Spanish and Portuguese Explorers lead the Way to the Pacific Ocean
It is remarkable what a bait to the European in discovery have
been both spices and strong perfumes, once so popular in cookery
and in the toilette. The Romans and Greeks were drawn through
Egypt to the Indian trade by the pepper and cinnamon of India and
Ceylon, by the sweet-smelling woods and gums of India and Further
India--sandalwood, eaglewood, benzoin, storax, dragon's blood
from the Calamus palm, rasamala--the resin from a liquid-amber
tree of Java. It was to reach pepper-and-spice-producing regions
that the Portuguese (and after them the English) were drawn into
the exploration of the Guinea coast; and that the Portuguese felt
impelled to circumnavigate Africa, so as to gain unfettered access
to the commerce of India. The search for an Atlantic route to India
and China impelled Spaniards and English, under Genoese and Venetian
leadership, to discover Tropical and North America. And having
reached India, Ceylon, Sumatra and Malacca, the Portuguese found
that the most precious of all spices (cloves and nutmeg) still lay
in undiscovered regions to the East--the Maluk or Muluk Islands,
as they were called by Arab seamen: a name afterwards corrupted to
Moluccas.
When Malacca on the Malay peninsula had been conquered by the
Portuguese, the great viceroy Albuquerque dispatched in the same
year, 1511, one of his boldest captains--ANTONIO DE ABREU--to
search for the Molucca and the Banda Islands, whence the Malay
ships brought cloves and nutmegs. De Abreu touched at Java and the
Sunda Islands and reached first Amboina, a small island off the
south-west coast of Ceram; then passed on northwards till he again
anchored off Ternate, one of the smallest of the five small Spice
Islands lying close to the west coast of the big island of Jilolo.
Here he found the clove trees growing, and probably met Chinese
junks trading in cloves: for the Chinese had for several previous
centuries been accustomed to travel as far afield as Papuasia in
their quest of spices and perfumes. In 1512 de Abreu discovered the
little Banda archipelago, lying in the open sea to the south of
Ceram, and consisting of twelve islets, all very small, and one of
them containing a terrific volcano, Gunong Api--which occasionally
becomes active and devastates the neighbourhood of its cone. Just as
the original "Moluccas"[24] were five very small islands (Ternate,
Tidore, Mare, Mutir, and Makian), off the coast of Jilolo, and were
the only places, in those days (besides the not-far-distant island
of Bachian), where the right kind of clove tree grew; so the Banda
Islands--only 17 square miles in area altogether--were the only home
of the proper nutmeg, though inferior nutmegs grew on some of the
other islets off the coast of Ceram and the west end of New Guinea.
[24] The geographical term, Moluccas, now includes the very large
island of Jilolo, Bachian, Buru, Ceram, &c.
Cloves nowadays are cultivated on other equatorial islands far away
from eastern Malaysia; but in the sixteenth century they were only
to be obtained from the Moluccas. The clove tree is a member of the
great Myrtle family, and belongs to the genus _Eugenia_. It grows
in favourable places to a height of 40 feet, bears a rich evergreen
foliage of large oval leaves, and clusters of long, slender crimson
flowers growing at the extremity of the twigs. These flowers have
their petals concealed in the centre of the calyx opening, but the
sepals (false petals or petal-like leaves which often precede the
real petals in flowers) stick out in four projections round the
mouth of the calyx. These tubular flowers, with their four short
sepals at the ends, are in fact the cloves of commerce. They are
gathered when ripe, and are a bright crimson in colour, afterwards
turning brown or black. The nutmeg (the name is a mixture of English
and old French and means musk nut) is the fruit of a tree with the
Latin name of Myristica, which has a natural order all to itself,
_Myristicaceæ_. It is evergreen, grows to about 50 feet in height
in the Banda Islands, and bears male and female flowers without
petals, that are green in colour and inconspicuous. The female
flowers produce a quince-like downy fruit, which when mature and dry
splits and reveals inside a walnut-like nut surrounded by a network
of crimson fibre. This fibre is as precious as the actual kernel or
nut, for it is the spice known as mace, quite distinct in flavour
and use from the actual nutmeg. This last is, of course, the kernel
of the hard-shelled nut which is surrounded by the crimson fibre of
the mace, and the outer husk of the pear-like fruit.
The Portuguese--to put it vulgarly--soon knew they had got hold
of a good thing in these small islands of clove and nutmeg trees.
They established themselves more or less as the rulers of the
Moluccas, with their headquarters at Ternate. But they treated the
Malay subjects badly, and these were soon on the lookout for the
arrival of other foreigners whom they could play off against the
Portuguese. Yet for some ten years the Portuguese had no rivals in
Malaysia. Their conquests and discoveries spread far and wide. They
entered into relations with Celebes, reached the Island of Mindanao
(the southernmost of the Philippines), and even passed out into
the open Pacific, and sighted the Caroline islands of Micronesia.
They seem also to have been the first to discover the western
promontories of New Guinea, the Island of Timor, and to have had
news of a continental territory to the south--Australia--all of
which information soon afterwards reached the Spaniards, who put it
to practical use.
Among the Portuguese, who thus became acquainted with the Spice
Islands of eastern Malaysia, was Fernão de Magalhaẽs--stupidly
miscalled, in English literature, MAGELLAN. His earlier story has
already been told in a previous volume of this series.[25] Having
been very badly treated by the King of Portugal, Magellan and
several of his friends and relations passed over into the service
of the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, which were about
to become the great kingdom of Spain. It will be remembered by
the reader that, in 1494, the King of Portugal and the King and
Queen of Aragon-Castile, to avoid quarrelling about the marvellous
discoveries their adventurers were making, had concluded the Treaty
of Tordesillas under the auspices of the Pope, a treaty which
practically divided between these kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula
all the non-Christian world outside Europe and the Turkish Empire.
Their boundaries were a meridian of longitude running from pole to
pole, and cutting the globe into two divisions. The meridian was
fixed at a distance of 1110 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands,
and more or less coincident with the fiftieth degree of longitude
west of Greenwich. Consequently, in the west it gave Portugal the
Brazilian part of the South American continent; while on the other
side of the globe the corresponding meridian (130° E. of Greenwich)
cut off the Portuguese from entering into possession of all
Australasia, and afforded Spain the pretext of attempting to reach
Malaysia from the east (across the Pacific), and thus of laying
claim to the Spice Islands which might be found to lie outside the
Portuguese sphere. [As a matter of fact, when the longitude was
correctly calculated, both Philippines and Moluccas lay in the
Portuguese domain.] The great Spanish adventurer, Nuñez de Balboa,
had in 1513, "from a peak in Darien" near the isthmus of Panama,
sighted the Pacific Ocean, which the Spaniards at first called the
Southern Sea. The Portuguese realization of the wide ocean which
lay to the east of Malaysia, combined with the news that Central
America had on the western side of it an ocean at least as vast as
the Atlantic, decided Magellan to propose to the new ruler of Spain,
the Emperor Charles V, the great project of finding a way round--or
a strait through--South America, and the complete fulfilment of the
original plan of Columbus--the reaching of the Indies by a western
route across the Atlantic. His proposals were accepted, and he was
given, in 1518, command over a little fleet of five ships,[26]
the largest of which (the _San Antonio_) was only 120 tons in
capacity and the smallest 75 tons. He left Spain on September 21,
1519, to search for this passage round or through South America
to the Southern Sea. His expedition included 190 Spaniards, and a
number of Portuguese, Genoese, and other Italians--including the
famous Lombard geographer of those days, ANTONIO PIGAFETTA--several
Frenchmen and Flemings, one Englishman (named Andres, a gunner from
Bristol), and one or two German gunners or artillerymen. The first
account given to the world of this first-recorded circumnavigation
of the globe was written by the accomplished Antonio Pigafetta, who
accompanied Magellan from mere love of knowledge, and was one of the
few who actually returned to Spain after voyaging right round the
world.
[25] _Pioneers in India, &c._
[26] The _San Antonio_ (which deserted the expedition in South
America), the _Trinidad_ (after a fruitless voyage out into the
Pacific and back to the Moluccas, seized and dismantled by the
Portuguese), the _Santiago_ (lost on the coast of Patagonia), the
_Conception_ (broken up in the Philippines), and the _Victoria_,
which ultimately returned to Seville in 1522.
Magellan explored the east coast of South America for an opening
which should lead into the other sea. At first he thought he had
found it in the estuary of the Rio de la Plata, but as soon as he
noticed the water was fresh he continued southward along the coast
of Patagonia, spending five months in that region to rest ships
and men, and quelling a dangerous mutiny, till at last he found a
likely opening between the mountains of Patagonia and the snowclad
peaks of Tierra del Fuego. He had already lost the smallest of his
ships on the Patagonian coast, and in the Straits of Magellan the
_San Antonio_ deserted and sailed back to Spain; but the crews of
the others remained faithful to Magellan after their captains had
taken anxious counsel together. At length these three little vessels
rounded "Cape Deseado"--the desired Cape--and found themselves
within sight of a mighty ocean at the end of November, 1520; an
ocean which seemed so calm after the stormy Atlantic that Magellan
called it the "Pacific Sea".
After emerging into the Pacific Ocean, Magellan's three ships
voyaged for ninety-six days without stopping at any land, and the
crews went for no days (from the Straits of Magellan to the Ladrone
Islands) without getting any kind of fresh food. "We ate", wrote
Antonio Pigafetta, "biscuit which was no longer biscuit, but powder
of biscuits swarming with worms and stinking terribly because it
had been befouled by rats. We drank yellow water which had been
putrid for many days. We also ate ox hides that covered the top of
the mainyard to prevent the mast from chafing the shrouds, which
had become exceedingly hard because of its exposure to sun, rain,
and wind. These pieces of hide were soaked in sea water for four
or five days and then placed for a few minutes on top of glowing
charcoal and afterwards eaten." But in their hunger the men often
ate sawdust, and as to the rats that were caught, they were sold
at a high price. Scurvy soon broke out, and the gums of the men's
jaws swelled so that some could not eat at all, and therefore died
of starvation--nineteen in all, amongst them a giant Patagonian
captured in South America to be carried back to Spain. And thus they
sailed some 12,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean. "Truly it was
very pacific," wrote Pigafetta, "for during that time we suffered
no storm. We saw no land except two desert islands on which were
found nothing but birds and trees." The water round them swarmed
with sharks. But that they were favoured with such good weather,
and sailed a steady 180 to 210 miles a day, they "would all have
died of hunger in that exceeding vast sea". But Magellan held on
with a tenacity which leaves Columbus behind in resolution, for
Columbus reached land on his first voyage after only thirty-six days
of anxious expectancy, whereas it was the ninety-seventh day of
Magellan's long agony before a land was reached which was likely to
be of use as a place of refreshment.
They noted that the skies in this Southern Hemisphere were not so
full of stars as in the North, but they also observed the splendid
Southern Cross with five bright stars pointing straight towards the
west. They passed not far from the Marquezas Islands. Apparently
the only land they sighted on their way across the Pacific, except
the small islands frequented by birds, was St. Paul Island, of the
Paumotu group, and perhaps Malden Island. Magellan's voyage, amongst
other things, was remarkable for what he missed quite as much as for
what he attained. It is wonderful to think that he sailed across the
Pacific from the coast of Chili to Guam, which is well within the
Asiatic region, and only sighted land four times, and then only in
the form of small and desert islands. His chiefest desire, however,
was to get out of stormy latitudes into the peaceful equatorial
belt, and to reach as quickly as possible the comparative security
of the known, not liking to trust the fate of his crews to unknown
lands which might be without good supplies of fresh water and
food, and be peopled by savages incapable of understanding them.
For it must be remembered that his previous experience had given
him a great deal of insight into the islands of Malaysia, and he
had managed to obtain from Sumatra before he started on this great
voyage an interpreter named Henrique, who spoke Malay as his native
tongue.
On the 6th March, 1521, the Spaniards sighted three islands, of
which one was higher and larger than the other two. Off this the
next day they came to a stop. It was afterwards known as the Island
of Guam. The inhabitants, without any fear, boarded the ships and
stole whatever they could lay their hands on, even wrenching off
and carrying away the small boat that was fastened to the poop of
the flagship. Thereupon Magellan in great anger went ashore with
forty armed men, burnt many houses and canoes, and killed seven
of the natives. He recovered his small boat and the expedition
immediately sailed away. Yet so terrible was the craving for fresh
food on board that when the sick men, dying of scurvy, realized that
the armed party were going on shore, they begged them to bring back
the entrails of any man or woman they might kill, the eating of
which these poor mad sailors believed would restore them to health!
It is noteworthy that the Spaniards when they landed fought with
crossbows and arrows, which were in those days much more effective
weapons than the guns of the period. The Micronesian people they met
on the Island of Guam they described as going naked, many of the men
being bearded and having black hair that reached to the waist. They
wore small palm-leaf hats, were as tall as the Spaniards, well-built
and of tawny skin, with teeth turned red and black by the chewing
of betel. The women, who were good-looking, delicately formed, and
much lighter in complexion than the men, had black hair which was
worn loose and reached almost to the ground. The women did not work
in the fields but stayed at home, weaving mats and baskets from
palm leaves. The mats were beautifully made and used to decorate
the walls and the floors of their houses. They slept on palm straw,
which was soft and fine. Their houses were built of planks and
thatched with banana fronds. The food of the people was chiefly
coconuts, sweet potatoes, fowls, bananas (really long plantains 1
foot in length), sugar cane, and flying-fish. The chief amusement
of both men and women was to plough the seas with their small boats,
which were usually painted black, white, or red. Pigafetta describes
the outriggers, and says the sails were made of palm leaves.[27]
Having no fixed rudder, but only using a long paddle for such a
purpose, and the boats being sharp at both ends, they could be sent
backwards or forwards without turning round.[28]
[27] Magellan first gave to the Ladrone Islands the name of Islands
of Sails, on account of the many vessels with sails which he
observed in that neighbourhood, showing how firmly established among
the Polynesians and Micronesians was the use of the sail in their
navigation, a fact which explains the success of their voyages over
enormous sea distances.
[28] They were similar to the prahus or praus of Malaysia, which
did not turn round, but sailed backwards and forwards, the sharp
stem being exactly like the sharp stern. Most of the prahus had
outriggers, and in all the leeside of the vessel was flat and
perpendicular while the weatherside was rounded. The mast carried a
large triangular-shaped sail.
At dawn on 16 March, 1521, the expedition sighted high land. This
was the Island of Samar, on the eastern side of the Philippine
archipelago.
Magellan's first thought was for his sick men, and to give them
some chance of recovering he landed them on an uninhabited islet,
put up tents there, and had a pig killed to provide fresh meat. Two
days afterwards they saw a boat coming towards them and nine men
in it. These were very different from the wild-natured barbarians
of Guam. They were evidently familiar with the idea of white men
and white men's ships, being of course Malays. They were described
by Pigafetta as "reasonable men". Presents were exchanged, the
Spaniards giving red caps, mirrors, combs, bells, ivory, and cotton
cloths of Turkish manufacture. The Philippine Islanders offered
fish, a jar of palm wine, a few coconuts, and bunches of long
bananas. They promised further supplies of fresh food in a few days,
but in the meantime the coconuts seemed to the Spaniards perfectly
delicious, and Pigafetta wrote a long description of the tree and
its many useful products, and of the nuts with their rich pulp and
pleasant-tasting milk.
The name of St. Lazarus, because of the saint's day on which
they were first discovered, was given to the islands of this
archipelago.[29] The people encountered in the coast regions of
these western and southern Philippine Islands do not seem to have
been negritos or little negroes like those of the great Island of
Luzon, but all more or less of the Malayan-Mongolian stock. They had
very black straight hair which fell to the waist; went nearly naked
except for cloths round the waist--but some of these cloths were
beautifully embroidered; and in the waistbelt the men thrust large
daggers ornamented with gold.
[29] They were not called the Philippines until 1543, or thereabouts.
The expedition passed on between the islands of Samar, Leyte, and
Mindanao, and came to anchor off a small island named Masawa, now
not easily identified, but apparently between Leyte and Bohol,
arriving there on 7 April. The ruler of this islet, whom they
referred to as "the king", received them with some wonderment but
great friendliness, and expressed a wish to enter into brotherhood
with Magellan. The king understood the Malay spoken by the
interpreter on board, for, says Pigafetta, the kings of these
districts knew more languages than the common people. He presented
Magellan with a basketful of ginger and a large bar of gold, which
for some reason or other the great Portuguese would not accept.
The next day, Good Friday, the king came on board Magellan's ship,
embraced him, and gave him three porcelain jars full of raw rice,
two very large fish, and other things. He received in exchange a
Turkish dress and a fine red cap, while to his courtiers were given
knives and mirrors. The king and Magellan made brotherhood together.
In order to impress him, Magellan had one of his men put into
complete armour, and then placed this man in a group of three men
armed with swords and daggers, who forthwith struck him in all parts
of his body, but of course did him no harm; "thereby the king was
rendered almost speechless". Magellan went on to impress the monarch
with the fact that one of these armed men was worth a hundred naked
savages, and as there were 200 men in the ships armed with this
steel armour from head to foot, the expedition was invincible.
Magellan, and amongst other people Pigafetta, went on shore to
return the visit. They were received by the king on the stern deck
of a very large prau or native vessel[30] (about 70 feet long).
Here pork was brought to them, together with jars filled with palm
wine. Although it was Good Friday, they were obliged to sink their
religious scruples and feast with the king. Pigafetta then applied
himself to writing down a vocabulary in their language, with which
feat the natives were greatly astonished. Later on, when it was time
for the evening meal, two large porcelain dishes were brought, one
containing rice and the other pork and gravy. After this meal was
consumed the party of Europeans went to the king's palace, which was
raised up high from the ground on huge posts of wood, so that it
was necessary to ascend to it by means of ladders. There more food
was brought, a roast fish cut in pieces and freshly gathered ginger
and palm wine. As it grew dark, lights were furnished, a kind of
candle made of resin wrapped in palm or banana leaves. All the party
went to sleep where they were, and when day dawned Pigafetta and the
Spaniards returned to the ship.
[30] See p. 97.
He relates that pieces of gold of the size of walnuts and eggs were
found by sifting the earth in the island of Masawa. All the dishes
of the king were of gold, and also some part of his furniture. The
king is described as being a fine-looking man, with glossy black
hair hanging down to his shoulders, a covering of silk on his head,
two large golden ear-rings, and a cotton cloth embroidered with
silk covering him from the waist to the knees. At his side hung
a dagger, the haft of which was of gold. Moreover, this king had
anticipated American fashions, and had three plugs of gold let into
each front tooth, while gold seems also to have been rammed in
between the teeth. He was perfumed with storax and benzoin, and his
skin was tatued all over. A brother king was apparently chief of the
northern part of the great Island of Mindanao, lying to the south.
On Easter Sunday Magellan decided to land with his chaplain and
have Mass celebrated on shore. He came with fifty men unarmed and
dressed in their best clothes. The two kings of Masawa and Mindanao
embraced Magellan and were placed with him in the procession.
Before the commencement of Mass Magellan sprinkled their bodies
with musk water. Apparently at that time all these Malay people of
the eastern Philippines were pagans, and had not been converted to
Muhammadanism.[31] They were favourably impressed with their first
experience of Christianity, and eagerly took part in the service
of the mass. They exactly imitated all the Spaniards did, kissing
the cross and remaining on their knees with clasped hands at the
elevation of the Host.
[31] They told Magellan that they worshipped nothing, but that they
believed in a god called Abba, who lived in the sky, and to him they
raised their faces and their clasped hands when anxious to appeal to
him.
When Mass was over, Magellan arranged a fencing tournament, at which
the kings were greatly pleased.
Magellan, becoming very friendly with the King of Masawa, asked if
he had any enemies whom he wished to be destroyed. The king replied
that there was indeed one island hostile to his rule.
After a cruise round the islands in the centre of the
archipelago--in the course of which they killed a very large
fruit-bat, "as big as an eagle", and ate it, finding it to resemble
chicken in taste; and also observed the mound-building megapodes
(see p. 30)--they reached the important Island of Sebu or Zubu
(Cebu). Here the king of the island asked them to pay tribute,
and pointed out a ship which had just arrived from Siam to fetch
gold and slaves, but which had paid tribute or customs duties to
him. But Magellan, through his interpreter, caused the king to be
told that he was the captain of so great a monarch that he did not
pay tribute to any other prince in the world; that if he wished
peace he could have peace, but that otherwise the Spaniards were
quite ready for war. The interpreter went on to point out that the
employer of Magellan was the great Emperor of the Christians and
the King of Spain, a much more powerful monarch than the King of
Portugal, though this last had conquered all the coast of India.
After consideration, the king decided to make blood brotherhood with
Magellan, and even desired to know if he should pay tribute to the
Spaniards. Magellan replied, No; it was sufficient that he should
give them liberty to trade. Magellan, in his conversations with
the notabilities, impressed on them the importance of the Christian
religion, promising them if they became Christians they would have
perpetual peace with the King of Spain.
Pigafetta accompanied Magellan and his party on shore to visit
the King of Sebu. They found this prince in his palace surrounded
by many people. He was seated on a palm mat on the ground, an
embroidered scarf round his head, and nothing but a cotton cloth
about his waist, in order, no doubt, that his elaborately tatued
skin might be duly exhibited. He wore, however, a necklace of great
value and two large gold ear-rings set with precious stones. In
person he was fat and short. At the time the visit took place he was
eating turtles' eggs out of porcelain dishes, and had four jars full
of palm wine in front of him, covered with sweet-smelling herbs and
arranged each with a small reed in the jar, through which he sucked
up the palm wine. The Spaniards, whilst joining him in his feast
of turtles' eggs and palm wine, renewed their exhortations to him
to adopt the Christian religion. He put the question aside for the
time whilst he treated them to a concert at which four young girls
played on instruments like gongs, "so harmoniously that one would
believe they possessed a good musical sense". They were nearly as
white skinned as Europeans, and as beautiful, with long black hair.
The gongs were made of brass, and apparently came from China. They
were, in fact, very like the musical dinner gongs from Japan so much
in vogue at the present day.
The king decided to adopt Christianity as his religion, but he
complained that some of his chiefs did not wish to follow his
example. However, they yielded apparently to Magellan's arguments
and agreed to the setting up of a cross. On 14 April, at a
ceremonial arranged with great splendour by the Spaniards, the King
of Sebu was baptized and given the name of Don Carlos, after the
Emperor Charles V. The heir apparent was called Don Fernando, the
friendly King of Masawa was named Juan, and all the leading chiefs
and notabilities, to the number of 500, were similarly baptized and
given Christian names. In the evening the chaplain of the fleet went
ashore and baptized the queen[32] and forty of her women. In all,
the Spaniards baptized 800 Filipinos. One village on an islet, which
refused baptism for its people, was burnt to the ground.
[32] The queen was young and beautiful, and entirely covered with a
white and black cloth. Her mouth and nails were stained very red,
while on her head she wore a large hat of palm leaves, like a tiara.
On the following day the queen came with great pomp to hear Mass.
Three girls preceded her, carrying other specimens of her tiara hats
in their hands. The women who accompanied her were nearly naked, the
queen herself being again dressed in black and white, with a large
silk scarf crossed with gold stripes. Having made due reverence to
the altar she seated herself on a silk embroidered cushion. Magellan
then arose, and before the commencement of the Mass sprayed her and
her women with rose-water.
In spite of the natives telling Magellan at first that they
worshipped nothing but a god in the sky, they seem to have had a
number of fetishes to which they paid reverence, especially when
pleading for recovery from sickness. These idols were mostly made
of wood, were hollow, and were probably representations of wild
boars. Magellan incited the people to the destruction of their
idols in order that their conversion to Christianity might be better
affirmed. This they did, crying out: "Castilla, Castilla!" as they
threw the idols and the meat consecrated to them into the flames.
The islet on which a village had been burnt as punishment for
its refusing Christianity was called Maktan, and towards the end
of April the chief of Maktan sent messengers to Magellan with a
present of two goats, and a request that he would send soldiers to
assist him in fighting another chief on the islet who had refused
allegiance to the King of Spain. Magellan decided to go himself with
three boatloads of soldiers. Many of his officers entreated him not
to take such a risk, but he persisted, and reached Maktan three
hours before dawn with sixty armed men. He then sent messengers to
the refractory chief, calling on him to recognize the King of Sebu
as his immediate sovereign, and to give in his allegiance to the
Crown of Spain and pay the Spaniards tribute. The natives sent back
a warlike message. The Spaniards advanced, but found the people had
dug pit-holes before their houses in order that they might fall
into them. In the village the Spaniards were attacked by about
1500 people, who charged down on them with shouts and cries. The
musketeers and the crossbowmen discharged their pieces with little
effect on natives who leapt hither and thither incessantly, and
covered themselves nimbly with their shields, while at the same
time they shot so many arrows and iron-tipped bamboo spears at the
Spaniards (besides pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones, and
mud) that Magellan and his sixty soldiers despite their armour were
overwhelmed. Eight of the soldiers were killed, and Magellan was
shot in the leg with a poisoned arrow. [The steel armour of which
Magellan boasted seems to have been of little avail.] The order to
retreat was given, and as the small party waded back through the
water to the boats Magellan was killed by the impetuous assault of
the natives, who hurled themselves upon him and practically cut
him to pieces. He fought long for his life, and ever and again
turned his face seaward, to assure himself that his men were safely
retreating to their boats. Some of the Spaniards, it is true, stayed
to see what was happening to their captain, but their defence of him
seems to have been half-hearted, and as soon as he was down they
made the best of their way to the boats.
The King of Sebu is said to have wept on hearing of the death of
Magellan (on 27 April, 1521). Nevertheless, this death changed very
considerably the attitude of the king and his chiefs towards the
Spaniards. It was now realized that the armoured Europeans were
mortal like the Filipinos, and could be killed in battle. Therefore
a plot was laid to get rid of them altogether, a plot apparently
instigated by the Sumatra interpreter already referred to, who was
a slave and wished to regain his liberty. By means of fair words,
invitations to a banquet, and promises of a present of jewels for
the King of Spain, the King of Sebu lured on shore twenty-four
Spaniards, including "an astrologer" and the commanders of three
of the ships.[33] Pigafetta, fortunately for our records of this
voyage, could not go, as he was suffering from the wound of a
poisoned arrow in his face. The Spaniards, soon after they landed,
were set upon by the natives, and all of them killed except the
Malay interpreter. One commander, Juan Serrano, was seen running
down to the beach nearly naked and wounded, and crying out to the
Spaniards not to fire any more, as he too would be killed. He then
told them how the others had been massacred, and begged that he
might be redeemed with merchandise. He made a special appeal to his
boon companion, the pilot Joam Carvalho, but the latter would not
run the risk of sending any boat on shore, and poor Serrano was
left weeping on the strand and probably soon shared the fate of his
companions.
[33] One of these was the celebrated Duarte Barbosa, commander of
the _Trinidad_, whose book on his travels in India and Further India
is much quoted by me in _Pioneers in India_, &c.
Off one of the islands near Sebu the survivors of Magellan's
expedition decided to burn the ship _Concepcion_, as too few men
were left to work it. There then remained 115 men for the working
of the two remaining ships of the squadron, the _Trinidad_ and
the _Victoria_. These two vessels forthwith sailed to the Island
of Panglao (off Bohol) where they noticed that the natives were
black-skinned and like negroes. Thence they passed to the large
southern island of Mindanao, whose principal chief at once made
friends with them. The abundance of gold in the possession of the
natives of Mindanao was duly noted. From Mindanao the expedition
sailed to the little Kagayan islands in the Sulu Sea, where the
people had blowpipes with tiny poisoned arrows, daggers with their
hafts adorned with gold and precious stones, and wore armour made
of buffalo hide. They were more or less Muhammadans, but called
the Spaniards "holy beings". The two ships next visited the long
island of Palawan, which seemed to their crews the Land of Promise,
because they had suffered great hunger before they found it, and
were even on the point of abandoning their ships and going on shore
that they might not be consumed with famine. Fortunately the king of
this country made peace with them quickly. After slashing himself
slightly in the breast with a Spanish knife, and touching the tip
of his tongue with it in token of truest peace, he invited them
to do the same. His people went naked, but they cultivated the
fields carefully. They were well armed with blowpipes and thick
wooden arrows tipped with fish bones and bamboo, and poisoned. They
possessed very remarkable poultry, large and very tame, which were
regarded with such veneration that they were seldom eaten, the cocks
being kept for fighting with one another. These Palawan people
distilled a wine or spirit from rice, which was very strong. They
possessed goats and pigs as well as fowls, and grew quantities of
rice, ginger, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, and different
kinds of edible roots. Passing from Palawan to the coast of North
Borneo, and stopping off the town of Brunei, the expedition was
greeted at one place by a chief who sent to meet the Spanish ships
a very beautiful prau, the bow and stern of which were illuminated
with gold, while it hoisted a white and blue banner surmounted
with peacocks' feathers. This prau contained a band of musicians
and eight old men who were chiefs. These came on board the Spanish
ships and took seats on a carpet, presenting the Spaniards with
a painted wooden jar full of betel paste, jasmine, and orange
blossoms, a covering of yellow silk cloth, two cages full of fowls,
a couple of goats, three jars of arrack (rice spirit), and bundles
of sugar cane. They gave some presents to the other ships, and,
after embracing the Spaniards, took their leave. Six days later the
king of this district sent three more praus with great pomp, which
encircled the ships whilst bands of music were played and drums
beaten. Amongst the food given to the Spaniards were "tarts made of
eggs and honey". The king and queen of this region--the sultanate
of Brunei--were sent green velvet robes, violet velvet chairs, a
good many yards of red cloth, writing-books of paper and a gilded
writing-case, needlecases, drinking-glasses, and caps.
The Spaniards, being invited to land, dispatched a party on shore,
who found elephants awaiting them, on which they rode to the house
of the governor of the port, where they slept on beds with cotton
mattresses and cotton sheets, and had an excellent supper. The next
day elephants were supplied to bring them to the king's palace,
where they found 300 foot soldiers with naked swords guarding the
king. A brocade curtain was drawn aside from a large window, and
through it they could see the Sultan of Brunei seated at a table
chewing betel. They were told they could not speak to the king, but
they could send their message through his courtiers. One of these
would communicate it to the brother of the governor, and this man
would send it by means of a speaking-tube through a hole in the wall
to another official who was in the king's chamber. They were taught
to make three obeisances to the king with their hands clasped above
their heads, raising first one foot and then the other, and then
kissing their hands towards him.
The king was graciously pleased from a distance to reply to their
greetings, that since the King of Spain desired to be his friend
he was willing that they should have food and water and permission
to trade. After they had returned to the governor's house nine
men arrived from the king carrying a splendid repast on large
wooden trays. Each tray contained ten or twelve porcelain dishes
full of veal, chickens, peacocks, and fish, in all thirty-two
different kinds of meat, besides fish and vegetables. After each
mouthful of food the visitors drank a small cupful of rice spirit
and ate sweetmeats with gold spoons. During the night their
sleeping quarters were lit with torches of white wax in tall silver
candlesticks, and also with oil lamps, each containing four wicks.
Two men sat by each lamp to snuff it continually during the night.
They were sent back the next morning on elephants to the seashore,
while native vessels conveyed them back to the ship.
The town of Brunei (now a miserable place) was a water city like
Venice, the houses being raised on poles rammed into the mud. The
king was a Muhammadan, and, as can be seen, his state enjoyed a very
large measure of Eastern civilization, derived from traffic with the
Arabs, from ancient Indian influence, and from direct trade with
China.
A few days later, however, the Spaniards took fright at the approach
of a fleet of a hundred praus, cut their cables and hoisted their
sails. They were pursued by one or two of the native boats, but they
soon beat these off with their guns. In attacking these vessels
they captured a number of prisoners, some of whom they released;
retaining, however, nineteen Malays (three of them women) for the
purpose of taking them to Spain.[34]
[34] Some of these (including the women) were set free in the
Moluccas, others died on the voyage, but a few actually did reach
Seville, and with one exception, after being carefully instructed
in Christianity and the Spanish language, were sent back to the
Philippines in 1527. The exception was a Malay who showed himself
so extraordinarily clever about money matters and trade that the
Spaniards feared if he returned to the Far East he might be a little
too knowing in appraising the value of European trade goods. So he
apparently ended his days in Spain.
As to the Malay junks or ships with which they had now come into
contact, Pigafetta writes an interesting description. The hull of
the vessel was built of planks fastened together with wooden pegs,
the carpentry being very clever and neat; but at a height of about
15 inches above the water level the construction was continued with
large bamboos. The masts were of bamboo and the sails were of bark
cloth, or palm-leaf matting.
North Borneo, like the Philippines, had long been semi-civilized by
intercourse with China. All well-to-do people possessed porcelain
dishes and cups, and the Muhammadan Malays used bronze money
impressed with Chinese characters. The Bornean Malays had a curious
habit of taking small doses of mercury (quicksilver), not only
to cure illnesses, but in the belief that it prevented sickness
by purging the body. Pigafetta also relates that the Sultan of
Brunei possessed two pearls as large as hens' eggs, so round,
however, that they would not stand still on a table. These pearls
came from the south-western islands of the Philippine archipelago.
They had belonged to the king of the principal island of the Sulu
archipelago, whose daughter had married the Sultan of Brunei, and
had unwisely boasted of her father's pearls as big as hens' eggs.
Her husband determined to get possession of them, by force if
necessary, so had assembled a fleet of 500 praus (or, as another
variant of the story puts it, 50), and sailing by night he surprised
the King of Zolo, or Sulu, and two of his sons, and carried them
off to Brunei, where he held them as captives until the pearls were
delivered to him.
Pigafetta realized the immense size of the Island of Borneo--the
second largest island in the world, only New Guinea being of greater
area if Australia be considered a continent--he was informed that
it took three months to sail round it in a Malay prau. It was a
region that produced camphor,[35] cinnamon, ginger, myrobalans,[35]
oranges, lemons, water-melons, cucumbers, gourds, and many other
vegetables and fruits; buffaloes, oxen, swine, goats, fowls, geese
(derived from China), deer, elephants, and horses.
[35] The camphor of Malaysia is a crystalline secretion found in
the crevices of the bark of a magnificent tree, the _Dryobalanops
aromatica_. The camphor more commonly met with in commerce is
derived from the bark of a kind of laurel growing in Japan and
Formosa. Myrobalans are the fruit of a tall _Terminalia_ tree of
the _Combretaceæ_ family. They are plum-like in appearance and very
astringent. The kernels are eaten, but the rind is used for making
ink and very dark dyes.
After leaving Brunei the two ships directed their course towards
the Sulu archipelago, which lies between North Borneo and Mindanao.
They seem to have made little scruple of behaving like pirates
towards any Malay prau which could not offer much resistance. In
this way they captured a vessel full of coconuts, which was a great
resource to them in the way of food. They found a perfect port
for repairing ships in Bungei, one of the Sulu Islands. Here they
stayed for forty-two days, everyone labouring hard, their greatest
fatigue, however, being the journey backwards and forwards to the
forest barefoot (probably because their shoes were worn out) to hew
timber for the ship's needs. On the island of Bungei they found
many wild boars (of the species _Sus longirostris_), with very long
heads 2½ feet in length, and with big tusks. There were also huge
crocodiles, and on the seashore immense Tridacna clam shells, the
actual flesh of one of these clams (a clam is something like an
oyster) weighing as much as 44 pounds. Here also they observed the
marvellous leaf-insects, which Pigafetta not unnaturally imagined to
be a miracle of nature, leaves which became alive and walked about
when they fell to the ground. He kept one of these in a box for nine
days, and at the end of that time the leaf-insect was still active,
though no doubt it soon died, since he believed it fed on nothing
but air.[36]
[36] These were no doubt examples of the genus _Phyllum_, insects
of the _Phasmidæ_ family (allied to Mantises). The resemblance to
leaves in the _Phylli_ is extraordinary, especially in the female
insect, even the egg capsules are just like seeds.
Stopping off the coast of the large island of Mindanao, the
southernmost part of the Philippines, they again captured a Malay
vessel (killing several of its seamen) apparently only for the
purpose of getting information about the right course to pursue in
order to reach the Spice Islands. From these captives they obtained,
besides other information, the story that in the southern parts of
Mindanao existed a race of _hairy_ men who were fierce fighters and
used bows and arrows with great effect. They also possessed swords
or daggers, and when they were successful in battle they cut out the
hearts of their slain enemies and ate them raw, seasoned with the
juice of oranges or lemons. These hairy people were called Benaian.
Sailing away from Mindanao the two Spanish ships encountered a
furious storm, and in their terror the crews lowered all the sails
and offered up fervent prayers to God for their safety. "Immediately
our three patron saints of San Nicolau, San Elmo, and Sta. Clara
appeared to us like torches of light on the maintop, mizentop, and
foretop.[37] We promised a slave each to St. Elmo, San Nicolau, and
Sta. Clara, and offered alms to each saint." After this the storm
abated and the ship found a welcome refuge in a harbour, where again
they captured forcibly Malay seamen to show them the way to the
Molucca Islands.
[37] The appearances, of course, were nothing but the displays of
electricity which in violent storms show themselves like white
globes of flame or torches in the upper parts of the masts and
rigging, and are known generally as "corposants" or St. Elmo's Fires.
At last, on 8 November, 1521, they reached the five islands known
as Maluk or Molucca, and on that date came to an anchor in a
harbour of Tidore, where they fired a tremendous salute with their
artillery. The next day the king of the island--evidently well used
to Europeans and their ways--came off in a prau, and a deputation of
Spaniards went in a small boat to meet him. They found him seated
under a silk awning which sheltered him on all sides, and in front
of him squatted one of his sons holding the royal sceptre, and on
either side were persons with jars ready to pour water over his
hands, while two others held gilded caskets filled with betel paste.
The king bade the white men welcome, and said that he had dreamt
some time ago that ships were coming to the Molucca Islands from
remote parts, and from that assurance he determined to consult the
moon, whereupon he had seen the ships coming. He then came on board;
all kissed his hand and led him to the stern, where he was honoured
with a red velvet chair and given a yellow velvet robe made after
the Turkish fashion. The king professed his desire to become the
most loyal friend and vassal of the King of Spain, and declared that
henceforth his island would no more be called "Tadore" (or Tidore),
but Castilla, because of the great love which he bore to the mighty
sovereign of Spain.
This Malay chief of Tidore was a Muhammadan, about forty-five years
old, well built, of royal presence, and much skilled in astrology.
He was clad in a shirt of delicate white muslin, the ends of the
sleeves embroidered in gold. Round his waist, and reaching to the
ground, was a coloured cloth, while a silk scarf was wrapped round
his head, and above it was placed a garland of flowers. He asked
for a royal banner and a signature of Charles V, and he would then
place his dominions, which included the Island of Ternate, under the
direction of Spain. He would also load up the ships with cloves, so
that they might return to Spain with good commerce.
Eight months previously a notable personage had died in the Island
of Ternate, poisoned by the orders of this same King of Tidore.
He was a Portuguese, Francesco Serr[~ao], who had been, curiously
enough, a most intimate friend of Magellan, and who was apparently
the brother of the Jo[~ao] Serr[~ao], or Juan Serrano, the commander
of the _Concepcion_, who had been left behind and perhaps killed at
Sebu. Francesco Serr[~ao] had been sent as captain of a Portuguese
ship to the Moluccas in 1511, and had remained in those islands
partly on account of disasters having happened to his ship. In
course of time he became a very great man, and the Prime Minister,
so to speak, of the King of Ternate. He had married a woman from
the Island of Java. It was he who had strongly incited Magellan
to attempt to reach the Moluccas by way of South America and the
Pacific. But Serrano, having excited great jealousy by his powerful
influence over the King of Ternate, was poisoned by this same
King of Tidore, now so friendly towards the _Trinidad_ and the
_Victoria_; and soon afterwards the King of Ternate was likewise
got rid of by means of poison, and so the monarch of Tidore was the
chief person then in the archipelago of the Moluccas.
Whilst remaining at Tidore to load up with cloves, Pigafetta
collected some information about the large island of Jilolo lying to
the east.[38] He describes it as being inhabited both by Muhammadan
Malays (on the coast) and by Papuan heathens (in the interior), and
says it was very rich in gold, and that it grew enormous bamboos
as thick round as a man's thigh, the segments of which were often
filled with water that was very good to drink.
[38] He pronounced the name Jailolo. This large island, which in
shape is an extraordinary repetition on a smaller scale of the still
larger Celebes, is also known as Halmahera.
When the King of Tidore heard of their piracies, and of the number
of Malay seamen they had captured, he dealt with the question
humanely and diplomatically, suggesting that all these prisoners
should be returned by him to their island homes, where they could
make known the greatness and splendour of the kingdom of Spain.
This the Spaniards consented to do, reserving only the people from
Brunei, who, as already related, were brought to Seville. As the
king was a very zealous Muhammadan, they also killed all the swine
on board to please him, and he in return gave them a large number
of goats and fowls, besides quantities of vegetable food, including
sago derived from the sago palm, which was the principal nourishment
of these Molucca Malays.
In the Island of Ternate there arrived presently a Portuguese in a
Malay prau, who gave them very interesting information derived from
the visit a year previously of a Portuguese ship. The survivors
of Magellan's expedition learnt then that the main facts of their
voyage had become known to the King of Portugal some time after
their departure, and that ships had been sent to the Cape of Good
Hope and to other places to prevent their passage. When it was
learnt that they had rounded South America and made their way across
the Pacific, an attempt was made to dispatch a Portuguese fleet of
six ships to the Molucca Islands to capture Magellan's expedition.
But this fleet was prevented from accomplishing its purpose through
its being detained in the Red Sea by the necessity of fighting a
Turkish fleet.
Whilst the two ships stayed at Tidore many festivities took place
in connection with the visits of chiefs or kings of the other
Molucca Islands. These Malay princes came in their praus, some of
which had three tiers of rowers on each side, in all 120 rowers,
and they hoisted great banners made of white, yellow, and red
parrot feathers. Gongs of bronze and brass were sounded and timed
to the rowers' actions. Sometimes the praus would be filled with
young girls, female slaves (though not feeling any of the misery
of slavery), who were to be presented as household servants to
the daughters of chiefs betrothed to this and that heir apparent.
The kings of the islands sat on rich carpets, no doubt received
by indirect trade from Persia. They wore cloths of gold and silk
manufactured in China, and the women were clad in beautiful silk
garments from the waist to the knees. They brought with them,
amongst other presents for the King of Spain, "two extremely
beautiful dead birds". These were as large as thrushes, with a
small head and a long beak. They were of a tawny colour, but with
beautiful long plumes of a different tint.[39] The natives who
brought them called them the Birds of God, and said that they came
from the terrestrial Paradise. This was probably the first mention
in our European literature of Birds of Paradise.
[39] They may have been the Standard-bearer Paradise Bird
(_Semioptera_), from the Island of Jilolo, which is fawn colour,
with blue and emerald gorget, and large waving plume feathers rising
up from the quills of the wings.
At last the ships were ready to go, in December, 1521. JUAN DEL CANO
(or de Elcano, as it is sometimes written), an officer hitherto
scarcely mentioned, had been elected captain of the _Victoria_, and
the command of the _Trinidad_ had been given to Espinosa, replacing
Carvalho, the pilot, who had behaved very badly in regard to the
captured natives as well as towards the members of the expedition.
[It was Carvalho who refused to stay and ransom poor Juan Serrano.]
The _Victoria_ set sail on her way towards Timor and the Indian
Ocean, when her cruise was suddenly stopped by the news that her
consort the _Trinidad_ had suddenly developed a dangerous leak.
They found the water rushing in as through a pipe, and pumping was
useless. The kindly King of Tidore sent down divers, who remained
more than half an hour under water, endeavouring to find the leak.
Some of these even remained an hour under water (this no doubt
was a great exaggeration), and, by wearing their long hair loose,
attempted to find the leak by letting it be drawn by the suction
of the water towards the place. But it was decided at last that
the _Victoria_ should start for Spain and the _Trinidad_ remain
behind for repairs.[40] The _Victoria_ therefore left with a crew of
forty-seven Europeans and thirteen Malays, chiefly from Borneo.
[40] Fifty-three Spaniards remained behind in Tidore with the
_Trinidad_, but of these only five returned to Europe. These
five included the captain, Gomez Espinosa, already mentioned,
and a German gunner, Hans Warge. Many of the Spaniards died in
Tidore from various diseases or were killed in quarrels with the
natives. The _Trinidad_ attempted to sail for Spain back across the
Pacific Ocean, but pursued a northern route which took her to the
forty-second degree of north latitude, whence she was driven back
by storms to some island near New Guinea. Here she was found by the
Portuguese, who stripped and abandoned her, conveying the survivors
of her crew as prisoners to the Moluccas, where they were treated
with considerable harshness.
The _Victoria_ on her way to Timor passed the Shulla Islands
(Xulla), and heard from their Malay pilots that the inhabitants were
naked cannibals. In other islands there were pigmies (negritos);
others, again, were more civilized, producing rice, pigs, goats,
fowls, sugar cane, and a delicious food made of bananas, almonds,
and honey, wrapped in leaves and smoke-dried, then cut into long
pieces. Buru Island was noted (though they did not land there) as
inhabited by Muhammadan Malays on the coast and cannibal savages in
the interior; also the Banda Islands, producing mace and nutmeg.
After leaving the vicinity of Buru the _Victoria_ encountered a
fierce storm, which drove them to seek refuge in a harbour of a
lofty island[41] which was inhabited by savage, bestial people,
eating human flesh and going naked, except that their warriors wore
armour made of buffalo hide and goatskins. They dressed their hair
(like the New Zealanders) high up on the head, held in position by
long reed pins, which they passed from one side to the other. Their
beards were wrapped in leaves and thrust into small bamboo tubes.
They were the ugliest people Pigafetta had seen, and were armed with
bows and arrows of bamboo. Nevertheless they behaved in a friendly
way to these Spaniards and sold them quantities of provisions,
beeswax, and pepper.
[41] Called, by Pigafetta, Malina, probably the Island of Ombay.
On 26 January, 1522, the _Victoria_ reached the Island of Timor,
where it laid in a great supply of buffaloes, pigs, and goats. The
people, though going almost naked, wore many gold and brass armlets
and ear-rings, and bamboo combs in their hair adorned with gold
rings.
On 11 February, 1522, the _Victoria_ sailed away from Timor into
the great Indian Ocean. She was only a little vessel of 85 tons,
and she had to buffet her way amidst various storms and high waves
across the southern Indian Ocean, as far as the forty-second degree
of south latitude before she could beat up north and round the Cape
of Good Hope. The sufferings on board were terrible, the ship leaked
badly and the pumps were always going, the provision of buffalo meat
had putrefied, as they had had no salt to preserve it. There was
little other food than rice. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope
it took them a further two months before they could land anywhere
to obtain fresh provisions, and twenty-one men died of scurvy and
starvation during this terrible period. At last, constrained by
their despairing condition, they stopped off the Island of Sant
Iago, in the Cape Verde archipelago, which for some time had been a
settlement of the Portuguese. Here they sent a boat ashore for food,
with a concocted story to deceive the Portuguese into believing that
the _Victoria_ was a ship coming from Spanish America and driven
out of her course by storms. But on its second voyage to the shore
the boat, containing thirteen men, was detained, because, having no
money, they offered cloves in payment of the things they purchased.
Seeing from a distance that the men had been arrested, the captain
of the _Victoria_ felt obliged to abandon them to their fate and
hastily sailed away.
At last, on 8 September, 1522, the _Victoria_, having sailed into
Spain up the Guadalquivir River, dropped anchor at the quay of
Seville and discharged all her artillery in crazy joy at this
return to the Motherland. On the following day all the survivors of
this wonderful expedition--eighteen in number--went in shirts and
barefooted, each man holding a candle, to visit the shrines of Santa
Maria de la Victoria and of St. Mary of Antiquity in two different
churches. As to the thirteen men left behind, they were not so ill
treated after all by the Portuguese, but were ultimately dispatched
to Seville, so that it may be said of the five ships which started
with Magellan in 1519 to reach the Moluccas by way of the Pacific
Ocean only one returned to Spain--the _Victoria_, the _Trinidad_
having been lost near the Spice Islands; while of the original
265 men (more or less) who left Spain in 1519 only 36 returned to
Spain after circumnavigating the globe--18 in the _Victoria_, 13 in
Portuguese ships from the Cape Verde Islands, and 5 survivors from
the _Trinidad_ sent back by the Portuguese from Malaysia.
In spite of all these disasters, however, the cargo of cloves and
spices brought back by the _Victoria_ sufficed, not only to pay
the whole cost of the equipment of the original expedition of five
ships, but left a profit of about £200 in value over and above.
This fact, as well as the information (no doubt much exaggerated)
about the Philippines and Borneo and the gold to be met with in
these islands, made a deep impression on the Court of Spain, and
not many years elapsed before further attempts were made to reach
Malaysia across the Pacific from Spanish America, the Spaniards
being precluded by their agreement with Portugal from adopting the
more convenient route round the Cape of Good Hope.
As already related, the Spaniards and Portuguese were out of their
reckoning in regard to longitude when they supposed that any part
of the Philippines or the Moluccas lay to the east of 130° of
E. longitude, and consequently within the domain of Spain. They
believed that the Moluccas did come within the Spanish sphere,
while the Philippines were, by the same reckoning, Portuguese.
After a good deal of wrangling the matter was settled in 1529. A
considerable sum of money was paid by Portugal to Spain, the Spanish
claim to the Spice Islands was withdrawn, and nothing was said about
the Philippines. This archipelago, a few years afterwards, was
tacitly recognized as within the Spanish sphere, which also included
the lands afterwards to be styled New Guinea.
Borneo thus became part of the Portuguese "sphere of influence" (as
it would now be called), though this large island had first been
visited by Magellan in Spanish ships. The Portuguese attempted to
enter into relations with the then powerful Muhammadan sultanate of
North Borneo (Brunei), but (according to the Portuguese chronicler,
Barros) their efforts came to nothing through a very curious
mischance. Realizing that the Sultan of Brunei was a very powerful
prince, a Muhammadan, and therefore much in touch, through Arab
and Persian traders, with the civilized world, it was resolved to
send him, by the embassy dispatched from Ternate to Brunei in 1528,
a selection of really superior and costly presents. Amongst these
was a large piece of tapestry illustrating in a most lifelike manner
the marriage of Catherine of Aragon (afterwards the unhappy wife of
Henry VIII) to Arthur, Prince of Wales--the first link, possibly,
in the long history of the relations between the British and North
Borneo. But the figures thus portrayed by the needles and wool of
industrious Spanish women seemed to the superstitious Malay sultan
a work of subtle magic. He believed them to be real persons sent to
sleep by the spell of a magician, and that some night they would be
released from their enchantment, come to life, and slay him as he
slept. So the Portuguese envoy was dismissed, the presents declined,
and no political relations entered into between North Borneo and
the Portuguese. This was one reason, probably, why the Dutch, not
having been preceded by the Portuguese, got no foothold in North
Borneo, and therefore left this side of the island open to British
administrative enterprise in the first half of the nineteenth
century.
Spanish research in the Pacific was resumed five years after the
return of Sebastian de Elcano in the _Victoria_ in the autumn of
1522. In 1528 two Spanish ships, intending to sail from Mexico to
the Philippines, were blown out of their course in a storm and
accidentally discovered the Hawaii Islands. They were wrecked there,
and such of the crews as were saved from drowning--amongst them were
several Spanish women--could not get away from Hawaii, and settled
down there for the rest of their lives, marrying the people of the
country, and no doubt leaving a strain of Castilian blood in the
ruling classes of these cannibal islands.
Hawaii was, however, again visited by Spanish ships in the middle of
the sixteenth century; and when, long afterwards, the archipelago
was rediscovered by Captain Cook, the people were found to be
practising several Spanish customs. The real fact is that Spain knew
a good deal about the Oceanic islands in the sixteenth century, but
out of jealous dread that her monopoly of the Pacific Ocean might
be invaded by other European nations she kept this geographical
knowledge, set forth in her charts and logbooks, hidden in her State
archives, only to be revealed in the latter part of the eighteenth
century, when there was no longer anything to conceal from the
adventurous French and English.
In 1542 the Philippines were again visited by Spanish ships under
the command of LOPEZ DE VILLALOBOS, who penetrated to the large
northern island of Luzon. On his return to Mexico he named this
archipelago after Philip, the heir to the Spanish throne. In 1564 an
expedition under LOPEZ DE LEGASPI was dispatched from the west coast
of Mexico to the Philippines for their conquest and their conversion
to Christianity. Four ships conveyed 400 Spanish soldiers and a few
friars or missionaries. Between 1565 and his death in 1572 Legaspi
had actually achieved the wonderful feat of founding the city of
Manila in the large island of Luzon, and making the Spanish power
predominant over all this large archipelago. A number of the natives
became converted to Christianity, and only the Sulu Islands and
Palawan remained Muhammadan.
In 1579 a new portent appeared in the Far East. In the month of
November there arrived at the Island of Ternate, from nowhere,
as it seemed, an English ship, the _Golden Hinde_, commanded by
FRANCIS DRAKE. This most remarkable English adventurer--then
only thirty-four years old--had been purser to a ship trading to
the north of Spain when he was only eighteen, and by the age of
twenty-two had not only made a voyage to Guinea, but was commanding
a ship as captain in an attack on the Spaniards off the coast of
Mexico. In 1577 he had navigated the Straits of Magellan in the
_Golden Hinde_ (originally the _Pelican_, which he renamed thus as a
remembrance of the heraldic device of Sir Christopher Hatton and a
mark of joy at having safely reached the Pacific Ocean), had sailed
up the west coast of South America, attacking and plundering Spanish
ships and towns "till his men were satiated with plunder"; and,
failing to find another Magellan's Straits in North-west America to
take him back to the Atlantic, had boldly sailed from the coast of
New Albion (the modern State of Washington) aslant the Pacific Ocean
and steered a straight course for the Moluccas.
The Portuguese, of course, were then predominant in the Spice
Islands and elsewhere in Malaysia, and with them Drake had no
quarrel. He therefore sailed on to Java (after nearly coming to
grief by striking a rock off the coast of Celebes), and from Java
made his way round the Cape of Good Hope to the Guinea coast,
and thence to the Azores and England. He was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth on board the _Golden Hinde_ at Deptford, after the queen
had partaken of a banquet on board the famous ship which had sailed
round the world in two years and ten months.
His voyage was a splendid answer to the Spaniards, who believed
themselves perfectly safe from interference in the waters of the
"great Southern Ocean", and who forbade the rest of the world to
trade with America and Australasia. Within eighteen years it was to
be followed up by Dutch and British attacks, by way of the Cape of
Good Hope, on the Portuguese and Spanish monopoly of intercourse
with the East Indies and Malaysia. It is, however, only fair to
mention that in the matter of commercial morality the British,
French, and Dutch were no more enlightened than the Spaniards. Each
sought in turn to make their oversea dependencies regions closed to
the trade of other nations than themselves, and even to restrict
the commerce of their Asiatic, African, and American colonies to
privileged persons or companies.
* * * * *
The Spaniards who sailed to the Moluccas in the two remaining ships
of Magellan's squadron had practically got into touch with Papuasia,
with the lands of New Guinea and its surrounding islands; and had
realized that in this direction there lay a new Negroland, a "New
Guinea", in fact. Exactly when the New Guinea coast was reached
from the west--whether by ALVARO DE SAAVEDRA the Spaniard in 1528,
or in 1511 and 1526 by the Portuguese who had taken possession of
the Moluccas--is not known; nor by whom this very appropriate name
was first given. Probably it was named "Nueva Guinéa" in 1546 by
a Spanish captain--ORTIZ DE RETEZ--who mapped a portion of its
northern coast. The impression that this vast island--the biggest in
the world--was first called "New Guinea" by Torres when he reached
its southern shores in 1607 is incorrect; he, seemingly, was only
recognizing a land already named thus for its great superficial
resemblance to West Africa. But the Spaniards had heard rumours from
the Malay sea captains of a vast land eastward of the Moluccas
where there was gold in abundance, besides beautiful birds and
curly-haired black people. They jumped to the fantastic conclusion
that here lay, not only the Earthly Paradise, but also the Ophir
from which Solomon had derived his gold. Mingled with these beliefs
was the ever-growing conviction that in this direction must lie a
great Southern Continent; and to search for this an expedition was
dispatched in 1567 from Callao, the principal port of Peru, under
the command of ALVARO DE MENDAÑA DE NEYRA, with the express purpose
of discovering the great Antarctic continent and the "Islas de
Salomon". Mendaña voyaged for eighty days across the Pacific, more
or less through the equatorial belt, and thus discovered and named
the Solomon Islands[42] to the east of New Guinea, believing that
they might prove to be the Ophir from which Solomon had derived
gold. His expedition surveyed the southern portion of the group,
giving to three of the large islands the Spanish names, which they
still bear, of San Cristoval, Guadalcanal, and Ysabel.
[42] The Solomon Islands are now divided politically between Germany
and Britain, Germany having annexed the large island of Bougainville
and the smaller Buka on the north, and Great Britain the remainder.
The islands are very mountainous and volcanic, and on the largest,
Bougainville, one mountain rises to an altitude of over 10,000
feet. In the British Island of Guadalcanal there is an altitude of
8000 feet. The climate is very wet and unhealthy, and vegetation is
luxurious, including magnificent forests of sandalwood, ebony, and
"lignum vitæ" (a kind of Myrtle--_Metrosideron_). The inhabitants
belong mainly to the Melanesian or Negroid stock, and are no doubt
closely related to the Papuans of New Guinea. In some of the
northern islands, such as Buka, the people often present a striking
resemblance in their features, skin colour, and close-growing,
woolly hair, to African Negroes. Some tribes in the islands,
however, are akin to the Polynesians, and have long, straight
hair. They were until quite recently the most ferocious cannibals
of any part of the globe. In more remote periods this archipelago
was connected with New Guinea, and thence derived the ancestors
of its present wild animals, which include numerous Bats of very
interesting types, some very large Rats the size of big rabbits, a
Cuscus or marsupial Phalanger, and a large Frog about 8 inches long,
besides some remarkable Parrots.
JUAN FERNANDEZ was a Spanish pilot who appears to have given some
study to the Straits of Magellan. About 1572 he was venturing
out some distance into the Pacific Ocean from the coast of South
America, and thus discovered the two little islands which have ever
since borne his name, and which proved for a time such an important
harbourage and resting place for the Dutch and English navigators
who flouted the prohibition of Spain to enter the great Southern
Ocean. Fernandez conceived the idea that there must be some large
extent of land in the southern half of the Pacific Ocean, and he may
have sighted Easter Island, or some other Pacific archipelago, and
have believed that it was an indication of the coast line of this
Terra Australis.
Mendaña de Neyra, who had returned to the coast of Peru in 1570, was
very anxious to organize at once another expedition to extend his
discoveries. He was not enabled to do so until the year 1595, when
he again started from the coast of Peru with a fleet and a number
of Spaniards who were to colonize the Solomon Islands. On his way
thither he discovered the Marquezas archipelago (which now belongs
to France). Sailing along a course which was more or less that of
the tenth degree of south latitude, his ship at last reached the
little island of Santa Cruz, the northernmost of an archipelago
which is now associated with the group of the New Hebrides. Here,
for some reason, his expedition came to a stop, and he landed and
attempted to establish a portion of his crew as settlers. But the
climate, or some other cause of ill health, brought about the death
of Mendaña and many of his companions. He had been accompanied on
this cruise by his young wife, who played a heroic part in rescuing
the remainder of the expedition. After Mendaña's death, one of
his pilots, PEDRO FERNANDEZ DE QUIROS (a Portuguese), brought the
remains of the Spanish fleet to Manila in the Philippines. Then in
one vessel he boldly sailed back across the Pacific to Peru, and
thence made his way to Madrid, where he revealed to the Spanish
Government the stories gathered from Malays regarding the existence
of a great Southern Continent. He obtained permission from the Court
to search for this Terra Australis, and for this purpose returned
to South America and started on his quest from Callao (Peru) in
1605. The Viceroy of Peru associated with him, practically as
admiral in command of the expedition, LUIS VAEZ DE TORRES, as well
as a second ship. Directing his voyage across the southern Tropics
instead of the northern, de Quiros discovered a small island, which
long afterwards was renamed Osnaburg by Cook. A few days afterwards
he passed one or more islands of the Tahiti archipelago, which he
named "Sagittaria", probably from the month (February, under the
zodiacal sign of Sagittarius) in which they were discovered. Sailing
on westwards he next reached the group of the New Hebrides. This he
believed to be a portion of the coast of the Southern Continent,
and he named its largest island[43] Australia del Espiritu Santo,
or Australia of the Holy Ghost, this being the first time that the
word Australia came into being. He did not pursue his investigations
any farther, because his ship's crew mutinied and forced him to sail
back again to Mexico.
[43] Sometimes known as Marina. The name as given by de Quiros seems
to have been spelt "Austrialia".
But his admiral, Luis Vaez de Torres, suddenly abandoned by the ship
which had de Quiros on board, was less certain about the actual
discovery of this continent, so in 1606-7 he pursued a westward
course and thus passed through that strait which separates northern
Australia from New Guinea, and thence sailed to the Philippines. He
was consequently the discoverer of what is now the British province
of Papua, and of the important Torres Straits.
For a long time the Spaniards kept these explorations as State
secrets, for they were becoming very much alarmed at the progress
in oversea exploration of the Dutch and English. The existence,
therefore, of Torres Straits, separating the Australian Continent
from the huge Island of New Guinea, remained practically unknown to
the world of Europe until the voyages of Captain Cook, more than
150 years later. In fact, Cook, when he rediscovered and mapped the
strait between North Australia and New Guinea, was not aware that he
had been preceded in that direction by Torres. When, however, this
fact was made clearly known through the archives of Spain, the name
of the bold Spanish seaman was very appropriately (in 1796) given to
a strait of water which is one of the most noteworthy passages from
the Pacific to the Indian Oceans, and which may some day become of
great importance in the world's history.