position; that is, its latitude and longitude. Then, by means of the
compass you will point directly to that place. And since the compass
varies to east and west, you must, by the methods above described,
ascertain its variation, and subtract or add that which is necessary,
so that the ship’s head, regulated by the compass, may have the
required direction.”
“Should the compass be lost, or if its variation east or west is not
known, you may regulate yourself by the sun at midday. When you have
fixed the meridian in such a manner that it cuts the ship in its width,
it will be easy to direct the prow wherever you wish. Here is an
example: suppose you wish to go from north-east to south-west, place
the chart in such manner that the ship should have her head to west and
the poop to the east; then on the circle of the winds, divided into
360, or in four times 90, fix two pins, one at 45 degrees between east
and north, the other at 45 degrees between west and south; bring the
two pins on the line of the meridian by turning the ship’s head for
that purpose, and the prow will be directed to the place to which you
are going. If the pins do not come in a line with the meridian, it is a
sign that you are navigating in a false direction, and you must rectify
the course. When you reach land, you will see that what I have said is
true.”
“With an astrolabe made with plates,[433] observations may be taken
of the meridian line, the poles, and the equinoctial line, at any hour
of the day or night, looking at the moon or any star; and for these,
place in the middle of the astrolabe instead of the _verghezita_ or
sight,[434] two straight bars between which you will observe the star.”
Thus the method being known by which the required direction is given
to the ship, the author teaches the method for determining the point
or degree on the chart of the winds,[435] to which the ship on leaving
a place to go to a given country should be directed. For clearness, he
gives some examples of this. “Do you wish,” he says, “to go from south
to north, or _vice versâ_, on the same longitude? always proceed on the
same meridian. Do you wish to go from east to west, or _vice versâ_, in
the same latitude? always proceed on the same parallel. Do you wish to
go from one place to another as many degrees distant in longitude as
it is different in latitude? Then take the course of 45 degrees either
to the south-west or south-east, or north-west or north-east. If the
latitude is greater than the longitude, then add to the 45 degrees
as many degrees towards the nearest pole, as the number of degrees
by which the latitude exceeds the longitude. For instance, if I wish
to go from Cape St. Vincent to Cape Bojador, I reckon the degrees of
longitude and those of latitude to know the difference between these
two capes. I find that the degrees of longitude are five and a half,
and those of latitude are eleven, from which I subtract the degrees of
longitude and there remain 5 deg. 30 min. Then, instead of going in
the direction of from north-east to south-west (as I should do if the
longitude were equal to the latitude), I go from 5 deg. 30 min. above
north-east towards north, to 5 deg. 30 min. below south-west towards
south. If the longitude is greater than the latitude, the lesser number
is still subtracted from the greater; and the direction will be 45 deg.
after deducting the residue. For instance, do you want to go from the
island of Ferro to Guadeloupe; you know that the first is in 27 deg.
latitude and the second in 15 deg.; then take their difference, which
is 12 deg.: look at the map for their longitude, and you see that Ferro
is in 1 deg. and Guadeloupe in 45 deg., whence their difference is 44
deg.: subtract from these the 12 deg. residue of latitude, and there
remain 32 deg. Then you must subtract these 32 deg. from 45 deg., and
there will remain 13 deg. Therefore your course will be from north-east
13 deg. north to south-west 13 deg. south.”
+Direction of the Winds.+
“The rose of the winds, divided into 360 deg., will give a clearer idea
of what has been here said; it being well understood that the pilot
must place the center of the winds on the point from which he starts,
or from which he takes the course, and he must fix the pole to the true
pole observed from the sun, and not trusting to the compass, which
north-easts or north-wests.”
“Then, to ascertain whence comes the wind, place a little stick with a
little sail[436] in the centre of your rose or circle of winds, divided
into 360 deg., and placed in such a manner that north and south stand
on the true Solar meridian. The direction of the vane moved by the wind
will indicate exactly which wind blows: on the equinoctial is east
and west; at 45 deg. there is north-east, south-west, north-west, and
south-east; at 22½ deg. towards north you have north-north-east, and so
on with the others.”
NAMES OF THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATORS.
+Herrera+ (Decade III, lib. iv, cap. 4) mentions the arrival of
the _Victoria_, and says that an accountant and thirteen Castilians
had remained behind, arrested at Cape Verde, and that the King of
Portugal’s factor sent them on to Lisbon in a ship which came at that
time from Calicut.
Herrera then gives the names of those who came in the _Victoria_, and
who went to Court. They were—
1. Miguel de Rodas, master.
2. Martin de Insaurraga, pilot.
3. Miguel de Rodas, seaman.
4. Nicolas Griego.
5. Juan Rodriguez.
6. Vasco Gallego (Portuguese).
7. Martin de Judicibus.
8. Juan de Santander.
9. Hernando de Bustamante.
10. Antonio Lombardo (_Pigafetta_).
11. Francisco Rodriguez.
12. Antonio Fernandez.
13. Diego Gallego.
14. Juan de Arratia.
15. Juan de Apega.
16. Juan de Acurio.
17. Juan de Zubieta.
18. Lorenzo de Iruña.
19. Juan de Ortega.
20. Pedro de Indarchi.
21. Ruger Carpintete.
22. Pedro Gasco.
23. Alfonso Domingo, seaman.
24. Diego Garcia.
25. Pedro de Valpuesta.
26. Ximeno de Bargos.
27. Juan Martin.
28. Martin de Magallanes.
29. Francisco Alvaro (probably Albo, the pilot).
30. Roldan de Argote (from whom must be named the mountain, which in
the Strait of Magellan, is now called the Campaña de Roldan).
31. Juan Sebastian del Cano.
This number, 31, will agree with Pigafetta’s 13, who remained at Cape
Verde, and 18 who landed from the _Victoria_.
Sebastian del Cano was very well received by the emperor, and
Herrera mentions the safe arrival of some of the Molucca Indians:
“One of whom,” he says, “was so sharp, that the first thing he did
was to inquire how many reals a ducat was worth, and a real how many
maravedises, and how much pepper was given for a maravedi; and he went
from shop to shop to get information of the value of spices, and with
this he gave cause that he did not return to his country, although
the others returned.” This probably means that he was not allowed to
return, lest he should raise the price of spices in the Molucca Islands.
[Illustration:
CHART OF THE
+Pacific Ocean+
Showing the track of
+Magellan’s Ships+
in the Years 1519–22]
ORDER OF THE DAY OF MAGELLAN,
_Given in the Straits, which fell into the hands of the Portuguese,
along with the Papers of the Astrologer_
+Andres de San Martin+, _at the Moluccas:
taken from_ +Barros+, _Decade_ III,
_Liv._ v, _Cap._ 19.
“I Fernan de Magalhaes, Knight of the Order of St. James, and
captain-general of this fleet, which his majesty sent for the discovery
of the spices, etc. I make known to you, Duarte Barbosa, captain of
the ship _Victoria_, and to the pilots, masters, and quarter-masters
of that ship, as I have understood that it seems to you all a serious
matter, that I am determined to go forward, because it seems to you
that the weather is little fitted for this voyage on which we are
going; and inasmuch as I am a man who never rejected the opinion
or counsel of any one, but rather all my affairs are discussed and
communicated generally to all, without any person being affronted by
me; and since, because of that which happened in the port of S. Julian
with respect to the death of Luis de Mendoça, Gaspar de Quexada, and
the banishment of Juan de Cartagena and Pero Sanches de Reina, the
priest, you, from fear, desist from telling me, and counselling all
that may appear to you to be for the service of his majesty, and the
safe conduct of this fleet, and you have not told it me nor counselled
it: you err in the service of the emperor and king our sovereign, and
go against the oath and plighted homage which you have made to me; for
which I command you on the part of the said sovereign, and on my part
beseech you and charge you, that with respect to all that you think is
fitting for our voyage, both as to going forward, and as to turning
back, that you give me your opinions in writing each one for himself:
declaring the circumstances and reasons why we ought to go forward or
turn back, not having respect to anything for which you should omit
to tell the truth. With which reasons and opinions, I will say mine,
and my decision for coming to a conclusion as to what we have to do.
Done in the Channel of All Saints, opposite the river of the islet, on
Wednesday, twenty-first of November, in fifty-three degrees, of the
year one thousand five hundred and twenty.”
Andres de San Martin replied, giving his opinion that, though he
doubted there being any opening in the channel by which to go to the
Moluccas, yet he thought they should go forward till the middle of
January, as long as the summer and long days lasted.
Magellan, having received this and the other opinions, which he had
asked for only to please and content his people, gave a full answer,
with long reasons for going forward; and he swore by the habit of St.
James, which he wore, that so it seemed to him to be for the good of
the fleet. This opinion was notified to the fleet, and next day he set
sail.
A LETTER
FROM
MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS
TO THE
MOST REVEREND CARDINAL OF SALZBURG,
VERY DELIGHTFUL TO READ,
CONCERNING THE MOLUCCA ISLANDS, AND ALSO MANY
OTHER WONDERS, WHICH THE LATEST VOYAGE OF
THE SPANIARDS HAS JUST DISCOVERED.
(THE TITLE IN RAMUSIO’S COLLECTION RUNS THUS)—
A Letter of Maximilianus Transylvanus, Secretary to His Majesty the
Emperor, written to the Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord
the Cardinal of Salzburg, concerning the wonderful and
astonishing Voyage made by the Spaniards in the
Year 1519, round the World.
DISCOURSE OF
M. GIOVANNI BATTISTA RAMUSIO
UPON THE
VOYAGE MADE BY THE SPANIARDS ROUND THE WORLD.
The voyage made by the Spaniards round the world in the space of
three years is one of the greatest and most marvellous things which
have been heard of in our times; and, although in many things we
surpass the ancients, yet this expedition far excels every other that
has been made up till now. The voyage was described very minutely
by Peter Martyr, who belonged to the Council of the Indies of His
Majesty the Emperor, and to whom was entrusted the duty of writing
this history; and by him were examined all those who remained alive of
that expedition, and who reached Seville in the year 1522. But, as it
was sent to be printed in Rome, it was lost in the miserable sacking
of that city; and nothing is known even now as to where it is. And he
who saw it, and read it, bears testimony to the same; and, amongst
other things worthy of recollection that the aforesaid Peter noted
concerning the voyage, was this, that the Spaniards, having sailed
about three years and one month, and the greater part of them, as is
usual amongst seafaring men, having noted down the days of the months
one by one, found, when they arrived in Spain, that they had lost a
day, for the day on which they arrived at Seville, which was the 7th
of September, was, by their reckoning, the 6th. And the aforesaid
Peter having mentioned this peculiarity to a certain excellent and
extraordinary man, who was at that time ambassador for his Republic to
His Majesty; and, having asked him how it could be, he, who was a great
philosopher and learned in Greek and Latin literature, so that for his
singular learning and rare excellence, he was afterwards promoted to
much higher rank, gave this explanation: That it could not have fallen
out otherwise, as they had travelled for three years continuously and
always accompanied the sun, which was going westward. And he told him
besides, that those who sailed due westwards towards the sun, lengthen
their day very much, as the ancients also had noticed. Now, the book
of the aforesaid Peter having disappeared, Fortune has not allowed the
memory of so marvellous an enterprise to be entirely lost, inasmuch as
a certain noble gentleman of Vicenza called Messer Antonio Pigafetta
(who, having gone on the voyage and returned in the ship _Victoria_,
was made a Knight of Rhodes), wrote a very exact and full account
of it in a book, one copy of which he presented to His Majesty the
Emperor, and another he sent to the most Serene Mother of the most
Christian King, the Lady Regent. She entrusted to an excellent Parisian
philosopher called Jacomo Fabre, who had studied in Italy, the work
of translating it into French.[437] This worthy person, I suppose to
save himself trouble, made only a summary of it, leaving out what
seemed fit to him; and this was printed, very incorrectly, in France,
and has now come into our hands; and along with it a letter from one
called Maximilianus of Transylvania, a secretary of His Majesty the
Emperor, to the most Reverend Cardinal of Salzburg. And this we have
wished to add to this volume of travels, as one of the greatest and
most remarkable that there has ever been, and one at which those
great philosophers of old, hearing of it, would have been stupified
and beside themselves. And the city of Vicenza may well boast, among
the other cities of Italy, that in addition to its nobility and high
qualities; in addition to its many rare and excellent geniuses, both
in letters and arms, there has been a gentleman of such courage as
the aforesaid Messer Antonio Pigafetta, who has circumnavigated the
whole globe, and has described it so exactly. There is no doubt that
the ancients would have erected a statue of marble to him, and would
have placed it in an honourable position, as a memorial and example to
posterity of his great worth, and in acknowledgment of so stupendous an
enterprise. But if, in this letter or in the summary, there be seen any
discrepancy of names or things, let no one be astonished; for the bent
of men’s minds is various, and one notices one thing and one another,
just as the things appear most deserving of attention. Let it suffice
if, in the principal things they agree, and many parts which are left
out in one can be read at length in the other. Fabulous stories, too,
are noted for what they are. This may be safely affirmed by anyone,
that the ancients never had such a knowledge of the world, which the
sun goes round and examines every twenty-four hours, as we have at
present, through the industry of the men of these our times.
* * * * *
Most Reverend and Illustrious Lord, my only Lord, to you I most humbly
commend myself.
One of those five ships has lately returned which Cæsar sent in former
years, when he was living at Saragossa, to a strange, and for so many
ages, an unknown world, in order to search for the islands where spices
grow. For though the Portuguese bring a great quantity of them from
the Golden Chersonesus, which we now suppose to be Malacca, yet their
own Indies produce nothing but pepper. Other spices, such as cinnamon,
cloves, and the nutmeg, which we call muscat, and its covering (mace),
which we call muscat flower, are brought to their own Indies from
distant islands till now only known by name, and in ships which are
fastened together not by iron but by palm leaves. The sails of these
ships are round and woven, too, of the palm-fibre. This sort of ships
they call junks, and they only use them with a wind directly fore and
aft.
It is no wonder that these islands should be unknown to any human
beings almost up to our time. For whatever we read concerning the
native soil of the spices has been told us by ancient authors, and is
partly, certainly, fabulous; and, partly, so far from the truth, that
even the very countries in which they said that they grew naturally,
are but little less distant from those where it is now known that they
grow, than we are. For to omit others, Herodotus, in other respects a
most famed author, has said that cinnamon is found in birds’ nests,
to which the birds have brought it from most distant regions, and
specially the Phœnix, and I know not who has seen his nest. But Pliny,
who thought himself able to give more certain information, because,
before his time, many things had been made clear by the voyages of the
fleets of Alexander the Great and of others, relates that cinnamon
grows in Æthiopia on the borders of the land of the Troglodytæ, whilst
now it is known that cinnamon is produced very far from any part of
Æthiopia, and specially from the Troglodytæ (that is, the dwellers in
subterranean caverns). But our men, who have now returned, and who
were perfectly acquainted with Æthiopia, have been obliged to make a
complete circuit of the world, and that a very wide one, before they
could find the islands and return. As this voyage may be considered
marvellous, and not only unaccomplished, but even unattempted either
in our age or in any previous one, I have resolved to write as truly
as possible to your Reverence the course (of the expedition) and the
sequence of the whole matter. I have taken care to have everything
related to me most exactly by the captain and by the individual sailors
who have returned with him. They have also related each separate
event to Cæsar and to others with such good faith and sincerity,
that they seemed not only to tell nothing fabulous themselves, but
by their relation to disprove and refute all the fabulous stories
which had been told by old authors. For who can believe that these
were Monosceli, Scyopodæ, Syritæ, Spitamei, Pygmies, and many others,
rather monsters than men. And as so many places beyond the Tropic of
Capricorn have been sought, found, and carefully examined, both by the
Spaniards in the south-west and by the Portuguese sailing eastwards,
and as the remainder of the whole world has now been sailed over by
our countrymen, and yet nothing trustworthy has been heard concerning
these man-monsters, it must be believed that the accounts of them are
fabulous, lying, and old women’s tales, handed down to us in some way
by no credible author. But lest I, who have to travel over the whole
world, should seem too diffuse in my introduction, I return to my
story. When, nearly thirty years ago, the Spaniards in the west, and
the Portuguese in the east, began to search for new and unknown lands,
their two kings, lest one should be a hindrance to the other, divided
the whole globe between them by the authority, most likely, of Pope
Alexander the Sixth, in this manner: that a straight line should be
drawn 360 miles, which they call leucæ, west of the islands of the
Hesperides, which are now called the islands of Cape Verd; towards
the north, and another towards the south Pole, till they should meet
again, and so divide the world into two equal parts. And whatever
strange land should be discovered eastwards (of this line) should be
ceded to the Portuguese, and whatever west of it to the Spaniards. In
this manner it happened that the Spaniards always sailed south-west,
and there they discovered a very large continent and very great and
innumerable islands, rich in gold and pearls and in other wealth, and
now, quite lately, have they discovered the vast Mediterranean city,
Tenostica,[438] situated in a lake, like Venice. About this city Peter
Martyr, an author more careful about his facts than the elegance of
his style, has written many wonderful, and yet true, things. But the
Portuguese, passing southwards by the shores of the Hesperides, and
of the ichthyophagous Æthiopians, and crossing the equinoctial line
and the Tropic of Capricorn, sailed eastward, and discovered many
great and unknown islands, and afterwards the sources of the Nile and
the land of the Troglodytæ. Thence they sailed past the Arabian and
Persian Gulfs to the shores of India, within the Ganges, where there is
now the mighty emporium and kingdom of Calicut. Thence they sailed to
Taprobanes, which they now call Zamatara. For there is now no island
which either can be, or can be supposed to be, Taprobanes, in the
position in which Ptolemy, Pliny, and the other cosmographers placed
it. Going thence, they arrived at the Golden Chersonesus, where now is
situated that most famous city of Malacca, the greatest emporium of
the East. After this they entered the Great Gulf,[439] which reaches
as far as the country of the Sinæ, which they now call Schinæ, where
they found a white and tolerably civilised people, like our Germans.
They believe that the Seres and the Asiatic Scythians extend as far as
there. And though there was a certain rumour afloat that the Portuguese
had progressed so far to the east as to cross their own limits and
enter the territory of the Spaniards, and that Malacca and the Great
Bay were within our limits, still all these things were said rather
than believed, until four years ago Ferdinand Magellan, a distinguished
Portuguese, who, for many years had explored the coasts of the whole
of the East as Admiral, took a great hatred to his king, whom he
complained of as being most ungrateful to him, and came to Cæsar.
Christopher Haro, too, my own father-in-law’s brother, who had traded
for many years in the East by means of his agents, he himself staying
in Ulyssipone, commonly called Lisbon, and who had lastly traded with
the Chinese, so that he has great practice in such things, having
also been unjustly treated by the King of Portugal, came also home to
Spain. And they both showed Cæsar that though it was not yet quite
sure whether Malacca was within the confines of the Spaniards or the
Portuguese, because, as yet, nothing of the longitude had been clearly
proved, yet that it was quite plain that the Great Gulf and the people
of Sinæ lay within the Spanish boundary. This, too, was held to be most
certain, that the islands which they call the Moluccas, in which all
the spices are produced, and are thence exported to Malacca, lay within
the Spanish western division, and that it was possible to sail there;
and that spices could be brought thence to Spain more easily, and at
less expense and cheaper, as they came direct from their native place.