Chapter VII: Part 7

On Saturday, the day on which the captain was killed, the four men who had remained in the city to trade, had our merchandise carried to the ships. Then we chose two commanders, namely, Duarte Barboza, [351] a Portuguese and a relative of the captain, and Johan Seranno, a Spaniard. [352] As our interpreter, Henrich by name, was wounded slightly, he would not go ashore any more to attend to our necessary affairs, but always kept his bed. On that account, Duarte Barboza, the commander of the flagship, cried out to him and told him, that although his master, the captain, was dead, he was not therefore free; on the contrary he [i.e., Barboza] would see to it that when we should reach Espagnia, he should still be the slave of Doña Beatrice, the wife of the captain-general. [353] And threatening the slave that if he did go ashore, he would be flogged, the latter arose, and, feigning to take no heed to those words, went ashore to tell the Christian king [354] that we were about to leave very soon, but that if he would follow his advice, he could gain the ships and all our merchandise. Accordingly they arranged a plot, and the slave returned to the ship, where he showed that he was more cunning [355] than before.

On Wednesday morning, the first of May, the Christian king sent word to the commanders that the jewels [356] which he had promised to send to the king of Spagnia were ready, and that he begged them and their other companions to come to dine with him that morning, when he would give them the jewels. Twenty-four men went ashore, among whom was our astrologer, San Martín de Sivilla. I could not go because I was all swollen up by a wound from a poisoned arrow which I had received in my face. Jovan Carvaio and the constable [357] returned, and told us that they saw the man who had been cured by a miracle take the priest to his house. [358] Consequently, they had left that place, because they suspected some evil. Scarcely had they spoken those words when we heard loud cries and lamentations. We immediately weighed anchor and discharging many mortars into the houses, drew in nearer to the shore. While thus discharging [our pieces] we saw Johan Seranno in his shirt bound and wounded, crying to us not to fire any more, for the natives would kill him. [359] We asked him whether all the others and the interpreter were dead. He said that they were all dead except the interpreter. He begged us earnestly to redeem him with some of the merchandise; but Johan Carvaio, his boon companion, [and others] would not allow the boat to go ashore so that they might remain masters of the ships. [360] But although Johan Serrano weeping asked us not to set sail so quickly, for they would kill him, and said that he prayed God to ask his soul of Johan Carvaio, his comrade, in the day of judgment, we immediately departed. I do not know whether he is dead or alive. [361]

In that island are found dogs, cats, rice, millet, panicum, sorgo, ginger, figs [i.e., bananas], oranges, lemons, sugarcane, garlic, honey, cocoanuts, nangcas, [362] gourds, flesh of many kinds, palm wine, and gold. [363] It is a large island, and has a good port with two entrances—one to the west and the other to the east northeast. [364] It lies in x degrees [365] of latitude toward the Arctic Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and sixty-four [366] degrees from the line of demarcation. Its name is Zubu. We heard of Malucho there before the death of the captain-general. Those people play a violin with copper strings.

Words of those heathen people

For Man lac
for Woman paranpaon
for Young woman beni beni
for Married woman babay
for Hair boho
for Face guay
for Eyelids pilac
for Eyebrows chilei
for Eye matta
for Nose ilon
for Jaws apin
for Lips olol
for Mouth baba
for Teeth nipin
for Gums leghex
for Tongue dilla
for Ears delengan
for Throat liogh
for Neck tangip
for Chin queilan
for Beard bonghot
for Shoulders bagha
for Spine licud
for Breast dughan [367]
for Body tiam
Armpit ilot
for Arm botchen
for Elbow sico
for Pulse molanghai
for Hand camat
for the Palm of the hand palan
for Finger dudlo
for Fingernail coco
for Navel pusut
for Penis utin
for Testicles boto
for Vagina [368] billat
for to have Communication
with women jiam
for Buttocks samput
for Thigh paha
for Knee tuhud
for Shin bassag bassag [369]
for Calf of the leg bitis
for Ankle bolbol
for Heel tiochid
for Sole of the foot lapa lapa
for Gold balaoan
for Silver pilla
for Brass concach
for Iron butan
for Sugarcane tube
for Spoon gandan
for Rice bughax baras
for Honey deghex
for Wax talho
for Salt acin
for Wine tuba nio nipa
for to Drink minuncubil
for to Eat macan
for Hog babui
for Goat candin
for Chicken monoch
for Millet humas
for Sorgo batat
for Panicum dana [370]
for Pepper manissa
for Cloves chianche
for Cinnamon mana
for Ginger luia
for Garlic laxuna
for Oranges acsua
for Egg silog
for Cocoanut lubi
for Vinegar zlucha
for Water tubin
for Fire clayo
for Smoke assu
for to Blow tigban
for Balances tinban
for Weight tahil [371]
for Pearl mutiara
for Mother of pearl tipay
for Pipe [a musical
instrument] sub in
for Disease of St. Job alupalan [372]
Bring me palatin comorica
for certain Rice cakes tinapai [373]
Good main
No tidale
for Knife capol, sundan
for Scissors catle
To shave chunthinch
for a well adorned Man pixao
for Linen balandan
for the cloth with which
they cover themselves abaca
for hawk’sbell coloncolon [374]
for Pater nosters of all
classes tacle
for Comb cutlei, missamis
for to Comb monssughud
for Shirt sabun
for Sewing-needle daghu
for to Sew mamis
for Porcelain mobuluc
for Dog aian, ydo
for Cat epos
for their Scarfs gapas
for Glass Beads balus
Come here marica
for House ilaga, balai
for Timber tatamue
for the Mats on which they
sleep tagichan
for Palm-mats bani
for their Leaf cushions uliman
for Wooden platters dulan
for their God abba
for Sun adlo
for Moon songhot
for Star bolan, bunthun
for Dawn mene
for Morning uema
for Cup tagha
Large bassal
for Bow bossugh
for Arrow oghon
for Shields calassan
for Quilted garments used
for fighting baluti
for their daggers calix, baladao
for their Cutlasses campilan
for Spear bancan
for Like tuan
for Figs [i.e., bananas] saghin
for Gourds baghin
for the Cords of their
violins gotzap
for River tau
for Fishing-net pucat, laia
for small Boat sampan
for large Canes cauaghan
for the small ones bonbon
for their large Boats balanghai
for their small Boats boloto [375]
for Crabs cuban
for Fish icam, yssida
for a Fish that is all
colored panapsapan
for another red [Fish] timuan
for a certain other [kind
of Fish] pilax
for another [kind of Fish] emaluan
All the same siama siama
for a Slave bonsul
for Gallows bolle
for Ship benaoa
for a King or
Captain-general raia

Numbers

One uzza
two dua
three tolo
four upat
five lima
six onom
seven pitto
eight gualu
nine ciam
ten polo [376]

In the midst of that archipelago, [377] at a distance of eighteen leguas from that island of Zzubu, at the head of the other island called Bohol, we burned the ship “Conceptione,” for too few men of us were left [to work it]. [378] We stowed the best of its contents in the other two ships, and the laid our course toward the south southwest, coasting along the island called Panilongon, [379] where black men like those in Etiopia live. Then we came to a large island [Mindanao], whose king in order to make peace with us, drew blood from his left hand marking his body, face, and the tip of his tongue with it as a token of the closest friendship, and we did the same. I went ashore alone with the king in order to see that island. We had no sooner entered a river than many fishermen offered fish to the king. Then the king removed the cloths which covered his privies, as did some of his chiefs; and began to row while singing past many dwellings which were upon the river. Two hours after nightfall we reached the king’s house. The distance from the beginning of the river where our ships were to the king’s house, was two leguas. When we entered the house, we came upon many torches of cane and palm leaves, [380] which were of the anime, of which mention was made above. Until the supper was brought in, the king with two of his chiefs and two of his beautiful women drank the contents of a large jar of palm wine without eating anything. I, excusing myself as I had supped, would only drink but once. In drinking they observed all the same ceremonies that the king of Mazaua did. Then the supper, which consisted of rice and very salt [381] fish, and was contained in porcelain dishes, was brought in. They ate their rice as if it were bread, and cook it after the following manner. They first put in an earthen jar like our jars, a large leaf which lines all of the jar. Then they add the water and the rice, and after covering it allow it to boil until the rice becomes as hard as bread, when it is taken out in pieces. Rice is cooked in the same way throughout those districts. [382] When we had eaten, the king had a reed mat and another of palm leaves, and a leaf pillow brought in so that I might sleep on them. The king and his two women went to sleep in a separate place, while I slept with one of his chiefs. [383] When day came and until the dinner was brought in, I walked about that island. I saw many articles of gold in those houses [384] but little food. After that we dined on rice and fish, and at the conclusion of dinner, I asked the king by signs whether I could see the queen. He replied that he was willing, and we went together to the summit of a lofty hill, where the queen’s house was located. When I entered the house, I made a bow to the queen, and she did the same to me, whereupon I sat down beside her. She was making a sleeping mat of palm leaves. In the house there was hanging a number of porcelain jars and four metal gongs—one of which was larger than the second, while the other two were still smaller—for playing upon. There were many male and female slaves who served her. Those houses are constructed like those already mentioned. Having taken our leave, we returned to the king’s house, where the king had us immediately served with refreshments of sugarcane. The most abundant product of that island is gold. They showed me certain large valleys, [385] making me a sign that the gold there was as abundant as the hairs of their heads, but they have no iron with which to dig it, and they do not dare to go to the trouble [to get it]. [386] That part of the island belongs to the same land as Butuan and Calaghan, and lies toward Bohol, and is bounded by Mazaua. As we shall return to that island again, I shall say nothing further [now]. The afternoon having waned, I desired to return to the ships. The king and the other chief men wished to accompany me, and therefore we went in the same balanghai. [387] As we were returning along the river, I saw, on the summit of a hill at the right, three men suspended from one tree, the branches of which had been cut away. I asked the king what was the reason for that, and he replied that they were malefactors and robbers. Those people go naked as do the others above mentioned. The king’s name is Raia Calanao. [388] The harbor is an excellent one. Rice, ginger, swine, goats, fowls, and other things are to be found there. That port lies in a latitude of eight degrees toward the Arctic Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and sixty-seven degrees [389] from the line of demarcation. It is fifty leguas from Zubu, and is called Chipit. [390] Two days’ journey thence to the northwest is found a large island called Lozon, [391] where six or eight junks belonging to the Lequian people go yearly. [392]

Leaving there and laying our course west southwest, we cast anchor at an island not very large and almost uninhabited. The people of that island are Moros and were banished from an island called Burne. They go naked as do the others. They have blowpipes and small quivers at their side, full of arrows and a poisonous herb. They have daggers whose hafts are adorned with gold and precious gems, spears, bucklers, and small cuirasses of buffalo horn. [393] They called us holy beings. Little food was to be found in that island, but [there were] immense trees. It lies in a latitude of seven and one-half degrees toward the Arctic Pole, and is forty-three leguas [394] from Chippit. Its name is Caghaian. [395]

About twenty-five leguas to the west northwest from the above island we found a large island, where rice, ginger, swine, goats, fowls, figs one-half braza long and as thick as the arm [i.e., bananas] (they are excellent; and certain others are one palmo and less in length, and are much better than all the others), cocoanuts, camotes [batate], sugarcane, and roots resembling turnips in taste, are found. Rice is cooked there under the fire in bamboos or in wood; and it lasts better than that cooked in earthen pots. We called that land the land of promise, because we suffered great hunger before we found it. We were often on the point of abandoning the ships and going ashore in order that we might not die of hunger. [396] The king made peace with us by gashing himself slightly in the breast with one of our knives, and upon bleeding, touching the tip of his tongue and his forehead in token of the truest peace, and we did the same. That island lies in a latitude of nine and one-third degrees toward the Arctic Pole, and a longitude of one hundred and seventy-one and one-third [397] degrees from the line of demarcation. [It is called] Pulaoan. [398]

Those people of Polaoan go naked as do the others. Almost all [399] of them cultivate their fields. They have blowpipes with thick wooden arrows more than one palmo long, with harpoon points, and others tipped with fishbones, and poisoned with an herb; while others are tipped with points of bamboo like harpoons and are poisoned. [400] At the end of the arrow they attach a little piece of soft wood, instead of feathers. At the end of their blowpipes they fasten a bit of iron like a spear head; [401] and when they have shot all their arrows they fight with that. They place a value on brass rings and chains, bells, knives, and still more on copper wire for binding their fishhooks. They have large and very tame cocks, which they do not eat because of a certain veneration that they have for them. Sometimes they make them fight with one another, and each one puts up a certain amount on his cock, and the prize goes to him whose cock is the victor. They have distilled rice wine which is stronger and better than that made from the palm. [402]

Ten leguas southwest of that island, we came to an island, which, as we coasted by, seemed to us to be going upward. After entering the port, the holy body [i.e., St. Elmo’s fire] appeared to us through the pitchy darkness. There is a distance of fifty leguas [403] from the beginning of that island to the port. On the following day, July nine, the king of that island sent a very beautiful prau to us, whose bow and stern were worked in gold. At the bow flew a white and blue banner surmounted with peacock feathers. Some men were playing on musical instruments [cinphonie] and drums. Two almadies [404] came with that prau. Praus resemble fustas, while the almadies are their small fishing boats. Eight old men, who were chiefs, entered the ships and took seats in the stern upon a carpet. They presented us with a painted wooden jar full of betel and areca (the fruit which they chew continually), and jessamine [405] and orange blossoms, a covering of yellow silk cloth, two cages full of fowls, a couple of goats, three jarsful of distilled rice wine, and some bundles of sugarcane. They did the same to the other ship, and embracing us took their leave. The rice wine is as clear as water, but so strong that it intoxicated many of our men. It is called arach [i.e., arrack].

Six days later the king again sent three praus with great pomp, which encircled the ships with musical instruments [cinphonie] playing and drums and brass gongs beating. They saluted us with their peculiar cloth caps which cover only the top of their heads. We saluted them by firing our mortars without [loading with] stones. Then they gave us a present of various kinds of food, made only of rice. Some were wrapped in leaves and were made in somewhat longish pieces, some resembled sugar-loaves, while others were made in the manner of tarts with eggs and honey. They told us that their king was willing to let us get water and wood, and to trade at our pleasure. Upon hearing that seven [406] of us entered their prau bearing a present to their king, which consisted of a green velvet robe made in the Turkish manner, a violet velvet chair, five brazas of red cloth, a cap, [407] a gilded drinking glass, a covered glass vase, three writing-books of paper, and a gilded writing-case. To the queen [we took] three brazas of [red: crossed out in original MS.] yellow cloth, a pair of silvered shoes, and a silvered needle-case full of needles. [We took] three brazas of red cloth, a cap, and a gilded drinking-glass to the governor. To the herald who came in the prau we gave a robe of red and green cloth, made in the Turkish fashion, a cap, and a writing book of paper; and to the other seven chief men, to one a bit of cloth, and to another a cap, and to all of them a writing book of paper. Then we immediately departed [for the land].

When we reached the city, we remained about two hours in the prau, until the arrival of two elephants with silk trappings, and twelve men each of whom carried a porcelain jar covered with silk in which to carry our presents. Thereupon, we mounted the elephants while those twelve men preceded us afoot with the presents in the jars. In this way we went to the house of the governor, where we were given a supper of many kinds of food. During the night we slept on cotton mattresses, [408] whose lining was of taffeta, and the sheets of Cambaia. Next day we stayed in the house until noon. Then we went to the king’s palace upon elephants, with our presents in front as on the preceding day. All the streets from the governor’s to the king’s house were full of men with swords, spears, and shields, for such were the king’s orders. We entered the courtyard of the palace mounted on the elephants. We went up a ladder accompanied by the governor and other chiefs, and entered a large hall full of many nobles, [409] where we sat down upon a carpet with the presents in the jars near us. At the end of that hall there is another hall higher but somewhat smaller. It was all adorned with silk hangings, and two windows, through which light entered the hall and hung with two brocade curtains, opened from it. There were three hundred footsoldiers with naked rapiers at their thighs in that hall to guard the king. [410] At the end of the small hall was a large window from which a brocade curtain was drawn aside so that we could see within it the king seated at a table with one of his young sons chewing betel. [411] No one but women were behind him. Then a chief told us that we could not speak to the king, and that if we wished anything, we were to tell it to him, so that he could communicate it to one of higher rank. The latter would communicate it to a brother of the governor who was stationed in the smaller hall, and this man would communicate it by means of a speaking-tube through a hole in the wall to one who was inside with the king. The chief taught us the manner of making three obeisances to the king with our hands clasped above the head, raising first one foot and then the other and then kissing the hands toward him, and we did so, that being the method of the royal obeisance. We told the king that we came from the king of Spagnia, and that the latter desired to make peace with him and asked only for permission to trade. The king had us told that since the king of Spagnia desired to be his friend, he was very willing to be his, and said that we could take water and wood, and trade at our pleasure. Then we gave him the presents, on receiving each of which he nodded slightly. To each one of us was given some brocaded and gold cloth and silk, which were placed upon our left shoulders, where they were left but a moment. [412] They presented us with refreshments of cloves and cinnamon, after which the curtains were drawn to and the windows closed. The men in the palace were all attired in cloth of gold and silk which covered their privies, and carried daggers with gold hafts adorned with pearls and precious gems, and they had many rings on their hands. We returned upon the elephants to the governor’s house, seven men carrying the king’s presents to us and always preceding us. When we reached the house, they gave each one of us his present, placing them upon our left shoulders. We gave each of those men a couple of knives for his trouble. Nine men came to the governor’s house with a like number of large wooden trays from the king. Each tray contained ten or twelve porcelain dishes full of veal, capons, chickens, peacocks, and other animals, and fish. We supped on the ground upon a palm mat from thirty or thirty-two different kinds of meat besides the fish and other things. At each mouthful of food we drank a small cupful of their distilled wine from a porcelain cup the size of an egg. We ate rice and other sweet food with gold spoons like ours. In our sleeping quarters there during those two nights, two torches of white wax were kept constantly alight in two rather tall silver candlesticks, and two large lamps full of oil with four wicks apiece and two men to snuff them continually. We went elephant-back to the seashore, where we found two praus which took us back to the ships. That city [413] is entirely built in salt water, except the houses of the king and certain chiefs. It contains twenty-five thousand fires [i.e., families]. [414] The houses are all constructed of wood and built up from the ground on tall pillars. When the tide is high the women go in boats through the settlement [tera] selling the articles necessary to maintain life. There is a large brick wall in front of the king’s house with towers like a fort, in which were mounted fifty-six bronze [metalo] pieces, and six of iron. During the two days of our stay there, many pieces were discharged. That king is a Moro and his name is Raia Siripada. He was forty years old and corpulent. No one serves him except women who are the daughters [415] of chiefs. He never goes outside of his palace, unless when he goes hunting, and no one is allowed to talk with him except through the speaking tube. He has x scribes, called Xiritoles, [416] who write down his deeds on very thin tree bark.

On Monday morning, July twenty-nine, we saw more than one hundred praus divided into three squadrons and a like number of tunguli [417] (which are their small boats) coming toward us. Upon catching sight of them, imagining that there was some trickery afoot, we hoisted our sails as quickly as possible, abandoning an anchor in our haste. We expected especially that we were to be captured in between certain junks which had anchored behind us on the preceding day. We immediately turned upon the latter, capturing four of them and killing many persons. Three or four of the junks sought flight by beaching. In one of the junks which we captured was the son of the king of the island of Lozon. He was the captain-general of the king of Burne, and came with those junks from a large city named Laoe, [418] which is located at the end of that island [i.e., Borneo] toward Java Major. He had destroyed and sacked that city because it refused to obey the king [of Burne], but the king of Java Major instead. Giovan Carvaio, our pilot, allowed that captain and the junks to go without our consent, for a certain sum of gold, as we learned afterward. Had the pilot not given up the captain to the king, the latter would have given us whatever we had asked, for that captain was exceedingly feared throughout those regions, especially by the heathens, as the latter are very hostile to that Moro king. In that same port there is another city inhabited by heathens, which is larger than that of the Moros, and built like the latter in salt water. On that account the two peoples have daily combats together in that same harbor. The heathen king is as powerful as the Moro king, but is not so haughty, and could be converted easily to the Christian faith. When the Moro king heard how we had treated the junks, he sent us a message by one of our men who was ashore to the effect that the praus were not coming to do us any harm, but that they were going to attack the heathens. As a proof of that statement, the Moros showed him some heads of men who had been killed, which they declared to be the heads of heathens. We sent a message to the king, asking him to please allow two of our men who were in the city for purposes of trade and the son of Johan Carvaio, who had been born in the country of Verzin, to come to us, but the king refused. That was the consequences of Johan Carvaio letting the above captain go. We kept sixteen of the chiefest men [of the captured junks] to take them to Spagnia, and three women in the queen’s name, but Johan Carvaio usurped the latter for himself. [419]

Junks are their ships and are made in the following manner. The bottom part is built about two palmos above the water and is of planks fastened with wooden pegs, which are very well made; above that they are entirely made of very large bamboos. They have a bamboo as a counterweight. One of those junks carries as much cargo as a ship. Their masts are of bamboo, and the sails of the bark of trees. [420] Their porcelain is a sort of exceedingly white earth which is left for fifty years under the earth before it is worked, for otherwise it would not be fine. The father buries it for the son. If [poison] is placed in a dish made of fine porcelain, the dish immediately breaks. [421] The money made by the Moros in those regions is of bronze [metalo] pierced in the middle in order that it may be strung. On only one side of it are four characters, which are letters of the great king of Chiina. We call that money picis. [422] They gave us six porcelain dishes for one cathil [423] (which is equivalent to two of our libras) of quicksilver; one hundred picis for one book of writing paper; one small porcelain vase for one hundred and sixty cathils of bronze [metalo]; one porcelain vase for three knives; one bahar (which is equivalent to two hundred and three cathils), of wax for 160 cathils of bronze [metalo]; one bahar of salt for eighty cathils of bronze [metalo]; one bahar of anime to calk the ships (for no pitch is found in those regions) for forty cathils of bronze [metalo]. [424] Twenty tahils make one cathil. At that place the people highly esteem bronze [metalo], quicksilver, glass, cinnabar, [425] wool cloth, linens, and all our other merchandise, although iron and spectacles [426] more than all the rest. Those Moros go naked as do the other peoples [of those regions]. They drink quicksilver—the sick man drinks it to cleanse himself, and the well man to preserve his health.

The king of Burne has two pearls as large as two hen’s eggs. They are so round that they will not stand still on a table. I know that for a fact, for when we carried the king’s presents to him, signs were made for him to show them to us, but he said that he would show them next day. Afterward some chiefs said that they had seen them.

Those Moros worship Mahomet. The latter’s law orders them not to eat pork; as they wash the buttocks with the left hand, not to use that hand in eating; [427] not to cut anything with the right hand; to sit down to urinate; not to kill fowls or goats without first addressing the sun; to cut off the tops of the wings with the little bits of skin that stick up from under and the feet of fowls; then to split them in twain; to wash the face with the right hand, but not to cleanse the teeth with the fingers; and not to eat anything that has been killed unless it be by themselves. [428] They are circumcised like the Jews.

Camphor, a kind of balsam, is produced in that island. It exudes between the wood and the bark, and the drops are as small as [grains of] wheat bran. [429] If it is exposed it gradually evaporates [literally: becomes nothing]. Those people call it capor. Cinnamon, ginger, mirabolans, oranges, lemons, nangcas, watermelons, cucumbers, gourds, turnips, cabbages, scallions, cows, buffaloes, swine, goats, chickens, geese, deer, elephants, horses, and other things are found there. [430] That island is so large that it takes three months to sail round it in a prau. It lies in a latitude of five and one-fourth degrees toward the Arctic Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and seventy-six and two-thirds degrees from the line of demarcation, and its name is Burne. [431]

Leaving that island, we turned back in order to find a suitable place to calk the ships, for they were leaking. One ship ran on to some shoals of an island called Bibalon, [432] because of the carelessness of its pilot, but by the help of God we freed it. A sailor of that ship incautiously snuffed a candle into a barrel full of gunpowder, but he quickly snatched it out without any harm. [433] Then pursuing our course, we captured a prau laden with cocoanuts on its way to Burne. Its crew sought refuge on an islet, until we captured it. [434] Three other praus escaped behind certain islets.

At the head of Burne between it and an island called Cimbonbon, which lies in [a latitude of] eight degrees and seven minutes, [435] is a perfect port for repairing ships. Consequently, we entered it; but as we lacked many things for repairing the ships, we delayed there for forty-two days. During that time, each one of us labored hard, one at one thing and one at another. Our greatest fatigue however was to go barefoot to the woods for wood. In that island there are wild boars, of which we killed one which was going by water from one island to another [by pursuing it] with the small boat. Its head was two and one-half palmos long, [436] and its teeth were large. There are found large crocodiles, both on land and sea, oysters and shellfish of various kinds. Among the last named we found two, the flesh of one of which weighed twenty-six libras, and the other forty-four. [437] We caught a fish, which had a head like that of a hog and two horns. Its body consisted entirely of one bone, and on its back it resembled a saddle; and it was small. [438] Trees are also found there which produce leaves which are alive when they fall, and walk. Those leaves are quite like those of the mulberry, but are not so long. On both sides near the stem, which is short and pointed, they have two feet. They have no blood, but if one touches [439] them they run away. I kept one of them for nine days in a box. When I opened the box, that leaf went round and round it. [440] I believe those leaves live on nothing but air.

Having left that island, [441] that is, the port, we met at the head of the island of Pulaoan a junk which was coming from Burne, on which was the governor of Pulaoan. We made them a signal to haul in their sails, and as they refused to haul them in, we captured the junk by force, and sacked it. [We told] the governor [that] if [he] wished his freedom, he was to give us, inside of seven days, four hundred measures of rice, twenty swine, twenty goats, and one hundred and fifty fowls. After that he presented us with cocoanuts, figs [i.e., bananas], sugarcanes, jars full of palm wine, and other things. Seeing his liberality, we returned some of his daggers and arquebuses to him, giving him in addition, a flag, a yellow damask robe, and xv brazas of cloth; to his son, a cloak of blue cloth; to a brother of the governor, a robe of green cloth and other things; and we parted from them as friends. We turned our course back between the island of Cagaian and the port of Cippit, and laid our course east by south in order that we might find the islands of Malucho. We passed by certain reefs [literally: small elevations] near which we found the sea to be full of grass, although the depth was very great. When we passed through them, it seemed as though we were entering another sea. Leaving Chipit to the east, we found two island, Zolo and Taghima, [442] which lie toward the west, and near which pearls are found. [443] The two pearls of the king of Burne were found there, and the king got them, as was told us, in the following manner. That king took to wife a daughter of the king of Zolo, who told him that her father had those two pearls. The king determined to get possession of them by hook or by crook. Going one night with five hundred praus, [444] he captured the king and two of his sons, and took them to Burne with him. [He told] the king of Zolo that if he wished freedom, he must surrender the two pearls to him.

Then we laid our course east by north between two settlements called Cauit and Subanin, and an inhabited island called Monoripa, located x leguas from the reefs. [445] The people of that island make their dwellings in boats and do not live otherwise. In those two settlements of Cavit and Subanin, which are located in the island of Butuan and Calaghan, is found the best cinnamon that grows. Had we stayed there two days, those people would have laden our ships for us, but as we had a wind favorable for passing a point and certain islets which were near that island, we did not wish to delay. While under sail we bartered two large knives which we had taken from the governor of Pulaoan for seventeen libras [of cinnamon]. The cinnamon tree grows to a height of three or four cubits, and as thick as the fingers of the hand. It has but three or four small branches and its leaves resemble those of the laurel. Its bark is the cinnamon, and it is gathered twice per year. The wood and leaves are as strong as the cinnamon when they are green. Those people call it caiu mana. Caiu means wood, and mana, sweet, hence, “sweet wood.” [446]

Laying our course toward the northeast, and going to a large city called Maingdanao, which is located in the island of Butuan and Calaghan, so that we might gather information concerning Maluco, we captured by force a bigniday, [447] a vessel resembling a prau, and killed seven men. It contained only eighteen men, and they were as well built as any whom we had seen in those regions. [448] All were chiefs of Maingdanao, among them being one who told us that he was a brother of the king of Maingdanao, and that he knew the location of Malucho. Through his directions we discontinued our course toward the northeast, and took that toward the southeast. At a cape of that island of Butuan and Caleghan, and near a river, are found shaggy men who are exceedingly great fighters and archers. They use swords one palmo in length, and eat only raw human hearts with the juice of oranges or lemons. [449] Those shaggy people are called Benaian. When we took our course toward the southeast, we lay in a latitude of six degrees and seven minutes toward the Arctic Pole, and thirty [450] leguas from Cavit. [451]

Sailing toward the southeast, we found four islands, [namely], Ciboco, Biraham Batolach, [452] Sarangani, and Candighar. [453] One Saturday night, October twenty-six, while coasting by Birahan Batolach, we encountered a most furious storm. Thereupon, praying God, we lowered all the sails. Immediately our three saints appeared to us and dissipated all the darkness. [454] St. Elmo remained for more than two hours on the maintop, like a torch; St. Nicholas on the mizzentop; and St. Clara on the foretop. We promised a slave to St. Elmo, St. Nicholas, and St. Clara, and gave alms to each one. Then continuing our voyage, we entered a harbor between the two islands of Saranghani and Candighar, and anchored to the eastward near a settlement of Sarangani, where gold and pearls are found. Those people are heathens and go naked as do the others. That harbor lies in a latitude of five degrees nine minutes, and is fifty leguas from Cavit.

Remaining one day in that harbor, we captured two pilots by force, in order that they might show us where Malucho lay. [455] Then laying our course south southwest, we passed among eight inhabited and desert islands, which were situated in the manner of a street. Their names are Cheaua, Cauiao, Cabiao, Camanuca, Cabaluzao, Cheai, Lipan, and Nuza. [456] Finally we came to an island at their end, which was very beautiful to look at. As we had a contrary wind, so that we could not double a point of that island, we sailed hither and thither near it. Consequently, one of the men whom we had captured at Saranghai, and the brother of the king of Maingdanao who took with him his small son, escaped during the night by swimming to that island. But the boy was drowned, for he was unable to hold tightly to his father’s shoulder. Being unable to double the said point, we passed below the island where there were many islets. That island has four kings, [namely], Raia Matandatu, Raia Lalagha, Raía Bapti, and Raia Parabu. The people are heathens. The island lies in a latitude of three and one-half degrees toward the Arctic Pole and is 27 leguas from Saranghany. Its name is Sanghir. [457]

Continuing the same course, we passed near six islands, [namely], Cheama, Carachita, Para, Zanghalura, Ciau (which is ten leguas from Sanghir, and has a high but not large mountain, and whose king is called Raia Ponto), and Paghinzara. [458] The latter is located eight leguas from Ciau, and has three high mountains. The name of its king is Raia Babintan. [459] [Then we found the island] Talaut; and we found twelve leguas to the east of Paghinzara two islands, not very large, but inhabited, called Zoar and Meau. [460] After passing those two islands, on Wednesday, the sixth of November, we discovered four lofty islands fourteen leguas east of the two [abovementioned islands]. The pilot who still remained with us told us that those four islands were Maluco. Therefore, we thanked God and as an expression of our joy discharged all our artillery. It was no wonder that we were so glad, for we had passed twenty-seven months less two days in our search for Malucho. [461] Among all those islands [among all those islands: doublet in original MS.], even to Malucho, the shallowest bottom that we found was at a depth of one or two hundred brazas, notwithstanding the assertion of the Portuguese that that region could not be navigated because of the numerous shoals and the dark sky as they have imagined. [462]

Three hours before sunset on Friday, November eight, 1521, [463] we entered into a harbor of an island called Tadore, and anchoring near the shore in twenty brazas we fired all our artillery. Next day the king came to the ships in a prau, and circled about them once. We immediately went to meet him with the small boat, in order to show him honor. He made us enter his prau and seat ourselves near him. He was seated under a silk awning which sheltered him on all sides. In front of him was one of his sons with the royal scepter, and two persons with two gold jars to pour water on his hands, and two others with two gilded caskets filled with their betel. The king told us that we were welcome there, and that he had dreamt some time ago that some ships were coming to Malucho from remote parts; and that for more assurance he had determined to consult the moon, [464] whereupon he had seen the ships were coming, and that we were they. Upon the king entering our ships all kissed his hand and then we led him to the stern. When he entered inside there, he would not stoop, but entered from above. [465] Causing him to sit down in a red velvet chair, we clothed him in a yellow velvet robe made in the Turkish fashion. In order to show him greater honor, we sat down on the ground near him. Then when all were seated, the king began to speak and said that he and all his people desired ever to be the most loyal friends and vassals to our king of Spagnia. He received us as his children, and we could go ashore as if in our own houses, for from that time thenceforth, his island was to be called no more Tadore but Castiglia, because of the great love which he bore to our king, his sovereign. We made him a present which consisted of the robe, the chair, a piece of delicate linen, four brazas of scarlet cloth, a piece of brocaded silk, a piece of yellow damask, some Indian cloth embroidered with gold and silk, a piece of berania (the white linen of Cambaia), two caps, six strings of glass beads, twelve knives, three large mirrors, six pairs of scissors, six combs, some gilded drinking-cups, [466] and other articles. To his son we gave an Indian cloth of gold and silk, a large mirror, a cap, and two knives; [467] and to each of nine others—all of them his chiefs—a silk cloth, caps, and two knives; and to many others caps or knives. We kept giving presents until the king bade us desist. After that he declared to us that he had nothing else except his own life to send to the king his sovereign. We were to approach nearer to the city, and whoever came to the ships at night, we were to kill with our muskets. In leaving the stern, the king would never bend his head. [468] When he took his leave we discharged all the guns. That king is a Moro and about forty-five years old. He is well built and has a royal presence, [469] and is an excellent astrologer. At that time he was clad in a shirt of the most delicate white stuff with the ends of the sleeves embroidered in gold, and in a cloth that reached from his waist to the ground. He was barefoot, and had a silk scarf wrapped about his head [his head, doublet in original MS.], and above it a garland of flowers. His name is Raia Sultan Manzor. [470]

On Sunday, November x, that king desired us to tell him how long it was since we had left Spagnia, and what pay and quintalada [471] the king gave to each of us. He requested us to give him a signature of the king and a royal banner, for then and thenceforth, he would cause it that his island and another called Tarenate (provided that he were able to crown one of his [sons: crossed out in original MS.] grandsons, [472] named Calonaghapi) would both belong to the king of Spagnia; and for the honor of his king he was ready to fight to the death, and when he could no longer resist, he would go to Spagnia with all his family in a junk [473] which he was having built new, carrying the royal signature and banner; and therefore he was the king’s servant for a long time. He begged us to leave him some men so that he might constantly be reminded of the king of Spagnia. He did not ask for merchandise because the latter would not remain with him. [474] He told us that he would go to an island called Bachian, in order sooner to furnish the ships with cloves, for there were not enough dry cloves in his island to load the two ships. As that day was Sunday, it was decided not to trade The festive day of those people is our Friday.

In order that your most illustrious Lordship may know the islands where cloves grow, they are five, [namely], Tarenatte, Tadore, Mutir, Machian, and Bachian. Tarenate is the chief one, and when its king was alive, he ruled nearly all the others. Tadore, the one where we were, has a king. Mutir and Machian have no king but are ruled by the people, and when the two kings of Tarenate and of Tadore engage in war, those two islands furnish them with men. The last island is Bachian, and it has a king. That entire province where cloves grow is called Malucho. [475] At that time it was not eight months since one Francesco Seranno [476] had died in Tarenate. [He was] a Portuguese and the captain-general of the king of Tarenate and opposed the king of Tadore. He did so well that he constrained the king of Tadore to give one of his daughters to wife to the king of Tarenate, and almost all the sons of the chiefs as hostages. The above mentioned grandson of the king of Tadore was born to that daughter. Peace having been made between the two kings, and when Francesco Seranno came one day to Tadore to trade cloves, the king of Tadore had him poisoned with the said betel leaves. He lived only four days. His king wished to have him buried according to his law [i.e., with Mahometan rites], but three Christians who were his servants would not consent to it. He left a son and a daughter, both young, born by a woman whom he had taken to wife in Java Major, and two hundred bahars of cloves. He was a close friend and a relative of our royal captain-general, and was the cause of inciting the latter to undertake that enterprise, for when our captain was at Malacha, he had written to him several times that he was in Tarenate. As Don Manuel, then king of Portugal, refused to increase our captain-general’s pension by only a single testoon per month for his merits, the latter went to Spagnia, where he had obtained everything for which he could ask from his sacred Majesty. [477] Ten days after the death of Francesco Seranno, the king of Tarenate, by name, Raya Abuleis, having expelled his son-in-law, the king of Bachian, was poisoned by his daughter, the wife of the latter king, under pretext of trying to bring about peace between the two kings. The king lingered but two days, and left nine principal sons, whose names are Chechili Momuli, Jadore Vunighi, Chechili de Roix, Cili Manzur, Cili Pagi, Chialin, Chechilin Cathara, Vaiechu Serich, and Calano Ghapi. [478]

On Monday, November xi, one of the sons of the king of Tarenate, [to wit], Chechili de Roix, came to the ships clad in red velvet. He had two praus and his men were playing upon the abovementioned gongs. He refused to enter the ship at that time. He had [charge of] the wife and children, and the other possessions of Francesco Seranno. When we found out who he was, we sent a message to the king, asking him whether we should receive Chechili de Roix, since we were in his port, and he replied to us that we could do as we pleased. But the son of the king, seeing that we were hesitating, moved off somewhat from the ships. We went to him with the boat in order to present him an Indian cloth of gold and silk, and some knives, mirrors, and scissors. He accepted them somewhat haughtily, and immediately departed. He had a Christian Indian with him named Manuel, the servant of one Petro Alfonso de Lorosa, [479] a Portuguese who went from Bandan to Tarenate, after the death of Francesco Seranno. As the servant knew how to talk Portuguese, he came aboard our ship, and told us that, although the sons of the king of Tarenate were at enmity with the king of Tadore, yet they were always at the service of the king of Spagnia. We [480] sent a letter to Pietro Alfonso de Lorosa, through his servant, [telling him] that he could come without any hesitation.

Those kings have as many women as they wish, but only one chief wife, whom all the others obey. The abovesaid king of Tadore had a large house outside of the city, where two hundred of his chief women lived with a like number of women to serve them. When the king eats, he sits alone or with his chief wife in a high place like a gallery whence he can see all the other women who sit about the gallery; and he orders her who best pleases him to sleep with him that night. After the king has finished eating, if he orders those women to eat together, they do so, but if not, each one goes to eat in her own chamber. No one is allowed to see those women without permission from the king, and if anyone is found near the king’s house by day or by night, he is put to death. Every family is obliged to give the king one or two of its daughters. That king had twenty-six children, eight sons, and the rest daughters. Lying next that island there is a very large island, called Giailolo [i.e., Gilolo], which is inhabited by Moros and heathens. Two kings are found there among the Moros, one of them, as we were told by the king, having had six hundred children, and the other five hundred and twenty-five. [481] The heathens do not have so many women; nor do they live under so many superstitions, but adore for all that day the first thing that they see in the morning when they go out of their houses. The king of those heathens, called Raya Papua, is exceedingly rich in gold, and lives in the interior of the island. Reeds as thick around as the leg and filled with water that is very good to drink, grow on the flinty rocks in the island of Giaiallo. [482] We bought many of them from those people.