_Continuation of the Voyage, from New Albion to England._
Sailing from this port of New Albion, [now called by the Spaniards the
Bay of San Francisco,] they had no sight of land till the 13th October,
1579, when, in the morning of that day, they fell in with certain
islands in lat. 8° N.[34] They here met many canoes, laden with
cocoa-nuts and other fruits. These canoes were very artificially
hollowed, and were smooth and shining, like polished horn. Their prows
and sterns were all turned circularly inwards; and on each side there
lay out two pieces of timber, or out-riggers, a yard and a half long,
more or less, according the size of the canoes. They were of
considerable height in the gunwales; and their insides were ornamented
with white shells. The islanders in these canoes had large holes in the
lower parts of their ears, which reached down a considerable way, by the
weight of certain ornaments. Their teeth were as black as jet,
occasioned by chewing a certain herb with a sort of powder, which they
always carry with them for that purpose.[35]
[Footnote 34: These probably were some of the Caralines, being in the
direct route from Port Sir Francis Drake to the Moluccas.--E.]
[Footnote 35: Areka nut and betel leaf, with pounded shell-lime.--E.]
The 18th October they came to other islands, some of which appeared to
be very populous, and continued their course past the islands of
_Tagulada, Zelon,_ and _Zewarra._ The first of these produces great
store of cinnamon; and the inhabitants are in friendship with the
Portuguese. Without making any stop at these islands, the admiral
continued his course, and fell in with the Moluccas on the 14th
November. Intending to steer for Tidore, and coasting along the island
of Motir, which belongs to the king of Ternate, they met the viceroy of
that king, who came fearlessly on board the admiral's ship. He advised
the admiral by no means to prosecute his voyage to Tidore, but to sail
directly for Ternate, as the king, his master, was a great enemy to the
Portuguese, and would have no intercourse with him, if at all connected
with Tidore or the Portuguese. Upon this, the admiral resolved on going
to Tidore, and came to anchor before the town early next morning.
He immediately sent a messenger to the king, with a present of a velvet
cloak, and to assure him that his only purpose in coming to his island
was to trade in a friendly manner. By this time the viceroy had been to
the king, whom he had disposed to entertain a favourable opinion of the
English, so that the king returned a very civil and obliging answer,
assuring the admiral that a friendly intercourse with the English was
highly pleasing to him, his whole kingdom, and all that it contained,
being at his service; and that he was ready to lay himself and his
dominions at the feet of the glorious queen of England, and to
acknowledge her as his sovereign. In token of all this, he sent his
signet to the admiral, delivering it with much respect to the messenger,
who was treated with great pomp and ceremony at court.
Having a mind to visit the admiral on board ship, the king sent before
hand four large canoes, filled with his most dignified attendants, all
in white dresses, and having large awnings of perfumed mats borne over
their heads on a frame of canes or bamboos. They were surrounded by
servants, all in white; outside of whom were ranks of soldiers, and
beyond them were many rowers in well-contrived galleries, three of these
on each side all along the canoes, raised one above the other, each
gallery containing eighty rowers.[36] These canoes were well furnished
with warlike implements and all kind of weapons, both offensive and
defensive, and were filled with soldiers well appointed for war. Bowing
near the ship in great order, they paid their reverence to the admiral,
saying that their king had sent them to conduct his ship into a safer
road than that it now occupied.
[Footnote 36: This surely is a great exaggeration, employing 480 rowers
to each canoe.--E.]
The king himself came soon afterwards, attended upon by six grave and
ancient persons. He seemed much delighted with English music, and still
more with English generosity, which the admiral expressed in large
presents to him and his attendants. The king promised to come aboard
again next day, and that same night sent off great store of provisions,
as rice, poultry, sugar, cloves, a sort of fruit called _Frigo_, and
_Sago_, which is a meal made out of the tops of trees, melting in the
mouth like sugar, and tasting like sour curds, but when made into cakes
will keep fit for eating at the end of ten years. The king did not come
on board next day, according to promise, but sent his brother to excuse
him, and: to invite the admiral on shore, while he remained as a pledge
for his safe return. The admiral declined going ashore himself, but sent
some gentlemen of his retinue along with the king's brother, detaining
the viceroy till their return.
They were received on shore by another of the king's brothers with
several nobles, and conducted in great state to the castle, where there
was a court of at least a thousand persons, the principal of whom were
sixty grave counsellors, and four Turkish envoys dressed in scarlet
robes and turbans, who were there to negociate trade between the Turkish
empire and Ternate. The king came in under a glorious canopy,
embroidered with gold, and guarded by twelve men armed with lances. He
was dressed in a loose robe of cloth of gold, having his legs bare, but
with leather shoes or slippers on his feet. Several circular ornaments
of gold were braided among his hair, a large chain of gold hung from his
neck, and his fingers were adorned with rich jewels. A page stood at the
right-hand side of his chair of state, blowing cool air upon him with a
fan, two feet long and a foot broad, curiously embroidered, and enriched
with sapphires. The English gentlemen were kindly received; and, having
heard their message, he sent one of his counsellors to conduct them back
to the ships. The king of Ternate is a prince of great power, having
seventy islands under his authority, besides Ternate, which is the best
of the Molucca islands. His religion, and that of all his subjects, is
Mahometism, in obedience to which they keep the new moons and many
fasts, during which they mortify the flesh all the day, but make up for
their abstemiousness by feasting in the night.
Having dispatched all his affairs at Ternate, the admiral left the
place, and sailed to a small island to the southwards of Celebes, where
he remained twenty-six days. This island is all covered with wood, the
trees being of large size, tall, straight, and without boughs, except at
the top, the leaves resembling our English broom. There were here vast
numbers of shining flies, no bigger than our common flies in England,
which, skimming at night among the trees and bushes, made them appear as
if all on fire. The bats in this island were as large as our ordinary
poultry, and there was a sort of land cray-fish, which burrowed in the
ground like rabbits, being so large that one of them was a sufficient
meal for four persons.
Setting sail from thence, and being unable to proceed westwards on
account of the wind, the course was altered to the southwards, yet with
much danger, by reason of the shoals which lie thick among these
islands. Of this they had most dangerous and almost fatal experience on
the 9th January, 1580, by running upon a rock, on which they stuck fast
from eight at night till four in the afternoon of next day. In this
distress, the ship was lightened by landing three tons of cloves, eight
pieces of ordnance, and some provisions on the rock; soon after which,
by the wind chopping round, they happily got off.
On the 18th of February, they fell in with the fruitful island of
_Baratene_,[37] having in the mean time suffered much from cross winds
and dangerous shoals. They met with a friendly reception from the people
of this island, who were handsomely proportioned, and just in all their
dealings. The men wore no cloathing, except a slight covering round
their middles, but the women were covered from the waist to the feet,
having likewise many large heavy bracelets of bone, horn, or brass, on
their arms, the smallest weighing two ounces, and having eight or ten of
these on at once. This island affords gold, silver, copper, sulphur,
nutmegs, ginger, long-pepper, lemons, cocoas, frigo, sago, and other
commodities, and linen was found to be in much request by the natives,
as of it they make girdles and rolls for wearing on their heads. Among
the productions of this island, there was a particular sort of fruit,
resembling barberries in size, form, and husk, very hard, yet of a
pleasant taste, and becoming soft and easy of digestion when boiled. In
short, they met with no place in the whole voyage that yielded greater
abundance of every comfort than this island, excepting Ternate.
[Footnote 37: No circumstance in the text serves to indicate what island
is here meant, except that it appears to have been to the eastward of
Java.--E.]
Leaving Baratene, they sailed to Java Major, where also they were
courteously and honourably entertained. This island was ruled over by
six kings, who lived in entire peace and amity with each other, and they
once had four of them on board at one time, and very often two or three
together.[38]
[Footnote 38: The names of the kings or princes of Java, when Sir
Francis Drake was there, were Rajah Donaw, R. Rabacapala, R. Bacabatra,
R. Tymbanton, R. Mawgbange, and R, Patemara.--_Hakluyt_.]
The Javans are a stout and warlike people, well armed with swords,
targets, and daggers, all of their own manufacture, and are very curious
and ingenious, both in the fashion of their weapons, and in giving them
an excellent temper. They wear turbans on their heads, the upper parts
of their bodies being naked; but, from the waist downwards, they have a
pintado, or a silken wrapper, trailing on the ground. They manage their
women quite differently from the Moluccans; for, while these will hardly
let them be seen by a stranger, the Javans will very civilly offer a
female bedfellow to a traveller. Besides being thus civil and hospitable
to strangers, they are good humoured and sociable among themselves; for
in every village they have a public-house, where the inhabitants meet
together, each bringing their shares of provisions, and joining the
whole in one social feast for the keeping up of good fellowship.
The Javans have a peculiar mode of boiling rice. It is put into an
earthen pot of a conical form, open at the large end, and perforated all
over with small holes, which is placed within a larger earthen pot full
of boiling water. The rice swells and fills the holes of the inner pot,
so that very little water gets in, and by this mode of boiling the rice
is brought to a firm consistency, and cakes into a sort of bread, of
which, with butter or oil, sugar, and spices, they make several very
pleasant dishes. The lues venerea prevails among the inhabitants of this
island; but, instead of expelling the poison by salivation, they drive
it out by perspiration, sitting for this purpose in the sun for some
hours, by which the pores are opened, giving free vent to the noxious
particles of the disease.
While in Java, the following words in the native language were taken
notice of, and are recorded by Hukluyt.
Sabuck, silk. Gula, black sugar.
Sagu, bread. Tadon, a woman.
Larnike, drink. Bebeck, a duck.
Paree, rice in the husk. Aniange, a deer.
Braas, boiled rice. Popran, ointment.
Calapa, cocoa nuts. Coar, the head.
Cricke, a dagger. Endam, rain.
Catcha, a mirror. Jonge, a ship.
Arbo, an ox. Chay, the sea.
Vados, a goat. Sapelo, ten.
Gardunge, a plantain. Dopolo, twenty.
Hiam, a hen. Treda no.
Seuit, linen. Lau, understand you?
Doduck, blue cloth. Bayer, go!
Totoppo, a cap. Adadizano, I will fetch it.
Cabo, gold. Suda, enough.
Having news of some great ships being at no great distance, and not
knowing whether they might prove friends or enemies, the admiral set
sail from Java, sailing directly for the Cape of Good Hope, which was
the first land he fell in with; neither did he touch at any, till he
arrived at Sierra Leona on the coast of Guinea. He passed the cape on
the 18th June, 1580, and by the facility of the navigation round that
southern promontory of Africa, found how much the Portuguese had imposed
upon the world by false representations of its horrors and dangers. He
arrived at Sierra Leona on the 22d July, where were elephants, and
abundance of oysters fastened on the twigs of trees, hanging down into
the water, where they grow and multiply. With these, and lemons, with
which they were abundantly supplied, his people were much refreshed.
After two days stay at that place, taking in a supply of wood and water,
and procuring refreshments, they sailed from thence on the 24th July.
Next day, they were in lat. 25° 30' N. under the tropic of Cancer, fifty
leagues from land. Being completely supplied with all necessaries, they
continued their voyage, without stopping any where, and arrived at
Plymouth on Monday the 26th of September, 1580, having been absent two
years, nine months, and thirteen days. By their reckoning, the day of
their arrival was only Sunday the 25th, as in going completely round the
world in the same course with the sun, that luminary had risen once
seldomer to them than to those who remained stationary, so that they had
lost a day in their computation.