that he saw his lamentations were useless, he added that he prayed God to ask for an account of his life at the day of Judgment from Juan Carvalho, his gossip.⁠[325] Notwithstanding, we sailed immediately; and I never heard any more news of him.

In this island of Zubu there are dogs and cats, and other animals, whose flesh is eaten; there is also rice, millet, panicum, and maize; there are also figs, oranges, lemons, 105sugar-canes, cocos, gourds, ginger, honey, and other such things; they also make palm-wine of many qualities. Gold is abundant. The island is large, and has a good port with two entrances: one to the west, and the other to the east-north-east. It is in ten degrees north latitude and 154 east longitude from the line of demarcation.

In this island there are several towns, each of which has its principal men or chiefs. Here are the names of the towns and their chiefs:—

Cingapola: its chiefs are Cilaton, Ciguibucan, Cimaninga, Cimaticat, Cicanbul.⁠[326]

Near to Zubu there is, as we said, the island of Matan, the most considerable town of which is called Matan, and its chiefs are Zula and Cilapulapu. The village, which we burned on the occasion of the fatal battle, is named Bulaia.

(Book III of the Milan Edition.)

Departure from Zubu.

When we were at a distance of eighteen leagues from the island of Zubu, near the head of another island called Bohol,⁠[327] in the midst of that archipelago, seeing that our crews were too much reduced in number, so that they were not sufficient for managing all the three ships, we burned the Conception after transporting into the other two all that it contained106 that was serviceable. We then took the S.S.W. course, coasting along an island called Panilongon,⁠[328] where the people were black as in Ethiopia.

We then arrived at a large island,⁠[329] the king of which having come on board our ship, in order to show that he made alliance with us and would be friendly, drew blood from his left hand, and stained with it his breast, his face, and the tip of his tongue. We then did likewise, and when the king went away, I alone accompanied him on shore to see the island.

We entered a river⁠[330] where we met many fishermen, who presented some of their fish to the king. He then took off the cloth which covered his middle, and some of his chief men who were with him did the same, they then all began to row and to sing. Passing near many houses, which were on the brink of the river, we arrived at two hours of the night⁠[331] at the house of the king, which was two leagues from the mouth of the river where the ships were.

When we reached the house, people came to meet us with many torches, made of canes and palm leaves, full of the before-mentioned gum, called anime. Whilst supper was being got ready, the king, with two of his chiefs, and two rather handsome ladies, drank a large vase full of palm wine, without eating anything. I, excusing myself saying that I had already supped, only drank once. In drinking they use the ceremony which I have already described in speaking of the King of Massava.⁠[332] Then the supper was brought, which consisted of rice and fish, very much salted, in porcelain dishes. Rice with them takes the place of bread. They cook it in the following manner, which is common to all these countries. They place inside an earthen 107pot like ours, a large leaf which lines it all round internally, then they put in the water and the rice, and cover up the pot. They let it boil until the rice has taken the consistency of bread, and then they take it out in pieces.

When the supper was over the king had brought a cane mat, and a mat of palm leaf, with a cushion of leaves, and this was to be my bed. I slept there with one of his chiefs. The king with the two ladies went to sleep in another place.

When it was day, whilst breakfast was being prepared, I went to take a turn in the island, and entered several houses, constructed like those of the neighbouring islands; I saw there a good many utensils of gold, but very little victuals. I returned to the king’s house, and we breakfasted with rice and fish. I succeeded in making the king understand by signs, that I should like to see the queen; and he made a sign to me that he was content, and we set out together to the top of a hill, under which her house was placed. I entered the house and made her an obeisance, she did likewise to me. I sat down by the side of her; she was weaving a palm mat to sleep upon. Throughout her house were seen porcelain vases suspended to the walls, and four metal timbals, of which one was very large, another of middle size, and two small ones, and she amused herself by playing on them. There were many male and female slaves for her service. We asked leave and returned to the king’s house, who immediately ordered a refreshment of sugar canes.

After midday, as I wished to return to the ships, the king, with the other chief men of the island, desired to accompany me in the same balangai, going by the same river; on its right bank I saw on an eminence three men hanging to a tree, the branches of which had been cut off. I asked of the king what those unhappy people were, he answered me that they were malefactors and thieves. These people go naked like their neighbours. In this island are found 108pigs, goats, fowls, rice, ginger, find other things which were common to the islands named before. That which is most abundant is gold. They showed me certain valleys, making signs that there was more gold there than hairs on the head, but that as they had not iron to dig it out, it required great labour to acquire it, and which they did not choose to undergo. The king is named Raja Calanao.

This part of the island called Chipit is the same land as Butuan and Calagan, it passes above Bohol, and borders on Massava. Its port is good enough; it is in 8° N. latitude, and 167° of longitude from the line of demarcation; it is fifty leagues distance from Zubu. Towards the North-west is the island of Lozon,⁠[333] which is at two days’ distance; a large island, to which come to trade every year six or eight junks of the people called Lequii.⁠[334]

On leaving this place, and taking our course between west and south-west, we touched at an almost uninhabited island, which afterwards we learned was named Cagayan. The few people there are Moors, who have been banished from an island called Burné.⁠[335] They go naked like the others, and carry blow-pipes with small quivers at their sides full of arrows, and a herb with which they poison them. They have daggers, with hilts adorned with gold and precious stones, lances, bucklers, and small cuirasses of buffaloes’ hide. These people took us for something Divine or holy. There are some very large trees in this island, but little victuals. It is in 7° 30′ North latitude, and forty-three leagues from Chipit.

Continuing our voyage we changed our course to between West and North-west, and after running twenty-five leagues, we arrived at a large island, which we found well provided with victuals, and it was great good fortune for us 109since we were so reduced by hunger and so badly supplied, that we were several times on the point of abandoning the ships, and establishing ourselves on some land, in order to live. In this island, which we learned was named Palaoan, we found pigs, goats, fowls, yams, bananas of various kinds, some of which are half a cubit long, and as thick as the arm, others are only a span long, and others are still smaller, and these are the best; they have cocoa nuts, sugar canes, and certain roots like turnips. They cook rice under the fire in bamboo canes, or wooden vessels, and it keeps longer than that cooked in earthen pots. They draw from the rice with a kind of alembic a wine that is better and stronger than the palm wine. In short we found this island to be a promised land.

We presented ourselves to the king, who contracted alliance and friendship with us, and to assure us of it, he asked for one of our knives, with which he drew blood from his breast, with which he touched his forehead and tongue. We repeated the same ceremony.⁠[336]

The people of Palaoan go naked like the other islanders, they almost all till their own fields. They have blow-pipes, with thick arrows more than a span in length, with a point like that of a harpoon; some have a point made with a fish bone, and others are of reed, poisoned with a certain herb; the arrows are not trimmed with feathers, but with a soft light wood. At the foot of the blow-pipe they bind a piece of iron, by means of which, when they have no more arrows, they wield the blow-pipe like a lance. They like to adorn themselves with rings and chains of gimp and with little bells, but above all they are fond of brass wire, with which they bind their fish hooks. They have some rather large domestic cocks, which, from some superstition, they do not eat, but they keep them for fighting; on such occasions they 110make bets and offer prizes, which are acquired by the owner of the conquering cock.

Going from Palaoan towards the South-west, after a run of ten leagues, we reached another island.⁠[337] Whilst coasting it, it seemed in a certain manner to go forward;⁠[338] we coasted it for a distance of fully fifty⁠[339] leagues, until we found a port. We had hardly reached the port when the heavens were darkened, and the lights of St. Elmo appeared on our masts.

The next day the king of that island sent a prahu to the ships; it was very handsome, with its prow and stern ornamented with gold; on the bow fluttered a white and blue flag, with a tuft of peacock’s feathers at the top of the staff; there were in the prahu some people playing on pipes and drums, and many other persons. Two almadias followed the prahu; these are fishermen’s boats, and a prahu is a kind of fusta. Eight old men of the chiefs of the island came into the ships, and sat down upon a carpet on the poop, and presented a painted wooden vase full of betel and areca (fruits which they constantly chew), with orange and jessamine flowers, and covered over with a cloth of yellow silk. They also gave two cages full of fowls, two goats, three vessels full of wine, distilled from rice, and some bundles of sugar cane. They did the same to the other ship; and embracing us they departed. Their rice wine is clear like water, but so strong that many of our men were intoxicated. They call it arak.

Six days later the king again sent three very ornamented prahus, which came playing pipes and drums and cymbals, and going round the ships, their crews saluted us with their 111cloth caps, which hardly cover the tops of their heads. We saluted them, firing the bombards without stones. Then they made us a present of various victuals, but all made with rice, either wrapped in leaves in the form of a long cylinder, or in the shape of a sugar loaf, or in the shape of a cake, with eggs and honey. They then said that their king was well pleased that we should make provisions here of wood and water, and that we might traffic at our pleasure with the islanders. Having heard this, seven of us entered one of the prahus, taking with us presents for the king, and for some of his court. The present intended for the king consisted in a Turkish coat of green velvet, a chair of violet coloured velvet, five ells of red cloth, a cap, a gilt goblet, and a vase of glass, with its cover, three packets of paper, and a gilt pen and ink case. We took for the queen three ells of yellow cloth, a pair of slippers, ornamented with silver, and a silver case full of pins. For the king’s governor or minister three ells of red cloth, a cap, and a gilt goblet; and for the herald who had come in the prahu, a coat of the Turkish fashion, of red and green colours, a cap and a packet of paper. For the other seven chief men who had come with him, we prepared presents; for one cloth, for another a cap, and for each a packet of paper. Having made these preparations, we entered the prahu, and departed.

When we arrived at the city, we were obliged to wait about two hours in the prahu, until there came thither two elephants covered with silk, and twelve men, each of whom carried a porcelain vase covered with silk, for conveying and wrapping up our presents. We mounted the elephants, and those twelve men preceded us, carrying the vases with our presents. We went as far as the house of the governor, who gave us supper with many sorts of viands. There we slept through the night, on mattresses filled with cotton, and covered with silk, with sheets of Cambay stuff.

112 On the following day we remained doing nothing in the house till midday, and after that we set out for the king’s palace. We were again mounted upon the elephants, and the men with the presents preceded us as before. From the governor’s house to that of the king, all the streets were full of men armed with swords, spears, and bucklers, the king having so commanded. We entered the palace still mounted upon the elephants; we then dismounted, and ascended a staircase, accompanied by the governor and some of the chief men, and entered a large room full of courtiers, whom we should call the barons of the kingdom; there we sat upon a carpet, and the vases with the presents were placed near us.

At the end of this hall there was another a little higher, but not so large, all hung with silk stuffs, among which were two curtains of brocade hung up, and leaving open two windows which gave light to the room.

There were placed three hundred men of the king’s guard with naked daggers in their hands, which they held on their thighs. At the end of this second hall was a great opening, covered with a curtain of brocade, and on this being raised we saw the king sitting at a table, with a little child of his, chewing betel. Behind him there were only women.

Then one of the chief men informed us that we could not speak to the king, but that if we wished to convey anything to him, we were to say it to him, and he would say it to a chief or courtier of higher rank, who would lay it before a brother of the governor, who was in the smaller room, and they by means of a blow pipe placed in a fissure in the wall would communicate our thoughts to a man who was near the king, and from him the king would understand them. He taught us meanwhile to make three obeisances to the king, with the hands joined above the head, raising first one then the other foot, and then to kiss the hands to him. This is the royal obeisance.

113Then by the mode which had been indicated to us, we gave him to understand that we belonged to the King of Spain, who wished to be in peace with him, and wished for nothing else than to be able to trade with his island. The king caused an answer to be given that he was most pleased that the king of Spain was his friend, and that we could take wood and water in his states, and traffic according to our pleasure. That done we offered the presents, and at each thing which they gave to him, he made a slight inclination with his head. To each of us was then given some brocade, with cloth of gold, and some silk, which they placed upon one of our shoulders, and then took away to take care of them. A collation of cloves and cinnamon was then served to us, and after that the curtains were drawn and the windows closed. All the men who were in the palace had their middles covered with cloth of gold and silk, they carried in their hands daggers with gold hilts, adorned with pearls and precious stones, and they had many rings on their fingers.

We again mounted the elephants, and returned to the house of the governor. Seven men preceded us there, carrying the presents made to us, and when we reached the house they gave to each one of us what was for him, putting it on our left shoulder, as had been done in the king’s palace. To each of these seven men we gave a pair of knives in recompense for their trouble.

Afterwards there came nine men to the governor’s house, sent by the king, with as many large wooden trays, in each of which were ten or twelve china dishes, with the flesh of various animals, such as veal, capons, fowls, peacocks, and others, with various sorts of fish, so that only of flesh there were thirty or thirty-two different viands. We supped on the ground on a palm mat; at each mouthful we drank a little china cup of the size of an egg full of the distilled liquor of rice: we then ate some rice and some things made 114of sugar, using gold spoons made like ours. In the place in which we passed the two nights there were two candles of white wax always burning, placed on high chandeliers of silver, and two oil lamps with four wicks each. Two men kept watch there to take care of them. The next morning we came upon the same elephants to the sea shore, where there were two prahus ready, in which we were taken back to the ships.

This city is entirely built on foundations in the salt water, except the houses of the king and some of the princes: it contains twenty-five thousand fires or families.⁠[340] The houses are all of wood, placed on great piles to raise them high up. When the tide rises the women go in boats through the city selling provisions and necessaries.⁠[341] In front of the king’s house there is a wall made of great bricks, with barbicans like forts, upon which were fifty-six bombards of metal, and six of iron. They fired many shots from them during the two days that we passed in the city.

The king to whom we presented ourselves is a Moor, and is named Raja Siripada: he is about forty years of age, and is rather corpulent. No one serves him except ladies who are the daughters of the chiefs. No one speaks to him except by means of the blow-pipe as has been described above. He has ten scribes, who write down his affairs on thin bark of trees, and are called chiritoles.⁠[342] He never goes out of his house except to go hunting.

On Monday, the 29th of July, we saw coming towards us more than a hundred prahus, divided into three squadrons, and as many tungulis, which are their smaller kind of boats. At this sight, and fearing treachery, we hurriedly set sail, 115and left behind an anchor in the sea. Our suspicions increased when we observed that behind us were certain junks which had come the day before. Our first operation was to free ourselves from the junks, against which we fired, capturing four and killing many people: three or four other junks went aground in escaping. In one of those which we captured was a son of the king of the isle of Luzon, who was captain-general of the King of Burné, and who was coming with the junks from the conquest of a great city named Laoe, situated on a headland of this island opposite Java Major. He had made this expedition and sacked that city because its inhabitants wished rather to obey the King of Java than the Moorish King of Burné. The Moorish king having heard of the ill-treatment by us of his junks, hastened to send to say, by means of one of our men who was on shore to traffic, that those vessels had not come to do any harm to us, but were going to make war against the Gentiles, in proof of which they showed us some of the heads of those they had slain.

Hearing this, we sent to tell the king that if it was so, that he should allow two of our men who were still on shore, with a son of our pilot, Juan Carvalho, to come to the ships: this son of Carvalho’s had been born during his first residence in the country of Brazil: but the king would not consent. Juan Carvalho was thus specially punished, for without communicating the matter to us, in order to obtain a large sum of gold, as we learned later, he had given his liberty to the captain of the junks. If he had detained him, the King Siripada would have given anything to get him back, that captain being exceedingly dreaded by the Gentiles who are most hostile to the Moorish king.

And, with respect to that, it is well to know and understand that in that same port where we were, beyond the city of the Moors of which I have spoken, there is another inhabited by Gentiles, larger than this one, and also built in the 116salt water. So great is the enmity between the two nations that every day there occurs strife. The king of the Gentiles is as powerful as the king of the Moors, but he is not so proud; and it seems that it would not be so difficult to introduce the Christian religion into his country.⁠[343]

As we could not get back our men, we retained on board sixteen of the chiefs, and three ladies whom we had taken on board the junks, to take them to Spain. We had destined the ladies for the Queen; but Juan Carvalho kept them for himself.

The Moors of Burné go naked like the other islanders. They esteem quicksilver very much, and swallow it. They pretend that it preserves the health of those who are well, and that it cures the sick. They venerate Mahomed and follow his law. They do not eat pig’s flesh....⁠[344] With their right hand they wash their face, but do not wash their teeth with their fingers. They are circumcised like the Jews. They never kill goats or fowls without first speaking to the sun.⁠[345] They cut off the ends of the wings of fowls and the skin under their feet, and then split them in two. They do not eat any animal which has not been killed by themselves.

In this island is produced camphor, a kind of balsam which exudes from between the bark and the wood of the tree. These drops are small as grains of bran. If it is left exposed by degrees it is consumed: here it is called capor. Here is found also cinnamon, ginger, mirabolans, oranges, lemons, sugarcanes, melons, gourds, cucumbers, cabbage, onions. There are also many animals, such as elephants, horses, buffaloes, pigs, goats, fowls, geese, crows, and others.

They say that the King of Burné has two pearls as large as a hen’s eggs, and so perfectly round that if placed on a smooth table they cannot be made to stand still. When we took him the presents I made signs to him that I desired to see them, and he said that he would show them to me, but he did not do so. On the following day some of the chief men told me that they had indeed seen them.

The money which the Moors use in this country is of metal,⁠[346] and pierced for stringing together. On one side only it has four signs, which are four letters of the great King of China: they call it Picis.⁠[347] For one cathil (a weight equal to two of our pounds) of quicksilver they gave us six porcelain dishes, for a cathil of metal they gave one small porcelain vase, and a large vase for three knives. For a hand of paper they gave one hundred picis. A bahar of wax (which is two hundred and three cathils) for one hundred and sixty cathils of bronze: for eighty cathils a bahar of salt: for forty cathils a bahar of anime, a gum which they use to caulk ships, for in these countries they have no pitch. Twenty tabil make a cathil. The merchandise which is most esteemed here is bronze, quicksilver, cinnabar, glass, woollen stuffs, linens; but above all they esteem iron and spectacles.

Since I saw such use made of porcelain, I got some information respecting it, and I learned that it is made with a kind of very white earth, which is left underground for fully fifty years to refine it, so that they are in the habit of saying that the father buries it for his son. It is said that if poison is put into a vessel of fine porcelain it breaks immediately.

The junks mentioned several times above are their largest vessels, and they are constructed in this manner. The lower part of the ships and the sides to a height of two spans above 118water-line are built of planks joined together with wooden bolts, and they are well enough put together. The upper works are made of very large canes for a counterpoise.⁠[348] One of these junks carries as much cargo as our ships. The masts are of bamboo, and the sails of bark of trees. This island is so large that to sail round it with a prahu would require three months. It is in 5° 15′ north latitude and 176° 40′ of longitude from the line of demarcation.⁠[349]

On leaving this island we returned backwards to look for a convenient place for caulking our ships, which were leaking, and one of them, through the negligence of the pilot, struck on a shoal near an island named Bibalon;⁠[350] but, by the help of God, we got her off. We also ran another great danger, for a sailor, in snuffing a candle, threw the lighted wick into a chest of gunpowder; but he was so quick in picking it out that the powder did not catch fire.

On our way we saw four prahus. We took one laden with cocoanuts on its way to Burné; but the crew escaped to a small island, and the other three prahus escaped behind some other small islands.

Between the northern cape of Burné and the island named Cimbonbon, situated in 8° 7′ N. latitude there is a very convenient port for refitting ships, and we entered it; but as we were wanting many things necessary for our work, we had to spend there forty-two days. Each one worked at one thing or another according to the best of his knowledge or ability; but our greatest labour was going to get wood in 119the thickets, as the ground was covered with briars and thorny shrubs, and we had no shoes.

In this island there are some very large wild boars. Whilst we were in a boat we killed one which was crossing from one island to another. Its head was two and a half spans long, and its tusks were exceedingly long.⁠[351] Here also are crocodiles; those of the land are larger than those of the sea-coast. There are oysters and very large turtles; of these we caught two. The flesh alone of one of them weighed twenty pounds, and of the other forty-four pounds. We caught a kind of fish with a head like that of a pig, and which had two horns; its body was all covered with bone, and on its back it had a kind of saddle: this was a small one. In this island are also found certain trees, the leaves of which, when they fall, are animated, and walk. They are like the leaves of the mulberry tree, but not so long; they have the leaf stalk⁠[352] short and pointed, and near the leaf stalk they have on each side two feet. If they are touched they escape, but if crushed they do not give out blood.⁠[353] I kept one for nine days in a box. When I opened it the leaf went round the box. I believe they live upon air. The island in which we were is called Pulaoan.

On leaving this island—that is to say, the port which is at the extremity of it—we met a junk which was coming from Borneo. We made signals to it to strike its sails; but as it would not obey we overtook it, captured and pillaged it. It had on board the Governor of Pulaoan, with a son and a brother of his. We made them all prisoners, and put them to ransom to give within seven days four hundred measures of rice, twenty pigs, as many goats, and four hundred120 and fifty fowls. They caused all this to be given us, and besides added spontaneously cocoanuts, figs, sugar-canes, and vessels full of palm wine. We, in consequence of his generosity, restored to him some of his daggers and arquebuses; we also gave him a flag, a garment of yellow damask, and fifteen ells of linen. We gave to his son a cloak of blue cloth, and to his brother a garment of green cloth, and to the others other things, and we parted good friends.

We turned backwards, passing between the island of Cagayan and the port of Cipit,⁠[354] taking a course east and a quarter south-east, to seek the islands of Maluco. We passed between certain little mountains,⁠[355] around which we found many weeds, although there was there a great depth. Passing between these islets it seemed that we were in another sea.

Having left Cipit to the east, we saw to the west two islands called Zolo⁠[356] and Taghima,⁠[357] near which islands pearls are found. The two pearls of the King of Burné, of which I have spoken, were found there, and this is the manner in which he obtained them, according to the account which was given me of it. The King of Burné married a daughter of the King of Zolo, who told him that her father had these two big pearls. He desired to have them, and decided on getting them by any means, and one night he set out with five hundred prahus full of armed men, and went to Zolo, and took the king with his two sons, and brought them to Burné, and did not restore them to liberty until they gave him the two pearls.

Continuing our course east and a quarter north-east we passed near two inhabited places called Cavit and Subanin, and passed near an island called Monoripa, ten leagues distant from the before-mentioned islets. The inhabitants of this island always live in their vessels, and have no houses 121on shore. In these two districts of Cavit and Subanin, which are situated in the same island⁠[358] as that in which are Butuan and Calagan, the best cinnamon of any grows. If we could have remained here only two days, we could have laden the ships with it; but we did not wish to lose time, but to profit by the favourable wind, for we had to double a cape and some islets which were around it. Wherefore, remaining under sail, we made a little barter, and obtained seventeen pounds of cinnamon for two big knives, which we had taken from the Governor of Pulaoan.

Having seen the cinnamon tree, I can give some description of it. It is a small tree, not more than three or four cubits high, and of the thickness of a man’s finger, and it has not got more than three or four little branches. Its leaf is like that of the laurel. The cinnamon for use which comes to us, is its bark, which is gathered twice in the year. Its wood and leaves when they are green have the taste and force of the bark itself. Here it is called Cain-mana, since cain means wood and mana sweet.⁠[359]

Having set the head of the ship to north-east, we made for a large city called Maingdanao, situated in the same island in which are Butuan and Calagan, in order to get precise information of the position of Maluco. Following this course we took possession of a bignaday, a vessel similar to a prahu, and being obliged to have recourse to force and violence, we killed seven out of eighteen men who formed the crew. These men were better made and more robust than all those we had seen hitherto, and they were all chief men of Mindanao. There was among them a brother of the king who said that he well knew where Maluco was. Afterwards, following his indications, we left the north-east course which we held, and took a south-east course. We 122were then in 6° 7´ N. latitude and thirty leagues distant from Cavit.

We were told that at a cape of this island near to a river there are men who are rather hairy, great warriors, and good archers, armed with swords a span broad. When they make an enemy prisoner they eat his heart only, and they eat it raw with the juice of oranges or lemons.⁠[360] This cape is called Benaian.⁠[361]

Making for the south-east we found four islands, named Ciboco, Birabam Batolac, Sarangani, and Candigar. Saturday, the 26th of October, about nightfall, whilst coasting the island of Birabam Batolac, we met with a very great storm, before which we lowered all our sails, and betook ourselves to prayer. Then our three saints appeared upon the masts and dispersed the darkness. St. Elmo stood for more than two hours at the mainmast head like a flame. St. Nicholas at the head of the foremast, and St. Clara on the mizenmast. In gratitude for their assistance we promised a slave to each of the saints, and we gave to each an offering.

Continuing our voyage we entered a port between the two islands Sarangani and Candigar, and cast anchor to the east, near a village of Sarangani, where pearls and gold are found. This port is in 5° 9´ N. latitude, and fifty leagues from Cavit. The inhabitants are Gentiles and go naked like the others.

Having remained here a day we compelled by force two pilots to come with us to show us the way to Maluco. We were directed to take a south-south-west course, and passed between eight islands partly inhabited, partly uninhabited, which formed a kind of street. These were named Cheava, 123Caviao, Cabiao Camanuca, Cabaluzao, Cheai, Lipan, and Nuza. At the end of these we reached an island which was very beautiful, named Sanghir.⁠[362] But having a contrary wind, which did not allow us to double the cape, we tacked about backwards and forwards near it.

On this occasion, profiting by the darkness of the night, one of the pilots whom we had caught at Sarangani, and with him the brother of the king of Mindanao with his little son, escaped by swimming and reached that island; but we learned later that the son not being able to hold on well to his father’s shoulders, was drowned.

Seeing that it was impossible to double the head of this island we passed below it, where we saw many small islands. This large island has four kings whose names are Raja Matandatu, Raja Laga, Raja Bapti, and Raja Parabu. These are Gentiles. It is in 3° 30´ N. latitude and twenty-seven leagues from Sarangani.

Continuing our course in the same direction we passed near five islands named Cheoma, Carachita, Para, Zangalura, and Cian.⁠[363] This last is ten leagues distant from Sanghir. In this island there is a rather high mountain, but not one of great extent. Its king is named Raja Ponto. We came next to the island Paghinzara,⁠[364] which has three high mountains, and in it the king is Raja Babintan. We saw at twelve leagues to the east of Paghinzara another island,124 Talant, and also two islands, not large but inhabited, called Zoar and Mean.

Wednesday, the 6th of November, having passed beyond these two islands, we discovered four other rather high islands at a distance of fourteen leagues towards the east. The pilot who had remained with us told us those were the Maluco islands, for which we gave thanks to God, and to comfort ourselves we discharged all our artillery. It need not cause wonder that we were so much rejoiced, since we had passed twenty-seven months less two days always in search of Maluco, wandering for that object among the immense number of islands. But I must say that near all these islands the least depth that we found was one hundred fathoms, for which reason attention is not to be given to all that the Portuguese have spread, according to whom the islands of Maluco are situated in seas which cannot be navigated on account of the shoals, and the dark and foggy atmosphere.

Friday, the 8th November of 1521, three hours before sunset, we entered a port of the island called Tadore,⁠[365] and having gone near the shore, we cast anchor in twenty fathoms, and discharged all our artillery. Next day the king came to the ships in a prahu, and went round them. We went to meet him with a boat to show him honour, and he made us enter his prahu, and sit near him. He was sitting under a silk umbrella, which sheltered him. In front of him was his son with the royal sceptre, there were also two men with gold vases to give him water for his hands, and two others with gilt caskets full of betel.

The king gave us a welcome, and said that a long time back he had dreamed that some ships were coming to Maluco from distant countries, and that to assure himself with respect to this, he had examined the moon, and he had seen that they were really coming, and that indeed they 125were our ships. After that he came on board our ships, and we all kissed his hand: we then conducted him to the poop, but he, in order to avoid stooping, would not enter the cabin except by the upper opening. We made him sit down on a chair of red velvet, and placed on him a Turkish robe of yellow velvet. In order to do him more honour we sat down before him on the ground. When he had heard who we were, and what was the object of our voyage, he said that he and all his people were well content to be the most faithful friends and vassals of the King of Spain; that he received us in this island as his own sons; that we might go on shore and remain there as in our own houses; and that his island for the future should not be named Tadore, but Castile, in proof of the great love he bore to the king our master. Then we presented to him the chair on which he sat, and the robe which we had put on him, a piece of fine linen, four ells of scarlet cloth, a robe of brocade, a cloth of yellow damask, a piece of the whitest Cambay linen, two caps, six strings of glass beads, twelve knives, three large mirrors, six scissors, six combs, some gilt goblets, and other things. We gave to his son an Indian cloth of gold and silk, a large mirror, a cap and two knives. To each of the nine chief men of his suite we made a present of a piece of silk, a cap and two knives; and to many others of his suite we made a present, to one of a cap, to another of a knife, until the king told us not to give any more presents. He then said that he had got nothing worthy to be sent as a present to our king, unless he sent himself, now that he considered him as his lord. He invited us to come closer to the city, and if any one attempted to come on board the ships at night, he told us to fire upon him with our guns. He came out of the stern cabin by the same way by which he had entered it, without ever bending his head. At his departure we fired all the cannon.

This king is a Moor, of about forty-five years of age, 126rather well made, and of a handsome presence. He is a very great astrologer. His dress consisted of a shirt of very fine white stuff, with the ends of the sleeves embroidered with gold, and a wrapper which came down from his waist almost to the ground. He was barefooted; round his head he had a silk veil, and over that a garland of flowers. He is named Raja Sultan Manzor.

On the 10th of November—a Sunday—we had another conversation with the king, who wished to know how long a time we had been absent from Spain, and what pay and what rations the king gave to each of us; and we told him all this. He asked us for a signature of the king and a royal standard, since he desired that both his island of Tadore, and also that of Tarenate (where he intended to have his nephew named Calanogapi, crowned king) should become subject to the King of Spain, for whose honour he would fight to the death; and if it should happen that he should be compelled to give way, he would take refuge in Spain with all his family, in a new junk which he was having constructed, and would take with him the royal signature, and standard.

He begged us to leave with him some of our men, who would always keep alive his recollection of us and of our king, as he would more esteem having some of us with him than our merchandise, which would not last him a long time. Seeing our eagerness to take cloves on board, he said that for that purpose he would go to an island called Bachian, where he hoped to find as much of them as were wanted, since in his island there was not a quantity sufficient of dry cloves to load the two ships. On that day there was no traffic because it was Sunday. The holiday of these people is on Friday.

It may please your illustrious lordship to have some description of the islands where the cloves grow. They are five—Tarenate, Tador, Mutir, Machian, and Bachian. 127Tarenate is the principal island. Its king, whilst he lived, had almost entire dominion over the other four. Tadore, the island in which we were, has its own king. Mutir and Machian have no king, but are governed by the people; and when the kings of Tarenate and Tidore are at war, they furnish them with combatants. The last is Bachian, and it has a king. All this province in which the cloves grow is called Maluco.

When we arrived here, eight months had not elapsed since a certain Portuguese, Francisco Serrano, had died in Tarenate. He was captain-general of the King of Tarenate when he was making war on the King of Tadore; and he acted so strenuously that this king was compelled to give his daughter in marriage to the King of Tarenate, who also received as hostages almost all the sons of the chief men of Tadore. Peace was then made, and from that daughter was born the nephew Calanopagi, of whom I have spoken. But the King of Tadore never forgave Serrano in his heart; and he having come several years later to Tadore to traffic in cloves, the king had him poisoned with some betel leaves, so that he survived hardly four days. The King of Tarenate wished to have him buried according to their own usage, but three Christian servants that Serrano had with him did not consent to it. In dying he left a little son and a little girl that he had of a lady he had taken in Java major, and two hundred bahars of cloves.

Francisco Serrano was a great friend and a relation of our unfortunate captain-general, and he it was who induced him to undertake that voyage, for when Magellan was at Malacca, he had several times learned by letters from Serrano that he was here. Therefore, when D. Manuel, King of Portugal, refused to increase his pension by a single testoon⁠[366] per month, an increase which he thought he had well deserved, he came to Spain and made the proposal to his Sacred Majesty128 to come here by way of the west, and he obtained all that he asked for.

Ten days after the death of Serrano, the King of Tarenate, named Raja Abuleis,⁠[367] drove out from his kingdom his son-in-law the King of Bachian, whose wife, the daughter of the King of Tarenate, came to Tarenate under the pretext of concluding peace, and gave him (her father) such a poison that he only survived two days, and dying left nine sons, whose names were told to me as follows: Chechili⁠[368]-Momuli, Jadore Vunghi, Chechilideroix, Cilimanzur, Cilipagi, Chialinchechilin, Cataravajecu, Serich, and Calanopagi.

Monday, the 11th of November, Chechilideroix, one of the above-mentioned sons of the King of Tarenate, came with two prahus to the ships sounding drums: he was dressed in red velvet. We learned that he had near him the widow and sons of Francisco Serrano. When we knew him, being aware that he was an enemy of the King of Tadore, we sent to ask him whether we might receive him in the ships, which, as we were in his port, we would not do without his consent. The king sent us word to do whatever we pleased. But meantime Chechilideroix, seeing our hesitation, had some suspicion, and moved further off from the ships. We then went to him in a boat, and made him a present of an Indian cloth of gold and silk, with some looking-glasses, knives, scissors, etc.: these things he accepted but disdainfully, and soon after departed. He had with him an Indian who had become a Christian, named Manuel, the servant of a certain Pedro Alfonzo de Lorosa, a Portuguese, who, after the death of Serrano, had come from Bandan to Tarenate. Manuel being able to speak Portuguese, came on board the ships, and told us that although the sons of the King of Tarenate were enemies to the King of Tadore, yet they were 129disposed towards the service of Spain. Then, by means of him, we wrote to De Lorosa to come to our ships without any suspicion or fear.

These kings have as many ladies as they please, but one only is the principal wife, and all the others are subject to her. The King of Tadore had a large house outside the city, where there were two hundred of the ladies he was most fond of, and as many more to serve them. The king eats alone, or with his principal wife, on a kind of raised dais, from which he can see all the others sitting round, and he decides upon the one who most pleases him to come to him. When the king’s dinner is finished, the ladies all eat together if he permits it, or else each one goes to eat in her own room. No one without special permission from the king can see those ladies, and if anybody by day or by night were found near their house he would be killed immediately. Each family is bound to give one or two daughters to the king. Rajah Sultan Manzour had twenty-six children, of whom eight were boys and eighteen girls. In the island of Tadore there is a kind of bishop, and the one that was there in our time had forty ladies and very many children.

On Tuesday, the 12th of November, the king had a house built in the city for our merchandise, and it was built in one day. Thither we carried all that we had to barter, and placed it in the custody of three of our men, and the trade began at once. It was carried out in this manner. For ten ells of red cloth of pretty good quality they gave a bahar of cloves. A bahar is four quintals⁠[369] and six pounds. For fifteen ells of middling quality a bahar, for fifteen hatchets a bahar, for thirty-five glass cups a bahar; and the king in this manner had from us almost all our goblets: for seventeen cathils of cinnabar a bahar; the same for as much quicksilver. For twenty-six ells of common linen a bahar, and the same for twenty-five ells of finer linen; for a hundred and fifty knives 130a bahar; for fifty scissors a bahar; for forty caps a bahar; for ten Guzerat cloths a bahar; for three of their cymbals two bahars: for a quintal of bronze a bahar. Almost all our mirrors were broken, and the few that remained entire the king wished to have. Many of the above-mentioned goods had been obtained by us by the capture of the junks, which I have related; and the haste we were in to return to Spain caused us to sell our goods at a lower price than we should have done had we not been in a hurry.

Every day there came to the ships many boats laden with goats, fowls, plantains, cocoanuts, and other victuals, that it was a wonder to see. We supplied the ships with good water taken from a spring whence it issued hot, but if it remains only one hour in the open air it becomes very cold. They say that it comes out like that because it issues from the mountain of the cloves. It may be seen from this how those lied who said that fresh water had to be brought to Maluco from distant countries.

The next day the king sent his son named Mossahap to the island of the Mutir for cloves with which to freight our ships. We had spoken to the king that day of some Indians whom we had captured, and he entreated us to make a present of them to him, as he had the intention of sending them back to their native country, accompanied by five men of Tadore, who, on restoring them to their country, would praise and commend the King of Spain and make a good name for the Spaniards. We gave him the three ladies whom we had destined for the queen, as has been said above, and all the men except those of Burné: he very much appreciated this gift.

The king then asked another favour—that was, that we should kill all the pigs we had on board, for which he would give an ample compensation in fowls and goats. We gave him satisfaction in this, cutting their throats and hanging them up under the deck, so that the Moors should not have 131occasion to see them, since if by accident they see any pig they covered their faces not to see it or perceive its smell.

In the evening of the same day Pedro Alfonso,⁠[370] the Portuguese, came in a prahu, but before he came on board the ships the king sent to call him, and said to him, that although he belonged to Tarenate he should take good care not to answer falsely to the questions we were going to ask him. He indeed, after coming on board, told us that he had come to India sixteen years ago, and of these years he had passed ten in Maluco; and it was just ten years since those islands had been discovered by the Portuguese, who kept the discovery secret from us. He then related to us that a year, less fifteen days, had elapsed since a large ship had come hither proceeding from Malacca, and had gone away laden with cloves; but that, on account of the bad weather, she had been obliged to remain some months at Bandam. He added that her captain was Tristan de Meneses, a Portuguese, from whom, on asking what news there was in Europe, he had heard that a squadron of five ships had sailed from Seville to discover Maluco in the name of the King of Spain, and that the captain of this squadron was Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese, for which reason the King of Portugal, being angry that a subject of his should attempt to do a thing so opposed to him, had sent some ships to the cape of Good Hope, and others to the Cape Sta. Maria,⁠[371] where the cannibals are, to impede their passage, but they had not fallen in with them. Having learned later that Magellan had passed by another sea, and was making for Maluco by way of the west, he had written to his Captain-Major of the Indies, named Diogo Lopez de Sequeira, to send six ships to Maluco against the Spanish squadron. But the captain-major, having at that time received information that the Grand Turk was planning an expedition against Malacca, was obliged to send against 132him sixty sail to the Straits of Mekkah, in the country of Jiddah, where, however, they only found a few galleys which had grounded near the beautiful and strong city of Aden, and they set fire to them.

This enterprise, added De Lorosa, had prevented the captain-major from immediately sending an expedition against Magellan; but a little later he had sent to Maluco a great galloon with two rows of cannon, commanded by Francisco Faria, a Portuguese: but neither did this one come, for on account of the shoals and currents which are near Malacca, and the contrary winds, it was unable to pass that promontory, and was compelled to turn back.

He also related that a few days before a caravel with two junks had come to these parts to get news of us. The junks had sailed to Bachian to load cloves, with seven Portuguese on board. These men, who did not respect the wives of the inhabitants, nor even those of the king, notwithstanding the warning they had received from the king himself, were all killed. The men of the caravel, on hearing of this, returned in haste to Malacca, abandoning the junks with four hundred bahars of cloves and as much merchandise as would have purchased another hundred bahars. He also related that every year many junks go from Malacca to Bandan to buy mace and nutmeg, and go thence to Maluco to purchase cloves. They make the voyage from Bandan to Maluco in three days, and employ fifteen in the voyage from Bandan to Malacca. He said, lastly, that since ten years back the King of Portugal had derived great profit from these islands, and he took especial care to keep these countries concealed from and unknown to the Spaniards. He related many other similar things, passing several hours in conversation with us: and we said and did so much, offering him a large salary, that we made him determine on coming with us to Spain.

Friday, the 15th of November, the king told us that he thought of going himself to Bachian to get the cloves 133which the Portuguese had left there, and asked us for presents to give to the two governors of Mutir in the name of the King of Spain. Meanwhile, having come close to our ships, he wished to see how we shot with the cross-bow, with guns, and with a swivel gun, which is a weapon larger than an arquebuse. He himself fired three times with a cross-bow, but he did not care to fire with a gun.

Opposite Tadore there is another very large island, called Giailolo⁠[372], and it is so large that a prahu can with difficulty go round it in four months. It is inhabited by Moors and Gentiles. The Moors have two kings, one of whom, according to what the King of Tadore related to us, has had six hundred children, and the other has had five hundred and twenty-five. The Gentiles have not got so many women as the Moors, and are less superstitious. The first thing they meet in the morning when they go out of their houses is the object which they worship throughout that day. The king of these Gentiles is named Rajah Papua. He is very rich in gold, and inhabits the interior of the island. There grow here among the rocks bamboos as thick as a man’s leg, full of water, which is very good to drink. We purchased many of them.

On Saturday the Moorish King of Giailolo came to the ships with many prahus, and we made him a present of a green damask robe, two ells of red cloth, some looking-glasses, scissors, knives, combs, and two gilt goblets, which things pleased him very much, and he said to us that, as we were friends of the King of Tadore, we were also his friends, since he loved that king like one of his own sons. He invited us to come to his country, promising to do us great honour. This king is powerful, and held in sufficient respect throughout all these islands. He is very old, and his name is Raja Jussu.

Sunday morning this same king came on board the ships 134and wished to see how we fought, and how we discharged the bombards, at which he was greatly pleased, for in his youth he had been a great warrior.

The same day I went on shore to see how the cloves grow, and this is what I observed. The tree from which they are gathered is high, and its trunk is as thick as a man’s body, more or less, according to the age of the plant. Its branches spread out somewhat in the middle of the tree, but near the top they form a pyramid. The bark is of an olive colour, and the leaves very like those of the laurel. The cloves grow at the end of little branches in bunches of ten or twenty. These trees always bear more fruit on one side than on the other, according to the seasons. The cloves are white when they first sprout, they get red as they ripen, and blacken when dry. They are gathered twice in the year, once about Christmas and the other time about St. John’s day, when the air in these countries is milder, and it is still more so in December. When the year is rather hot, and there is little rain, they gather in each of these islands from three to four hundred bahars of cloves. The clove tree does not live except in the mountains, and if it is transferred to the plain it dies there.⁠[373] The leaf, the bark, and the wood, as long as they are green, have the strength and fragrance of the fruit itself. If these are not gathered when just ripe they get so large and hard that nothing of them remains good except the rind. It is said that the mist renders them perfect, and indeed we saw almost every day a mist descend and surround one or other of the above-mentioned mountains. Among these people everyone possesses some of these trees, and each man watches over his own trees and gathers their fruit, but does not do any work round them to cultivate them. This tree does not grow except in the five mountains of the five Maluco islands. There are, however, a 135few trees in Giailolo and in a small island between Tadore and Mutir named Mare, but they are not good.

There are in this island of Giailolo some trees of nutmegs. These are like our walnuts, and the leaves also are similar. The nutmeg, when gathered, is like the quince in form and colour, and the down which covers it, but it is smaller. The outside rind is as thick as the green rind of our walnuts, beneath which is a thin web, or rather cartilage, under which is the mace, of a very bright red, which covers and surrounds the rind of the nuts, inside which is the nutmeg properly so called.

There also grows in Tadore the ginger, which we used to eat green; instead of bread. Ginger is not a tree, but a shrub, which sends out of the earth shoots a span long like the shoots of canes, which they also resemble in the shape of the leaves, only those of the ginger are narrower. The shoots are good for nothing; that which makes ginger is the root. When green, it is not so strong as when it is dry, and to dry it they use lime, or else it would not keep.

The houses of these people are built like those already described, but are not so high above the ground, and are surrounded with canes after the fashion of a hedge. The women here are ugly, and go naked like the others, having only their middles covered with cloth made of bark. The men also are naked, and notwithstanding that their women are ugly, they are exceedingly jealous; and amongst other things which displeased them, was that we came ashore without cloaks,⁠[374] because they imagined that might cause temptation to their wives. Both men and women always go barefoot.

Since I have spoken of cloth, I will relate how they make it. They take a piece of bark and leave it in water until it has grown soft; they then beat it with wooden clubs to extend it in length and breadth, as much as they please; 136thus it becomes like a veil of raw silk with filaments enlaced within it, so that it appears as if it was woven.

Their bread is made with the wood of a tree like a palm tree, and they make it in this way. They take a piece of this wood, and extract from it certain long black thorns⁠[375] which are situated there; then they pound it, and make bread of it which they call sagu. They make provisions of this bread for their sea voyages.

Every day there came from Tarenate many boats laden with cloves, but we, because we were waiting for the king, would not traffic for those goods, but only for victuals: and the men of Tarenate complained much of this.

On Sunday night, the 24th of November, the king arrived, and on entering the port had his drums sounded, and passed between our ships. We fired many bombards to do him honour. He told us that for four days we should be continually supplied with cloves.

In effect, on Monday he sent seven hundred and ninety one catils, without taking tare. To take tare means to take spice for less than what it weighs, and the reason of this is because when they are fresh, every day they diminish in weight. As these were the first cloves which we took on board, and the principal object of our voyage, we fired our bombards for joy. Cloves are called Gomode in this place; in Sarangani where we took the two pilots they are called Bonglavan, and in Malacca Chianche.⁠[376]

Tuesday the 26th November the King came to tell us that for us he had done what a King never does here, that was to leave his own island; but he had gone to show the affection he had for the King of Castile, and because when we had got our cargo, we could sooner return to Spain, and afterwards return with greater forces to avenge the death 137of his father, who had been killed in an island called Buru, and his body had been thrown into the sea.

He afterwards added that it was the custom in Tadore, when the first cloves were embarked in a vessel, or in junks, that the king gave a feast to their crews and merchants, and they made prayers to God to bring them in safety to their port. He wished to do the same for us, and at the same time the feast would serve for the King of Bachian, who was coming with a brother of his to pay him a visit, and on that account he had the streets cleaned. Hearing this, some of us began to suspect some treachery; all the more because we learned that, not long before, three Portuguese of the companions of Francisco Serrano had been assassinated at the place where we got water, by some of the islanders concealed in the thickets; also we often saw them whispering with the Indians whom we had made prisoners. Therefore, although some of us were inclined to accept the invitation, we concluded not to betake ourselves thither, recollecting the unfortunate feast given to our men in the island of Zubu, and we decided on a speedy departure.

Meantime a message was sent to the king to thank him, and to ask him to come soon to the ships, where we would deliver to him the four men we had promised him, with the goods which we had destined for him. The King came soon, and on entering the ship, as though he had observed that we had doubts, said that he entered with as much confidence and security as into his own house. He made us feel how much he was displeased by our unexpected haste to depart, since ships used to employ thirty days in taking in their cargo; and that if he had made a journey out of the island, he certainly had not done it to injure us but to assist us, so that we might more speedily obtain the cloves which we required, and a part of which we were still expecting. He added that it was not then 138a fit season for navigating in those seas, on account of the many shoals near Bandan, and besides it would be a likely thing that we should fall in with some Portuguese ships. When, in spite of what he had said, he saw we were still determined on going away, he said that we must take back all that we had given him, since the Kings, his neighbours, would consider him as a man without reputation for receiving so many presents in the name of so great a king as the King of Spain, and he had given nothing in return, and perhaps they would suspect that the Spaniards had gone away in such haste for fear of some treachery, so that they would fix upon him the name of traitor. Then, in order that no suspicion might remain in our minds of his honesty and good faith, he ordered his Koran to be brought, and kissing it devoutly he placed it four or five times on his head whilst whispering certain words to himself, with a rite which they call Zambehan,⁠[377] and he said in the presence of us all, that he swore by Allah and by the Koran, which he held in his hand, that he would ever be faithful and a friend to the King of Spain. He said all this almost weeping and with so great an appearance of sincerity and cordiality, that we promised to prolong our sojourn at Tadore for another fortnight. We then gave him the Royal signature and standard. We learned later, by a sure and certain channel, that some of the chiefs of those islands had indeed counselled him to kill all of us, by which thing he would have acquired for himself great merit with the Portuguese, who would have given him good assistance to avenge himself on the King of Bachian, but he, loyal and constant to the King of Spain, with whom he had sworn a peace, had answered that he would never do such an act on any account whatever.

Wednesday, the 27th November, the king issued a proclamation139 that whoever had cloves might freely sell them to us. For which reason all that and the following day, we bought cloves like mad.⁠[378]

Friday, in the afternoon, the governor of Machian came with many prahus, but he would not come on shore, because his father and his brother, who had been banished from Machian, had taken refuge here.

The following day the King of Tadore, with his nephew, the governor, named Humai, a man of twenty-five years of age, came on board the ships, and the king, on hearing that we had no more cloth, sent to fetch from his house six ells of red cloth, and gave them to us in order that we might, by adding other objects, make a fitting present to the governor. We made him the present, and he thanked us much, and said that soon he would send us plenty of cloves. At his departure from the ship we fired several bombards.

Sunday the 1st day of December, the above-mentioned governor departed from Tadore; and we were told that the king had made him a present of some silk cloths and drums, for him to send us the cloves sooner. On Monday, the king himself went again out of the island for the same object. Wednesday morning, as it was the day of St. Barbara,⁠[379] and on account of the King’s arrival all the artillery was discharged. The king came to the beach to see how we fired rockets and fire balls, and took great pleasure in them.

Thursday and Friday we purchased a good many cloves both in the city and at the ships at a much lower price, as the time of our departure grew nearer. For four ells of riband⁠[380] they gave a bahar of cloves, for two little chains of 140brass which were worth a marcello,⁠[381] they gave us a hundred pounds; and at last each man being desirous of having his portion of the cargo, and as there were no more goods to give in exchange for cloves, one gave his cloak, another his coat, and another a shirt or other clothes to obtain them.

On Saturday three sons of the King of Tarenate, with their wives, who were daughters of our King of Tadore, and afterwards Pedro Alfonso, the Portuguese, came to the ships. We gave a gilt glass goblet to each of the brothers, and to the three wives scissors and other things; and when they went away we fired several bombards in their honour. We afterwards sent on shore a present of several things to the widow of the King of Tarenate, daughter of the King Tadore, who had not ventured to come on board the ships.

Sunday the 8th December, we fired many bombards, rockets, and fireballs to celebrate the Conception of our Lady. Monday in the afternoon, the King came to the ships with three women who carried his betel. It is to be observed that no one can take women about with him except the king. Afterwards the King of Giailolo came to see again our gun exercise.

Some days later, as the day of our departure grew near, the king showed us a sincere affection, and among other obliging things, said to us that it seemed to him that he was a sucking child whom its mother was about to leave, and that he remained disconsolate all the more now that he had become acquainted with us and liked several things of Spain, for which reason he entreated us not to delay our return thence to Tadore. Meantime, he begged us to leave 141him some of our swivel guns⁠[382] for his own defence. He warned us at the same time not to navigate except by daylight, on account of the shoals and reefs which exist in these seas; but we answered him that because of our need to arrive in Spain as soon as possible, we were obliged to navigate night and day: he then added that, being unable to do anything else, he would pray God every day to bring us home in safety.

During this time Pedro Alfonso de Lorosa had come to the ships with his wife and property to return with us. Two days after, Kechilideroix, son of the King of Tarenate, came with a prahu well filled with men, and approaching the ships requested Lorosa to come into his prahu; but Lorosa, who suspected him, refused to do so, and told him he had determined on going away with those ships to Spain. For the same suspicion he advised us not to receive him in the ships; and we did not choose that he should come on board when he asked to do so. It was known later that Kechili was a great friend of the Portuguese captain of Malacca, and had the intention of seizing Lorosa and of conducting him thither; and on that account he severely reprimanded those persons with whom this Portuguese lived, for having let him depart without his permission.

The king had informed us that the King of Bachian would soon arrive, with a brother of his who was going to marry one of his daughters, and had asked us to do him honour by firing bombards on his arrival. He arrived on Sunday the 15th of December, in the afternoon, and we did him honour as the king had desired; we did not, however, discharge the heavier cannon, as we were heavily laden. The king and his brother came in a prahu with three banks of rowers on each side, a hundred and twenty in number. The prahu was adorned with many streamers made of white, yellow and red parrot’s feathers. They were 142sounding many cymbals, and that sound served to give the measure to the rowers to keep time. In two other prahus were the damsels who were to be presented to the bride. They returned us the salute by going round the ships and round the port.

As it is the custom that no king disembarks on the land of another king, the King of Tadore came to visit him of Bachian in his own prahu: this one, seeing the other coming, rose from the carpet on which he was sitting, and placed himself on one side to make way for the king of the country: but he, out of ceremony, would not sit on the carpet, but sat on the other side of it, leaving the carpet between them. Then the King of Bachian gave to him of Tadore five hundred patol, as if in payment of the daughter he was giving as a wife to his brother. Patols are cloths of gold and silk worked in China, and are very much prized in these islands. Each of these cloths is paid for with three bahars of cloves more or less, according as they are more or less rich in gold and embroidery. Whenever one of the chief men die, his relations put on these cloths to do him honour.

Monday, the King of Tadore sent a dinner to the king of Bachian, carried by fifty women clothed with silk from their waists to their knees. They went two and two with a man between in the midst of them. Each one carried a large dish upon which were small dishes with various viands; ten of the oldest of these women were the mace-bearers. They proceeded in this way to the prahu, and presented everything to the king who was sitting on a carpet under a red and yellow canopy. As they were returning, they caught some of our men who had come out of curiosity and who were obliged to make them presents of some trifle to get free. After that the king sent also to us a present of goats, cocoanuts, wine, and other things.

This day we bent on the ships new sails, upon which was 143the cross of St. James, of Gallicia, with letters which said: “This is the figure of our good fortune.”

Tuesday, we presented to the king some pieces of artillery; that is some arquebuses which we had taken as prizes in the Indies, and some of our swivel-guns with four barrels of powder. We took on board each ship eighty barrels of water. Wood we were to find at the island of Mare, where the king had already five days ago sent a hundred men to prepare it, and near which we were to pass.

This day, the King of Bachian, with the consent of the King of Tadore, came on shore, preceded by four men holding up daggers in their hands, to make alliance with us: he said, in the presence of the King of Tadore and of all his suite, that he would always be ready for the service of the King of Spain, that he would keep in his name the cloves left in his island by the Portuguese, until another Spanish squadron arrived there, and he would not give them up without his consent. He sent through us to the King of Spain a present of a slave and two bahars of cloves. He would have wished to have sent ten bahars, but our ships were so heavily laden, that we could not receive any more.

He also gave us for the King of Spain two most beautiful dead birds. These birds are as large as thrushes; they have small heads, long beaks, legs slender like a writing pen, and a span in length; they have no wings, but instead of them long feathers of different colours, like plumes: their tail is like that of the thrush. All the feathers, except those of the wings, are of a dark colour; they never fly, except when the wind blows. They told us that these birds come from the terrestrial Paradise, and they call them “bolon dinata” that is divine birds.

The King of Bachian was a man of about seventy years of age. Not only did the King of Bachian recognise the King of Spain as his Sovereign; but every king of 144Maluco wrote to him that he desired always to be his faithful subject.

One day the King of Tadore sent to tell our men, who dwelt in the magazine for the merchandise, that they should take care not to go out of the house by night, since there were certain men, natives of the country, who by anointing themselves, walk by night in the shape of men without heads: and if they meet anyone to whom they wish ill, they touch his hand and anoint his palm, and that ointment causes him soon to grow ill, and die at the end of three or four days. But if they meet three or four persons together they do not touch them, but make them giddy. He added that he had a watch kept to discover them, and he had already had several executed.

When they build a new house, before going to inhabit it, they make a fire round it, and give many feasts there. Then they fasten to the roof of the house a pattern or sample of everything that is to be found in the island, persuaded that by that means none of those things will be ever wanting to whoever inhabits the house.

Wednesday morning everything was prepared for our departure from Maluco. The Kings of Tadore, of Giailolo, and of Bachian, and a son of the King of Tarenate had come to accompany us as far as the island of Mare. The ship “Victoria” made sail and stood out a little, waiting for the ship “Trinity”; but she had much difficulty in getting up the anchor, and meanwhile the sailors perceived that she was leaking very much in the hold. Then the “Victoria” returned to anchor in her former position. They began to discharge the cargo of the “Trinity” to see if the leak could be stopped, for it was perceived that the water came in with force as through a pipe, but we were never able to find out at what part it came in. All that day and the next we did nothing else but work at the pumps, but without any advantage.

145Hearing this, the King of Tadore came at once to the ships, and occupied himself with us in searching for the leak. For this purpose he sent into the sea five of his men, who were accustomed to remain a long time under the water, and although they remained more than half-an-hour they could not find the fissure. As the water inside the ship continually increased, the king, who was as much affected by it as we were, and lamenting this misfortune, sent to the end of the island for three other men, more skilful than the first at remaining under water.

He came with them early the next morning. These men dived under water with their hair loose, thinking that their hair, attracted by the water which penetrated into the ship, would indicate to them the leak, but though they remained more than an hour in the water, they did not find it. The king, seeing that there was no remedy for it, said with lamentation, “Who will go to Spain to take news of me to the king our lord?” We answered him that the “Victoria” would go there, and would sail at once to take advantage of the east winds, which had already commenced. The “Trinity,” meanwhile, would be refitted and would wait for the west winds and go to Darien, which is on the other side of the sea, in the country of Diucatan.⁠[383] The king approved our thoughts, and said that he had in his service two hundred and twenty-five carpenters who would do all the work under the direction of our men, and that those who should remain there would be treated as his own children, and he said this with so much emotion that he moved us all to tears.

We, who were on board the “Victoria,” fearing that she might open, on account of the heavy cargo and the long voyage, lightened her by discharging sixty hundred weight of cloves, which we had carried to the house where the crew of the “Trinity” were lodged. Some of our own 146crew preferred to remain at Maluco rather than go with us to Spain, because they feared that the ship could not endure so long a voyage, and because, mindful of how much they had suffered, they feared to die of hunger in mid-ocean.

Saturday, the 21st December, day of St. Thomas the Apostle, the King of Tadore came to the ships and brought us the two pilots, whom we had already paid, to conduct us out of these islands. They said that the weather was then good for sailing at once, but, having to wait for the letters of our companions who remained behind, and who wished to write to Spain, we could not sail till midday. Then the ships took leave of one another by a mutual discharge of bombards. Our men accompanied us for some distance with their boat, and then with tears and embraces we separated. Juan Carvalho remained at Tadore with fifty-three of our men: we were forty-seven Europeans and thirteen Indians.

The king’s governor⁠[384] came with us as far as the island of Mare: we had hardly arrived there when four prahus laden with wood came up, which in less than an hour we got on board. We then took the south-west course.

In all the above-mentioned islands of Maluco are to be found cloves, ginger, sagu, which is their bread made of wood, rice, cocoa-nuts, plantains, almonds larger than ours, sweet and bitter pomegranates, sugar-canes, oil of cocoa and of sesame, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, comilicai,⁠[385] which is a refreshing fruit the size of a water-melon, another fruit like a peach called guave, and other eatable vegetables. They also have goats and fowls, honey produced by bees not larger than ants, which make their hives in trunks of trees. There are also parrots of many kinds, and amongst them there are white ones called Catara, and red ones called 147Nori, which are the most sought after, not so much for the beauty of their plumage, as because they talk more clearly. One of these is sold for a bahar of cloves.

It is hardly fifty years since the Moors conquered Maluco and dwelt there. Before that, these islands were inhabited only by Gentiles, who did not care for the cloves. There are still some families of them who have taken refuge in the mountains, where the cloves grow.

The island of Tadore is in 0 deg. 27 min. North latitude, and 161 deg. west of the line of demarcation;⁠[386] it is 9 deg. 30 min. distant from the first island of this archipelago, named Zamal, to the south-east and a quarter south. The island of Tarenate is in 0 deg. 40 min. of N. latitude. Mutir is exactly under the equinoctial line. Machian is in 0 deg. 15 min. S. latitude, and Bachian in 1 deg. of the same latitude. Tarenate, Tadore, Mutir, and Machian, are like four high and pointed mountains,⁠[387] upon which the clove trees grow. Bachian is not visible from these four islands, but it is a larger island than any of those. Its clove mountain is not so high nor so pointed as those of the other islands, but it has a larger base.

(Book IV of the Milan Edition.)

Return from the Moluccas to Spain.

Pursuing our voyage, after having taken in wood at the islet of Mare, we passed between the following islands:—Caioan, Laigoma, Sico, Giogi, Cafi, Laboan,⁠[388] Toliman, 148Titameti, Bachian, Latalata, Jabobi, Mata, and Batutiga. They told us that in the island of Cafi the people were small and dwarfed like the Pigmies; they have been subjected by force by the King of Tadore. We passed outside of Batutiga to the west, and we steered between west and south-west, and we discovered some islets to the south, on which account the pilots of Maluco said it would be better to cast anchor so as not to drift at night among many islets and shoals. We, therefore, altered our course to south-east, and went to an island situated in 2 deg. S. latitude, and fifty-three leagues from Maluco.

This island is named Sulach;⁠[389] its inhabitants are Gentiles, and have not got a king. They eat human flesh; both men and women go naked, except a piece of the bark of a tree of two fingers’ breadth before their natural parts. There are many other islands around here inhabited by anthropophagi. These are the names of some of them:—Silan, Noselao, Biga, Atulabaon, Leitimor, Tenetum, Gonda, Kailaruru, Mandan and Benaia.⁠[390] We left to the east the islands named Lamatola and Tenetum.

Having run ten leagues from Sulach in the same direction, we went to a rather large island named Buru, in which we found plenty of victuals, such as pigs, goats, fowls, sugar-canes, cocoa-nuts, sagu, a certain food of theirs made of bananas called kanali, and chiacare, which here they call Nanga.⁠[391] The chiacare are fruit like water-melons, but knotty on 149the outside; inside they have some small red fruit like plums, they have not got a stone in the middle, but instead of that have a certain pith like a white bean, but larger, they are tender to eat like chestnuts. We found here another fruit which externally is like a pine cone, and it is yellow, but white inside; on cutting, it is something like a pear, but much softer and better tasted. Here it is called comilicai. The inhabitants of this island are Gentiles, and have no king: they go naked like those of Sulach. The island of Buru is in 3 deg. 30 min. S. latitude, and seventy-five leagues from Maluco.

To the east of this island, at a distance of ten leagues, there is another one larger, and which borders on Giailolo, and it is named Ambon.⁠[392] It is inhabited by Moors and Gentiles, but the former are on the sea shore, and the others in the interior; these are also anthropophagi. The products of this island are the same as those of Buru. Between Buru and Ambon, there are three islands surrounded by reefs named Vudia, Kailaruru and Benaia. To the south of Buru, at a distance of four leagues, is another small island named Ambalao.

At thirty-five leagues from Buru, south and a quarter south-west, is Bandon, with thirteen other islands. In six of them grow mace and nutmeg. Zoroboa is the largest of them, Chelicel, Saniananpi, Pulai, Puluru, and Rasoghin, the other six are Unuveru, Pulanbaracan, Lailaca, Mamica, Man, and Meut. In these islands nutmegs are not found, but only sagu, rice, cocoanuts, bananas, and other fruits, and they are near one another. The inhabitants of these are Moors, and have no king. Bandan is in 6 deg. of S. latitude, and 163 deg. 30 min. longitude from the line of demarcation. As this island was a little out of our course, we did not go to it.

Leaving the island of Buru in the direction south-west and a quarter west, about eight degrees of latitude,⁠[393] we arrived at three other islands near each other named Zolot,⁠[394] Nocemamor, and Galian. Whilst we sailed amidst these islands, a great storm fell upon us, for which we made a vow of a pilgrimage to our Lady della Guida. We put the ship before the storm and made for a rather high island, which afterwards we learned was named Mallua, but before we could reach it, we had to struggle much with the squalls of wind which descended from the mountains and with the currents. The inhabitants of this island are savages, and more beasts than men; they eat human flesh; they go naked, except the usual piece of bark to cover their natural parts. But when they go to fight they wear on the back, the breast, and the flanks, pieces of buffalo hide, ornamented with shells,⁠[395] and boars’ tusks, and tails of goat skins, hanging before and behind. They wear the hair raised high up by means of cane combs with long teeth, which go through it. They wrap up their beards with leaves, and enclose them in cases or tubes of reed, a thing which seemed to us very ridiculous. In one word these were the ugliest men we had seen in these Indies. Both their bows and arrows are made of reeds, and they carry their food in bags made of leaves. When their women saw us they came towards us with their bows drawn, but when we had given them some presents we soon became friends.

We passed fifteen days in this island in caulking the ship whose sides had suffered. We found here goats, fowls, wax, cocoanuts, and pepper. For a pound of old iron they gave fifteen pounds of wax or of pepper.

There are two kinds of pepper here, the long and the round. The long pepper is like the flower of the hazel tree 151in winter; its plant is like ivy, and like it clings to trees; its leaves are like those of the mulberry tree; it is called luli. The round pepper grows like the other, but its fruit is in ears like Indian corn, and the grains are pulled off in the same manner; it is called lada. The fields here are full of pepper plants.

Here we took a man to conduct us to some island where we could find plenty of victuals.

The island of Mallua is in 8 deg. 30 min. S. latitude, and 169 deg. 40 min. longitude from the line of demarcation.

The old pilot from Maluco related to us, whilst sailing, that in this neighbourhood there was an island named Aruchete, the inhabitants of which, men and women, are not more than one cubit high, and they have ears as large and as long as themselves, so that when they lie down one serves them for a mattress, and with the other they cover themselves.⁠[396] They are shorn and naked, their voices are shrill, and they run very swiftly. They dwell under ground, live on fish and a certain substance which grows between the bark and the wood of a tree, which is white and round like coriander comfits, and which is named ambulon. We would have gone there willingly, but the shoals and currents did not allow of it.

Saturday the 25th of January, (1522), at 22 o’clock,⁠[397] we left the island of Mallua; and the following day, having run five leagues to the south-south-east, we arrived at a large island called Timor. I went ashore alone to speak to the head man of a village named Amaban, about his providing us with victuals. He offered me buffaloes, pigs, and goats, but when it was a question of the goods which he wanted in exchange, we could not come to an agreement, because he asked a great deal, and we had got very little to give. Then as we were constrained by hunger, we took the 152measure of detaining on board the ship the chief of another village named Balibo, who had come there in good faith with a son of his; and we imposed upon him as a ransom for recovering his liberty, to give six buffaloes, ten pigs, and ten goats. He, being much afraid that we should kill him, quickly gave orders to have all this brought to us; and as there were only five goats and two pigs, they gave us instead an additional buffalo. We then sent him ashore with his son, and he was well pleased when we not only left him free, but also gave him some linen, some Indian cloths of silk and cotton, some hatchets, some Indian knives, scissors, looking-glasses, and some of our knives.

The chief man, whom I went to speak to first, has only women in his service; all were naked like those of the neighbouring islands, and wear in their ears small gold rings with tufts of silk hanging from them; on their arms they wear many rings of gold and copper, which often cover them up to the elbow. The men are naked like the women, and wear attached to their necks round plates of gold, and on their heads reed combs ornamented with gold rings. Some of them, instead of gold rings, wore in their ears dried necks of gourds.

In this island there are buffaloes, pigs, and goats, as has been said; there are also fowls and parrots of various colours. There is also rice, bananas, ginger, sugar canes, oranges, lemons, beans and almonds.

We had approached that part of the island where there were some villages with their chiefs or head men. On the other side of the island are the dwellings of four kings, and their districts are named Oibich, Lichsana, Suai, and Cabanaza. Oibich is the largest place. We were told that in a mountain near Cabanaza, very much gold is found, and its inhabitants buy whatever they want with small pieces of gold. All the trade in sandal wood and wax, carried on by the people of Malacca and Java, is done here; and 153indeed, we found here a junk which had come from Lozon⁠[398] to trade in sandal wood; for white sandal wood only grows in this country.

These people are Gentiles; we were told that when they go to cut sandal wood, the devil appears to them in various forms, and tells them that if they want anything they should ask him for it; but this apparition frightens them so much, that they are ill of it for some days.⁠[399] The sandal wood is cut at a certain phase of the moon, and it is asserted that if cut at another time it would not be good. The merchandise most fitting for bartering here for sandal wood is red cloth, linen, hatchets, iron, and nails.

This island is entirely inhabited. It extends a long way from east to west, and little from north to south. Its south latitude is in 10 deg., and the longitude 174 deg. 30 min. from the line of demarcation.

In all these islands that we visited in this archipelago, the evil of Saint Job prevailed, and more here than in any other place, where they call it “for franki”, that is to say, Portuguese illness.⁠[400]

We were told that at a day’s voyage, west-north-west from Timor, there was an island in which much cinnamon grows, called Ende;⁠[401] its inhabitants are Gentiles, and have no king. Near this are many others forming a series of islands as far as Java Major, and the Cape of Malacca. The names of these islands are Ende, Tanabuton, Crenochile, Bimacore, Azanaran, Main, Zubava, Lombok, Chorum, and Java Major, which by the inhabitants is not called Java but Jaoa.

In this island of Java are the largest towns; the principal of them is Magepaher,⁠[402] the king of which, when he lived, was the greatest of all the kings of the neighbouring islands, and he was named Raja Patiunus Sunda. Much pepper grows there. The other towns are—Dahadama, Gagiamada, Minutarangam, Ciparafidain, Tuban, Cressi,⁠[403] and Cirubaya.⁠[404] At half a league from Java Major are the islands of Bali, called Java Minor, and Madura, these are of equal size.

They told us that in Java Major, it was the custom when one of the chief men died, to burn his body; and then his principal wife, adorned with garlands of flowers, has herself carried in a chair by four men throughout the town, with a tranquil and smiling countenance, whilst comforting her relations, who are afflicted because she is going to burn herself with the corpse of her husband, and encouraging them not to lament, saying to them, “I am going this evening to sup with my dear husband, and to sleep with him this night.” Afterwards, when close to the place of the pyre, she again turns towards the relations, and after again consoling them, casts herself into the fire and is burned. If she did not do this she would not be looked upon as an honourable woman, nor as a faithful wife.

Our old pilot related to us other extravagant things. He told us that the young men of Java ... and that in an island called Ocoloro, below Java Major, there are only women who become pregnant with the wind, and when they bring it forth, if the child is a male, they kill it, and if a female, they bring it up; and if any man visits their island, whenever they are able to kill him, they do so.

They also related to us that beyond Java Major, towards the north in the Gulf of China, which the ancients named Sinus Magnus, there is an enormous tree named Campanganghi,⁠[405]155 in which dwell certain birds named Garuda,⁠[406] so large that they take with their claws, and carry away flying, a buffalo, and even an elephant, to the place of the tree, which place is named Puzathaer. The fruit of this tree is called Buapanganghi, and is larger than a water melon. The Moors of Burné, whom we had with us in the ships, told us they had seen two of these birds, which had been sent to their king from the kingdom of Siam. No junk, or other vessel, can approach this tree within three or four leagues, on account of the great whirlpools which the water makes there. They related to us, moreover, how in a wonderful manner what is related of this tree became known, for a junk, having been carried there by the whirlpools, was broken up, and all the seamen perished, except a child who attached himself to a plank and was miraculously borne near the tree, upon which he mounted. There he placed himself under the wing of one of these birds, which was asleep, without its perceiving him, and next day the bird having taken flight carried him with it, and having seen a buffalo on the land, descended to take it; the child took advantage of the opportunity to come out from under its wing, and remained on the ground. In this manner the story of these birds and of the tree became known, and it was understood that those fruits which are frequently found in the sea came from that place.

We were told that there were in that kingdom, on the banks of the rivers, certain birds which feed on carrion, but which will not touch it unless another bird has first eaten its heart.

The Cape of Malacca is in 1 deg. 30 min. of S. latitude. To the east of that Cape are many cities and towns, of a few of which I will note the names—Singapola, which is at the Cape, Pahan, Kalantan, Patani, Bradlini, Benan, 156Lagon, Cheregigharan, Trombon, Joran, Ciu, Brabri, Banga, India, Jandibum, Laun, Langonpifa. All these cities are constructed like ours, and are subject to the King of Siam who is named Siri Zacabedera, and who inhabits Iudia.

Beyond Siam is situated Camogia; its king is named Saret Zacabedera; next Chiempa, the king of which is named Raja Brahami Martu. There grows the rhubarb, and it is found in this manner: men go together in companies of twenty or twenty-five, to the woods, and at night ascend the trees, both to get out of the way of the lions, the elephants, and other wild beasts, and also to be able better to smell the odour of the rhubarb borne to them by the wind. In the morning they go to that quarter whence they have perceived that the odour comes, and seek for the rhubarb till they find it. This is the rotten wood of a large tree, which acquires its odour by putrefaction.⁠[407] The best part of the tree is the root, but the trunk is also good, which is called Calama.

The kingdom of Cocchi⁠[408] lies next, its sovereign is named Raja Seri Bummipala. After that follows Great China, the king of which is the greatest sovereign of the world, and is called Santoa raja. He has seventy crowned kings under his dependence; and some of these kings have ten or fifteen lesser kings dependent on them. The port of this kingdom is named Guantan,⁠[409] and among the many cities of this empire, two are the most important, namely Nankin and Comlaha, where the king usually resides.

He has four of his principal ministers close to his palace, at the four sides looking to the four cardinal winds, that is, one to the west, one to the east, to the south, and 157to the north. Each of these gives audience to those that come from his quarter. All the kings and lords of India major and superior obey this king, and in token of their vassalage, each is obliged to have in the middle of the principal place of his city the marble figure of a certain animal named Chinga, an animal more valiant than the lion; the figure of this animal is also engraved on the king’s seal, and all who wish to enter his port must carry the same emblem in wax or ivory.

If any lord is disobedient to him, he is flayed, and his skin, dried in the sun, salted, and stuffed, is placed in an eminent part of the public place, with the head inclined and the hands on the head in the attitude of doing zongu, that is obeisance to the king.

He is never visible to anybody; and if he wishes to see his people, he is carried about the palace on a peacock most skilfully manufactured, and very richly adorned, with six ladies dressed exactly like himself, so that he cannot be distinguished from them. He afterwards passes into a richly-adorned figure of a serpent called Naga, which has a large glass in the breast, through which he and the ladies are seen, but it is not possible to distinguish which is the king. He marries his sisters in order that his blood should not mix with that of others.

His palace has seven walls round it, and in each circle there are daily ten thousand men on guard, who are changed every twelve hours at the sound of a bell. Each wall has its gate, with a guard at each gate. At the first stands a man with a great scourge in his hand, named Satuhoran⁠[410] with Satubagan; at the second a dog called Satuhain;⁠[411] at the third, a man with an iron mace, called Satuhoran with pocumbecin;⁠[412] at the fourth, a man with a bow in his hand, called Satuhoran with anatpanan;⁠[413] at the fifth, a man with 158a lance, called Satuhoran, with tumach;⁠[414] at the sixth, a lion called Satuhorimau;⁠[415] at the seventh, two white elephants called Gagiapute.

The palace contains seventy-nine halls, in which dwell only the ladies destined to serve the king; there are always torches burning there. It is not possible to go round the palace in less than a day. In the upper part of it are four halls where the ministers go to speak to the king: one is ornamented with metal, both the pavement and the walls; another is all of silver, another all of gold, and the other is set with pearls and precious stones. The gold and other valuable things which are brought as tribute to the king are placed in these rooms; and when they are there deposited, they say, Let this be for the honour and glory of our Santoa Raja. All these things and many others relating to this king, were narrated to us by a Moor, who said that he had seen them.

The Chinese are white, and are clothed; they eat on tables like us. They have crosses, but it is not known why they have them.

It is from China that musk comes; the animal which produces it is a kind of cat, like the civet cat; it eats nothing but a certain soft wood, slender as a finger, named chamaru. To extract the musk from this animal they attach a leech to it, and leave it till it is full of blood, and when they see that it is well filled, they crush it, and collect the blood in a plate, and put it in the sun for four or five days, moistening it every day with urine. In this way it becomes perfect musk. Whoever keeps one of these cats pays a tribute to the king. The grains of musk which come to Europe as musk, are only small pieces of kid’s flesh soaked in real 159musk, and not the blood, since though it can be made into grains, it easily evaporates. The cat which produces musk is called castor, and the leech is called Linta.

Continuing along the coast of China, many nations are met with, and they are these: the Chienchi, who inhabit the islands in which they fish for pearls, and where the cinnamon grows. The Lecchii inhabit the mainland: the entrance to their port is traversed by a large rock, for which reason all the junks and vessels which wish to enter must take down their masts. The king of this country is called Moni. He has on the mainland twenty kings under him, and he is subject to the King of China: his capital is Baranaci, and here is situated Oriental Cathay. Han is a high and cold island, where there is copper, silver, pearls, and silk; its king is named Raja Zotra. There is also Miliaula, the king of which is named Raja Quetischeniga, and Guio, the king of which is Raja Sudacali. These places are cold and on the mainland. Friagonba and Trianga are two islands which also produce copper, silver, pearls, and silk; their king is Raja Ruzon. Bassi is a low land on the continent. There come afterwards Sumbdit and Pradit, two islands very rich in gold, where the men wear a large ring of gold round the ankle. In the neighbouring mountains dwell people who kill their parents when they are old, so that they may cease from travail. All the people of these countries are Gentiles.

Tuesday night (between it and Wednesday,) on the 11th of February of 1522, we left the island of Timor, and entered upon the great sea named Laut Chidol,⁠[416] and taking a west-south-west course, we left to the right and to the North, from fear of the Portuguese, the island of Zumatra, anciently named Taprobana; also Pegu, Bengala, Urizza, Chelim, where are the Malabars, subjects of the King of Narsinga: Calicut which is under the same king; Cambaya 160in which are the Guzeratis; Cananor, Goa, Armus, and all the other coast of India major.

In this kingdom dwell six classes of persons, that is to say: Nairs, Panicals, Franas, Pangelins, Macuas, and Poleas. The Nairs are the chiefs; the Panicals are the townspeople; these two classes live and converse together. The Franas collect the wine from the palm trees and the bananas. The Macuas are fishermen; and the Poleas sow and harvest the rice; these last always dwell in the fields, and never enter the city, and when it is desired to give them anything, it is placed on the ground and they take it. When they go along the roads they always cry out, po, po, po, that is take care of yourself; and we were told that a Nair who had been accidentally touched by a Polea, not to survive such a disgrace, had himself killed.

In order to double the Cape of Good Hope, we went as far as 42° South latitude, and we remained off that cape for nine weeks, with the sails struck on account of the Western and North-western gales which beat against our bows with fierce squalls. The Cape of Good Hope is in 34° 30′ South latitude, 1600 leagues distant from the Cape of Malacca, and it is the largest and most dangerous cape in the world.

Some of our men, and among them the sick, would have liked to land at a place belonging to the Portuguese called Mozambique, both because the ship made much water, and because of the great cold which we suffered; and much more because we had nothing but rice and water for food and drink, all the meat of which we had made provision having putrified, for the want of salt had not permitted us to salt it. But the greater number of us, prizing honour more than life itself, decided on attempting at any risk to return to Spain.

At length, by the aid of God, on the 6th of May, we passed that terrible cape, but we were obliged to approach it within only five leagues distance, or else we should never have passed it. We then sailed towards the north-west 161for two whole months without ever taking rest; and in this short time we lost twenty-one men between Christians and Indians. We made then a curious observation on throwing them into the sea, that was that the Christians remained with the face turned to the sky, and the Indians with the face turned to the sea. If God had not granted us favourable weather, we should all have perished of hunger.

Constrained by extreme necessity, we decided on touching at the Cape Verde Islands, and on Wednesday the 9th of July, we touched at one of those islands named St. James’s. Knowing that we were in an enemy’s country, and amongst suspicious persons, on sending the boat ashore to get provision of victuals, we charged the seamen to say to the Portuguese that we had sprung our foremast under the equinoctial line (although this misfortune had happened at the Cape of Good Hope), and that our ship was alone, because whilst we tried to repair it, our captain-general had gone with the other two ships to Spain. With these good words, and giving some of our merchandise in exchange, we obtained two boat-loads of rice.

In order to see whether we had kept an exact account of the days, we charged those who went ashore to ask what day of the week it was, and they were told by the Portuguese inhabitants of the island that it was Thursday, which was a great cause of wondering to us, since with us it was only Wednesday. We could not persuade ourselves that we were mistaken; and I was more surprised than the others, since having always been in good health, I had every day, without intermission, written down the day that was current. But we were afterwards advised that there was no error on our part, since as we had always sailed towards the west, following the course of the sun, and had returned to the same place, we must have gained twenty-four hours, as is clear to any one who reflects upon it.

162The boat, having returned for rice a second time to the shore, was detained, with thirteen men⁠⁠[417] who were in it. As we saw that, and, from the movement in certain caravels, suspected that they might wish to capture us and our ship, we at once set sail. We afterwards learned, some time after our return, that our boat and men had been arrested, because one of our men had discovered the deception, and said that the captain-general was dead, and that our ship was the only one remaining of Magellan’s fleet.

At last, when it pleased Heaven, on Saturday the 6th of September of the year 1522, we entered the bay of San Lucar; and of sixty men who composed our crew when we left Maluco, we were reduced to only eighteen,⁠[417] and these for the most part sick. Of the others, some died of hunger, some had run away at the island of Timor, and some had been condemned to death for their crimes.

From the day when we left this bay of San Lucar until our return thither, we reckoned that we had run more than fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty leagues, and we had completed going round the earth from East to West.

Monday the 8th of September, we cast anchor near the mole of Seville, and discharged all the artillery.

Tuesday, we all went in shirts and barefoot, with a taper in our hands to visit the shrine of St. Maria of Victory, and of St. Maria de Antigua.

Then, leaving Seville, I went to Valladolid, where I presented to his Sacred Majesty Don Carlos, neither gold nor silver, but things much more precious in the eyes of so great a Sovereign. I presented to him among other things, a book written by my hand of all the things that had occurred day by day in our voyage. I departed thence as I was best able, and went to Portugal, and related to King John the things which I had seen. Returning through Spain, I came to France, where I presented a few things 163from the other hemisphere to Madam the Regent, mother of the most Christian King Don Francis.⁠[418] Afterwards, I turned towards Italy, where I established for ever my abode, and devoted my leisure and vigils to the very illustrious and noble lord, Philip de Villiers Lisleadam, the very worthy grand master of Rhodes.

The armillary sphere, of which the author gives a drawing, serves to explain the system of the world according to Ptolemy, and could also serve as an astrolabe, for one sees at the top of it a kind of handle or ring, by which to hold it suspended, as is seen in the above-mentioned drawing. He begins his treatise by giving us an idea of that system, as have done all those after him, who have written of the elements of the nautical art and of pilotage.

“The earth is round,” he says, “and remains suspended and immovable in the midst of all the celestial bodies. The first index fixed on two poles, the arctic and antarctic, which are supposed to correspond with the poles of the earth. It runs from East to West, and transports with itself all the planets and stars. Besides this there is the eighth sphere, the poles of which are at 23 deg. 33 min.,⁠[419] it runs from West to East.”

“It is supposed that all the circumference of the earth is divided into 360 degrees; and each degree is of 17 leagues and a half, consequently the circumference of the earth is 6,300 leagues. Land leagues are of three miles and sea leagues of four miles.⁠[420]”

165“The ten circles of the armillary sphere, of which the six major pass through the center of the earth, serve to determine the situation of countries and climates. The Ecliptic determines the movement of the sun and the planets: the two Tropics indicate the point to which the sun declines from the equator towards the North in summer, and towards the South in winter. The Meridian, always variable, because it passes through all points of the equator, cutting it perpendicularly, designates the longitude, and it is on it that the latitudes are marked.”

Of Latitude.

After having well explained the armillary sphere with all its parts, and their use according to the system of Ptolemy, the author goes on to teach the method of taking the altitude of the pole, on which the latitude is calculated; fixing the pole at 0° and the equator at 90°.

“The Polar star,” he says, “is not precisely on the point corresponding to the axis of the earth; but it turns round it, as do all the other stars. In order to know its true position with regard to the pole, it must be observed where the Guard stars⁠[421] stand. If these are on the western arm,⁠[422] the polar star stands one degree above the pole: if they 166are on the line⁠[423] the pole star stands 3 deg. 30 min.⁠[424] below the pole: if they are on the eastern arm the pole star is one degree below the pole. When one wishes to take the altitude of the pole star, in whichever of the above-mentioned four places the Guard stars may be, the degrees which the pole star has above the pole will be subtracted from its altitude, or those which it has below the pole will be added to it. I have spoken in the account of the voyage of the stars of the Antarctic Pole.”

“The latitude of the place may also be ascertained by the sun’s altitude. 1. If you find yourself between the equinoctial and the arctic pole and the shadow falls towards that pole, look how many degrees and minutes meridianal declination the sun has that day; and this you will subtract from the altitude of the sun which you have taken: afterwards, deducting the remaining degrees from 90 deg., you will have in the residue the number of degrees of North latitude, that is your distance from the equator. 2. If the sun has a boreal declination, in such a manner that the shadow falls towards the south, take the sun’s declination on that day, and add it to the sun’s altitude which you have taken, from that sum subtract 90 degs., and the remaining degrees will indicate your boreal latitude. 3. If the sun is between the equinoctial and the antarctic, and the shadow falls towards the antarctic, observe the sun’s declination for that day, subtract it from the altitude taken, according to the first rule, and you will have the degrees of south latitude. 4. If, when you and the sun are between the equinoctial and the antarctic pole, the shadow falls towards167 the north, you will add the altitude you have taken to the sun’s declination that day, and act according to the second rule. 5. When you have an altitude of 90 deg., you will be so many degrees distant from the equator as there are degrees of the sun’s declination, and if the sun has no declination you will be under the equator. 6. If you are to the north of the equator, and the sun is in the southern signs you will look what is its declination, you will add these degrees of declination to those of the altitude observed, and as many degrees as are wanting from 90 deg., so many will you be distant from the equinoctial. 7. You will do the same when you find yourself to the south of the equinoctial, whilst the sun is in the northern signs.”

Of Longitude.

“Longitude indicates the degrees from east to west: I have considered many methods or means for ascertaining it, and I have found three methods⁠[425] fitting for that object. The last is the most convenient for those who do not know astrology. At the present time the pilots content themselves with knowing the latitude; and are so proud that they will not hear speak of longitude.”

“i. From the latitude of the moon the longitude is calculated of the place in which the observation is made. The distance of the moon from the ecliptic is called its latitude: the ecliptic is the path of the sun. The moon, in its movement, always increases its distance until it reaches the furthest point of its distance: and thence it returns back, to diminish, so to say, its latitude, until it is with the head or tail of the dragon:⁠[426] there it cuts the ecliptic. And since 168the moon, whilst it lengthens its distance from the ecliptic, has more degrees towards the west than towards the east, it must necessarily have more latitude on one side (of the globe) than on the other: and when the latitude is known, by measuring the degrees and minutes with the astrolabe, it will be known whether it is found, and how far it is found towards the east or the west. But in order to ascertain the longitude, you must know in what latitude the moon ought to be at that same moment in the place from which you sailed, for instance, in Seville. By knowing the latitude and longitude of the moon at Seville in degrees and minutes, and seeing also the latitude and longitude which it has in the place where you are, you will know how many hours and minutes you are distant from Seville; and afterwards you will calculate the distance in east or west longitude.”

“ii. The moon furnishes another method for ascertaining the longitude, but that is when I knew the precise hour in which the moon observed at Seville ought to be in conjunction with a given star or planet, or ought to be in a certain opposition to the sun, of which the degrees are determined: and this I can know by means of an almanack. And since that happens in the east before it happens in the west, as many as may be the hours and minutes that may elapse from the time when the conjunction took place at Seville, till the time in which I observe it to take place, so much will be my longitude west of Seville. But if I should see the conjunction take place before the hour in which it ought to happen with respect to Seville, then my distance in longitude will be east. For each hour, fifteen degrees of longitude are calculated.”

“To understand this does not require any great genius. It should be borne in mind that the moon has a motion opposed to the general motion of the heavens; that is, it goes from west to east, and in every two hours it progresses 169a degree and a few minutes; and since it is in the first heaven, and the stars are in the eighth, it certainly never enters in conjunction with them; but sometimes it interposes itself before the rays which come from them to our eye: but this does not happen at the same time to those who are at Seville, and to those who are at Valencia. The annexed figure will give an idea of this, from which it is seen that the ray of the star d is intercepted by the moon c for those who are at a, and not for those who are at b, for whom it was intercepted when the moon was at e.”

“iii. The compass can also supply a method, still easier, for finding the longitude of the place in which you are. It is known that the compass, or the magnetised needle which is in it, directs itself to a given point, because of the tendency which the loadstone has towards the pole. The reason of this tendency is because the loadstone does not find in the heavens any other spot in repose except the pole, and on that account directs itself towards it. This is an explanation of the phenomenon which I propose; and I believe it to be true, so long as experience does not inform us of some better explanation.”

“In order to know, by means of the needle, the degrees of longitude, form a large circle, in which place the compass, and divide it into 360 deg.: and having placed the needle at 360 deg., where it indicates the arctic pole; when the needle is in repose, draw a thread, which should pass from the arctic pole, pointed out by the needle to the antarctic pole, and let this thread be longer than the diameter. After that take the south, which you will know by the greatest 170altitude of the sun. Turn the compass, until the thread which traverses it coincides with the direction of the meridian shade; then, from the antarctic pole of the needle, with the thread which remained over, draw another thread to the arctic pole, that is, to the flower;⁠[427] and you will thus find how many degrees the needle of the compass is distant from the meridian line, that is, from the true pole. So many will be the degrees of longitude, which you will have from the place where the compass begins to set itself in motion.⁠[428] Therefore, with the more accuracy you take the true meridian so much the more exactly will you be able to ascertain the degrees of longitude. And from this it may be seen that the meridian should never be taken with the compass, because it north-easts or north-wests,⁠[429] as soon as it goes out of the true meridian; but take an observation of the south⁠[430] with the astrolabe, and judge that it is midday when the sun is at its greatest height.”

“If it is not possible to take the sun’s altitude at midday, that can be determined with an hour-glass of sand, taking the hours of the night from sunset till the moment of its rising. Having learned the hours of the night, you will know how many are wanting of the twenty-four, and these you will divide into two equal parts. When half of this has elapsed, be sure that it is midday, and that the shadow indicates to you the true meridian. But since the sand clock may often be inexact, it will be better to take the sun’s altitude with the astrolabe by means of its mediclino.⁠[431]”

171“The true meridian may also be ascertained, or rather the equinoctial line, which cuts the meridian at right angles, by observing the points where the sun rises and sets, and by observing how much they are distant from the equinoctial either to the north or to the south. For this purpose an astrolabe is formed with the globe; that is, a circle is made representing the earth’s circumference, divided into 360 deg. At sunrise fix two pins in the circumference, in such a manner that a line drawn from one to the other should pass through the centre, and place the pins so that both should be in a line opposite the sun’s center. Place two other pins in the same way in the circumference when the sun sets. You will thus see how much the sun declines from the equinoctial line, either to the north or to the south. And as many degrees as the pins are distant from the equinoctial, so many degrees are the sun’s declination. Having found the sun’s rising and setting, you will also find the medium distance; that is, the meridian line, and afterwards you will see how much the compass or magnetic needle north-easts or north-wests. You will infer from this how far you are from the Fortunate islands; that is, from Tenerife towards the east or the west. This method has been tried by experience.⁠[432]”

Direction of the Ship.

“If you wish to navigate to any place, you must first know its position; that is, its latitude and longitude. Then, by means of the compass you will point directly to that place. And since the compass varies to east and west, you must, by the methods above described, ascertain its variation, and subtract or add that which is necessary, so that the ship’s head, regulated by the compass, may have the required direction.”

“Should the compass be lost, or if its variation east or west is not known, you may regulate yourself by the sun at midday. When you have fixed the meridian in such a manner that it cuts the ship in its width, it will be easy to direct the prow wherever you wish. Here is an example: suppose you wish to go from north-east to south-west, place the chart in such manner that the ship should have her head to west and the poop to the east; then on the circle of the winds, divided into 360, or in four times 90, fix two pins, one at 45 degrees between east and north, the other at 45 degrees between west and south; bring the two pins on the line of the meridian by turning the ship’s head for that purpose, and the prow will be directed to the place to which you are going. If the pins do not come in a line with the meridian, it is a sign that you are navigating in a false direction, and you must rectify the course. When you reach land, you will see that what I have said is true.”

“With an astrolabe made with plates,⁠[433] observations may be taken of the meridian line, the poles, and the equinoctial 173line, at any hour of the day or night, looking at the moon or any star; and for these, place in the middle of the astrolabe instead of the verghezita or sight,⁠[434] two straight bars between which you will observe the star.”

Thus the method being known by which the required direction is given to the ship, the author teaches the method for determining the point or degree on the chart of the winds,⁠[435] to which the ship on leaving a place to go to a given country should be directed. For clearness, he gives some examples of this. “Do you wish,” he says, “to go from south to north, or vice versâ, on the same longitude? always proceed on the same meridian. Do you wish to go from east to west, or vice versâ, in the same latitude? always proceed on the same parallel. Do you wish to go from one place to another as many degrees distant in longitude as it is different in latitude? Then take the course of 45 degrees either to the south-west or south-east, or north-west or north-east. If the latitude is greater than the longitude, then add to the 45 degrees as many degrees towards the nearest pole, as the number of degrees by which the latitude exceeds the longitude. For instance, if I wish to go from Cape St. Vincent to Cape Bojador, I reckon the degrees of longitude and those of latitude to know the difference between these two capes. I find that the degrees of longitude are five and a half, and those of latitude are eleven, from which I subtract the degrees of longitude and there remain 5 deg. 30 min. Then, instead of going in the direction of from north-east to south-west (as I should do if the longitude were equal to the latitude), I go from 5 deg. 30 min. above north-east towards north, to 5 deg. 30 min. below south-west towards south. If the longitude is greater than the latitude, the lesser number is still subtracted from the greater; and the direction will be 45 deg. after deducting the residue. 174For instance, do you want to go from the island of Ferro to Guadeloupe; you know that the first is in 27 deg. latitude and the second in 15 deg.; then take their difference, which is 12 deg.: look at the map for their longitude, and you see that Ferro is in 1 deg. and Guadeloupe in 45 deg., whence their difference is 44 deg.: subtract from these the 12 deg. residue of latitude, and there remain 32 deg. Then you must subtract these 32 deg. from 45 deg., and there will remain 13 deg. Therefore your course will be from north-east 13 deg. north to south-west 13 deg. south.”

Direction of the Winds.

“The rose of the winds, divided into 360 deg., will give a clearer idea of what has been here said; it being well understood that the pilot must place the center of the winds on the point from which he starts, or from which he takes the course, and he must fix the pole to the true pole observed from the sun, and not trusting to the compass, which north-easts or north-wests.”

“Then, to ascertain whence comes the wind, place a little stick with a little sail⁠[436] in the centre of your rose or circle of winds, divided into 360 deg., and placed in such a manner that north and south stand on the true Solar meridian. The direction of the vane moved by the wind will indicate exactly which wind blows: on the equinoctial is east and west; at 45 deg. there is north-east, south-west, north-west, and south-east; at 22⁠1⁄2 deg. towards north you have north-north-east, and so on with the others.”

Herrera (Decade iii, lib. iv, cap. 4) mentions the arrival of the Victoria, and says that an accountant and thirteen Castilians had remained behind, arrested at Cape Verde, and that the King of Portugal’s factor sent them on to Lisbon in a ship which came at that time from Calicut.

Herrera then gives the names of those who came in the Victoria, and who went to Court. They were—

This number, 31, will agree with Pigafetta’s 13, who remained at Cape Verde, and 18 who landed from the Victoria.

Sebastian del Cano was very well received by the emperor, and Herrera mentions the safe arrival of some of the Molucca Indians: “One of whom,” he says, “was so sharp, 176that the first thing he did was to inquire how many reals a ducat was worth, and a real how many maravedises, and how much pepper was given for a maravedi; and he went from shop to shop to get information of the value of spices, and with this he gave cause that he did not return to his country, although the others returned.” This probably means that he was not allowed to return, lest he should raise the price of spices in the Molucca Islands.

“I Fernan de Magalhaes, Knight of the Order of St. James, and captain-general of this fleet, which his majesty sent for the discovery of the spices, etc. I make known to you, Duarte Barbosa, captain of the ship Victoria, and to the pilots, masters, and quarter-masters of that ship, as I have understood that it seems to you all a serious matter, that I am determined to go forward, because it seems to you that the weather is little fitted for this voyage on which we are going; and inasmuch as I am a man who never rejected the opinion or counsel of any one, but rather all my affairs are discussed and communicated generally to all, without any person being affronted by me; and since, because of that which happened in the port of S. Julian with respect to the death of Luis de Mendoça, Gaspar de Quexada, and the banishment of Juan de Cartagena and Pero Sanches de Reina, the priest, you, from fear, desist from telling me, and counselling all that may appear to you to be for the service of his majesty, and the safe conduct of this fleet, and you have not told it me nor counselled it: you err in the service of the emperor and king our sovereign, and go against the oath and plighted homage which you have made to me; for which I command you on the part of the said 178sovereign, and on my part beseech you and charge you, that with respect to all that you think is fitting for our voyage, both as to going forward, and as to turning back, that you give me your opinions in writing each one for himself: declaring the circumstances and reasons why we ought to go forward or turn back, not having respect to anything for which you should omit to tell the truth. With which reasons and opinions, I will say mine, and my decision for coming to a conclusion as to what we have to do. Done in the Channel of All Saints, opposite the river of the islet, on Wednesday, twenty-first of November, in fifty-three degrees, of the year one thousand five hundred and twenty.”

Andres de San Martin replied, giving his opinion that, though he doubted there being any opening in the channel by which to go to the Moluccas, yet he thought they should go forward till the middle of January, as long as the summer and long days lasted.

Magellan, having received this and the other opinions, which he had asked for only to please and content his people, gave a full answer, with long reasons for going forward; and he swore by the habit of St. James, which he wore, that so it seemed to him to be for the good of the fleet. This opinion was notified to the fleet, and next day he set sail.

The voyage made by the Spaniards round the world in the space of three years is one of the greatest and most marvellous things which have been heard of in our times; and, although in many things we surpass the ancients, yet this expedition far excels every other that has been made up till now. The voyage was described very minutely by Peter Martyr, who belonged to the Council of the Indies of His Majesty the Emperor, and to whom was entrusted the duty of writing this history; and by him were examined all those who remained alive of that expedition, and who reached Seville in the year 1522. But, as it was sent to be printed in Rome, it was lost in the miserable sacking of that city; and nothing is known even now as to where it is. And he who saw it, and read it, bears testimony to the same; and, amongst other things worthy of recollection that the aforesaid Peter noted concerning the voyage, was this, that the Spaniards, having sailed about three years and one month, and the greater part of them, as is usual amongst seafaring men, having noted down the days of the months one by one, found, when they arrived in Spain, that they had lost a day, for the day on which they arrived at Seville, which was the 7th of September, was, by their reckoning, the 6th. And the aforesaid Peter having mentioned this peculiarity to a certain excellent and extraordinary man, who was at that 182time ambassador for his Republic to His Majesty; and, having asked him how it could be, he, who was a great philosopher and learned in Greek and Latin literature, so that for his singular learning and rare excellence, he was afterwards promoted to much higher rank, gave this explanation: That it could not have fallen out otherwise, as they had travelled for three years continuously and always accompanied the sun, which was going westward. And he told him besides, that those who sailed due westwards towards the sun, lengthen their day very much, as the ancients also had noticed. Now, the book of the aforesaid Peter having disappeared, Fortune has not allowed the memory of so marvellous an enterprise to be entirely lost, inasmuch as a certain noble gentleman of Vicenza called Messer Antonio Pigafetta (who, having gone on the voyage and returned in the ship Victoria, was made a Knight of Rhodes), wrote a very exact and full account of it in a book, one copy of which he presented to His Majesty the Emperor, and another he sent to the most Serene Mother of the most Christian King, the Lady Regent. She entrusted to an excellent Parisian philosopher called Jacomo Fabre, who had studied in Italy, the work of translating it into French.⁠[437] This worthy person, I suppose to save himself trouble, made only a summary of it, leaving out what seemed fit to him; and this was printed, very incorrectly, in France, and has now come into our hands; and along with it a letter from one called Maximilianus of Transylvania, a secretary of His Majesty the Emperor, to the most Reverend Cardinal of Salzburg. And this we have wished to add to this volume of travels, as one of the greatest and most remarkable that there has ever been, and one at which those great philosophers of old, hearing of it, would have been stupified and beside themselves. And the city of Vicenza may well boast, among the other cities of Italy, that in addition to its nobility 183and high qualities; in addition to its many rare and excellent geniuses, both in letters and arms, there has been a gentleman of such courage as the aforesaid Messer Antonio Pigafetta, who has circumnavigated the whole globe, and has described it so exactly. There is no doubt that the ancients would have erected a statue of marble to him, and would have placed it in an honourable position, as a memorial and example to posterity of his great worth, and in acknowledgment of so stupendous an enterprise. But if, in this letter or in the summary, there be seen any discrepancy of names or things, let no one be astonished; for the bent of men’s minds is various, and one notices one thing and one another, just as the things appear most deserving of attention. Let it suffice if, in the principal things they agree, and many parts which are left out in one can be read at length in the other. Fabulous stories, too, are noted for what they are. This may be safely affirmed by anyone, that the ancients never had such a knowledge of the world, which the sun goes round and examines every twenty-four hours, as we have at present, through the industry of the men of these our times.

Most Reverend and Illustrious Lord, my only Lord, to you I most humbly commend myself.

One of those five ships has lately returned which Cæsar sent in former years, when he was living at Saragossa, to a strange, and for so many ages, an unknown world, in order to search for the islands where spices grow. For though the Portuguese bring a great quantity of them from the Golden Chersonesus, which we now suppose to be Malacca, yet their own Indies produce nothing but pepper. Other spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, and the nutmeg, which 184we call muscat, and its covering (mace), which we call muscat flower, are brought to their own Indies from distant islands till now only known by name, and in ships which are fastened together not by iron but by palm leaves. The sails of these ships are round and woven, too, of the palm-fibre. This sort of ships they call junks, and they only use them with a wind directly fore and aft.

It is no wonder that these islands should be unknown to any human beings almost up to our time. For whatever we read concerning the native soil of the spices has been told us by ancient authors, and is partly, certainly, fabulous; and, partly, so far from the truth, that even the very countries in which they said that they grew naturally, are but little less distant from those where it is now known that they grow, than we are. For to omit others, Herodotus, in other respects a most famed author, has said that cinnamon is found in birds’ nests, to which the birds have brought it from most distant regions, and specially the Phœnix, and I know not who has seen his nest. But Pliny, who thought himself able to give more certain information, because, before his time, many things had been made clear by the voyages of the fleets of Alexander the Great and of others, relates that cinnamon grows in Æthiopia on the borders of the land of the Troglodytæ, whilst now it is known that cinnamon is produced very far from any part of Æthiopia, and specially from the Troglodytæ (that is, the dwellers in subterranean caverns). But our men, who have now returned, and who were perfectly acquainted with Æthiopia, have been obliged to make a complete circuit of the world, and that a very wide one, before they could find the islands and return. As this voyage may be considered marvellous, and not only unaccomplished, but even unattempted either in our age or in any previous one, I have resolved to write as truly as possible to your Reverence the course (of the expedition) and the sequence of the 185whole matter. I have taken care to have everything related to me most exactly by the captain and by the individual sailors who have returned with him. They have also related each separate event to Cæsar and to others with such good faith and sincerity, that they seemed not only to tell nothing fabulous themselves, but by their relation to disprove and refute all the fabulous stories which had been told by old authors. For who can believe that these were Monosceli, Scyopodæ, Syritæ, Spitamei, Pygmies, and many others, rather monsters than men. And as so many places beyond the Tropic of Capricorn have been sought, found, and carefully examined, both by the Spaniards in the south-west and by the Portuguese sailing eastwards, and as the remainder of the whole world has now been sailed over by our countrymen, and yet nothing trustworthy has been heard concerning these man-monsters, it must be believed that the accounts of them are fabulous, lying, and old women’s tales, handed down to us in some way by no credible author. But lest I, who have to travel over the whole world, should seem too diffuse in my introduction, I return to my story. When, nearly thirty years ago, the Spaniards in the west, and the Portuguese in the east, began to search for new and unknown lands, their two kings, lest one should be a hindrance to the other, divided the whole globe between them by the authority, most likely, of Pope Alexander the Sixth, in this manner: that a straight line should be drawn 360 miles, which they call leucæ, west of the islands of the Hesperides, which are now called the islands of Cape Verd; towards the north, and another towards the south Pole, till they should meet again, and so divide the world into two equal parts. And whatever strange land should be discovered eastwards (of this line) should be ceded to the Portuguese, and whatever west of it to the Spaniards. In this manner it happened that the Spaniards always sailed south-west, and there they discovered a very large continent and 186very great and innumerable islands, rich in gold and pearls and in other wealth, and now, quite lately, have they discovered the vast Mediterranean city, Tenostica,⁠[438] situated in a lake, like Venice. About this city Peter Martyr, an author more careful about his facts than the elegance of his style, has written many wonderful, and yet true, things. But the Portuguese, passing southwards by the shores of the Hesperides, and of the ichthyophagous Æthiopians, and crossing the equinoctial line and the Tropic of Capricorn, sailed eastward, and discovered many great and unknown islands, and afterwards the sources of the Nile and the land of the Troglodytæ. Thence they sailed past the Arabian and Persian Gulfs to the shores of India, within the Ganges, where there is now the mighty emporium and kingdom of Calicut. Thence they sailed to Taprobanes, which they now call Zamatara. For there is now no island which either can be, or can be supposed to be, Taprobanes, in the position in which Ptolemy, Pliny, and the other cosmographers placed it. Going thence, they arrived at the Golden Chersonesus, where now is situated that most famous city of Malacca, the greatest emporium of the East. After this they entered the Great Gulf,⁠[439] which reaches as far as the country of the Sinæ, which they now call Schinæ, where they found a white and tolerably civilised people, like our Germans. They believe that the Seres and the Asiatic Scythians extend as far as there. And though there was a certain rumour afloat that the Portuguese had progressed so far to the east as to cross their own limits and enter the territory of the Spaniards, and that Malacca and the Great Bay were within our limits, still all these things were said rather than believed, until four years ago Ferdinand Magellan, a distinguished Portuguese, who, for many years had explored the coasts of the whole of the East as Admiral, took a great hatred to his king, whom he complained of as being most 187ungrateful to him, and came to Cæsar. Christopher Haro, too, my own father-in-law’s brother, who had traded for many years in the East by means of his agents, he himself staying in Ulyssipone, commonly called Lisbon, and who had lastly traded with the Chinese, so that he has great practice in such things, having also been unjustly treated by the King of Portugal, came also home to Spain. And they both showed Cæsar that though it was not yet quite sure whether Malacca was within the confines of the Spaniards or the Portuguese, because, as yet, nothing of the longitude had been clearly proved, yet that it was quite plain that the Great Gulf and the people of Sinæ lay within the Spanish boundary. This, too, was held to be most certain, that the islands which they call the Moluccas, in which all the spices are produced, and are thence exported to Malacca, lay within the Spanish western division, and that it was possible to sail there; and that spices could be brought thence to Spain more easily, and at less expense and cheaper, as they came direct from their native place.

Their course would be this, to sail westward, coasting the southern hemisphere (till they came) to the East. The thing seemed almost impossible and useless, not because it was thought a difficult thing to go from the west right to the east under the hemisphere, but because it was uncertain whether ingenious nature, which has done nothing without the greatest foresight, had not so dissevered the east from the west, partly by sea and partly by land, as to make it impossible to arrive there by either land or sea travelling. For it had not then been discovered whether that great region which is called Terra Firma did separate the western sea from the eastern; it was clear enough that that continent, in its southern part, trended southwards and afterwards westwards. It was clear, also, that two regions had been discovered in the North, one of which they called Regio Bacalearum (Cod-fish Land), from a new kind of fish; 188and the other Terra Florida. And if these two were united to that Terra Firma, it was impossible to get to the east by going from the west, as nothing had ever been discovered of any channel through this land, though it had been sought for most diligently and with great labour. And they considered it a very doubtful and most dangerous enterprise to go through the limits of the Portuguese, and so to the east. For which reason it seemed to Cæsar and to his counsellors that these men were promising a thing from which much was to be hoped, but still of great difficulty. When they were both brought to an audience on a certain day, Magellan offered to go himself, but Christopher offered to fit out a fleet at his own expense and that of his friends, but only if it were allowed to sail under the authority and protection of Cæsar. Whilst they both persisted rather obstinately in their offers, Cæsar himself equipped a fleet of five ships, and appointed Magellan its admiral. Their orders were, to sail southwards along the coast of Terra Firma till they found either its termination or some channel through which they might reach the spice-bearing Moluccas. So Magellan set sail on the 10th of August, 1519, with five ships from Seville. A few days after he reached the Fortunate Islands, which are now sometimes called the Canaries. Thence they arrived at the Islands of the Hesperides,⁠[440] from which they took a south-western course towards that continent which we mentioned before; and after some days’ fair sailing they sighted a promontory, to which the name of Santa Maria has been given. Here Juan Ruy Diaz Solis had been eaten, with some of his companions, by the anthropophagi, whom the Indians call cannibals, whilst, by order of Ferdinand the Catholic, he was exploring the coast of this continent with a fleet. Sailing thence, our men coasted in an unbroken course along the coasts of this continent, which extend a very long way south, and tend a little west, so that 189they crossed the Tropic of Capricorn by many degrees. I think that this continent should be called that of the Southern Pole. But it was not so easy as I have said; for not till the last day of March of the following year did they reach a bay, to which they gave the name of Saint Julian. Here they found the Antarctic Pole star 49⁠1⁄5 degrees above their horizon, both by the altitude and declination of the sun from the Equinoctial, and also by the altitude of the Antarctic (Pole star) itself. This star our sailors generally make use of more than of any other. They state also that the longitude was 56 deg. west of the Fortunate Isles. For, as the ancient cosmographers, and specially Ptolemy, reckoned the longitude from the Fortunate Islands eastward to Catigara at 180 deg., so our men, sailing as far as they could westward also, began to reckon another 180 deg. westward to Catigara, as was right. Yet our sailors seem to me rather to be mistaken in the calculation of the longitudes (of distances?) than to have fixed them with any certainty, because in so long a voyage, and being so distant from the land, they cannot fix and determine any marks or signs for the longitude. Still I think that these accounts, whatever they be, should not be cast aside, but rather accepted till more certain information be discovered.

This Gulf of Saint Julian seemed very great, and had the appearance of a channel. Wherefore Admiral Magellan ordered two ships to explore the Gulf and anchored the rest outside. After two days, information was brought to him that the Gulf was full of shoals, and did not extend far inland. Our men, on their way back, saw some Indians picking up shell-fish on the shore; for they call the natives of all unknown lands Indians. They were of extraordinary height, that is to say, about ten spans, were clothed in the skins of wild beasts, and seemed darker than would be expected from the situation of the country. When some of our men went on shore to them and showed them bells 190and pictures painted on paper, they began a hoarse chant and an unintelligible song, dancing round our men, and, in order to astonish them, they passed arrows a cubit and a half long down their throats to the bottom of their stomachs, and without being sick. And forthwith drawing them out again, they seemed to rejoice greatly, as having shown their bravery by this exploit.

At last three came as ambassadors, and prayed our men, by certain signs, to go further inland with them, as if they would receive them with all hospitality. Magellan sent seven men, well armed, with them, to investigate as carefully as possible both country and people. When they had gone with them about seven miles inland, they came to a thick and pathless wood.

Here was a rather low hut, covered with skins of wild beasts. There were two apartments in it; in one lived the women with their children, in the other the men. There were thirteen women and children, and five men. These received their guests with a (ferali apparatu⁠[441]) barbarous pomp, which seemed to them a royal one. An animal was slaughtered, which seemed to differ little from the onager, and they served it up half roasted to our men, without any other food or drink. Our men were obliged, contrary to their custom, to sleep under skins, on account of the severity of the snow and wind. Wherefore, before they slept, they set watch. The Indians did the same, and lay down near our men, snoring horribly.

When the day had broken, our men asked them to return with them to the ships, with the whole family. When the Indians had refused for a considerable time, and our 191men had insisted upon it rather imperiously, the men entered the den-like⁠[442] women’s apartment. The Spaniards thought that they were consulting with their wives concerning this expedition; but they returned covered, from the sole of their feet to the crown of their heads, with different horrible skins, and with their faces painted in different colours, and equipped in this terrible and horrible garb with bows and arrows for battle, and (seemingly?) of much greater stature than before. The Spaniards, who thought that it would come to a fight, ordered (a shot) to be fired. Though this shot was harmless, still the giants, who looked just before fit to contend with Jove, were so frightened by this sound, that they began forthwith to speak of peace. The upshot was, that three men returned with our fellows to the ships, having sent away the rest of the family. So they started for the ships. But, as our men could not only not keep up with these almost giants when the latter were running, but could not, even by running, keep up with them walking, two of them escaped upon the march, on the pretext of pursuing an onager, which they saw feeding at a distance upon a mountain. The third was brought to the ship, but died, within a few days, of fasting, which he had imposed upon himself, according to the habit of the Indians, through homesickness. And though the admiral sent again to that hut, in order to catch some one of these giants to take to Cæsar on account of their novelty, yet no one was found there, but all had gone elsewhere with the hut. Whence it seems clear that that race is a wandering one, nor did our men ever see another Indian on that coast, though they remained in that bay for many days, as we shall mention farther on. They did not think that there was anything in that region of sufficient importance to justify their exploring it and the interior any farther. Though Magellan perceived that any longer stay there was useless, yet, as the sea for several 192days was stormy and the sky threatening, and the land stretched continuously southwards, so that the farther they went the colder they would find that region, his departure was necessarily put off from day to day, till the month of May was close upon them, from which time the winter there begins to be most severe, so that it became necessary to winter at the very time when we have our summer. Magellan foreseeing that the voyage would be a long one, ordered provisions to be served out more sparingly among his crews, so that the stock might last longer. When the Spaniards had borne this patiently for some days, fearing the severity of the winter and the barrenness of the country, they at last petitioned their admiral, Magellan, that, as he saw that the land stretched uninterruptedly to the south, and that no hope remained of its terminating or of the discovery of a strait through it, and that a severe winter was imminent, and that many of them were dead of starvation and hardships; and declared that they could no longer bear the rule which he had made about the allowance of provisions (lex sumptuaria), and begged that he would increase the allowance of provisions, and think about going home; that Cæsar never intended that they should too obstinately attempt what nature itself and other obstacles opposed; that their exertions were already sufficiently known and approved of,—for they had gone farther than either the boldness or rashness of mortals had ever dared to go as yet; and that they could easily reach some milder shore, if they were to sail south (north?) for a few days, a south wind being then blowing. But in reply, Magellan, who had already made up his mind either to die or to complete his enterprise, said that his course had been laid down for him by Cæsar himself, and that he neither could nor would depart from it in any degree, and that he would in consequence sail till he found either the end of the land or some strait (through it).

193That though they could not at present succeed whilst winter was against them, yet that it would be easy in the summer of that region. But that, if they would continue towards the Antarctic portion of this country, the whole of its summer would be one perpetual day. That there were means if they would only try them, by which they might avoid famine and the rigour of the winter, inasmuch as there was abundance of wood, and the sea provided shell-fish and many sorts of the very best fish. The springs there were wholesome, and birdfowling and hunting would supply many wants; and neither bread nor wine had as yet been lacking, nor would they lack in future if they would only bear that they should be served out when needed, or for health’s sake, and not for pleasure or for luxury. They had done nothing as yet worthy of admiration, or which could serve as an excuse for their return, inasmuch as the Portuguese crossed the tropic of Capricorn by as much as 12 deg. not only every year, but almost every day, when they were sailing eastwards. They would be thought worthy of very little praise who had gone only 4 deg. southwards. He had certainly made up his mind to endure the worst rather than return ignominiously to Spain, and he trusted that all his comrades, or at least those in whom the noble Spanish spirit was not yet dead, would be of the same mind.

He advised them to bear at least the remainder of the winter patiently, and said that their rewards would be the more abundant the more difficulties and dangers they had endured in opening to Cæsar a new unknown world, rich in spices and gold. Magellan thought that the minds of his crews were soothed and cheered by this harangue, but within a few days was harassed by a shameful and foul conspiracy. For talking began amongst the crews about the old eternal hatred between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, and about Magellan’s being a Portuguese. He, 194they said, could do nothing more glorious for his own country than to cast away this fleet, with so many men. Nor was it credible that he should wish to discover the Moluccas, even if he were able; but he would think it sufficient if he could hire Cæsar on for some years with a vain hope, and meanwhile something new would turn up, by which the Spaniards would for the future be diverted from the search for spices. Nor even had their course begun to turn towards those happy Moluccas, but rather to distant snows and ice, and to perpetual storms.

Magellan, very much enraged by these sayings, punished the men, but rather more harshly than was proper for a foreigner, especially when commanding in a distant country. So, having planned a conspiracy, they seize upon a ship, and make ready to return to Spain. But he, with the rest whom he had still obedient to his commands, attacked that ship, and put to death the head man and the other ringleaders, those even who could not lawfully be so treated sharing the same fate. For these were certain servants of the king, upon whom no one but Cæsar and his Council could lawfully pronounce a sentence of death. Nevertheless, no one from that time dared to disparage the power of the commander. Still, there were not wanting some who whispered that Magellan would, in the same manner, murder all the Spaniards to the last man, until he, having got rid of them all, might return with the few Portuguese with the fleet to his own country. And so this hatred settled more deeply in the hearts of the Spaniards.

As soon as ever Magellan saw the storminess of the sea and the rigour of the winter mitigated, he set sail from the gulf of St. Julian on the 24th of August. And, as before, he followed the course of the coast southwards for many days. A promontory was at last sighted, which they called Santa Cruz, when a severe storm, springing from the east, suddenly caught them, and one of the five ships was cast 195on shore, the men being all saved, with the merchandise and equipment, except one Ethiopian slave, who was caught and drowned by the waves. After this the land seemed to bear a little east and south, and this they began to coast along as usual, and on the 26th of November certain inlets of the sea were discovered, which had the appearance of a strait. Magellan entered them forthwith with the whole fleet, and when he saw other and again other bays, he gave orders that they should be all carefully examined from the ships, to see if anywhere a passage might be discovered; and said that he would himself wait at the mouth of the strait till the fifth day, to hear what might happen.

One of the ships, which Alvarus Meschito, his nephew, commanded, was carried back by the tide to the sea, to the very place where they entered the gulf. But when the Spaniards perceived that they were far away from the other ships, they made a plot to return home, put Alvarus, their captain, in irons, bent their course northwards, and were at last carried to the coast of Æthiopia (Guinea), and, having victualled there, they reached Spain eight months after they had deserted the rest. There they compel Alvarus to stand his trial in chains (causam ex vinculis dicere faciunt quasi), for having, by his counsel and advice, induced his uncle Magellan to practise such harshness on the Spaniards.

But when Magellan had waited for this ship some days longer than the time fixed, another returned, which had discovered nothing but a bay full of shoals and shingle, and very lofty cliffs. The third ship, however, reported that the largest bay had the appearance of a strait, as in three days’ sail they had found no way out; but the farther they had gone the narrower the sea was, and they had not been able to sound the depth of it in many places by any length of line, and that they had also noticed that the tide was 196rather stronger than the ebb, and that so they were persuaded that a passage was open in that direction to some other sea. He made up his mind to sail through it. This channel, which they did not then know to be a channel, was at one place three Italian miles wide, at another two, sometimes ten, and sometimes five, and pointed a little westward. The altitude of the southern pole was found to be 52 deg., and the longitude to be the same, as at St. Julian’s Bay. The month of November was upon them (Aderat jam mensis Novembris), the night was rather more than five hours long, and they had never seen any human beings on the shore.

But one night a great number of fires were seen, mostly on their left hand, from which they guessed that they had been seen by the natives of the region. But Magellan, seeing that the country was rocky, and also stark with eternal cold, thought it useless to waste many days in examining it; and so, with only three ships, he continued on his course along the channel, until, on the twenty-second day after he had entered it, he sailed out upon another wide and vast sea. The length of the channel they attest to be nearly a hundred Spanish miles.

There is no doubt that the land which they had upon their right was the continent of which we have spoken, but they think that the land on the left was not a mainland, but islands, because sometimes on that side they heard on a still farther coast the beating and roaring of the sea.

Magellan saw that the continent stretched northwards again in a straight line; wherefore, leaving that huge continent on the right hand, he ordered them to sail through that vast and mighty sea (which I do not think had ever seen either our or any one else’s ships) in the direction whence the wind called Corus⁠[443] generally blows—that is, ’twixt north and west—so that he might, by going through 197west to east, again arrive at the torrid zone; for he thought that it was proved sufficiently clearly that the Moluccas were in the most remote east, and could not be far from the equator. They kept this course uninterruptedly, nor did they ever depart from it, except when rough weather or violent winds compelled them to diverge; and when they had in this manner been carried for forty days by a strong and generally favourable wind, and had seen nothing but sea, and everywhere sea—when they had almost reached the tropic of Capricorn once more, two islands were sighted, but small and barren. These they found uninhabited when they tried to land; still, they stopped there two days for their health’s sake, and general recruiting of their bodies, for there was very fair fishing there. They named these the Unfortunate Islands by common consent. Then they again set sail thence, following their original course and direction of sailing. And when, for three months and twenty days, they had been sailing over this ocean with great good fortune, and had traversed an immense part of the sea—more vast than mind of man can conceive, for they had been driven almost continuously by a very strong wind—they were now at last arrived on this side of the equinoctial line, and at last they saw an island, called, as they learnt afterwards, Inuagana by the natives. When they had approached nearer, they discovered the altitude of the Arctic pole to be 11 deg. The longitude they thought to be 158 deg. west of Gades. Then they saw other and still more islands, so that they knew they had arrived at some vast archipelago. When they reached Inuagana, the island was discovered to be uninhabited. They then approached a rather small island, where they saw two Indian canoes—for that is the name by which this strange kind of boat is called by the Indians. The canoes are cut and hollowed out of a single trunk of a tree, and hold one, or, at most, two men; and they usually speak by 198gestures and signs, as if the dumb were talking with the dumb.

They asked the Indians the names of the islands, and where they could get provisions, of which they were in great want. They understood that the island in which they had been was called Inuagana, and that the one where they now were was Acaca, but both of them uninhabited. They said that there was an island not far off, which was called Selani, and which they almost showed with their finger, and that it was inhabited, and that an abundance of everything necessary for life was to be found there.

Our men, having taken in water in Acaca, sailed towards Selani; here a storm took them, so that they could not bring the ships to that island, but were driven to another island called Massaua, where lives a king of (the?) three islands, after that they arrived at Subuth. This is an excellent and large island, and, having made a treaty with its chieftain, they landed immediately to perform divine service, according to the manner of Christians, for it was the feast of the resurrection of Him who was our salvation. Wherefore they built a small chapel of the sails of the ships, and of boughs, and in that they built an altar according to the Christian rites, and performed service after their home fashion. The chieftain came up with a great number of Indians, who seemed in every way delighted by this worship of the gods. They led the admiral and some of the officers to the chief’s hut, and put before them whatever food they had. Their bread, which they call sago, was made of the trunk or wood of a tree, rather like a palm. This, when cut in pieces, and fried in oil in a pan, supplies them with bread, a small piece of which I send to your reverence. Their drink was a liquor which flows and trickles from the boughs of the palm-trees when cut. Fowling, too, supplied the feast, and the rest was the fruit of that region.

Magellan beheld, in the chief’s hut, one sick, and almost 199at the last gasp. He asked who he was, and what illness he was suffering from. He learnt that he was the chief’s grandson, and had now suffered for two years from a raging fever. But he told him to be of good cheer, and that he would immediately recover his health and former strength, if he would only become a Christian. The Indian accepted the condition, and, having adored the Cross, he received baptism, and the next day declared that he was well, rose from his bed, walked, and took food like the rest. He told I know not what visions to the Indians. What need I say more? The chief himself, with two thousand two hundred Indians, was baptized, and professed the name and religion of Christ. But Magellan, judging this island to abound in gold and ginger, and, besides, to be convenient from its position with respect to the neighbouring islands, for exploring with ease their wealth and produce of the earth, goes to the Chief of Subuth, and persuades him that as he had abandoned that vain and impious worship of the gods, and had turned to the religion of Christ, it was only fair that the kings of the neighbouring isles should be subject to his rule and command; and he said that he had resolved to send ambassadors concerning this, and compel by arms those who did not listen to his command.

This proposition pleased the savage, and the ambassadors were sent. The chiefs came in one by one, and did homage. The nearest island was called Mauthan, the king of which excelled the others in number of soldiers and in arms, and he refused to do homage to one whom he had been accustomed for so long to command.

Magellan, who desired to finish what he had once begun, gave orders that forty of his men, whose bravery and prowess he had proved, should arm, and he crossed over to Mauthan in boats, for the island was very near. The Chief of Subuth added some of his own men to show him the situation of the island, and to fight, if matters came to that. 200The King of Mauthan, seeing our men coming, draws up about three thousand of his subjects in the field, and Magellan draws up his on the shore, with their guns and warlike engines, though only a few; and though he saw that he was far inferior to the enemy in number, yet he thought it better to fight this warlike race, which made use of lances and other long weapons, than either to return or to use the soldiers from Subuth. So he orders his men to be of good cheer and brave hearts, and not to be alarmed at the number of the enemy, for they had often seen, as formerly, so in quite recent times, two hundred Spaniards in the island of Yucatan put sometimes two or three hundred thousand men to flight. But he pointed out to the Subuth islanders that he had brought them, not to fight, but to watch their bravery and fighting power (robur in acie). So, having charged the enemy, both sides fought valiantly: but, as the enemy were more numerous, and used longer weapons, with which they did our men much damage, Magellan himself was at last thrust through and slain. But the rest of our men, though they did not seem quite conquered, yet retreated, having lost their leader. And the enemy dared not follow them, as they were retreating in good order.

So the Spaniards, having lost their admiral, Magellan, and seven of their comrades, returned to Subuth, where they chose another commander, John Serrano, a man not to be despised. He immediately renewed with fresh gifts the alliance that had been made with the King of Subuth, and promised to subdue the King of Mauthan.

Magellan had a slave, born in the Moluccas, whom he had bought in Malacca some time back; this man was a perfect master of the Spanish language, and, with the assistance of one of the islanders of Subuth as interpreter, who knew the language of the Moluccas, our men managed all their communications. This slave had been present at 201the battle of Mauthan, and had received some slight wounds in it. For which reason he lay all day long nursing himself. Serrano, who could manage nothing without him, spoke to him very harshly, and told him that he had not ceased to be a slave and bondsman because Magellan was dead, but that the yoke of slavery would be heavier, and that he would be severely flogged unless he did the services required of him more zealously.

This slave conceived an intense hatred of us from these words; but, concealing his anger, he went a few days after to the Chief of Subuth, and told him that the greed of the Spaniards was insatiable, that they had resolved and determined, after they had conquered the King of Mauthan, to make a quarrel with him and take him away prisoner, and there was no other remedy possible than to anticipate their treachery by treachery. The savage believed it all. He made peace secretly with the King of Mauthan and the others, and they plotted our destruction. Serrano, the commander, with all the rest of his officers, who were about twenty-seven in number, were invited to a solemn banquet. They, suspecting no evil—for the savages had cunningly dissimulated in everything—land, careless and unsuspecting, as men who were going to dine with the chief would do. Whilst they were feasting they were set upon by those who had been placed in ambush. Shouts were raised on all sides, and news flew to the ships that our men were murdered, and that everything on the island was hostile to us. Our men see from the ships that the beautiful cross which they had hoisted on a tree was hurled to the ground, and kicked to pieces by the savages with great fury. But the remaining Spaniards, who had stopped on board, when they knew of their comrades’ murder, feared some still greater treachery. Wherefore, when they had weighed anchor, they begin to set sail quickly. Shortly after, Serrano was brought down to the shore bound most cruelly, 202and he begged them to redeem him from so harsh a captivity. He said he had prevailed upon them to permit his being ransomed, if our men would only do it.

Though our men thought it shameful to leave their commander in this way, yet, fearing fraud and treachery, they put out to sea, leaving Serrano on the shore, weeping bitterly, and imploring the help and assistance of his fellow-countrymen with great and grievous lamentation. The Spaniards sailed along, sad and anxious, having lost their commander and their shipmates, not only alarmed by their loss and by the slaughter of their mates, but because their number was reduced so low that it was quite insufficient for the management of three ships. Wherefore they hold a council, and, having taken the votes, they agree that there was nothing better to do than to burn some one of the three ships, and keep only two.

So they go to an island near, Cohol⁠[444] by name, and transfer the equipment to the other two ships, and burn the third. Then they sailed to the island called Gibeth. Though they found that it was rich in gold and ginger and many other things, yet they thought it better not to stay there long, because they could not, by any kindness, attract the Indians to them. And their scantiness of number prevented their fighting. Thence they went to the island Porne (Borneo). There are two great and rich islands in this archipelago, one of which was called Siloli, the king of which had six hundred children; and the other Porne.

Siloli was greater than the one called Porne. For it takes nearly six months to sail round it, but Porne only three. But just so much as the former is larger, so much is the latter better situated as regards fertility of soil, and more famed also for the size of a city of the same name as itself. And, as Porne must be considered of more importance than any of the other islands which they had examined, and 203seemed to be the source whence the others received their good customs and civilization (cultum vitæ), I have resolved to touch, in a few words, upon the customs and laws of these peoples. All these islanders are Caphræ, that is, heathen, and worship the sun and moon. They ascribe the rule of the day to the sun, but that of the night to the moon; the former they call male, and the latter female; and them, too, they call the parents of the stars, which they deem to be all gods, though small ones. They salute the rising sun with certain hymns before they worship it. This they do also to the moon, when it shines at night, to whom they pray for children, and fruitful increase of cattle, and abundant fruits of the earth, and other things of that sort.

But they practise justice and piety, and specially do they love peace and quiet, but war they greatly detest, and they honour their king as a god whilst he is bent upon peace. But if he be too desirous of war, they rest not till he has fallen by the hand of the enemy in battle. Whenever he has determined to wage war, which is rarely done, he is placed by his subjects in the vanguard, where he is compelled to bear the whole onslaught of the enemy. Nor do they fight against the enemy with any spirit until they know that their king is dead; then, first do they begin to fight for their liberty and for their future king, nor has there ever been seen among them a king who began a war who has not died in battle. Wherefore they rarely wage war, and think it unjust to extend their territories; but the special care of all is not wantonly to attack either the neighbouring or the distant peoples. But if at any time they are attacked, they meet force by force (par pari referunt). But lest the mischief should spread farther they look immediately to making peace. There can be nothing more honourable among them than to be the first to ask for peace, nor more disgraceful than to be anticipated in asking for it, and they think it shameful and hateful to refuse it to 204anyone, even if he had attacked them without provocation. And all the neighbouring people unite against the one (who refuses peace) for his destruction, as against a cruel and impious man. Whence it happens that they almost always enjoy quiet and repose. There is no robbery among them, and no murder. No one but his wives and children may speak to the king, except by means of canes, which they place to his ear from a distance, and whisper what they wish through them. They say that man, after his death, has no feeling, as he had none before his birth. They have small houses, built of logs and of earth, partly roofed with rubble, and partly with palm leaves. [Ædes habent exiles ex lignis & terra constructas, partim rudere, partim palmatis frondibus coopertas.] It is, though, quite certain that in Porne there are twenty thousand houses. They marry as many wives as they can afford, and live on food, which bird-fowling or fishing supplies them with. They make bread of rice, and a drink which drops from the severed branches of the palm, as we said before.

Some carry on traffic in the neighbouring islands, to which they go in junks; some devote themselves to hunting; some to fishing; and others to agriculture. They have dresses of cotton, and almost all the animals that we have, except the sheep, the ox, and the ass; but their horses are very small and feeble. The produce of camphor, of ginger, and of cinnamon, is great among them. Thence our men, having saluted this king, and heaped him with presents, directed their course to the Moluccas, which had been pointed out to them by the same king. They came to the shores of the island of Solo, where they heard that there were pearls as big as dove’s eggs, and sometimes as hen’s eggs, but which can only be fished up from the very deepest sea. Our men brought no large pearl, because the season of the year did not allow of the fishery. But they testify that they had taken an oyster in that region, the flesh of 205which weighed forty-seven pounds. For which reason I could easily believe that pearls of that great size are found there; for it is clearly proved that pearls are the product of shell-fish. And to omit nothing, our men constantly affirm that the islanders of Porne told them that the king wore in his crown two pearls of the size of a goose’s egg. Hence they went to the island of Gilo, where they saw men with ears so long and pendulous, that they reached to their shoulders. When our men were mightily astonished at this, they learnt from the natives that there was another island not far off where the men had ears not only pendulous, but so long and broad, that one of them would cover the whole head, if they wanted it (cum ex usu esset). But our men, who sought not monsters but spices, neglecting this nonsense, went straight to the Moluccas, and they discovered them eight months after their admiral, Magellan, had fallen in Mauthan. The islands are five in number, and are called Tarante, Muthil, Thidore, Mare, and Matthien: some on this side, some on the other, and some upon the equinoctial line.

One produces cloves, another nutmegs, and another cinnamon. All are near to each other, but small and rather narrow.

The kings (of?) Marmin began to believe that souls were immortal a few years ago, induced by no other argument than that they saw that a certain most beautiful small bird never rested upon the ground nor upon anything that grew upon it; but they sometimes saw it fall dead upon the ground from the sky. And as the Mahometans, who travelled to those parts for commercial purposes, told them that this bird was born in Paradise, and that Paradise was the abode of the souls of those who had died, these kings (reguli) embraced the sect of Mahomet, because it promised wonderful things concerning this abode of souls. But they call the bird Mamuco Diata, and they hold it in such reverence and religious esteem, that they believe that by it their 206kings are safe in war, even though they, according to custom, are placed in the fore front of battle. The common folk are Caphræ, and of almost the same manners and laws as the islanders of Porne; they are rather poor, as would be likely with people in whose land nothing grows except spices. These they willingly barter for poisons, namely, arsenic and what is commonly called sublimate of mercury, and for linens, in which they generally are dressed; but for what purpose they use these poisons, we have not yet found out. They live on sago bread and fish, and sometimes on parrots, and they shelter in low huts. What need of many words. Everything there is humble, and of no value, but peace, quiet, and spices. The best and noblest of which, and the greatest good possible, namely, peace, seems to have been driven by men’s wickedness from our world to theirs. But avarice and the insatiable greed of the belly, have driven us to seek for spices in their unknown world. (Adeo hominum protervia salubria quaeque haud longius satis nequet protudere neque quæ luxus et libidinis appetere.) But, our men having carefully inspected the position of the Moluccas and of each separate island, and also having inquired about the habits of the kings, went to Thedori, because they learnt that in that island the supply of cloves was far above that of the others, and that its king also surpassed the other kings in wisdom and humanity. So, having prepared their gifts, they land, and salute the king, and they offer the presents as if they had been sent by Cæsar. He, having received the presents kindly, looks up to heaven, and says: “I have known now for two years from the course of the stars, that you were coming to seek these lands, sent by the most mighty King of Kings. Wherefore your coming is the more pleasant and grateful to me, as I had been forewarned of it by the signification of the stars.”

And, as I know that nothing ever happens to any man 207which has not been fixed long before by the decree of fate and the stars, I will not be the one to attempt to withstand either the fates or the signification of the stars, but willingly and of good cheer, will henceforth lay aside the royal pomp and will consider myself as managing the administration of this island only in the name of your king. Wherefore draw your ships into port, and order the rest of your comrades to land; so that now at last, after such a long tossing upon the seas, and so many dangers, you may enjoy the pleasures of the land and refresh your bodies. And think not but that you have arrived at your king’s kingdom. Having said this, the king, laying aside his crown, embraced them one by one, and ordered whatever food that land afforded to be brought. Our men being overjoyed at this, returned to their comrades, and told them what had happened. They, pleased above measure with the friendly behaviour and kindness of the king, take possession of the island. And when their health was completely restored, in a few days, by the king’s munificence, they send envoys to the other kings, to examine the wealth of the islands, and to conciliate the other kings. Tarante was the nearest, and also the smallest, of the islands; for it has a circumference of a little more than six Italian miles. Mathien is next to it, and it, too, is small. These three produce a great quantity of cloves, but more every fourth year than the other three. These trees only grow on steep rocks, and that so thickly as frequently to form a grove. This tree is very like a laurel (or bay tree) in leaf, closeness of growth, and height; and the gariophile which they call clove from its likeness (to a nail, clavus) grows on the tip of each separate twig. First a bud, and then a flower, just like the orange flower is produced.

The pointed part of the clove is fixed at the extreme end of the branch, and then growing slightly longer, it forms a spike. It is at first red, but soon gets black by the heat of the sun. The natives keep the plantations of these trees 208separate, as we do our vines. They bury the cloves in pits till they are taken away by the traders.

Muthil, the fourth island, is not larger than the rest, and it produces cinnamon. The tree is full of shoots, and in other respects barren; it delights in dryness, and is very like the tree which bears pomegranates. The bark of this splits under the influence of the sun’s heat, and is stripped off the wood; and, after drying a little in the sun, it is cinnamon. Near to this is another island, called Bada,⁠[445] larger and more ample than the Moluccas. In this grows the nutmeg, the tree of which is tall and spreading, and is rather like the walnut tree, and its nut, too, grows like the walnut; for it is protected by a double husk, at first like a furry calix, and under this a thin membrane, which embraces the nut like network. This is called the Muscat flower with us, but by the Spaniards mace, and is a noble and wholesome spice. The other covering is a woody shell, like that of hazel-nut, and in that, as we have already said, is the nutmeg. Ginger grows here and there in each of the islands of the archipelago. It sometimes grows by sowing, and sometimes spontaneously; but that which is sown is the more valuable. Its grass is like that of the saffron, and its root is almost the same too, and that is ginger. Our men were kindly treated by the chiefs in turn, and they, too, submitted freely to the rule of Cæsar, like the King of Thidori. But the Spaniards, who had but two ships, resolved to bring some of each (spice) home, but to load the ships with cloves, because the crop of that was most abundant that year, and our ships could contain a greater quantity of this kind of spice. Having, therefore, loaded the ships with cloves, and having received letters and presents for Cæsar from the kings, they make ready for their departure. The letters were full of submission and respect. The gifts were Indian swords, and things of that sort. But, best of all, 209the Mamuco Diata; that is, the Bird of God, by which they believe themselves to be safe and invincible in battle. Of which five were sent, and one I obtained from the captain (con gran prieghi), which I send to your reverence, not that your reverence may think yourself safe from treachery and the sword by means of it, as they profess to do, but that you may be pleased by its rareness and beauty. I send also some cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves, to show that our spices are not only not worse, but more valuable than those which the Venetians and Portuguese bring, because they are fresher. When our men had set sail from Thedori, one of the ships, and that the larger one, having sprung a leak, began to make water, so that it became necessary to put back to Thedori. When the Spaniards saw that this mischief could not be remedied without great labour and much time, they agreed that the other ship should sail to the Cape of Cattigara, and afterwards through the deep as far as possible from the coast of India, lest it should be seen by the Portuguese, and until they saw the Promontory of Africa, which projects beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, and to which the Portuguese have given the name of Good Hope; and from that point the passage to Spain would be easy. But as soon as the other ship was refitted, it should direct its course through the archipelago, and that vast ocean towards the shores of the continent which we mentioned before, till it found that coast which was in the neighbourhood of Darien, and where the southern sea was separated from the western, in which are the Spanish Islands, by a very narrow space of land. So the ship sailed again from Thedori, and, having gone twelve degrees on the other side of the equinoctial line, they did not find the Cape of Cattigara, which Ptolemy supposed to extend even beyond the equinoctial line; but when they had traversed an immense space of sea, they came to the Cape of Good Hope and afterwards to the Islands of the Hesperides. 210And, as this ship let in water, being much knocked about by this long voyage, the sailors, many of whom had died by hardships by land and by sea, could not clear the ship of the water. Wherefore they landed upon one of the islands, which is named after Saint James, to buy slaves. But as our men had no money, they offered, sailor fashion, cloves for the slaves. This matter having come to the ears of the Portuguese who were in command of the island, thirteen of our men were thrown into prison. The rest were eighteen in number. Frightened by the strangeness of this behaviour, they started straight for Spain, leaving their shipmates behind them. And so, in the sixteenth month after leaving Thedori, they arrived safe and sound on the sixth of September, at the port near Hispalis (Seville). Worthier, indeed, are our sailors of eternal fame than the Argonauts who sailed with Jason to Colchis. And much more worthy was their ship of being placed among the stars than that old Argo; for that only sailed from Greece through Pontus, but ours from Hispalis to the south; and after that, through the whole west and the southern hemisphere, penetrating into the east, and again returned to the west.

I commend myself most humbly to your Reverence. Given at Vallisoleti, on the 23rd of October, 1522.

(Printed at) Cologne, in the house of Eucharius Cervicornus, in the year of the Virgin’s Child, 1523, in the month of January.

Tuesday, 29th day of November, I began to take the altitude of the sun whilst following the said voyage; and whilst in the vicinity of Cape St. Augustine, and in 7° altitude on the S. side, and at a distance from the said cape a matter of 27 leagues to S.W. Wednesday, 30th of said month, I took the sun in 76°, and its declination was 22° 59′, and its polar altitude was 8° 59′, and the course was S.S.W.

On the 1st December, Thursday, the sun had 78° meridian altitude, and 23° 4′ declination, and our distance (from the equator) 11° 4′, and the course was S.S.W.

Friday, the 2nd of the said month, I took the sun in barely 80°, and its declination was 23° 3′, the altitude was just 13°, and the course S.S.W.

Saturday, the 3rd of the said month, I took the sun in 82° 15′, which had 23° 13′ declination, and our distance was 14° 58′, and the course was S.S.W.

Sunday, the 4th of the said month, the sun had 83° altitude, and 23° 17′ declination; and our distance came to be 16° 17′, and the course was S.S.W.

212Monday, 5th of the said month, I took the sun in barely 84°, and it had 23° 21′ declination; and our distance to the South came to be 17° 13′, and the course was S.S.W. 1⁄4 W.

Tuesday, 6th of the said month, the sun had 85° meridian altitude, and 23° 25′ declination; and the height to the S. Pole came to be 18° 25′; the course was S.W. 1⁄4 S.

Wednesday, 7th of the said month, I took the sun in 86° 30′, and it had 23° 29′ declination; our distance from the line came 18° 57′, and the course was to W.S.W.

Thursday, 8th of the said month, I took the sun in 86° 30′, and it had 23° 29′ declination; and so our altitude came to be 19° 59′, and the course was S.W., and we sounded here, and found bottom at 10 fathoms; and this day we saw land, flat beaches, and it was the day of the Conception of our Lady.

Friday, 9th of the said month (December), I took the sun in 88°, and its declination was 23° 31′; and our distance from the equinoctial line towards the South part came to be 21° 31′, and the course was S.S.W., and we arose in the morning to the right of St. Thomas, on a great mountain, and south slopes along the coast in the S.S.W. direction; and on this coast, at 4 leagues to sea, we found bottom at 25 fathoms, free from shoals; and the mountains are separated one from another, and have many reefs round them; and in Brazil and St. Thomas there are many rivers and ports; and going along the coast 6 leagues there are many shoals 2 leagues out to sea, and there is a depth of 12 fathoms on them, and 10, and 8; but the coast runs N.E. and S.W. to Cape Frio, and there are many islands and rivers.

At Cape Frio there is a very large river, and to the N.E., at three leagues distance, there is the peak of a high mountain and three islands; and the cape is in 23°, and at the said cape there are three islands, and you leave them outside. 213Passing the said cape there is a large bay, and at its entrance there is a low island, and the bay within is very large, with many ports; it extends two leagues from the mouth, and it is called Bay of St. Lucy; and if you wish to pass the island, you leave it on the left hand, and (the entrance) is narrow; but there is a depth of 7 fathoms, and a foul bottom; but outside there is a depth of 20 to 25 fathoms, and within, where there is anchorage, there are 18 fathoms. In this bay there are good people, and plenty of them, and they go naked, and barter with fish-hooks, and looking-glasses, and little bells, for victuals. There is a good deal of brazil wood, and this bay is in 23°, and we entered here the day of St. Lucy, and remained till the day of St. John, which is the 27th of the month of December; and we set sail the same day, and went to W.S.W., and found seven islets, and to the right of them there is a bay, and it is called the Bay of Kings; it has a good entrance, and in this neighbourhood, on the 31st of the month, I took the sun in 86° 45′, and its declination was 22° 8′, and our latitude came to be 25° 23′.

Sunday, 1st of January of the year 1520, I took the sun in 84°, and it had 21° 23′ declination; and the altitude from the pole came to be 27° 29´; and on the days after the first day we went to S.W., and the other to W. and the fourth day to S.W. 1⁄4 S. Thursday, the 5th, the sun was in 85° 30′ of altitude, and 23° 19′ of declination; so that our distance from the line came to be 29° 49′, and the course was S.W. 1⁄4 S.

On the 6th, the day of the Kings, the sun was in barely 80°, and had 21° 8′ of declination; and the altitude from the pole came to be 31°, and the course was S.W. 1⁄4 W.

Saturday, the 7th, I took the sun in 78°; it had 20° 56′ of declination, and our parallel was 32° 56′; the course was to S.W. 1⁄4 S., and we went along the coast.

On the 8th I did not take the sun, but we went to 214S.W. 1⁄4 S., and at night we sounded and found 50 fathoms; and we altered the course, and went on the 9th of the said month to W.S.W.; and in the morning we sounded, and found 15 fathoms, and we went till midday, and saw land, and there I took the sun in 76°, and it had 20° 31′ of declination; and at night we anchored in a bottom of 12 fathoms—34° 31′.

Tuesday, 10th January (1520), I took the sun in 75°; it had a declination of 20°, and our latitude came to 35°. We were to the right of the Cape of Sta. Maria. Thence forward the coast runs East and West, and the land is sandy; we gave it the name of Montevidi (now they call it correctly Santovidio), and between it and the Cape S^ta Maria there is a river which is called (de los Patos) Duck River. From thence we went on forward through fresh water, and the coast runs E.S.E. and W.N.W. for ten leagues distance; after that it trends N.E. and S.W. as far as 34⁠1⁄2°, with a depth of 5, 4 and 3 fathoms; there we anchored, and sent the ship Santiago along the coast to see if there was a roadstead, and the river is in 33⁠1⁄2°. To the N.E. we found some islets, and the mouth of a very large river (it was the river of Solis), and it went to the N. Here they turned back to the ships, and the said ship was away from us a matter of 25 leagues, and they were 15 days in coming; and during this time two other of our ships went in a southerly direction to see if there was a roadstead for staying at; and those went in the space of two days, and the Captain-General went thither, and they found land to the S.S.W., 20 leagues distance from us, and they were four days in coming; and on returning we took in water and wood, and we went away from there, tacking from one tack to the other with contrary winds, until we came in sight of Montevidi; and this was on the 2nd day of the month of February, the day of our Lady of the Candlemas; and at night we anchored at 5 leagues from the mountain, and it lay to 215the S.E. and a quarter S. of us. Afterwards, on the morning of the 3rd, we set sail for the South, and we sounded, and found 4, 5, 6, and 7 fathoms, always increasing in depth; and this day we took the sun in 68° 30′; it had 13° 35′ declination, and our latitude came to 35°.

Saturday, 4th February, we anchored in a depth of seven fathoms, the ship San Antonio having got leaky, and we were there till the 5th, and afterwards we weighed on the 6th, and stood on the south course, and at night we anchored in eight fathoms, and remained there till next day.

The 7th we set sail to reconnoitre better the coast, and we saw that it trended S.E. 1⁄4 S.; after that we took another tack and anchored in 8 fathoms, and there we took the sun in 66° 30′, and it had 12° 15′ declination, with which our distance from the equinoctial line to the south came to be 35⁠3⁄4°; after that we sailed the same day, and at night we anchored in 9 fathoms, and stood for Cape Santanton [Cabo Blanco] it was to the south in 36°, and this was Tuesday, the 7th.

On the 8th we set sail from the said point, and it is north and south with Montevidi, and 27 leagues distant from it; this coast runs N. and S. [the width of the Rio de la Plata is 27 leagues]; from that place forward we went along the coast round the cape of St. Polonia; after that the coast trends from N.E. to S.W. The said cape is in 37°, and the land sandy and very low, it has sea of shallow depth for a distance of two leagues from land, of 8, 9, and 10 fathoms; so we ran all this day to the S.W., and the night and day.

Thursday, 9th of February, I took the sun in 63⁠1⁄4°; it had 11⁠1⁄2° declination, and the altitude came to be 38° 30′; the coast can be sounded, and not very high nor mountainous, and we made out many smokes along the coast; this coast runs E.W. 1⁄4 N.W. S.E., and the point is called Punta de las Arenas.

On the 10th I took the sun in 62°1⁄3, and it had 11° 8′ 216declination, our distance from the equinoctial came to be 38° 48′, and the coast runs E. W., and it is a very pretty coast for running in one or other direction.

On the 11th of the said month, I took the sun in 62°, it had 10° 47′ declination, and the altitude came to be 38° 47′, and the course was W. 1⁄4 N.W., and the coast ran east and west from the Point do las Arenas; to this place there is a very good coast, with soundings, with many little green hills and low land.

Sunday the 12th, we did not take the sun, but from the day before till midday we began to run to S.W. and to S.W. and a quarter W., and to W.S.W., and W. and a quarter S.W., but I calculate that the whole course was W.S.W., and this run was from midday of the 11th, till nightfall of the 12th, and at that hour we anchored in 9 fathoms, and further on in 13 fathoms, and after that we had anchored we saw land, and we set sail to the N., and this was on the 13th, and in the morning we were alongside of some shoals, where the Victoria bumped several times.

Item, the same day we were at anchor, and we did not take the sun’s altitude, and we were in soundings of 7 fathoms, and we remained there till the 14th, and the said day I took the sun in 60⁠1⁄2°, and it had 9° 41′ declination, and our altitude came to 39° 11′.

On the 15th of the said month I took the sun in 60°, and it had 9° 13′ declination, and our distance came to be 39° 19′, and we sailed a south course.

Thursday the 16th, we could not take the sun until the 18th, and on that day we were in 39⁠1⁄4°; and the next day, the 19th, we were in 39⁠1⁄3°, and this day we went to S.W., and we went by this course, and could not take the sun until the 20th of the month.

On the 20th I took the sun in 57°, it had 7° 27′ declination, and our distance to the south came to 40° 17′.

On the 21st, I took the sun in 55°, it had 7° 4′ declination, 217our altitude came to 42° 4′, the course was S.W. 1⁄4 W., and we sounded and found bottom at 55 fathoms.

Wednesday the 22nd, I took the sun in 53°, it had 6° 41′ declination, and our distance came to 43° 26′, the course was S.W. 1⁄4 W.; at night we sounded and found bottom at 55 fathoms.

On the 23rd I took the sun in 53⁠1⁄4°, it had 6° 18′ declination, our distance from the line came to be 43° 3′, the course was W.N.W.

On the 24th I took the sun in 53°, it had 5° 54′ declination, our altitude from the pole came to 42° 54′, and our course was W.N.W., and we were to the right of a very large bay, to which, we gave the name of Bay of St. Matthew, because we found it on his day; we entered well in, and could not find bottom until we were entirely inside, and we found 80 fathoms, and it has a circuit of 50 leagues, and the mouth is to the N.W., and it is in the altitude of 42⁠1⁄2°.

On the 25th I did not take the sun, but I took it on the 26th, in 51⁠2⁄3°, and it had 5° 7′ declination, by which we found ourselves in 43° 27′ to the south, of the line, and the coast runs N.W. S.E. 1⁄4 N.S.

On the 27th I took the sun in 50⁠1⁄2°, and it had 4⁠3⁄4° declination, and so our altitude came to be 44°; and here to the right hand we found a bay, and three leagues before it there are two rocks, and they lie East and West with the said bay, and further on we found another (bay), and there were in it many sea wolves, of which we caught eight, and on this land there are no people, but it is very good land, with pretty plains without trees, and very flat country.

Tuesday, 28th, I took the sun in 48⁠1⁄2°, and it had 4° 21′ declination, and so we found ourselves in 44° 21′, and the course was to the south, and at night we saw land to W.N.W.

On the 29th I took the sun in 48⁠1⁄2°, and this day it had 2184° declination, by which we found ourselves in 45⁠1⁄2°, and the course was to S.S.W. and to W.S.W. and to W.N.W., and I give the whole of the run as to W.S.W. until I took the sun, and afterwards we were two days that we could not take it.

On Friday, 2nd of March, I took the sun in 43° 50′, it had 3° 10′ declination, with which our distance came to be 47°; and after that we did not take the sun again until we entered a port called St. Julian, and we entered there on the last day of March, and remained there till the day of St. Bartholomew, which is the 24th of August, and the said port is in 49⁠2⁄3°, and there we caulked the ships, and many Indians came there, who go covered with skins of antas, which are like camels without humps, and they carry some bows of canes very small like the Turkish, and the arrows are like theirs, and at the point they have a flint tip for iron, and they are very swift runners, and well made men, and well fashioned. We sailed thence on the 24th of the said month of August, and went along the coast to S.W. 1⁄4 W., a matter of 30 leagues, and found a river called Santa Cruz, and we entered there on the 26th of August, and remained till the day of S. Lucas, which is the 18th of the month of October, and there we caught much fish, and we took in water and wood, and this coast is well defined and with good marks.

Thursday, the 18th of October, we sailed from the said river of Santa Cruz, with contrary winds, we went for two days tacking about, and then we had a fair wind, and went to the S.S.W. for two days, and in that time we took the sun in 50⁠2⁄3°, and it was on the 20th.

On the 21st of the said month, I took the sun in exactly 52°, at five leagues from the land, and there we saw an opening like a bay, and it has at the entrance, on the right hand a very long spit of sand, and the cape which we discovered before this spit, is called the Cape of the Virgins, 219and the spit of sand is in 52° latitude, and 52⁠1⁄2° longitude, and from the spit of sand to the other part, there may be a matter of 5 leagues, and within this bay we found a strait which may be a league in width, and from this mouth to the spit you look East and West, and on the left hand side of the bay there is a great elbow, within which are many shoals, but when you enter the strait, keep to the North side, and when you are in the strait go to the S.W., in the middle of the channel, and when you are in the strait, take care of some shallows less than three leagues from the entrance of the straits, and after them you will find two islets of sand, and then you will find the channel open, proceed in it at your pleasure without hesitation; and passing this strait we found another small bay, and then we found another strait of the same kind as the first, and from one mouth to the other runs East and West, and the narrow part runs N.E. and S.W., and after we had come out of the two straits or narrows, we found a very large bay, and we found some islands, and we anchored at one of them; and took the sun, and found ourselves in 52⁠1⁄3°, and thence we came in S.S.E. direction, and found a spit on the left hand, and from thence to the first mouth there will be a matter of 30 leagues; after that we went to S.W. a matter of 20 leagues, and there we took the sun, and we were in 53⁠2⁄3°, and from there we returned to N.W., a matter of 15 leagues, and there anchored in 53° latitude. In this strait there are a great many elbows, and the chains of mountains are very high and covered with snow, with much forest. After that we went to N.W. and a quarter W., and in this course there are many islets; and issuing from this strait the coast turns to the north, and on the left hand we saw a cape with an island, and we gave them the name of Cape Fermoso and Cape Deseado, and it is in the same latitude as the Cape of the Virgins, which is at the beginning of the straits, and from the said Cape Fermoso we 220afterwards went to N.W. and to N., and to N.N.E., and we went in this course two days and three nights, and in the morning we saw land of pointed hills, and it runs North and South (thus runs the coast of the South sea) and from this land to Cape Fermoso there is a matter of 20 leagues, and we saw this land the 1st December.

Now I will commence the course and latitude of this voyage after this land, and the 1st day of December, when we were opposite to it; it is in latitude 48°.

On the 2nd of December we did not take the sun, but we went to the N.N.E., and were in 47⁠1⁄4°, and this day we found ourselves that much ahead,⁠[446] as all this country is in the same altitude.

And in this neighbourhood we found an islet with trees on it. It is uninhabited; and we took soundings at it, and found no bottom, and so we went on our course. We called this islet San Pablo, having discovered it on the day of his conversion, and it is ...⁠[447] leagues from that of Tiburones.

In this latitude we found an uninhabited island, where we caught many sharks, and therefore we gave it the name of Isle of Tiburones, and it is with the Strait N.W. and S.E. 1⁄4 E. and W., and it is in 10⁠2⁄3° S. latitude, and is distant ... leagues from the Ladrone Islands.

On the 6th (March), to W., in 13°. This day we saw land, and went to it, and there were two islands, which were not very large; and when we came between them, we turned to the S.W., and left one to the N.W., and then we saw a quantity of small sails coming to us, and they ran so, that they seemed to fly, and they had mat sails of a triangular shape, and they went both ways, for they made of the poop the prow, and of the prow the poop, as they wished, and they came many times to us and sought us to steal whatever they could; and so they stole the skiff of the flag-ship, and next day we recovered it; and there I took the sun, and one of these islands is in 12⁠2⁄3°, and the other in 13° and more (N. latitude); and this island of 12° is with that of Tiburones W.N.W. and E.S.E. (and it appears to be 20 leagues broad at the N. end), from the island of 12° we 224sailed on the 9th of March, in the morning, and went W. 1⁄4 S.W.

On the 16th (March) we saw land, and went towards it to the N.W., and we saw that the land trended north, and that there were many shoals near it, and we took another tack to the south, and we fell in with another small island, and there we anchored: and this was the same day, and this island is called Suluano, and the first one is named Yunuguan; and here we saw some canoes, and we went to them, and they fled; and this island is in 9⁠2⁄3° N. latitude and in 189° longitude from the meridian. To these first islands, from the archipelago of St. Lazarus....

Ytem. From the Strait of All Saints and Cape Fermoso to these two islands, there will be 106° 30′ longitude, which strait is with these islands in a straight course W.N.W. and E.S.E., which brings you straight to them. From here we went on our course.

Leaving these islands, we sailed W., and fell in with the island of Gada, which is uninhabited, and there we provided ourselves with water and wood. This island is very free from shoals.

From here we departed and sailed W., and fell in with a large island called Seilani, which is inhabited, and contains gold; we coasted it, and went to W.S.W., to a small inhabited island called Mazaba. The people are very good, and there we placed a cross upon a mountain; and from thence they showed us three islands in the W.S.W. direction, and they say there is much gold there, and they showed us 225how they gather it, and they found small pieces like beans and like lentils; and this island is in 9⁠1⁄3° N. latitude.

We departed from Mazaba and went N., making for the island of Seilani, and afterwards coasted the said island to the N.W. as far as 10°, and there we saw three islets; and we went to the W., a matter of 10 leagues, and then we fell in with two islets, and at night we stopped; and on the morrow we went S.W. and 1⁄4 S., a matter of 12 leagues, as far as 10⁠1⁄3°, and there we entered a channel between two islands, one called Matan, and the other Subo; and Subo, with the isle of Mazaba and Suluan, are E.W. 1⁄4 N.W.S.E.; and between Subo and Seilani we saw a very high land to the north, which is called Baibai, and they say that there is in it much gold and provisions, and much extent of land, that the end of it is not known.

From Mazaba and Seilani and Subo, by the course which we came, towards the south part, take care; for there are many shoals, and they are very bad; for this a canoe would not stop which met us in this course.

From the mouth of the channel of Subo and Matan we went west in mid-channel, and met with the town of Subu, at which we anchored, and made peace, and there they gave us rice and millet and flesh; and we remained there many days; and the king and the queen, with many people, became Christians of their free will.

We sailed from Subu, and went S.W. till 9⁠3⁄4° between the head of Subu and an island called Bohol; and on the W. side of the head of Subu there is another, which is named Panilongo, and it belongs to black men; and this island and Subu contain much gold and much ginger, and it is in 9⁠1⁄3°, and Subu in 10⁠1⁄3°; and so we came out of the channel, and came ten leagues to the S., and anchored off the island of Bohol, and there of the three ships we made two, and burned the other, not having crews enough; and this island is in 9⁠1⁄2°.

226We sailed from Bohol to Quipit to the S.W., and came to anchor at the same anchorage to the right of a river; and in the offing to the N.W. part there are two islets, which are in 8⁠1⁄2°, and there we could not get provisions, for there were none, but we made peace with them; and this island of Quipit has much gold, ginger, and cinnamon, and so we decided on going to seek provisions; and from this head of Quipit to the first islands there will be a course of 112 leagues; it lies with them E.W. 1⁄4 N.E. S.W., and this island lies due East and West.

From thence we sailed and went to W.S.W., and to S.W. and W., until we fell in with an island in which there were very few people, and it was named Cuagayan; and here we anchored on the N. side of it, and we asked where the island of Poluan was, to get provisions of rice, for there is much of it in that island, and they load many ships for other parts; and so they showed us where it was, and so we went to the W.N.W., and fell in with the head of the island of Poluan. Then we went to N. 1⁄4 N.E., coasting along it until the town Saocao, and there we made peace, and they were Moors; and we went to another town, which is of Cafres; and there we bought much rice, and so we provisioned ourselves very well; and this coast runs N.E. S.W., and the cape of the N.E. part is in 9⁠1⁄3°, and the part of S.W. is in 8⁠1⁄3°; and so we returned to S.W. as far as the head of this island, and there we found an island, and near it there is a shoal, and in this course, and along Poluan, there are many shoals, and this head lies E.W. with Quipit, and N.W. S.E. 1⁄4 E.W. with Cuagayan.

From Poluan we sailed for Borney, and we coasted the above-named island, and went to its S.W. head, and near there found an island which has a shoal on the E.; and in 7⁠1⁄2° we had to change the course to W., until running 15 leagues; after that we ran S.W., coasting the island of Bornei until the city itself; and you must know that it is 227necessary to go close to land, because outside there are many shoals, and it is necessary to go with the sounding lead in your hand, because it is a very vile coast, and Bornei is a large city, and has a very large bay, and inside it and without it there are many shoals; it is, therefore, necessary to have a pilot of the country. So we remained here several days, and began to trade, and we made good agreements of peace; and after that they armed many canoes to take us, which were 260 in number, and they were coming to us, and as we saw them we sailed in great haste, and we went outside and we saw some junks coming, and we went to them, and we captured one, in which was a son of the King of Luzon, which is a very large island, and also the captain let him go without the counsel of anyone.

Borney is a large island, and there is also in it cinnamon, mirabolams, and camphor, which is worth much in these countries; and they say that when they die they embalm themselves with it. Borney is in 5° 25′ latitude—that is, the port itself—and 201° 5′ of longitude from the line of demarcation, and from here we sailed and returned by the same road; and this port of Borney lies E.N.E. W.S.W. with the isle of Mazaba, and in this course there are many islands; and from the cape at the N.E. of Bornei to Quipit is E.W. 1⁄4 N.E. S.W.

We sailed from Borney, and returned by the same course which we had come, and so we passed between the head of the isle of Bornei and Poluan; and we went to the W.,⁠[448] to fall in with the isle of Cuagayan; and so we went by the same course to make for the island of Quipit on the S. side, and in this course, between Quipit and Cuagayan, we saw to the S. an island which they call Solo, in which there are many pearls, very large—they say that the king of this island has a pearl like an egg. This island is in 6° latitude; 228and so, going on this course, we fell in with three small islands; and further on we met with an island named Tagima, and they say there are many pearls there; and this island lies with Solo N.E. S.W. 1⁄4 E.W., and Tagima is in 6⁠5⁄6°. It is opposite the Cape of Quipit, and the said cape is in 7⁠1⁄4°, and lies with Paluan E.S.E. W.N.W.

From here we coasted the island of Quipit on the south side, and we went to E. 1⁄4 S.E. as far as some islets; and along the coast there are many villages, and there is much good cinnamon in this island, and we bought some of it; and there is much ginger on this coast; and so we went to E.N.E., until we saw a gulf; then we went to S.E. until we saw a large island, and thence to the cape at the east of the island of Quipit, and at the cape of this island there is a very large village, which collects much gold from a very large river, and this cape is 191⁠1⁄2° of the meridian.

We sailed from Quipit to go to Maluco, and went to S.E., sighting an island called Sibuco; after that we went to S.S.E., and saw another island, called Virano Batolague; and we went by the same course as far as the cape of this island, and after that we saw another, which they call Candicar; and we went to the E. between the two, until we went ahead of it; and there we entered a channel between Candicar and another, which they call Sarangani; and at this island we anchored and took a pilot for Maluco; and these two islands are in 4⁠2⁄3°, and the cape of Quipit in 7⁠1⁄4°, and the Cape of Sibuco, on the south side, is in 6°, and the Cape of Virano Batologue in 5°, and from the Cape of Quipit and Candicar the run is from N.N.W. to S.S.E., without touching any cape.

We sailed from Sarangani, and went S. 1⁄4 S.E., until we came opposite an island called Sanguin, and between the two are many islets, and they are on the West side, and this island is in 3⁠2⁄3°. From Sanguin we went S. 1⁄4 S.E. to an island called Sian; between them there are many islets, 229and this island is in just 3°. From Sian we went to S 1⁄4 S.W., as far as an island called Paginsara, it is in 1⁠1⁄6°; and from this island to Sarangani the run is N.S 1⁄4 N.E. S.W. in sight of all these islands.

From Paginsara we went to S. 1⁄4 S.E., until we came between two islets, which lie together, N.E. and S.W., and that one to the N.E. is named Suar, and the other is named Atean, and one is in 1° 45′, and the other in 1⁠1⁄2°.

From Atean we went S.S.E. until we sighted the Molucos, and then we went to East, and entered between Mare and Tidori, at which we anchored, and there we were very well received, and made very good arrangements for peace, and made a house on shore for trading with the people, and so we remained many days, until we had taken in cargo.

The islands of the Malucos are these: Terrenate, Tidori, Mare, Motil, Maquian, Bachian, and Gilolo, these are all those which contain cloves and nutmeg; and there are also several others among them, the names of which I will mention, and in what altitude they are, and the first is Terrenate, which is on the side of the equinoctial line.

La Talata (Lata-lata) lies north of Terrenate N.N.E. and S.S.W., and that which is on the equinoctial line is 190° 30′ of longitude from the line itself, and the island of Motil itself with Cagayan lies N.W. and S.E., and with Tagima, which is opposite the island of Quipit, it lies N.E. and S.W. 1⁄4 N.S., but in these courses one cannot venture to pass, for they say there are many shoals, and so we came 230by another course, coasting the said islands. From the islands of Maluco we sailed Saturday, 21st December, of the said year 1521, and we went to the island of Mare, and there took in wood to burn, and the same day we sailed and went to S.S.W., making for Motil, and thence we went by the same course, making for Maquian, and thence we went to S.W., running by all these islands, and others, which are these:—Cuayoan, Laboan, Agchian, Latalata, and other small islands, which remain in the N.W. quarter, and now I will say in what latitude and longitude are each one separately, and which are those which contain cloves and other spices. The first to the North is Terrenate, which is in 1° North, and Tidore 40′ and Mare 15′ and Motil on the equinoctial line, and these lie North and South. The others to the South are these: Maqui is in 20′ Cuayoan in 40′ and Laboan in 1°, and Latalata in 1° 15′ and Bachian lies with Terrenate E.N.E. and W.S.W.; and to the S.E. of all these islands there is a very large island called Gilolo, and there are cloves in it, but very few; therefore there are seven islands which contain cloves, and those which have a large quantity are these: Terrenate, Tidore, Motil, Maqui, and Bachian, which are the five principal ones, and some of them contain nutmeg and mace. Motil is on the line, and is in longitude of the meridian of 191° 45′

From Latalata we went to S.W. 1⁄4 W., and fell in with an island which is called Lumutola, it is in 1⁠3⁄4°, and on the W. side there is another island called Sulan, and at these islands there are many shoals, and from hence we took the course to the South, towards an island named Buro, and between these three, there is another island which is named Fenado, it is in 2⁠1⁄2°, and Buro is in 3⁠1⁄2°, and it lies with Bachian N.E. and S.W. 1⁄4 N.S. in longitude 194°; and to the East of Buro there is a very large island called Ambon, in which they make much cotton cloths, and between it and 231Buro there are some islets; take care of them, for this it is necessary to coast the island of Buro to the East, and to the South of it. I took the sun in 70° 24′, it had 22° 36′ declination, and so the latitude came to be 3°. I was in the Southern part of the island, and this was on the 27th of December, on Friday. On the 28th of the said month, I did not take the sun, but we were in the neighbourhood of the said isle of Buro, and Bidia, which, lies to the eastward.

Sunday, 29th, I took the sun in 71⁠1⁄2°, it had 22° 21′ declination, and our distance came to be 3° 51′, and we were opposite the isle of Ambon.

On the 30th I took the sun in the altitude of the day before, in calm, it was Monday.

On the 31st I did not take the sun, we were a matter of 12 leagues from the Isle of Ambon E.N.E. and W.S.W., the day was Tuesday.

The 1st day of January, 1522, I took the sun in barely 73°, it had 21° 54′ declination, the altitude came to be 4° 45′.

On the 2nd of the month, I took the sun in 73⁠3⁄4°, it had 21⁠3⁄4° declination, our distance came to be 5⁠1⁄2°, the course was to S.W., and it was Thursday.

Friday, 3rd, I did not take the sun, but the ship made the course of S.S.W., in latitude of 6⁠1⁄3°, after that we took the course to N.W.

On the 4th of the month I did not take the sun, but we were in 5¾°, the course was to N.W., and the day Saturday.

Sunday, the 5th, I took the sun in 75°, it had 21° 14′ declination, the latitude came to 6° 14′.

On the 6th, Monday, I took the sun in 76°, it had 21° 2′ declination, the latitude came to be 7° 2′.

On the 7th, I took the sun in 76⁠2⁄3°, it had 20° 50′ declination, 232the latitude came to be 7⁠1⁄2°, and the course was to S.W. Tuesday.

On the 8th of the month, I took the sun in 77⁠1⁄2°, it had 20° 37′ declination, and the latitude came to be 8° 7′, the course was to S.W., and the day Wednesday, and this day we saw some islands, which lie East and West, and this day we entered between two of them, which are these, Lamaluco and Aliguom; between them are two little ones which you will leave on the right hand after entering the channel, they are inhabited; this channel lies N.E. S.W. 1⁄4 E.W., with Buro, and all these islands are ten in number, and they lie E.W. 1⁄4 N.E. S.W., and they have of longitude a matter of 50 leagues; we ran along them, with very bad weather from the South; we coasted them and anchored off the last, which is called Malua, which is in 8⁠1⁄3°, the others are named Liaman, Maumana, Cui, Aliguim, Bona, Lamaluco, Ponon, Vera. We sailed from Malua and went to the South, and found the island of Timor, and we coasted the coast from east to west, on the north side of this island, which is in the latitude of 9°, and the nearest land on the north side, and this land will have 10 leagues journey, and this coast lies with Buro N.E. S.W. 1⁄4 N.S., in longitude of 197° 45´, and of this island of Timor we coasted all the coast from east to west, as far as the village of Manvai; and first we came near the village of Queru, and from Queru to Manvai, the coast runs N.E. S.W 1⁄4 N.S., and here I took the sun on the 5th day of February, in 86⁠2⁄3°, and it had 12° 44′ declination, so that the latitude came to be 9° 24′, and this island is very large and populous, and all the island has much sandal wood, and there are many towns in it.

On the 8th of February I took the sun in 87⁠1⁄2°, and it had 11° 42′ of declination, with which our distance came to be 9⁠1⁄6°, and we were at the head of the island of Timor, at 233the West end, and from here to the Eastern cape the coast runs E.N.E. to W.S.W., and it was Saturday.

Sunday, 9th of the said month, I took the sun in 88⁠1⁄6°, and it had 11⁠1⁄3° declination. Our latitude came to be 9° 35′, and we were at the most salient cape of all the island, and from there it goes falling off to the S.W. and S.

On the 10th of the same month I took the sun in 88⁠1⁄4°, it had 10° 58′ declination; our latitude came to be 9° 28′, and the head of the island lay to the south, and the day was Monday.

On the 11th, Tuesday, I took the sun in 88⁠1⁄4°, it had 9⁠1⁄3° declination; the latitude came to 9° 35′, and we were in calm.

Wednesday, the 12th, I did not take the sun, but we were becalmed in the neighbourhood of where we were the the day before, or a little more.

On the 13th I took the sun in 89⁠2⁄3°; it had 9° 52′ declination; the latitude came to 10° 32′, and we were in the neighbourhood of islands of which we do not know the names, nor whether they are inhabited. They lie E.S.E. and W.N.W. with the west cape of Timor, and from here we took our course to the Cape of Good Hope, and went to W.S.W.

[After this the course was W.S.W. for several days, and there is nothing worthy of note till Tuesday, the 18th of March, when the Victoria discovered Amsterdam Island.]

On the 18th of the said month (March), I took the sun in 49⁠1⁄2°, it had 2° 55′ declination, the latitude came to be 37° 35′, and whilst taking the sun we saw a very high island, and we went towards it to anchor, and we could not fetch it; and we struck the sails and lay to until next day, and the wind was W.; and we made another tack to the north under storm sails;⁠[449] and this was on the 19th, and we could not take the sun; we were east and west with the 234island, and it is in 38°⁠[450] to the south, and it appears that it is uninhabited, and it has no trees at all, and it has a circumference of a matter of six leagues.

On the 20th of the said month, Thursday, I did not take the sun, but we were east and west with the island, and we went to N.W. and to N.N.W. and 1⁄4 N.W., and for the whole course I put down a matter of 15 leagues to the N.N.W., and in the latitude of 35⁠1⁄2°.

On the 22nd of the said month I took the sun in 50⁠1⁄4°: it had 4° 27′ declination; the latitude came to 36° 18′. The day before we had struck the sails until the morning of the said Saturday, and this day we set sail and went to the N.W.

On the 8th of the said month (May) I did not take the sun; but, according to the run we had made, we thought we were ahead of the Cape, and on this day we saw land, and the coast runs N.E. and S.W. and a quarter east and west; and so we saw that we were behind the Cape a matter of 160 leagues, and opposite the river Del Infante,⁠[451] eight leagues distant from it in the offing; and this day we were lying to with winds from the west and west-north-west, and it was Thursday.

On the 9th I did not take the sun, but we made land and anchored, and the coast was very wild, and we remained thus till next day; and the wind shifted to W.S.W., and upon that we set sail, and we went along the coast to find some port for anchoring and taking refreshments for the people who were most suffering, which we did not find. And we stood out to sea, to be at our ease; and we saw many smokes along the coast, and the coast was very bare, 235without any trees, and this coast runs N.E. and S.W.: it is in 33° latitude, and it was Saturday, 10th of May.

Friday, the 16th (May), I took the sun in 33⁠1⁄4°; it had 21° 6′ declination; the latitude came to 35° 39′, and we were E.S.E. and W.N.W., with the Cape of Good Hope twenty leagues off from it; and this day we sprung our fore-mast and fore-yard, and we were all day hove to, and the wind was W.

[The Victoria doubled the Cape of Good Hope between the 18th and the 19th of May, and arrived] on the 9th of the month of July, and anchored in the port of Rio Grande in Santiago [of the Cape Verde Islands], and they received us very well, and gave us what provisions we wanted; and this day was Wednesday, and they reckoned this day as Thursday, and so I believe that we had made a mistake of a day; and we remained there till Sunday in the night, and we set sail for fear of bad weather and the difficulty of the port; and on the morrow we sent our boat on shore to get more rice, which we wanted, and we were standing off and on till it came.

On the 14th of July, Monday, we sent our boat on shore for more rice, and it came at midday, and returned for more, and we were waiting for it till night, and it did not come; and we waited till next day, and it never came; then we went near the port to see what the matter was, and a boat came and told us to give ourselves up, and that they would send us with a ship which was coming from the Indies, and that they would put some of their people in our ship, and that the gentlemen had so ordered. We required them to send us our boat and men, and they said that they would bring an answer from the gentlemen; and we said we would take another tack, and would wait: and so we took another tack, and we made all sail, and went away with twenty-two men, sick and sound, and this was Tuesday, the 15th of the 236month of July. On the 14th I took the sun. This town is in 15° 10′.

On the 4th of the said month, in the morning, we saw land, and it was Cape St. Vincent, and it was to the north-east of us, and so we changed our course to the S.E., to get away from that Cape.

After the Victoria left Tidore, the crew of the Trinity commenced careening their ship, and took out of her and placed in the store-house in Tidore their goods and the guns of the Conception, which they had burned, and of the Santiago, which was lost. Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa determined to leave in charge of these goods and factory the accountant, Juan de Campos, as clerk; the officer, Luis del Molino; the servants, Alonso de Cota, Genoese, and Diego Arias; and Master Pedro, a bombardier.

Taking leave of the King of Tidore, the Trinity sailed thence on the 6th of April 1522, with fifty men on the muster-roll, and a cargo of nine hundred quintals of cloves. The Trinity sailed for forty leagues to an island named Zanufo, in 2 deg. 30 min. N. latitude, belonging to the King of Tidore, thence to the open sea, where they calculated they had two thousand leagues to run to Panama. In 20 deg. they fell in with an island, where they took in a native, and continuing a northerly course to 42 deg., they met with a storm which lasted five days, and they had to cut away the castle at the prow; their poop was broken; their mainmast was broken in two. The crews fell sick, and they returned to seek the island from which they had taken the native; but, not being able to fetch it, they arrived at another 238twenty leagues distant from it. This island was named Mao, and is to the north of the island Botaha; they are in 12 deg. and 13 deg. This island was three hundred leagues from the Moluccas, and they were a month and a half in getting there; many of the crew died. When they arrived and anchored at the first land, which was Zanufo, a vessel passed by which informed them that a fortnight after the Trinity sailed, five or seven Portuguese sail had arrived at Terrenate, whose captain was Antonio de Brito, and that they were building a fortress there. Barros states that the first stone of this was placed by Antonio de Brito June 24th, 1522. The captain of the Trinity begged the people of this vessel to take a man to Terrenate, who was Bartolome Sanchez, the clerk of the ship, by whom he sent a letter to the Portuguese captain, begging him, on the part of His Majesty, to send him succour to prevent the ship being lost, for his crew was sick and reduced in number. Gonzalo Gomez, seeing that this was delayed, weighed, and came to anchor in the port of Benaconora. Simon Abreu, and Duarte Roger, clerk of the King of Portugal’s factory, came there, with other people, in a caracora, and after that came a fusta and caravel, with other armed Portuguese, who entered the Trinity, and gave to the captain a letter from Antonio de Brito in answer to his, dated October 21st, 1522, which only said that people were going to bring in his ship. By an order which they brought from Antonio Brito, they at once took from Gonzalo Gomez all the letters, astrolabes, quadrants, and log-books which he had made; they took the vessel and anchored her in the port of Talangomi. There were seventeen Castilians of sound and sick in the vessel, and they took those that were well with Gonzalo Gomez to the fortress, and next day took the sick to the hospital.

Gonzalo Gomez complained of the violence done in taking that which belonged to the emperor, and in his country. 239They replied that he had done what the emperor, his lord, had commanded him; and they, what they ought to do by the instructions from the king, their lord. They asked him to give up the royal standard of Castile, and he answered that he could not do so, neither could he defend it, since he was in their power. Upon which they drew up some documents before a notary; and when they discharged the cargo of the ship, he asked the Portuguese to give him a certificate of what was in it, for him to render an account to His Majesty; and they replied that, if he asked for this often, they would give it him on a yard arm. In the fortress we found Juan de Campos, Diego Arias, and Alonzo, the Genoese, sick, who were three of those who had remained in Tidore with the goods of His Majesty. They said that the Portuguese had knocked down the factory-house and taken the cloves and receipts for cloves which were paid for, and all the rigging and fittings of the ships; Luis del Molino had fled, and Gonzalo Gomez called him to come to the fortress under safe conduct, but when in it they put him in irons; Master Pedro had died.

When the ship was in Tidore, the pilot, Juan Lopez Carvalho, died on the 14th February, 1522; and, between sailing thence and anchoring at Benaconora, there died in August, September, and October, thirty-one individuals, without counting three who ran away in the isle of Mao of the Ladrones.

The twenty-one Castilians of the ship and factory remained about four months as prisoners in Terrenate, until, at the end of February 1523, Captain Antonio de Brito gave them a passage to India, sending them to the island of Banda, which was a hundred leagues off, excepting the carpenter Antonio, and the caulker Antonio Basazaval, whom he said that he required. The clerk of the factory, Juan de Campos, and three other Castilians, went in a junk, of which nothing was known nor what became of those persons. 240The Castilians remained in Banda about four months; from thence they were conducted to Java, and coasting it they arrived at a city named Agrazue. Agrazue was a town of thirty thousand inhabitants, Mussulmans, of great trade, to which porcelain, silks, and other Chinese goods were brought from Borneo and other parts.

From Agrazue they went to Malacca, two hundred leagues distant, where Jorge de Albuquerque was captain.

They were about five months at Malacca. Four Castilians died there at the end of November 1524. The ship-boy, Anton Moreno, remained there, who was, they said, the slave of a sister of Jorge de Albuquerque, and the rest went on to India. They were twenty-five days in reaching Ceylon, which was three hundred leagues, and they went a hundred leagues more to Cochin. The clerk, Bartolomé Sanchez, and two others, went in a junk, of which nothing more was heard. In Cochin they found that the ships for Portugal had sailed a short time before their arrival, and they had to wait a year for the passage of the spice ships.

After they had been ten months in Cochin, without obtaining leave to embark, the seaman, Leon Pancaldo, and Bautista Poncero, master of the ship Trinity, fled secretly in the ship Sta. Catalina, which left them in Mozambique. There they were arrested and put on board the ship of Diego de Melo to be taken to the Governor of India, but contrary winds did not permit her departure; and, having been allowed to go ashore, Bautista Poncero died, and Leon Pancaldo hid himself in the ship of Francisco Pereira, which was going to Portugal. He remained hid till they got a hundred leagues from Mozambique. When they arrived at Lisbon they put him in prison, from which the king commanded him to be set free.

At this time, D. Vasco da Gama arrived in India as Viceroy, and the Castilians begged for leave to embark in the ships which were going to Portugal, but he would not give 241it. The Viceroy died in twenty days, and they elected in his stead D. Enrique de Meneses governor of Goa, who came to Cochin. Two Castilians died there, and those that remained had to wait for another year.

Gonzalo Gomez had done homage and could not get away until after constant recourse and petitions to the governor, D. Enrique de Meneses, who gave him leave, as also to the seaman, Gines de Mafra, and to Master Hans, a bombardier, when it was known there that the King of Portugal was married to Da. Catalina, sister of His Majesty the Emperor. These three individuals left Cochin in the Portuguese ships, and when they arrived at Lisbon they put them in the Limoneiro or public prison, where Master Hans died. Gonzalo Gomez and Gines de Mafra remained there about seven months, until they were set free by letters from His Majesty; but Gonzalo Gomez⁠[452] was set free twenty-seven days before Gines, whom they supposed to be a pilot, having found some log-books in his box and two other (books), which Andres de San Martin, pilot of His Majesty, had made, which books and other writings they took, and would not return to him.

From their departure from Terrenate, in the Moluccas, to Lisbon, inclusively, there died eight individuals. What became of seven was unknown; two remained in the Moluccas; one in Malacca; and three reached Spain, besides the licentiate and priest, Morales.

“In this year 1527, one Sebastian Gabato, a Basque, and a great pilot, sailed from Seville as captain-major of two ships and a caravel, who was ordered by the Viceroy of the Antilles to go and take in cargo at Maluco, and recover 242the property of the Castilians, which he might find belonging to the ship of the fleet of Fernan de Magalhāes which put in in distress; and if he found any things in the possession of the Portuguese, he was to ask for them and require them from the captains on behalf of the emperor, with all urbanity: and if they did not choose to give them up, he was to ask for documents, with protests, which he was to bring to the emperor for him to do in the matter what might be for his service. This fleet sailed from Seville, and never more was any news heard of what became of it, nor what end it had. This only was known, that this fleet had thus sailed this year, through other Castilians, who later arrived at Maluco in another fleet, as I will relate further on in its place.”

Navarrete gives, No. XX of his documents relating to Magellan, a copy of a document presented on Wednesday, the 22nd of May, 1521, by a servant of Diego Barbosa, on behalf of Alvaro de Mezquita, to the Alcalde of Seville, dated April 26th, 1520, which were the informations taken in Port St. Julian by Martin Mendes, clerk of the Victoria; Sancho de Heredia, king’s notary; Gonzalo Gomes de Spinosa, Alguazil-mayor or chief constable of the fleet: he could not write, and Domingo de Barruty signed for him.

These informations were taken in consequence of a petition from Alvaro de Mezquita, captain of the S. Antonio, to Magellan, complaining of Gaspar de Quesada, captain of the Conception, and Juan de Cartagena, with about thirty armed men, having seized him the night of Palm Sunday, April 1st, 1520, and having locked him up in the cabin of Geronimo Guerra, the clerk of the S. Antonio. This petition was presented to Magellan when he was on shore, after hearing Mass on Sunday, the 15th of April, and he gave orders to the two clerks and Alguazil to make an inquiry on board the S. Antonio. His order was dated April 17th, and signed by himself and Leon de Speleta, clerk of the flag-ship. The informations taken on board the S. Antonio were dated Thursday, the twenty-sixth April, 1520.

No. XXI of Navarrete is a letter from Juan Lopez do Recalde to the Bishop of Burgos, of May 12th, 1521, giving him an account of the arrival of the S. Antonio at Seville, 2446th May, 1521, commanded by Geronimo Guerra, a relation and servant of Christoval de Haro, and of the execution of Gaspar de Quesada and others. This letter relates the story of the mutineers and those who turned back from difficulty and danger, and is naturally unfavourable to Magellan.

According to Navarrete, the desertion of Magellan’s fleet by the ship S. Antonio, was caused by Esteban Gomez, a Portuguese pilot, who, from rivalry with Magellan, and envy at seeing others promoted instead of himself, after the executions, got up a conspiracy on board the S. Antonio, and proposed to return to Spain. The mutineers put Alvaro de Mezquita in irons; they then went to the coast of Guinea, and thence to Spain. When the S. Antonio arrived at Seville, Alvaro de Mezquita was handed over to the authorities and kept in prison until the ship Victoria arrived. Esteban Gomez, Juan do Chinchilla, Geronimo Guerra, and Francisco Angulo, were also arrested; and Magellan’s wife and family were put under surveillance to prevent their going away to Portugal. According to Herrera, Juan de Cartagena and the priest, who were left behind, did not come away with the S. Antonio, and orders were given to send and look for them.

More ample details of the suppression of the mutiny are given by Gaspar Correa in the following account of Magellan’s voyage, in his Lendas da India (tome ii, cap. xiv):—

	Maravedis.
Five ships, with rigging, artillery, and arms, cost	3,912,241
Five ships, of 445 tons, five more or less, which makes each ton come to a cost of 8,791⁠1⁄2 maravedis.
Various necessaries	415,060
Provisions, biscuit, wine, oil, fish, meat, cheese, vegetables, and barrels	1,585,551
Four months pay for 237 persons	1,154,504
Merchandise	1,679,769
	————
Total	8,751,125
	————

Acerqua do negoceo de fernam de magalhaes en tenho feito e trabalhado quanto deus sabe, como lhe largamente tenho esprito, e agora estando xebres doente falei niso muito ryjo a el Rei apresentando lhe todolos enconuinientos que neste caso auia, apresentando lhe alem das outras cousas, quam fea cousa era e quam desacostumada receber hum Rei os uasalos doutro Rei seu amigo contra sua vontade que era cousa que antre caualeiros se nom acustumaua e se auia por mui grande erro e cousa mui feia e que en nom acabaua em ualhadoly de lhe oferecer uosa pesoa e reinos e senhorios quando ele ja recebya estes contra uoso prazer que lhe pedia que oulhase que nom era tempo pera descontentar uosalteza e mais em cousa que lhe tam pouco inportaua e tam incerta e que muitos uasalos e omens tinha pera fazer seuos descobrimentos quando fore tempo e nam c os que de uosalteza uinham descontentes e de que uosalteza nom podia de deixar de ter sospeita que auiam de trabalhar mais por uos desseruir que por ninhūa outra cousa e que su alteza tinha ainda agora tanto que fazer em descobrir seuos reinos e senhorios e em os asentar que lhe nom deuiam de lembrar taes nouidades de que se podiam seguir escandolos e outras cousas que se bem podiam escusar apresentando lhe tambem quam mal isto parecia em anno e tempo de tal casamento e acrecentamento de divido e amor. E que me parecia que uosalteza syntiria muito saber que estes omens lhe pedem licença e nom lha dar pera iise tornarem que eram ja douos males recebedos contra sua uontade e telos contra uontade deles que eu lhe pedia polo que compria a seu seruiço e de uosalteza que de duas fizese hūa ou lhe dese licença ou sobre-esteuese neste negocio este anno em que se nom perderia muito e se poderia tomar tal meio como ele fore seruido e uosalteza nom recebese desprazer do modo com que se isto faz.

Ele senhor fycou tam espantado do que lhe dyse que eu me espantei e me respondeo as milhores palauras do mundo e que ele por ninhūa cousa nom queria que se fizese cousa de que uosalteza recebese desprazer e muitas outras boas palauras e que eu falase com ho cardeal e que lhe fizese relaçam de tudo.

Eu senhor o tynha ja bem praticado com ho cardeal que he a milhor cousa que qua ha e lhe nom parece bem este negoceo e me prometeo de trabalhar quanto podese por se escusar. Falou com el Rei e chamaram per isto ho bispo de burgos que he o que sostem este negocio. E asy huns douos do conselho tornaram a fazer crer a el Rei que ele nom eraua nisto a uosalteza porque nom mandaua descobrir senam dentro no seu lemite e mui longe das cousas de uosalteza e que uosalteza nom auia dauer por mal de se seruir de douos uasalos seuos homens de pouca sustancia seruindo se uosalteza de muitos dos naturaes de castela alegando outras muitas razōes. In fim me dise o cardeal que o bispo e aqueles insistiam tanto nisto que por ora el Rei nom podya tomar outra detriminaçam.

Tanto que xebres foi sam lhe tornei a presentar este negoceo como digo e muito mais ele da a culpa a estes castelhanos que pōi el Rei nisto e com tudo que ele falara a el Rey e nos dias pasados o requeri muito sobre isto e nunca tomou detriminaçam e asi creio que fara agora a mim senhor parece me que uosalteza pode recolher fernam de magalhāes que sera grande bofetada pera estes que polo bacharel nom dou eu muito que anda casi fora de seu syso. iiiE fiz diligencia com dom jorge acerqua da yda laa do seu alcayde e ele diz que hira em toda maneira asy senhor que isto esta desta maneira e com tudo eu nunca deixarei de trabalhar nisto o que poder.

E nom cuide vosalteza que dise muito a el Rei no que lhe dise porque alem de ser tudo verdade o que dise esta gente como dygo nom sente nada nem el Rei tem liberdade pera dy sy fazer ate ora nada e por iso se deue de syntyr menos suas cousas. noso senhor a uida e estado de vosalteza acrecente a seu santo seruiço. de saragoça terça feira a noyte xxviii dias de setembro [1518].

No. II.

em xv deste Julho ꝓ chavascas moço dest’beyra R. duas cartas de vosa alteza hūa de xviij e outra de xxix do mes pasado que entendy e sem a seg^da Resumyr Respondo a vosa alteza.

Sam agora vindos em companhia a esta cidade xpovā de harōo e J^o de cartajena feitor moor darmada e capitam de hū navio e o tesourey^o e esc’vā desta armada e nos Regim^tos que trazem ha cap^os contrarios ao rregm^to de frnā de magalhāes E vistos p̃llo contador e feitores da casa da cont^rtaçam como posam mall engulyr as cousas de magalhaēes foram logo da opiniam dos que nova^mte vieram.

ivE juntos mandarā chamar frnā de magalhaēes e q̃seram dele sabr̃ a ordem desta armada e a causa por que na q^rta nāao n̄o ya capitā som^te carvalho que era piloto e nō capitam, dise que elle a queria asy levar ꝓa levar o foroll e as vezes se pasar aela.

E lhe diseram que levava m^tos portugeses e que nō era bem que levase tantos Respondeo que ele faria na armada o q̃ q_ꝫsese sem lhe dar co^ta e que elles o no podiam faz^r sem a darē a elle pasaranse tantas e tam mas Rezoēes q̃ os feitores mandarā pagar soldo a jente do maar e darmas e nō a nēhūes dos portugeses q̃ frn̄a de magalhaēes e Ruy faleiro tem ꝓa levar e a ysto se fez correeo a corte de castela.

E por eu v̄r a materia aberta e t̄po bē conveniente ꝓa diz^r o que me vosa alteza mādo me fuy a pousada de magalhaēes onde o achey conçertando cortiços e arcas com vitoalha de cons^rvas e out^as cousas ap^rtey o fingindo que p̃llo achar naquele acto que me pareçia conclusā da obra de seu māao ꝓposyto e por que esta seria a derradr^a fala q̃ lhe faria lhe queria rreduzir a memoriam quantas vezes como bom portuges e seu amygo lhe avia falado cont^rariando lhe o tam grande erro como fazia.

E despois de lhe pedir ᵱdam se algūu escandalo de my Reçebese na p̃tica, lhe trouxe a memoria quantas vezes lhe avia falado e quā bem me senp̃ Respondia e que segundo sua Reposta senp̃ eu esperey q’ o fim nō fose con tā grande dess^rviço de vosa alteza e o que lhe senp̃ disera era que visse que este caminho tinha tantos perigos como a vRoda de Santa C^na e que o devya deixar e tomar o coy’brāao⁠[461] e tornar se a sua natureza e a ḡça de vosa alteza donde senp̃ Reçeberia m^ce. nesta fala entrou meter lhe todolos temores q̃ me pareçerā e erros que fazia dise me q̃ elle n̄o poderia ja all faz^r por sua honrra senā seguir seu caminho, eu lhe disse que ganhar onrra indyvidam^te e adq̃rida com tanta infamia nō era sab^r nē honrra mas antes p^rivāça de sab^r e d onrra por que fose çerto q̃ a jente castelhana p^rinçipall desta çidade falando nele o aviam por hōme vyll e de māao sangue poys em dess^rviço de seu v̄dad^ro Rey e sen̄or aceptava tall enᵱsa quanto mais semdo ᵱ ele levantada e ordenada e Requerida, que fose ele certo que era avida por treedor por hyr cont^ra o estado de vosa alteza, aquy me Respondeo que ele via o erro que fazia porem que ele esperava ḡdar muyto o s^rviço de vosa alteza e faz^r lhe muito s^rviço em sua yda. Eu lhe dise que quē lhe louvase tall diz^r o nō entenderia, por que caso q̃ ele nō tocase a conq̃sta de vosa alteza como qr̄ q̃ achasse o q̃ dizia luogo era em grande dano das rrendas de vosa alteza, e que este Reçebia todo o rregno e jenero de p^as⁠[462] e que mais virtuoso pensam^to era o que ele tinha quando me disse que se vosa alteza mandase q̃ se tornasse a portugall q̃ o faria sem out^ra çerteza de merçee e que quando lha nō fizese que hy estava essa serradoosa e sete v^as⁠[463] de pardo e hūas contas de bugalhos vique entā me pareçia q̃ seu coraçā estava na v^rdade do que compria a sua honnra e conçyençia, o q̃ se falou foy tanto q̃ se nō pode esc̄ver.

a q̃ⁱ s^or me começou a dar synall dizendo que lhe dissese mais que ysto nō vinha de my e que se v. alteza mo mandava q̃ lho dissese e a m^ce q̃ lhe faria, eu lhe disse q̃ eu nō era de tantas toneladas ꝓ q̃ v. alteza me metese em tall acto mas eu como out^as m^tas vezes lho dezia aquy me q̃ⁱs honrrar dizendo q̃ se o q̃ eu começey com ele levara avante sem ant^revir out^as p^as q’ vosa alteza fora s̄vido mas q’ n^o⁠[464] Ribeiro lhe disera hūa cousa e q’ n̄o fora nada e Joam mendez out^ra q’ nō atara e diseme a merçee q’ lhe prometian da ᵱte de vosa alteza, aqⁱ ouve grande amiserarse e diz’ que bem sentia tudo mas que nō sabia cousa ᵱa que cō rrezam deixase hūu Rey quo tanta m^ce lhe avia feito. e eu lhe disse q’ por faz’ o que devia e nō ᵱder sua honrra e a m^ce q’ vosa alteza lhe faria que seria mais çerta e cō mais verdadeira onrra. E que pesasse ele se a vinda de purtugall q’ fora por çem rrēs mais ou menos de morida q’ v. alteza lhe deixara de dar por nō quebrar sua ordenança, com virem dous rregm^tos contrarios ao seu, e ao q’ ele capitolou cō el Rey dō carlos, e veria se este desp^rezo pessa mais ꝓa se hyr e faz^r o que deve se vyr se por o q’ se veeo.

fez grande admiraçā de eu tall sabr̃ e aquy me disse a v^erdade e como o correo era ꝓ^rtido q’ eu ja tudo sabia. E me disse que çerto nō aberia cousa por q’ elle desse cō viia carga em tr̃ra senā tirando lhe algūa coussa do capitolado; porem q’ p^rm^o abia de veer o que lhe vosa alteza faria. eu lhe disse q’ mais q’ria veer q’ os rregm^tos e Ruy faleiro q’ dezia abertam^te q’ nō avia de seguir seu foroll e que avia de navegar ao sull ou nō hira na armada, e que ele cuidara q’ hia por capitā moor e que eu sabia que avia out^os mandados em cont^rairo os quaees elle nō saberia senā a t̃po que nō pudese Remedea^r sua onrra; e que nō curasse do mell que lhe punha p̃llos beiços o bp̃o de burgos e que agora era t̃po por ysso q’ visse se o queria faz^r e que me desse carta ꝓa vossa alteza e que eu por amoor dele yria a vossa alteza a faz^r seu ᵱ^rtido, por que eu n’o tinha nehūu Recado de vosa alteza ꝓa em tall entēder som^te falava o q’ me pareçia como out^as vezes lhe avia falado. dyseme que nō me dezia nada ate veer o rrecado q’ o correo trazia e nisto concludymos eu vigiarey com toda minha posybilidade o s^rviço de v alteza.

neste paso me parece bem que saiba vosa alteza que he çerto que a navegaçā q’ estes esperā faz^r el Rey dom carlos a sabe e fernā de magalhaēes asy mo tem dito e pode aveer quem tome a emp^resa que faça mais dano. faley a rruy faley^ro ꝓ duas vezes nunca me all Respondio senā que como faria tall cont^ra el Rey seu señor q’ lhe tanta m^ce fazia a todo o que lhe dezia nō me rrespondia all, pareçe me que esta como homē torvado do Juizo e que este seu famyliar lhe despontou algūu sabr̃ se o nele avia pareçeme q’ movido fernā de magalhaēes q’ viiiRuy faley^ro seguira o q’ magalhaēes fiz^r.

s^or os navios da capitania de magalhaēes sam cinq^o ^·s. hūu de cx toneladas os dous de lxxx cada hūu e os dous de lx cada hū pouco mais ho menos, sam muy velhos e Remēdados por que os vy em monte corregeer, ha onze messes que se correjeram e estā na agoa agora calafetam asy nagoa eu entrey neles algūas vezes e çertefico a vosa alteza que ꝓa canari^a navegaria de maa vontade neles, por q’ seus liames sam de sebe.

hartelharia que todos çinq’^o levā sam lxxx tiros muy pequenos som^te no maior em q’ ha de hyr fernam de magalhaēs estam quat^o v^erços de ferro nō bōos ᵱ toda a jente que levā em todos çinq’^o sam ii^cxxx homēs todo los mais tem ja Reçebido o soldo som^te os portugeses que nō querē Reçebr̃ a mill Rs̄, ag^rdan que venha o correo por que lhes disse magalhaēes que ele lhes farya acrecētar o soldo e levā mātym^tos ᵱa dous anos.

capitam da p^rm^a nāao fernā de magalhaēes e de segunda Ruy faley^o da 3^ra J^o de cartagena q’ he feitor moor darmada da 4^a quesada c^riado do arçobpo de sevilha a 5^a vay sem capitam sabido vay nella por piloto carvalho portugues, nesta se diz que ha de meteer por capitā desque forē de foz ē fora ha alv^o da mizquⁱta d est^remoz que caa estaa os portugeses que ca vejo ᵱa hirem
§ o carvalho piloto
§ estevā gomez piloto
§ o sserrāao piloto
§ v^co p^reto galego piloto ha dias q’ caa vive
§ alv^o da myzqⁱta d est̄moz
ix § martȳ da myzqⁱta d estremoz
§ fr^co d a^o seca f^o do c^dor do rrosmaninhall
§ xpovā ferr^a f^o do c^dor de castelejo
§ martim gill f^o do Juiz dos orfāaos de lixboa
§ ꝓo d abreu c^riado do bp̃o de çafy
§ duarte barbosa sob^rinho de di^o barbosa c^rado do bp̃o de çiguença
§ ant^o frrz q’ vivia na mouraria de lixboā
§ luis a^o de beja q’ foy c^rado da s^ra Ifante q’ đs tem
§ J^o da silva f^o de n^o da silva da ilha da madeira este me disse senp̃ q’ n’o avia de hyr salvo se vosa alteza o ouvese por seu s^rviço e anda como diçipulo encuberto.
§ o faleiro tem caa seu pay e may e irmāaos hū deles leva consigo.
out^ra jente miuda de moços destes tambē dizē q’ am de hyr de que farey memoria a vosa alteza se mandar quando forē. a qⁱnta ꝓte desta armaçā he de xpovā de haroo q̃ nela meteo m̄j⁠[465] ducados Diz caa q̃ vosa alteza lhe mādo la tomar x̅x̅⁠[466] +^dos de fazēda elle daa caa os avisos d armada de vosa alteza asy da feita como da que se faz soube q̃ ꝓ hūu c^riado seu q̃ la tem. avendo se as cartas deste podria vosa alteza sabr̃ ᵱ que via sabia estes sec^retos.

as mercaderias que levā sam cobre azouge panos baxos de cores sedas baxas de cores e marlotas feitas destas sedas.

certificasse que ᵱtira esta armada ᵱa baxo em fim deste Julho mas a mȳ nō mo pareçe asy nē ate meado agosto, posto que o correo venha mais çedo.

a rrota que se diz que han de levar he dir^to ao cabo fryo ficando xlhe o brasy a māo dir^ta ate pasar a linha da ꝓtiçā e daly navegar ao eloeste e loes noroeste dir^tos a maluco a quall tr̃ra de maluco eu vy asentada na poma⁠[467] e carta que ca fez o f^o de Reynell a quall nō era acabada quando caa seu pay veo por ele, e seu pay acabou tudo e pos estas tr̃ras de maluco e ᵱ este paderam se fazem todallas cartas as quaēes faz di^o Ribeiro e faz as agulhas quadrantes e esperas porem nō vay narmada nem q̃r mais q̃ ganhar de comeer ꝓ seu engenho.

desd este cabo frio ate as Ilhas de maluco ᵱ esta navegaçam nō ha nēhūas tr̃ras asentadas nas cartas que levā p^raza a d’s todo poderoso que tall viajem façā como os corterrāes, e vosa alteza fique descansado. e seja senp^re asy ēvejado como he de todolos p^rinçipes.

Sen̄nor out^ra armada se faaz de tres navios podres peq̃nos em que vay por capitam andres ninho este leva out^os dous navios pequenos lavrados em peeças dētro nestes velhos este vay a tr̃ra fyrme q̃ descob^rio p^e ayres, ao porto de larym e daly ha de hyr por tr̃ra xx legoas ao maar do sull donde se ha de levar ᵱ tr̃ra os navios lavrados com a enxarçeea dos velhos e armalos neste maar do sull e descob^rir com estes navios mill legoas e mais nā cont^ra o eloeste, as costas da tr̃ra q̃ se chama gataio e nestas ha de hyr por capitam moor gill gɫɫz contador da Ilha espanhola e vam ꝓ dous an̄os.

partindo estas armadas se faz loguo outra de quat^o navios ᵱa hyr segundo se diz na esteira de magalhaēes porē como ainda ysto nō este posto em gōço de se faz^r nō se sabe cousa⁠[468] cousa⁠[468] çerta e esto ordena xpovā de harōo o que se mais pasar eu o farey sabr̃ a vosa alteza.

as novas da armada que el Rey dom carlos māda faz^r ꝓa se defender ou ofender a frança ou hyr ao empereeo como se diz escuso esc^rever a vosa alteza por que de n^o Ribeiro que he em cartagena as tera vosa alteza mais certas mas ha nova çerta nesta cidade ᵱ cartas que el Rey de frança divulga que el Rey dō carlos nō ha de seer emperador e que ele o ha de sser o papa ajuda el Rey de frança ꝓ via onesta conçede lhe quat^o capelos ᵱa que os desse a quē ele q̃ⁱsesse diz se que el Rey de frança os tem ꝓa daar a quē os elegedores do empereo ̰qⁱserem donde se çertefica que ou el Rey de frança sera emperador ou quē ele qⁱs^er, o que mais pasar nestas armadas eu terey especiall cuidado de o faz^r sabr̃ a vosa alteza ainda q̃ eu estava ja frio nisto por que me pareçeo q̃ vosa alteza o q̃ria ᵱ outrē sabr̃ por que vy caa n^o Ribeiro e out^as p^as q̃ comigo falavā ꝓ modo disymulado querendo sabr̃ de m̄y. beeso as māaos de vosa alteza, de sevilha a xviij de Julho de 1519.

No. III.

Fernando de magallam̄s e Ruy falero cavalleros de la ordem de Santiago ñros capitañs generales della armada q’ mandamos hasēr para yr A descobrir e a los otros capitañs particulares de la đha armada e pilotos e maestr̃s e contramaestres e marineros de las naos de la đha armada por quanto yo tengo porcierto segund la mucha informaciō que he avido de personas que por esperiencia lo An visto q’ en las islas de maluco ay la especieria e principalment’ ys a buscar con esa đha armada e my voluntad es que derechament’ sigais el viage a las đhas islas por la forma e man’a quo lo lie dicho e mandado A vos el đcho fernando de magallanis porende yo vos mando A todos e a cada uno de vos q’ en la navegacion del đho viage sigais el parecer decterminaciō del đho fernando de magallam̃s para que ant̄s e primero que a otra parte alguna vais A las đhas islas de maluco sin que en ello Aya ninguna falta porq’ asy cunple A n̄ro servicio e despues de fecho esto se podra buscar lo demas que convenga conforme A lo q’ llevais mādado o los unos ny los otros non fagađs nyn fagan ende Al por alguna man’a so pena de ꝓdimy^to de biens e las ꝓsonas a la n̄ra merced fecha en barcelona a diez e nueve dias del mes de abril an̄o do myll e quiniētos e diez o nueve an̄o

pā q’ los del armada sigan el parecer y determynaciō de magallan̄s pā xiiiq’ ant̄s y p^mo q’ a otra p̄t vayā a la especerya.

No. IV.

fernan de magalhaēs f^o de p^o de
magalhaēs avera onze dias de Jan^ro
deste ano e deze seys dias de mayo e
todo Junho a dous mill e trezentos
e doze r̃s p^r mes cō c^da arq^re p^r dia v̄ lxvi r̄s
R^o o sobrino ē xiiij den^ro de v^c xx v
ꝓa ē ᵱte de tres meses q̃ lhe
ainda deve do ano de vynte e tres
dos q̃tro meses ij lhe mādava
dar de q̃ tē avydo hū mes
seg^do se tudo q̃tē ē hu escryto
seu q̃ lhe deles e de mays t̄po
deu de q̃ ja he pago som^te dos tres
meses q̃ lhe ainda devia R^o os cynq̃^o
mill e sesenta e seys R^s ēcyma
q̃teudos.

No. V.

Supplico jo Antonio Pigafetta Vicentino Cavallier hierosolimitano che desiderando veder del mondo nelli anni passati, ho navicato cum le caravelli de la Maiesta Cesarea, che sono andate a trovar le Isole, dove nascono le specie nelle nove Indie, nel qual viazo ho circumdato tutto il mondo à torno et per esser cosa, che mai homo lha fatta, ho composto un libreto de tutto el ditto viazo, qual desidero far stampir. Et per ho suplico de gratia che per anni xx alcun non possi stampirlo, salvo chi voro io, sotto pena à chi el stampasse, o stampato altrove el portasse qui, oltra e^l perder li libri de esser condenato lire tre per libro, et la executione possi esser fatta per qualunque magistrato de questa cita à chi sara fatta la conscientia et sia divisa la pena, un terzo al arsenal de la sublimita vostra, un terzo al acusador, et un terzo à quelli che farano la executione, alla gratia sua humiliter mi ricomando.

ERRATA.

„ 234, Note, after “Great Fish River”, insert “or the Keiskamma River”.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Appendix V, pp. 392–396, to De Morga’s Philippine Islands, Hakluyt Society, with respect to the negotiations about the Moluccas.

[2] This opinion may be recommended to those who war on “pious founders”.

[3] Thus Hazelrigg, Hampden, Cromwell, and Pym, are said to have been prevented by the Government from emigrating to New England in 1638. See Palfrey’s Hist. of New England, vol. i, pp. 502, 503.

[4] “Escoras.”

[5] “Perdeo sua pobreza.”

[6] “Moradia.”

[7] Albuquerque did not arrive before Goa till the 24th November. Correa, tom. ii, p. 145.

[8] A facsimile of this signature is given in the plate.

[9] This document has been abridged here; it is taken from a copy in the Torre do Tombo, made from another copy, which is very illegible. The Spanish is rather antiquated, and much debased, apparently by Portuguese copyists, who have mixed up their own orthography. The Secretary’s name was Francisco, not Fernan.

[10] From this it appears that Magellan anticipated that America would end like Africa.

[11] D. Jorge of Portugal, Bishop of Siguenza.

[12] The date of the year is not given; however, as the despatch mentions this year as the year of the marriage, it must be assumed to have been written in 1518. D. Manuel married the daughter of Philip I, Da. Leonor, in Villa do Crato, 24th November, 1518. The treaty of the marriage was made at Saragossa 22nd May, 1518, and ratified in Saragossa 16th July, 1518.

[13] Literally, the road to Coimbra.

[14] Meaning, he could become a hermit.

[15] This contemporary document confirms Osorio as to the cause of Magellan’s being disgusted with the King of Portugal; some historians have represented the quarrel as arising from a distribution of plundered cattle. Gaspar Correa uses a similar phrase to that in this despatch, “a hundred reis, more or less”.

[16] Compare this statement with that in the second line of the fifth paragraph of this despatch.

[17] Diego Ribeiro was, later, the cosmographer of Charles V, and, with Martin Centurion in 1524, he translated into Spanish the Book of Duarte Barbosa and Magellan on the coasts of the Indian Ocean.

[18] Id est, never be heard of again. See Major’s Pce. Henry, p. 374.

[19] The fame of Vasco da Gama.

[20] The nymphs of the Ilha namorada, or Fame.

[21] From the rather free translation of Mickle.

[22] A fuller treatise of navigation, as then practised, is contained in a book written by Francisco Faleiro, probably a brother of Ruy Faleiro, thus described by Barbosa Machado, in his Biblioteca Lusitana:—“Francisco Faleiro, who was equally well versed in astronomy and navigation, gave a clear statement of his science in those arts in the following work: Tratado de la Esfera y del Arte de Marear, con el Regimento de las Alturas. Sevilla, por Juan Cronberger, 1535. 4to.” This book is very rare; there is a copy in the Hydrographer’s office at Madrid.

[23] This name is omitted in the prologue of the edition of 1536.

[24] Greswell, A View of the Early Parisian Greek Press, vol. i, p. 94.

[25] The 10th of August was a Wednesday, and Monday was the 8th of August: all the other dates of the week and month agree and are consistent with each other.

[26] According to Albo’s Log-Book; according to Pigafetta, May 6.

[27] These dates are according to the ship’s time, which differed by a day from the time at the Cape Verde Islands and Seville.

[28] Pigafetta says the fleet went out of Seville on the 10th of August, 1519; that it sailed from S. Lucar on the 20th of September, and reached Tenerife on the 26th, and continued its voyage thence on the 3rd of October, navigating to the South. Lisbon Academy note.

[29] The Paris MS. has “south-west.” This must be the true reading. Lisbon Ac. note. The Madrid MS. also has south-west.

[30] Pigafetta mentions this river, which is the Plata, in 34 deg. 20 min. Lisbon Ac. note.

[31] Paris MS. “And they found themselves amongst some shoals.” Lisbon Ac. note. The Madrid MS. is the same.

[32] Paris MS. “is in 24 degrees,” which seems clearly an error of the copyists. Lisbon Ac. note. The Madrid MS. is in this case similar to the Paris MS.

[33] Paris MS. “the bay.” Lisbon Ac. note. Madrid MS. “the bay.”

[34] We have not found mention of this name of “Bahia dos trabalhos” in any other writer. Lisbon Ac. note.

[35] Pigafetta puts this port in 49 deg. 30 min. The Transylvan in 49 and 1⁄3; Barros in 50 deg., and says they arrived there on the 2nd of April. Lisbon Ac. note.

[36] Paris MS. “eight hours.” Lisbon Ac. note. The Madrid MS. has “seven hours.”

[37] The ship Victoria.

[38] The ship Conception.

[39] Alvaro de Mesquita was a cousin of Magellan.

[40] The ship which was here lost was the Santiago, the captain of which was Joāo Serrāo. Lisbon Ac. note.

[41] There seems to be some mistake here or transcriber’s error. It is seen by the narrative that the navigators, having arrived at Port St. Julian at the end of March, or beginning of April, and going out of it on the 24th of August, they wintered there for the space of four months and twenty-four days, and this is what Pigafetta says: “they passed there nearly five months.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[42] “E havia delles ao sull 73 gr. menos 10 minutos.” It has been impossible for us to understand the calculations of the writer in this place. Lisbon Ac. note. A possible explanation of this passage may be found in a passage of Castanheda, lib. 6, cap. 13, which describes St. Julian as distant from Seville 71 deg. from North to South, and this calculation would refer to the distance from Seville.

[43] The anonymous Portuguese, the companion of Duarte Barbosa, says they gave it the name of “Santa Cruz,” because they arrived there the 14th of September, the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Lisbon Ac. note.

[44] In the Illustrated News of March 27th, 1869, there is a drawing of some Patagonians: these are represented almost exactly as they are described in the text, for some of them have their shoulders bare, and the skins let down below the waist as here described.

[45] Probably in the ship which fled away, as will be mentioned later. Lisbon Ac. note.

[46] Amoretti, the editor of Pigafetta, observes, that whilst the fleet was in the river of Santa Cruz, between 50 deg. and 40 deg. South latitude, there was, on the 11th of October, an eclipse of the Sun, “which (he says) the Portuguese and Spanish writers mention, and which is registered in the astronomical tables:” and he judges it to be an error of Castanheda putting this phenomenon on the 17th of April, and his attributing to Magellan the calculation of longitude of which he speaks. Barros also mentions an eclipse of the sun in April. It is noteworthy that neither our pilot’s narrative nor Pigafetta mentions a phenomenon which still in those times did not happen without causing some impression on men’s minds, or at least without exciting public curiosity. Lisbon Ac. note.

I am indebted to the courtesy of the Astronomer Royal, Mr. G. B. Airy, for the following information, which confirms Castanheda and Barros: “1520, April 17. There was certainly (from our own calculations) a total solar eclipse about 1.20 p.m. Greenwich time. But in the Art de verifier les dates, in which the extreme Southern eclipses are not included, none is mentioned for April 17: consequently the eclipse was a Southern eclipse, crossing the South Atlantic.”

[47] This is the famous strait which till this day is named the Strait of Magellan, for the eternal and glorious memory of the famous Portuguese who discovered it. Castanheda says that Magellan, on account of arriving there on the 1st of November, gave it the name of All Saints’ bay, and in the answer which André de S. Martin gave to the inquiries made to him about that navigation, he also names the channel that of All Saints’ (Barros, Dec. 3, liv. 5, cap. 9). The anonymous Portuguese, the companion of Duarte Barbosa, whom we have quoted above, and who sailed in the “Victoria,” says that at first the navigators called it the Strait of the Victoria, because that ship was the first which sighted it. (Ramusio, 3rd edition, tom. i. page 370). Lisbon Ac. note.

[48] Alvaro de Mesquita, a Portuguese, and cousin of Magellan, was captain of this ship which went to explore the passages of the Straits, and did not return, and its pilot was Estevan Gomes, also a Portuguese. This Estevan Gomes had been requesting the Emperor Charles V. to confide to him a few caravels to go and discover new lands; but as the proposal and enterprise of Mazellan then interposed itself, and was preferred and accepted, Estevan Gomes continued after that to be a great enemy of the illustrious captain, and now profited by the opportunity to revenge himself on him, and to give vent to his rabid envy. He conspired, therefore, with others against the captain of his ship, Alvaro de Mesquita; they put him in irons, and brought him thus to Spain with the ship, telling the Emperor that Magellan was crazy, and had lied to His Majesty, because he did not know where Banda was, nor Maluco. Besides this, they brought accusations against Mesquita of having counselled and persuaded Magellan to use the severity and cruelty with which he punished the first conspirators, etc. (V. the Letter of Transylvanus and Castanheda, liv. 6, cap. 8). Lisbon Ac. note.

[49] The ships S. Antonio and Conception were sent on this exploration of the Straits; they were with difficulty able to double the Cape Possession, named thus in Bougainville’s map, and in others. They at length entered a narrow opening, which in the maps is named the first gut, and they proceeded thence to another bay, which is named Boucant bay, or Boucam. At the end of this they entered into another strait, named the second gut, and having passed that, they came out into another bay larger than the former ones. Then, seeing that the strait was prolonged and offered an outlet to the ships, they returned with the good news to Magellan, who was waiting for them, and on seeing him, they fired off all their artillery and shouted for joy. The fleet then sailed together as far as the third bay, and as they found two channels, Magellan despatched the two vessels, S. Antonio and Conception, to examine whether the channel, which took the S.W. direction, would issue into the Pacific sea. Here it was that the ship S. Antonio deserted, going ahead of its companion for that purpose. The other two ships, Victoria and Trinity, meanwhile entered the third channel, where they waited four days for the explorers. During this interval, Magellan despatched a well equipped boat to discover the cape with which the strait ought to terminate: this having been sighted, and the boat returning with the news, all shed tears of consolation, and they gave to this cape the name of Cape Desire; it is that which is at the outlet of the strait on the South side. They then turned back to seek for the ships Conception and S. Antonio, and leaving marks by which this one might steer, in case of its having lost the way (for they were still ignorant of its desertion), they sailed forward until they came out into the Pacific Ocean. Lisbon Ac. note.

[50] The Paris Manuscript has “fully in 52 degrees.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[51] Pigafetta remarks: In the strait in which they were, in the month of October, the night was only of three hours; and Transylvan says that, in November the navigators found the night of little more than five hours; and that on one night they saw to the left hand many fires. It is from this that that country came to be called Terra do fogo. Lisbon Ac. note.

[52] The Paris MS. has, and also others which were, &c. Pigafetta places these two islands in 15 deg. and 9 deg. South latitude. See Amoretti’s note, p. 45, upon their situation, in which he supposes them to be in the archipelago of the Society Islands. In some maps they are designated by the name of Infortunadas. Lisbon Ac. note.

[53] Some writers remark that Magellan gave to these islands the name of Ilhas das velas, on account of the many vessels with sails which he observed in that neighbourhood. But they continued to be commonly called Ladrones; later they took the name of Mariannas, in honour of the Queen D. Marianna of Austria, widow of Philip IV, and Regent during the minority of D. Carlos II. of Castile. Lisbon Ac. note.

[54] Parós: so our manuscripts always write it. In the edition of Pigafetta it is constantly written praós. It is the same kind of vessel that our writers of the affairs of Asia name paraó, which is of various sizes, and is much used in the South Sea Islands. Pigafetta says it is a kind of fusta or galliot. Lisbon Ac. note.

[55] The Paris manuscript has “much refreshments of fruit.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[56] “A primeira;” the Paris manuscript has “da primeira;” this means, which was first sighted. See the Relation of Pigafetta, Amoretti, p. 54, March 16, 1521. Lisbon Ac. note.

[57] Pigafetta says: “We named the watering place of Good Signs, because here we found two springs of excellent water, and the first signs of there being gold in the country.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[58] Paris MS. Guoroos. Lisbon Ac. note.

[59] Paris, “Chinas.”

[60] Paris MS.: “To which they gave the name of Archipelago of St. Lazarus.” We suspect there is some error of the copyist here in our text, not only on account of the novelty of the name Vall Sem Periguo, but also on account of its impropriety. The Paris MS. says simply Archipelago of St. Lazarus. Pigafetta also says, “They gave the name of Archipelago of St. Lazarus,” as they arrived there on the 5th Sunday of Lent, which is named of Lazarus. Now, these islands are named Philippines, which was given them in the year 1542, in honour of D. Philip of Austria, son of Charles V, and afterwards King of Castile. They are between 225 deg. and 235 deg. W. long. of Ferro, consequently between 195 deg. and 205 deg. from the line of demarcation. Lisbon Ac. note.

[61] Paris MS.; “They ran a matter of 25 leagues from that.”

[62] Madrid MS., 9 degrees.

[63] Paris MS., Maçaguoa. Madrid MS., Maquamguoa.

[63] It appears this cross was set up in the island of Massaua, where Mass was celebrated on the last day of March, which in this year was Easter Sunday. The island is set down by Pigafetta in 9 deg. 40 min., and the editor puts it in 192 deg. W. long. from the line of demarcation.

[65] This island, which is named and written Cabo in both MSS., is the island Zebu, one of the Philippines, which others write Çabu, Zabu, Subsuth, Zubut, Cubo, Subo, and Zubo, for it is found in all these forms in different writings. Lisbon Ac. note.

[66] Paris MS.: “And burned a village of those who would not yield the said obedience.” The narrative of Pigafetta states: “He burned twenty or thirty houses of the village.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[67] Pigafetta says: “We were 60 armed men, 48 went on shore with Magellan; the 11 remained to guard the boats.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[68] Paris MS.: “And went against the said place, and it was on the 27th day of April.” Pigafetta also places this event on the 27th of April, and observes that it was on Saturday, which in truth took place that year on the 27th, and not on the 28th of April. Lisbon Ac. note.

[69] Pigafetta says: “With eight of our men there perished four Indians of those who had become Christians, and we had many wounded, I being one of them; of the enemy there fell only fifteen men.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[70] Pigafetta says: “We then chose instead of the captain, Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese, his relation, and John Serrano, a Spaniard. The first commanded the flagship.”

[71] Paris MS.: “They killed the two captains, and also 26 men with them.” It was on this occasion that Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese, and brother-in-law of Magellan, was killed. He was one of the captains here mentioned. Some of our writers have said, or conjectured, that Duarte Barbosa was killed by poison; but this is a mistake. The barbarians, indeed, drew the Castilians ashore under the pretext of giving them a banquet, but it does not follow from that that they poisoned them. The Transylvan says: inter epulandum, ab iis, qui in insidiis collocati fuerant, opprimuntur. Fit clamor undique: nuntiatur protinus in navibus nostros occisos. See Barros, 3, 5, 10. The other captain, who was John Serrano, was not killed, but remained alive in the hands of the barbarians at the time the boats made off, because, notwithstanding the most mournful supplications which he made from the shore for rescue, Joan Lopes de Carvalho feared further treachery, and ordered the anchor to be weighed. Lisbon Ac. note.

[72] Paris MS.: “One Yoam Lopez de Carvalho.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[73] Paris MS.: “Gonzalo Gomez Despinosa.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[74] Barros says 180 men, and this seems more probable, considering the number of the men who sailed in the fleet and of those who might then have been lost, and those who were lost later, and also of those who at last reached Ternate and Europe. Lisbon Ac. note. The Madrid MS. has 180 men, written in full, “Semte he oytēta homēs.”

[75] Pigafetta says they burned the ship Conception.

[76] Paris MS., “Quype.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[77] Paris MS. has “two islets.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[78] Paris MS.: “which is named Cagujam, and is in seven degrees; from this they went on further to the West North-west.” Lisbon Ac. note. Madrid MS. seven degrees.

[79] Paris MS., “to the North-east.” Madrid MS., “North-east.” The Lisbon Academy copyist has North-west, and has mistaken the Paris MS. on this point.

[80] This position seems to indicate the island of Palavan, which Pigafetta places in 9 deg. 20 min. Lisbon Ac. note.

[81] Paris MS., “Degameāo.” Lisbon Ac. note. Madrid MS., “Dygamçam.”

[82] Paris MS., “ypalajra cara canāo.” Lisbon Ac. note. I read this, “y palay cu cara canāo:” the Madrid MS. has “fulay cucara cabam.” The word palay, Tagal for rice, and the next sentence in the text seem to indicate that an offer to trade was mistaken for the name of this island.

[83] Paris MS., “one hundredweight and fourteen pounds.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[84] Paris MS., “Digaçāo;” it is also written Digamcā and Digāçā. Lisbon Ac. note.

[85] Paris MS., “21st day of June.” Lisbon Ac. note. Madrid MS., “21st day of June.”

[86] Paris MS. “The island to the North is named Bolava, and that to the South Bamdill.” Lisbon Ac. note. Madrid MS., “Bolina and Bamdill.”

[87] Paris MS., “the neighbourhood of the port of Borneo.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[88] Paris MS., “Gonzalo Gomez Despinosa.”

[89] Paris MS., “with seventeen men.” Lisbon Ac. note. I read twenty-seven in the Paris MS.

[90] Sem se aproveitar nada delle, or, without their having made any use of it.

[91] Paris MS. “And so remained a matter of fourteen hours, for it was low water, by which it was clearly seen that the tide was of fourteen hours.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[92] Paris MS., “Cagamja.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[93] Paris MS., “Solloque.” Ibid.

[94] Paris MS., “Tamgyma.” Ibid.

[95] Paris MS., “Sagu.” Ibid.

[96] Paris MS., “Samyns.” Ibid.

[97] Paris MS., “light.” Lisbon Ac. note. The Paris MS. seems to me to have “fresquo,” and not “ffraquo.”

[98] Paris MS., “Calibes.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[99] Paris MS., “five hundred.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[100] Paris MS., “in these discussions.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[101] Paris MS. “of Tidore.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[102] Pigafetta says: “On Friday, 8th of November, 1521, three hours before sunset, we entered the port of an island called Tadore ... 27 months less two days had passed that we had been seeking Maluco.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[103] Pigafetta puts this island in 0 deg. 27 min. Lisbon Ac. note.

[104] In the Paris MS. this word tem is wanting. Lisbon Ac. note.

[105] Paris MS., “another bahar.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[106] Paris MS., “Tarnate.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[107] This clause seems to have been added to the text by the copyist; because the fortress of Ternate was only begun in the year 1522, on St. John’s day, when Antonio de Brito was captain. (Castanheda, 1. 6, cap. 12). Lisbon Ac. note. This clause may belong to the writer, the pilot, since he mentions the fortress and Antonio de Brito later, subsequent to July of 1522.

[108] The Portuguese here mentioned seems to be Pedro Affonso de Lourosa, who betrayed the Portuguese and passed over to the Castilians, according to Pigafetta’s account. Lisbon Ac. note.

[109] Paris MS., “Bargāo.” Lisbon Ac. note. I read this Bachāo; this is the correct spelling.

[110] The flagship was the Trinidade. Lisbon Ac. note.

[111] Pigafetta says the King sent five divers, and afterwards three more, who could not stop the water. Lisbon Ac. note.

[112] Pigafetta sailed in this ship the Victoria. The Trinidade, after refitting, took the opposite course and sailed for Yucatan and the isthmus of Darien, which is here called land of the Antilles; but it found itself obliged to put back to the Moluccas, and whilst about to discharge its cargo at Ternate, was cast on shore. Lisbon Ac. note.

[113] Paris MS., “Tydore.” Lisbon Ac. note. The correct reading.

[114] Paris MS., “North-north-east.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[115] Paris MS., “Domy.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[116] Paris MS. “The large one is named Chāol, and the small one Pyliom.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[117] Paris MS., “Quemarre.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[118] Paris MS., “agoa,” water, but hava or ava is a drink used in those countries. Lisbon Ac. note.

[119] Paris MS., “Camarro.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[120] Paris MS., “25th.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[121] Paris MS., “steered seventeen leagues eastwards.” Lisbon Academy note.

[122] Paris MS., “Chao.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[123] Paris MS., “Batechina.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[124] Paris MS., “West.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[125] Paris MS., “islands of St. John:” it also says they made them on the 6th. Lisbon Ac. note.

[126] Paris MS., “Chyquom.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[127] Paris MS., “11th of June.” Lisbon Ac. note. July will be the correct reading.

[128] Paris MS., “Magregua.” Lisbon Ac. note.

[129] Paris MS., “Māo.” Ibid.

[130] Paris MS., “the black man and three Christians.” Ibid.

[131] Paris MS., “Gelolo.” Ibid.

[132] Paris MS., “certain men with letters.” Ibid.

[133] Paris MS., “Dom Garcia.” Garcia, and not Gonzalo, was the name of this gentleman. See Barros and Castanheda. Lisbon Ac. note.

[134] Paris MS., “Sam Joze.” Lisbon Ac. note. I read this “Sam Jorge.”

[135] Paris MS., “a squall at night.” Lisbon Ac. note. I read this “do norte” from the north, and not “de noite.”

[136] It is easily seen that this note does not belong to the Roteiro, and that it was added by the copyist: we have already noticed the difference which there is between it and another similar note of the Paris MS. It seems that the person who wrote it made some mistake, owing to there having been many gentlemen of the name of Menezes at that time in India.... D. Henrique de Menezes succeeded Vasco da Gama, in 1524, as Governor of India, and therefore could not be the D. Amrique de Menezes who came to the kingdom in 1524, as the note says. This deserving Governor died at Cananor on the day of the Purification of 1526. Lisbon Ac. note.

[137] Son Seigneur osservatissime.

[138] Charles V was elected Emperor the 28th June, 1519.

[139] Chiericato. Milan edition.

[140] Clement VII (Medici) was elected Pontiff in 1523, and died in 1534.

[141] Monterosi. Milan edition.

[142] The Milan edition attributes this desire to the Pope.

[143] Fortunes.

[144] Jonq.

[145] Estrenque, made of esparta.

[146] Bonnette = stun sail, formerly added below the square sail.

[147] Groupade.

[148] Milan edition adds here, formerly.

[149] 1519.

[150] Garbin and Libeccio.

[151] South-east.

[152] Donnassent à travers.

[153] La grande gabbe.

[154] N’avoyent point de fondement.

[155] In reality this bird swallows the fish which it forces the fishing bird to disgorge.

[156] The Milan edition has “flesh of the Anta, like that of a cow”; and a note says the anta is the tapir.

[157] Haim.

[158] Aigueillette, same as esquillette.

[159] Coffin.

[160] Naveau, for navette.

[161] Le jour de Saincte Lucie aux auantz de Noël.

[162] Par zenit.

[163] Or of Lespere.

[164] Rabotent.

[165] Papegaulx.

[166] Fabre’s French printed edition, and the Italian edition of 1536, both include the women and children:—

“Quasi tous tant homes que femmes que enfants ont trois pertuis en la levre dembas,” etc. “Tutti gli huomini donne et fanciulli hanno tre buchi.” etc.

[167] Tané.

[168] De petites chattes maymounes.

[169] Leur lombric sur leschine.

[170] Milan edition calls it wood of Brasile.

[171] Musser.

*–*: This passage is from MS. No. 68, the Regent Louisa’s copy, for whom it appears to have been adapted; that in No. 5650, and in Amoretti and Fabre’s editions, is less fit for publication: the words from * to [172] are omitted in No. 68.

[172] The 1536 edition omits the story of the girl, and instead says:—

“Nella prima costa di terra che ariuammo, ad alcune femine schiave che haueuamo leuate ne le naui d’altri paesi, & erano grauide vennero le doglie del parto, per il che loro sole si uscirono di naue, & smontorono in terra, & partorito che hebbero con li figluoli in braccio se ne ritornarono subito in nave.”

Fabre says:—

“En la première coste que passerent aulcunes esclaves enfanterent et quant estoient en traveil se mirent hors du basteau et après retournerent au basteau et nourrirent leurs enfans.”

This story is improbable, as women were not allowed to come on board ship. Fabre then relates the story of the young girl.

[173] Canibali.

[174] Solis.

[175] “Contremont.”

[176] Falkner (1774, Hereford) in his account of Patagonia, says he saw men among the Puelches seven feet six inches high.

[177] “Combien.”

[178] The guanaco, a kind of Lama.

[179] “Empanées.”

[180] “Besongnes.”

[181] “Brasse.”

[182] “Sayon.”

[183] “Bragues marinieres.”

[184] “Bouffer”, to be angry, also to blow, to puff.

[185] Setebos, though represented by the Spaniards as a demon, would, no doubt, be the Patagonian name of the Deity. Shakespeare has twice brought in Setebos in the Tempest, as invoked by Caliban. There can be no doubt of his having got the name of Setebos from the account of Magellan’s voyage.

[186] “Carvalho.”

[187] “Escouppetes.”

[188] “Collère.”

[189] “Et lient leur membre dedans le corps pour le très grand froid.”

[190] On account of their large feet.

[191] “Egiptiens.”

[192] Coffin.

[193] Milan edition calls him “vehadore”, overseer or purveyor.

[194] “Contador.” Milan edition.

[195] “Quesada.”

[196] Maximilian, the Transylvanian, relates that when Gomez abandoned Magellan in the Straits, he returned by this spot and picked up these two men.

[197] “Capres,” mussels or oysters; the Milan edition adds, that they were not eatable.

[198] “Connins.”

[199] “Plus petites assez que les notres:” “assai piu piccoli”. Milan edition.

[200] “Scameux.”

[201] The MS. is thus divided, but without numbers to the chapters.

[202] “Et quasi autant de largeur moins de demye lieue.”

[203] “La mer paisible.”

[204] “Surgir.”

[205] “De mettre les proysses en terre.”

[206] Martin Behaim, who lived at Fayal and Nuremberg. A globe was constructed at Nuremberg under the instructions of Martin Behaim in 1492, and given by him to the town of Nuremberg. This globe disproves the idea that Martin Behaim or his maps had indicated to Magellan any straits, for the whole continent of America is absent from it.

[207] “Trauerse.”

[208] “Chevaucher.”

[209] “Entrer à sec.”

[210] “Canton.”

[211] (“Comme abandonnans.”)

[212] “Souspecon.”

[213] His name was Estevan Gomez.

[214] Cousin.

[215] “A la fin.”

[216] “Apium dulce.”

[217] Golondrina in Spanish, a swallow.

[218] In the Milan edition “Barba”, the beard.

[219] “Flairer, odorat,” to smell.

[220] A parrot, not in the Milan edition.

[221] “Lapis lazuli”, in the Milan edition “Gemma”.

[222] In the Milan edition “nieve”, snow.

[223] In the Milan edition “coprire, couvrir”.

[224] An ostrich, not in the Milan edition.

[225] Not in the Milan edition.

[226] Food, the root used as bread.

[227] This passage is not quite clear:—“Quand il me veyt escripre ces noms après luy demandant des aultres il mentendoit auecq la plume en main.”

[228] The printed edition of Milan has: “ammalato dell’ infermità di cui mori.”

[229] “Antena magiore.”

[230] “Sartia.”

[231] “Segature de asse.” “Segature di tavole.” Milan.

[232] “Escu, mezzo-ducato.” Milan edition.

[233] Effects of scurvy. Gama’s seamen suffered in the same way, after passing the Cape of Good Hope.

[234] “Nous allasmes en ung goulfe.”

[235] “En tirant au vent haustral.” For these islands, see the log book of Francisco Albo.

[236] The Milan edition has here: “According to the reckoning we made with the chain astern.”

[237] “Aulcunesfoys a lorce on autrement.”

[238] The Milan edition has here the words: “All round the earth,” which makes the meaning clearer.

[239] “Car on y veoit plusieurs estoilles petites congregées ensemble qui sont en guise de deux nuées ung peu separées l’une de l’autre, et ung peu obfusquées.” The Magellanic clouds.

[240] “Au milieu desquelles sont deux estelles non trop grandes ne moult reluysantes, et petitement se mouvent.” The Milan edition has: “Due stulle molto grande e rilucenti, che hanno poco moto.”

[241] “Nostre calamite ung peu tiroit toujours a son pol arctique. Neantmoins navoit point tant de force comme de son coste et sa bande.” Milan edition has: “La nostra calamita volgeasi sempre al polo artico, deviando però alcun poco dal punto del settentrione.”

[242] “Goulfe, in mezzo al mare.”

[243] “Le captaine-general demanda a tous les pillotz allant tousiours a la voyle par quel chemyn nauigant on puntuast es cartes. Lesquelz tous respondirent par sa voye punctuellement donnée. Et il respondit quilz punctuoyent faulsement (chose qui estoit ainsi), et quil conuenoit auister laigueille du nauiguer porce que ne recepuoit tant de force comme de sa part.” The Milan edition has: “Cïo ben sapeva il nostro capitano generale, e perciò, quando ci trovanno veleggiando in mezzo al mare, egli domando a tutti i piloti, ai quali già indicato aveva il punto a cui doveano tendere, per qual cammino puntassero nelle loro carte; risposer tutti, che puntavano al luogo da lui ordinato: ed egli disse che puntavano falso; e che conveniva ajutare l’ago calamitato, il quale in tal posizione non era attrato con tanta forza, quanto lo è dalla sua parte, cioè nell’ emisfero boreale.”

[244] “Et sont tres justes l’une avecques laultre.” Milan: “Ed esattamente disposte in forma di croce.” Dante may have heard of the S. Cross through Marco Polo.

[245] “Du vent de midy.”

[246] “Le mydy.”

[247] “Vers le leuant”; it should be “ponant.”

[248] Cattigara. Cape Comorin, in 8 deg. 27 min. N. latitude.

[249] The Milan edition has seventy.

[250] “La volte du vent de maestral.”

[251] The Milan edition has here: “Which did not fail to cause compassion.”

[252] The Milan edition has for “I believe”, “certainly”.

[253] Bananas, or plantains.

[254] Stores.

[255] “Nattes.”

[256] “Baston.”

[257] Milan edition, “fusiniere”: boats named after Fusine, from which people are ferried to Venice.

[258] For paddles.

[259] Now called Samar, in the Philippine group.

[260] Instead of these words the Milan edition has: “Which later we learned was named Humunù.” Amoretti says this island is situated near Cape Guigan of the Island of Samar.

[261] Amoretti presumes this sow was brought from the Ladrones. Desbrosses, t. 11, p. 55.

[262] “Congé.”

[263] “Apparant.” Milan edition, “principale”.

[264] “Apparant.” Milan edition, “ornati”.

[265] The Milan edition adds here: “We learned that the island which they came from was named Zuluan, and it is a small island.”

[266] Milan: “Sociable.”

[267] Arrak.

[268] Bananas. The Milan edition has: “More than a palm in length.”

[269] Cocoa-nuts.

[270] “Verdeur.”

[271] Here the Milan edition adds: “And reduced it to flour.”

[272] Milan edition has: “Takes the consistency of honey.”

[273] Milan edition has: “Thick as butter.”

[274] Here the Milan edition adds: “But its trunk, without being smooth, is less knotty.”

[275] Milan edition has: “We were told that one of these trees lasts,” etc.

[276] *–* Here omitted in Milan edition.

[277] “Matia.”

[278] “Aquade des bons signes.”

[279] This word is not in the Milan edition, nor in the Tagal Dictionary.

[280] “Picquetez”, not in Ste. Palaye’s Glossary.

[281] “Tanez.”

[282] “Giongioli.”

[283] “Fascines,” “faxina.” “Foscine,” Milan edition.

[284] Milan edition: “Like our rizali.”

[285] “Chambre des munitions.” “Mezza de guarnigione.” Milan edition.

[286] “Ponnant et le garbin.”

[287] Malay.

[288] “Aez = ais.” Milan edition: “Tavola.”

[289] “Sporta”, Milan edition: “basket.”

[290] “Intimate friends,” Tagal Dictionary.

[291] The Milan edition represents the King as making the request, and the captain-general consenting to it.

[292] The Milan edition adds here: “At each mouthful we drank a cup of wine, and whatever remained in the cup, though that rarely happened, was put into another vase.”

[293] “Brouet.” “Brodo,” Milan edition.

[294] It will be seen further on that these brothers were kings or lords of two cities on the coast of Mindanao, of which one was named Butuan, the other Calagan. The first place retains its name, the other is named Caragua. The King of Butuan was also King of the Island of Massaua, between Mindanao and Samar. Note, Milan edition.

[295] The Milan edition adds here: “On each of his teeth he had three spots of gold, so that his teeth appeared to be bound with gold.”

[296] Massaua.

[297] Milan edition: “Siagu.”

[298] “Pourpoints.”

[299] Ceylon is the island of Leyte, and Zzubu is Sebu. Milan edition.

[300] “Malle adventure.”

[301] If Massaua is the island Limassava of Bellin’s map, it is in 9 deg. 40 min. N. latitude, but in 190 deg. W. longitude from the line of demarcation. Note, Milan edition.

[302] “Gatighan.” Milan edition.

[303] “Pipistrelli.” Milan edition.

[304] “Bien une brassée.”

[305] “Haulsent.”

[306] “Massava.”

[307] “Illecques.”

[308] “Nourry.” Milan edition: “Un suo allievo.”

[309] Siam.

[310] “Cata Raja chita.” Milan edition.

[311] That is the hereditary prince.

[312] “Bariselle.” Milan edition: “Bargello maggiore.”.

[313] The usage of drinking through a tube was also observed by Van Noort among these peoples. Note, Milan edition.

[314] “Gens de bon temps.”

[315] “Pardeça;” that is to say, “Par de ça la Loire,” or “Langue d’oil.” Languedoc was called “Par de la.” The Milan edition describes the scales as a wooden pole suspended in the middle, with a basin suspended by three cords at one end, and a cord at the other end with a weight equal to the basin to which weights are attached.

[316] “Sonnent de zampogne.”

[317] Perhaps this should be Sulin. Vide Marsden, Malay Dictionary.

[318] Lagan, a largo sea snail. Tagal Dictionary.

[319] The Milan edition says he was before named Raja Humabon.

[320] After the death of Magellan the image of the Infant Jesus was preserved as an idol until the year 1598, in which the Spaniards returned to that place with missionaries, who, having found it, not only placed it in veneration, but gave to the city which they founded there the name of City of Jesus, which it still preserves. Note of Milan edition.

[321] Here ends the translation made from the French MS.; what follows is from the Milan edition.

[322] “Si” is a prefix of honour to a proper name.

[323] Spear, like a partisan, but larger. French MS. of Nancy.

[324] The text of this appeal has been given by M. Denis in the Univers Pittoresque, from the MS. of Nancy, now of Sir Thomas Phillipps’ library.

[325] “Compadre.”

[326] See Note, p. 95.

[327] This island is still named Bohol.

[328] Panilongon, now called Panlao.

[329] Mindanao. The French edition of the year IX calls it “Butuan”.

[330] A river which comes into the Bay of Kipit.

[331] Probably two hours after nightfall.

[332] See p. 78.

[333] Luçon.

[334] The author speaks of this nation further on.

[335] Borneo.

[336] This paragraph is not in Amoretti’s edition, and is taken from the French edition of 1802.

[337] Borneo.

[338] That is to say, “To move against the stream on account of the contrary currents.” Note to Amoretti’s edition.

[339] Ramusio has five leagues, but the Milan MS. has fifty, which is the real distance.

[340] This number seems exaggerated. Now it has only two or three thousand houses. Hist. Générale des Voyages, tom. xv, p. 138. Note, Milan edition.

[341] They do likewise now at high tide. Note, Milan edition.

[342] “Cherita-tulis,” writers of narratives.

[343] The Portuguese introduced Christianity into this country, which lasted till 1590. Now the Gentiles have been obliged to abandon the sea-coast, and have retired to the mountains. Sonnerat, Note of Milan edition.

[344] Here some details are omitted, which, with the whole of this paragraph, have been written by Pigafetta, because he was an Italian, and not a Spaniard or Portuguese, in which case he would have been better informed.

[345] An error natural enough in an Italian.

[346] Brass or bronze. Note, Milan edition.

[347] “Pitis”, small coin, 600 to a dollar at Achin.

[348] The Milan edition has added to the text, “which project outside for a counterpoise”; and supposes this refers to an outrigger. Junks have no outriggers; prahus have projecting gunwales, which widen the deck.

[349] This latitude is that of the northern point of Borneo; the longitude is much diminished, as usual. Pigafetta has taken care to mark in his map of the island of Borneo, his voyage of fifty leagues from the point to the port, and has placed Laöe at the southern point of the island. Note, Milan edition.

[350] Now named Balaba. Note, Milan edition.

[351] The Babi-rusa, or hog deer.

[352] “Picciulo.”

[353] Other travellers have seen similar leaves, and being more versed in natural history than our Pigafetta, soon knew that the motion of these leaves came from the insect which lived inside. (Hist. Gén. des Voy., tom. xv, p. 58.) Note, Milan edition.

[354] In the isle of Mindanao.

[355] Islets.

[356] Sulu.

[357] Now named Basilan.

[358] Mindanao.

[359] From this probably comes the word “Cinnamomum”.

[360] This receipt was recently attributed, in some newspaper paragraph, to the Battas of Sumatra, 1874.

[361] Cape Benaian is the most northern cape of the island, and has still the same name. Note, Milan edition.

[362] The islands here mentioned belong to that group in which modern geographers reckon Kararotan, Linop, and Cabrocana; after which is found Sanghir, the beautiful island of the author: others name it Sanguil. This island has many islets to the S.W., which Pigafetta mentions later. Cabiu, Cabalussu, Limpang, and Nussa, are mentioned in the list of islands which in 1682 belonged to the King of Ternate. Note, Milan edition.

[363] In the list of islands belonging to the King of Ternate, are found Karkitang, Para, Sangaluhan, Siau.

[364] Pangazara, Talaut, and Mahono, are in the above quoted list.

[365] Tidore.

[366] A testoon was worth half a ducat. Note, Milan edition.

[367] When the Portuguese, Brito, was sent to govern the Moluccas in 1511, this Raja Abuleis lived, and he names him Raja Beglif. Note, Milan edition.

[368] “Chechil” or “Cachil”, a title.

[369] A hundredweight.

[370] Pedro Alfonso de Lorosa.

[371] The northern cape at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.

[372] Gilolo.

[373] The Dutch observed later that this does not happen. Note, Milan edition.

[374] This refers to the dress of men at arms of the period, which was not decent.

[375] Perhaps these are what the Malays use for pens.

[376] Chingké, Chinese for “odorous nails”.

[377] “Subhan”, or giving praise.

[378] “A furia.”

[379] S. Barbara is the patroness of powder magazines, which on board French ships are called Sainte Barbe.

[380] “Frixeto,” “nastro” or “settuccia,” “ribbon,” is so called now in Genoese. Note, Milan edition.

[381] Marcello, a coin struck at Venice by the Doge Nicolò Marcello in 1473, of silver, weighing as much as a sequin, and worth about sixpence. Note, Milan edition.

[382] “Verzi.”

[383] Yucatan.

[384] Or minister.

[385] A kind of Ananas. Note, Milan edition.

[386] The longitude is wrong, as usual. Note, Milan edition.

[387] The volcanoes of Ternate and Machian, which caused such havoc in the last century by their explosions, did not then emit flames or smoke, since Pigafetta would not have omitted to mention them.

[388] Laboan, an islet considered now as part of Bachian. Note, Milan edition.

[389] “Xulla” of Robert’s Atlas, and “Xoula” of the Dutch. Note, Milan edition.

[390] Comparing this with what the author writes a little further on, there is another proof that he took down the names of the islands, and laid down their positions, as he thought he understood the pilots who spoke a language which he little understood. He here notes ten islands, and he has drawn six without names to the North of Sulach, where other geographers also lay down a few islets; but of these ten, Tenetum, Kalairuru, Mandan, and Benaia, are again named and drawn further on; and Leytimor is a peninsula attached to Amboina. Note, Milan edition.

[391] The jack fruit, called Nangka throughout the Malay seas.

[392] Amboina. Pigafetta appears to refer to the large island of Ceram. Note, Milan edition.

[393] The Milan MS. says “longitude”, which must be an error of the scribe. Note, Milan edition.

[394] Solor.

[395] “Cornioli.”

[396] Strabo (Geogr., lib. xv).

[397] The Italian method of reckoning time.

[398] Luzon.

[399] Bomare says that those who cut sandal wood fall ill from the miasma exhaled by the wood. Note, Milan edition.

[400] A note to the Milan edition suggests that it was too early in the century for this to be the Frank disease, and that it must have been leprosy. This is more probable.

[401] Ende, or Flores.

[402] Majapahit.

[403] Gresik.

[404] Surabaya.

[405] “Campong anghin,” the place of wind.

[406] Sanscrit and Malay, a griffin.

[407] Pigafetta has confounded rhubarb with the decayed wood of a tree found in Siam, which, when burnt, gives a very sweet perfume, and which sells at a high price.

[408] Cochin.

[409] Kwantung or Canton.

[410] “Satu orang,” one man.

[411] “Anjing,” a dog.

[412] “Pokoh bisi,” club of iron.

[413] “Panah,” a bow.

[414] “Tombak,” a lance.

[415] “Harimau,” a tiger; not a lion. All these words are Malay, the language in which the whole of this information must have been conveyed to Pigafetta.

[416] “Laut Kidol,” Javanese, the Southern Ocean.

[417] See statement of Herrera, p. 175.

[418] Francis I.

[419] Now the declination of the ecliptic, which answers to the poles of the eighth sphere of Pigafetta, is 23 deg. 28 min. 30 sec. Note, Milan edition.

[420] Supposing that the surface of the globe under the equator were half land and half sea, and then giving to each league three and a half miles, we should have 22,050 miles for the circumference of the earth: a measure very little differing from that which results from giving to each degree at the equator sixty Italian miles, by which the circumference is 21,600 miles. Note, Milan edition.

[421] The guard stars are β and γ of Ursa Minor, which form a triangle with the pole and pole star; now γ of the belt of Cassiopeia is used. Note, Milan edition.

[422] This means the arm of the instrument used; it might be the meteoroscope of Regiomontano, which had a cross in the middle: or an astrolabe like it; or the common astrolabe with a dioptron, or mediclino, as Pigafetta calls it, placed on the equator. Note, Milan edition.

[423] That is the meridian line from the pole to the equator. Note, Milan edition.

[424] Though the radius of the circle which the pole star goes round is now little more than a degree and a half, in the time of Pigafetta it was 3 deg. 17 min. 37 sec., so that if he reckoned it at 3 deg. 30 min. it is wonderful that he should have made so small an error, notwithstanding the imperfection of his instruments. Note, Milan edition.

[425] These three methods are probably those which, according to Castañeda, Faleiro taught to Magellan. Note, Milan edition.

[426] That is to say, the knot where the orbit of the moon cuts the ecliptic. Note, Milan edition.

[427] The fleur-de-lys placed at the north.

[428] That is, where it coincides with the meridian and begins to deviate or vary. Note, Milan edition.

[429] That is, varies east or west.

[430] Or of midday.

[431] I do not find any mention of the mediclino in any writer of the times near that of Pigafetta who have treated of the astrolabe, such as Regiomontanus, Appianus, Gimma Frisius, Danti, Clavius, etc.; but from what our author says here and elsewhere, it appears that the mediclino is that movable rule, fixed on the centre of the astrolabe, which turns round it, and is named sometimes albidade, or dioptron, or traguardo, or linea di fiducia. Note, Milan edition.

[432] Amoretti, in his introduction to this Treatise of Navigation, in the Milan edition, observes that Pigafetta was misled by a false theory when he supposes that there is in the heavens a point in repose to which the magnetic needle tends, but that the exact direction of the magnetic needle coincided, or at least approximated, to the meridian of the isle of Ferro, which is not now the case; and that in some other places the variations of the compass had been observed to correspond with that of the longitude. By the table of variations of the compass published by Lambert in the Ephemerides of Berlin (Astronomische Jahrbuch) for the year 1779, it is seen by an easy calculation that at the beginning of the sixteenth century the magnetic equator or zero of deviation was very near the isle of Tenerife. Now it is further off, and the distance increases. M. de Bougainville found there the deviation to the west to be 14 deg. 41 min.; and Staunton, the companion of Lord Macartney, found it to be 17 deg. 35 min.

[433] We have two astrolabes in our museum constructed with several plates: one is of brass, and another of card, for more easy manipulation. Note, Milan edition.

[434] “Traguardo,” level or traverser.

[435] “Rosa dei venti.”

[436] Or flag, as appears from the drawing.

[437] It was written in French. See Introduction.

[438] “Tenistitan,” Ramusio.

[439] Gulf of Siam.

[440] Cape Verde Islands.

[441] Literally, with funereal or lugubrious state; but Maximilian and his translators appear to have thought that feralis is derived from fera. Ramusion translates: “Dando loro a mangiar carne di fiere;” and the Spanish version in Navarrete has: “Con su aparato y cerimonias bestiales.” Ducange has an adverb, feraliter, with the sense of beastly.

[442] “Feralis,” again.

[443] Or, Caurus.

[444] Bohol.

[445] Bandan.

[446] “Tanto abante.” These words are doubtful.

[447] The MS. of the British Museum has “9”, which must be an error.

[448] Query, east.

[449] “Papahigos.”

[450] It is 37° 52′. This is the northernmost of the two islands, St. Paul’s and Amsterdam. The Dutch call the N. Island Amsterdam, and the English call it St. Paul’s in ordinary maps.

[451] The Great Fish River or the Keiskamma River.

[452] This Gomez was the alguazil who assisted Magellan so much in putting down the mutiny in the port of St. Julian.

[453] Literally, of cord and knife.

[454] Diogo Barbosa.

[455] Correa seems to have made a mistake here. Quesada helped to make Alvaro de Mezquita, Magellan’s relation, and captain of the S. Antonio, a prisoner; but what Correa relates may have been part of the plot and a stratagem of Juan de Carthagena.

[456] His name was Gonzalo Gomes de Spinosa; he returned to Spain.

[457] “Que fizesse grande toa.”

[458] The reader will observe that this account of Magellan’s death is incorrect.

[459] Andres de San Martin.

[460] Probably the Genoese pilot, whose narrative commences this volume.

[461] Road to Coimbra—straight road.

[462] Pessoas.

[463] Varas.

[464] Nuno.

[465] 4,000.

[466] 20,000.

[467] Globe.

[468] Sic.

The Right Hon. Sir DAVID DUNDAS, President.
Rear-Admiral C. R. DRINKWATER BETHUNE, C.B.		Vice-Presidents.
Major-General Sir HENRY RAWLINSON, K.C.B., F.R.S., Pres. R.G.S.		Vice-Presidents.
W. A. TYSSEN AMHURST, Esq.
Rev. Dr. GEORGE P. BADGER, D.C.L., F.R.S.
J. BARROW, Esq., F.R.S.
Vice-Admiral R. COLLINSON, C.B.
Captain COLOMB, R.N.
W. E. FRERE, Esq.
EGERTON V. HARCOURT, Esq.
JOHN WINTER JONES, Esq., F.S.A.
R. H. MAJOR, Esq., F.S.A.
Sir CHARLES NICHOLSON, Bart., D.C.L.
Sir W. STIRLING MAXWELL, Bart.
Vice-Admiral ERASMUS OMMANNEY, C.B., F.R.S.
Rear-Admiral SHERARD OSBORN, C.B.
The Lord STANLEY of Alderley.
EDWARD THOMAS, Esq., F.R.S.
The Hon. FREDERICK WALPOLE, M.P.

CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, Esq., C.B., F.R.S., Sec. R.G.S., Honorary Secretary.

Portrait of Magellan	to face Title
Arms of Magellan	1
Facsimiles of Signatures	1
Pigafetta’s Map of the Straits	65
Track of the “Victoria” in the Pacific	177
Islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul	235

Magellan arrives at Seville		October 20,	1518
Magellan’s fleet sails from Seville	Monday,⁠[25]	August 10,	1519
Magellan sails from San Lucar de Barrameda,	Tuesday,	September 20,	„
„ arrives at Tenerife		September 26,	„
„ sails from Tenerife	Monday,	October 3,	„
„ arrives at Rio de Janeiro		December 13,	„
„ sails from Rio		December 26,	„
„ sails from Rio de la Plata		February 2,	1520
„ arrives at Port St. Julian		March 31,	„
Eclipse of Sun		April 17,	„
Loss of Santiago
Magellan sails from Port St. Julian		August 24,	„
„ sails from river of Santa Cruz		October 18,	„
„ makes Cape of the Virgins, entrance of Straits		October 21,	„
Desertion of San Antonio		November	„
Magellan issues from Straits into the Pacific,	Wednesday,	November 28,	„
lxMagellan fetches San Pablo Island		January 24,	1521
„ fetches Tiburones Island		February 4,	„
„ reaches the Ladrone Islands,	Wednesday,	March 6,	„
„ reaches Samar Island of the Philippines	Saturday,	March 16,	„
„ reaches Mazzava Island,	Thursday,	March 28,	„
„ arrives at Sebu Island		April 7,	„
Death of Magellan at Matan	Saturday,	April 27,	„
Burning of Conception		May,	„
Arrival of San Antonio at Seville		May 6,	„
Arrival of Victoria and Trinity at Tidore,	Friday,	November 8,	„
Victoria sails from Tidore		December 21,	„
„ discovers Amsterdam Island,	Tuesday,	March 18,	1522
„ doubles the Cape of Good Hope		May 18,⁠[26]	„
„ arrives at Cape Verde Islands,	Wednesday,[27]	July 9,	„
„ arrives at San Lucar	Saturday,[27]	September 6,	„
„ casts anchor at Seville	Monday,⁠[27]	September 8,	„
Thanksgiving at Church of Our Lady of Victory	Tuesday,⁠[27]	September 9,	„

Consil.	✝	de parte	152
		de Non	6
		non sync	2

On the	3rd,	we went N.W.,	and found ourselves in	46° 30′.
„	4th,	to N.W.,	„	45⁠1⁄2
„	5th,	to N. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	44⁠1⁄4
„	6th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 E.	„	44
„	7th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 E.	„	43⁠2⁄3
„	8th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 N.	„	43⁠1⁄4
„	9th,	to N.N.E.	„	42⁠2⁄3
„	10th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 E.	„	42 12′.
„	11th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 E.	„	41⁠2⁄3
„	12th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 E.	„	41⁠1⁄4
„	13th,	to N.E. 1⁄4 N.	„	40
„	14th,	to N.	„	38⁠3⁄4
„	15th,	to N. 1⁄4 N.E.	„	38
„	16th,	to N. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	36⁠1⁄2
„	17th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 N.	„	34⁠1⁄2
„	18th,	to N. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	33⁠1⁄2
„	19th,	to N.W.	„	32⁠2⁄3
„	20th,	to N.W.	„	31⁠3⁄4
„	21st,	to N.W.	„	30⁠2⁄3
221 „	22nd,	to W. 1⁄4 S.W.,	„	30⁠2⁄3
„	23rd,	to W.N.W.	„	30
„	24th,	to W.N.W.	„	29⁠3⁄4
„	25th,	to W.N.W.	„	29⁠1⁄2
„	26th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	28⁠3⁄4
„	27th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	27⁠2⁄3
„	28th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	26⁠2⁄3
„	29th,	to W.N.W.	„	26⁠1⁄3
„	30th,	to W., 12 leagues.
„	31st,	to N.W.	„	25⁠1⁄2
Year 1521—January—
On the	1st,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	25
„	2nd,	to W.N.W.	„	24
„	3rd,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	23⁠1⁄3
„	4th,	to W.N.W.	„	22
„	5th,	to W. 1⁄4 S.W.	„	23
„	6th,	to W. 1⁄4 NW.	„	22
„	7th,	to W., 25 leagues.
„	8th,	to W., 23 leagues.
„	9th,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	22⁠1⁄4
„	10th,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	22
„	11th,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	21⁠3⁄4
„	12th,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	21⁠1⁄3
„	13th,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	21
„	14th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	20⁠1⁄2
„	15th,	to W.N.W.	„	19⁠1⁄2
„	16th,	to W.N.W.	„	19
„	17th,	to W.N.W.	„	18⁠1⁄4
„	18th,	to W.N.W.	„	17⁠1⁄2
„	19th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	16⁠1⁄4
„	20th,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.	„	15
„	21st,	to S.W.	„	15⁠2⁄3
„	22nd,	to S.W.	„	16⁠3⁄4
„	23rd,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	16⁠1⁄2
„	24th,	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.	„	16⁠1⁄4

On the	25th	of the said month,	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.,	in 15⁠3⁄4°
„	26th	„	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.,	in 15⁠1⁄3
„	27th	„	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.,	in 15
„	28th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 14⁠1⁄2
„	29th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 13⁠3⁄4
„	30th	„	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.,	in 13⁠1⁄2
„	31st	„	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.,	in 13⁠1⁄3
February—
On the	1st	„	to N.W.,	in 13
„	2nd	„	to N.W.,	in 12⁠1⁄2
„	3rd	„	to N.W.,	in 11⁠3⁄4
„	4th	„	to N.W.,	in 11⁠3⁄4

On the	5th	Feb.,	to N.W.,	in 10°
„	6th	„	to N.W.,	in 9⁠1⁄4
„	7th	„	to N.W.,	in 8⁠2⁄3
„	8th	„	to N.W.,	in 7⁠2⁄3
„	9th	„	to N.W. 1⁄4 W.,	in 6⁠1⁄2
„	10th	„	to N.W.,	in 5
„	11th	„	to N.W.,	in 2⁠1⁄2
„	12th	„	to N.W.,	in 1
„	13th	„	to N.W.,	in — 30′ N. of the line.
„	14th	„	to N.W.,	in 1 N. latitude.
„	15th	„	to N.W.,	in 1⁠3⁄4
223 „	16th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 2⁠1⁄2°
„	17th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 3⁠1⁄2
„	18th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 5
„	19th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 5⁠3⁄4
„	20th	„	to W.N.W.,	in 6⁠1⁄2
„	21st	„	to W.N.W.,	in 8
„	22nd	„	to W.N.W.,	in 9⁠1⁄2
„	23rd	„	to W.N.W.,	in 11⁠1⁄2
„	24th	„	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.,	in 12
„	25th	„	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.,	in 12⁠1⁄3
„	26th	„	to W.,	in 12
„	27th	„	to W.,	in 12
„	28th	„	to W. 1⁄4 N.W.,	in 13
March, 1521—
On the	1st	March,	to W.,	in 13
„	2nd	„	to W.,	in 13
„	3rd	„	to W.,	in 13
„	4th	„	to W.,	in 13
„	5th	„	to W.,	in 13

On the	9th	of March,	to W. 1⁄4 S.W., in 12°
„	10th	„	to W. 1⁄4 S.W., in 12⁠1⁄3
„	11th	„	to W. 1⁄4 S.W., in 11⁠1⁄2
„	12th	„	to W. 1⁄4 S.W., in 11
„	14th	„	to W. 1⁄4 S.W., in 10⁠2⁄3
„	15th	„	to W. 1⁄4 S.W., in 10

Terrenate is in altitude of	1°	0′
Tidori„„	0	30
Mare„„	0	15
Motil is on the line	0
Maquian is to the south	0	15
Cayoan„„	0	20
Bachian„„	1
La Talata„„	1	1⁄4

The	Conception	was of	ninety tons.
„	Victoria	„	eighty-five tons.
„	S. Antonio	„	a hundred and twenty tons.
„	Trinity	„	a hundred and ten tons.
„	Santiago	„	seventy-five tons.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The first voyage round the world, by Magellan

THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,

CONTENTS.

PLATES AND MAPS.

INTRODUCTION AND LIFE OF MAGELLAN.

Council held by Alfonso d’Albuquerque with the Captains with respect to going to Goa.

Letter of Alvaro da Costa, giving an Account to the King Dom Manuel of what passed with the King of Castile, to dissuade him from the discovery which he determined to order the execution of, by Fernan de Magalhaes.

Letter from Sebastian Alvarez, Factor of Dom Manuel, to the King, dated Seville, July 18, 1519.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

NAVIGATION AND VOYAGE WHICH FERNANDODE MAGALHĀES MADE FROM SEVILLE TO MALUCO IN THE YEAR 1519.

NARRATIVE OF A PORTUGUESE, COMPANION OF ODOARDO BARBOSA, IN THE SHIP VICTORIA, IN THE YEAR 1519. (From “Ramusio”.)

Anthony Pigapheta, Patrician of Vicenza, and Knight of Rhodes, to the very illustrious and very excellentLord Philip de Villers Lisleaden, the famousGrand Master of Rhodes, his mostrespected Lord.⁠[137]

CHAPTER.⁠[201]

(In the Milan Edition here begins Book II.)

CHAPTER.

CHAPTER.

(Here follows an account of a custom, for a description of which see De Morga’s Philippine Islands, p. 304.)

(Book III of the Milan Edition.)

Departure from Zubu.

(Book IV of the Milan Edition.)

Return from the Moluccas to Spain.

TREATISE OF NAVIGATION OF THE CHEVALIER ANTONY PIGAFETTA.

Of Latitude.

Of Longitude.

Direction of the Ship.

Direction of the Winds.

NAMES OF THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATORS.

ORDER OF THE DAY OF MAGELLAN,

A LETTER FROM MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS TO THE MOST REVEREND CARDINAL OF SALZBURG, VERY DELIGHTFUL TO READ, CONCERNING THE MOLUCCA ISLANDS, AND ALSO MANY OTHER WONDERS, WHICH THE LATEST VOYAGE OF THE SPANIARDS HAS JUST DISCOVERED.

DISCOURSE OF M. GIOVANNI BATTISTA RAMUSIO UPON THE VOYAGE MADE BY THE SPANIARDS ROUND THE WORLD.

EXTRACTS FROM A DERROTERO OR LOG-BOOK OF THE VOYAGE OF FERNANDO DE MAGALLANES IN SEARCH OF THE STRAIT, FROM THE CAPE OF ST. AUGUSTIN. FRANCISCO ALBO, 1519.

ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHIP “TRINITY” AND HER CREW

ACCOUNT OF THE MUTINY IN PORT ST. JULIAN.

COST OF MAGELLAN’S FLEET.

APPENDIX No. I.

No. II.

No. III.

No. IV.

No. V.

INDEX.

GENERAL INDEX.

WRITERS QUOTED.

NAMES OF PERSONS.

ERRATA.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

THE FIRST
VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,

INTRODUCTION
AND
LIFE OF MAGELLAN.

CHRONOLOGY
OF THE
FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

NAVIGATION AND VOYAGE WHICH FERNANDO
DE MAGALHĀES MADE FROM SEVILLE TO
MALUCO IN THE YEAR 1519.

NARRATIVE OF A PORTUGUESE, COMPANION OF
ODOARDO BARBOSA, IN THE SHIP VICTORIA,
IN THE YEAR 1519. (From “Ramusio”.)

Anthony Pigapheta, Patrician of Vicenza, and Knight of
Rhodes, to the very illustrious and very excellent
Lord Philip de Villers Lisleaden, the famous
Grand Master of Rhodes, his most
respected Lord.⁠[137]

TREATISE OF NAVIGATION
OF THE
CHEVALIER ANTONY PIGAFETTA.

A LETTER
FROM
MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS
TO THE
MOST REVEREND CARDINAL OF SALZBURG,
VERY DELIGHTFUL TO READ,
CONCERNING THE MOLUCCA ISLANDS, AND ALSO MANY
OTHER WONDERS, WHICH THE LATEST VOYAGE OF
THE SPANIARDS HAS JUST DISCOVERED.

DISCOURSE OF
M. GIOVANNI BATTISTA RAMUSIO
UPON THE
VOYAGE MADE BY THE SPANIARDS ROUND THE WORLD.

EXTRACTS FROM
A DERROTERO OR LOG-BOOK
OF THE VOYAGE OF FERNANDO DE MAGALLANES IN SEARCH OF THE STRAIT, FROM THE CAPE OF ST. AUGUSTIN. FRANCISCO ALBO, 1519.

ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED
TO
THE SHIP “TRINITY” AND HER CREW

ACCOUNT OF
THE MUTINY IN PORT ST. JULIAN.