three ships, which they still possessed; they then mustered, and found
that they were altogether one hundred eight men in all these three
ships, and many of them were wounded and sick, on which account they did
not venture to navigate the three ships and thought it would be well to
burn one of them--the one that should be most suitable for that
purpose--and to take into the two ships those that remained: this they
did out at sea, out of sight of any land. While they did this many
paraos came to speak to them, and navigating among the islands, for in
that neighborhood there are a great many. They did not understand one
another, for they had no interpreter, for he had been killed with
Ferdinand Magellan. Sailing farther on among islets, they came to anchor
at an island which is named Carpyam, where there is gold enough, and
this island is in fully 8 deg..
While at anchor in this port of Carpyam they had speech with the
inhabitants of the island, and made peace with them, and Carvalho, who
was captain-major, gave them the boat of the ship which had been burned:
this island has three islets in the offing. Here they took in
refreshments, and sailed farther on to the west-southwest, and fell in
with another island, which is named Caram, and is in 11 deg.; from this they
went on farther to west-southwest, and fell in with a large island, and
ran along the coast of this island to the northeast, and reached as far
as 9 deg., where they went ashore one day, with the boats equipped to seek
for provisions, for in the ships there was now not more than eight days'
food. On reaching shore the inhabitants would not suffer them to land,
and shot at them with arrows of cane hardened in fire, so that they
returned to the ships.
Seeing this, they agreed to go to another island, where they had had
some dealings, to see if they could get some provisions. Then they met
with a contrary wind, and, going about in the direction in which they
wished to go, they anchored, and while at anchor they saw people on
shore hailing them to go thither; they went there with the boats, and as
they were speaking to those people by signs, for they did not understand
each other otherwise, a man-at-arms, named Joan de Campos, told them to
let him go on shore, since there were no provisions in the ships, and it
might be that they would obtain some means of getting provisions, and
that, if the people killed him, they would not lose much with him, for
God would take thought of his soul; and also if he found provisions, and
if they did not kill him, he would find means for bringing them to the
ships: and they thought well of this. So he went on shore, and as soon
as he reached it the inhabitants received him and took him into the
interior the distance of a league, and when he was in the village all
the people came to see him, and they gave him food and entertained him
well, especially when they saw that he ate pigs' flesh, because in this
island they had dealings with the Moors of Borneo, and because the
country people were greedy they made them neither eat pigs nor bring
them up in the country. The country is called Dyguacam and is in 9 deg..
The said Christian, seeing that he was favored and well treated by the
inhabitants, gave them to understand by his signs that they should carry
provisions to the ships, which would be well paid for. In the country
there was nothing except rice not pounded. Then the people set to
pounding rice all the night, and when it was morning they took the rice
and the said Christian and came to the ships, where they did them great
honor, and took in the rice and paid them, and they returned on shore.
This man being already set on shore, inhabitants of another village a
little farther on came to the ships and told them they would give them
much provisions for their money; and as soon as the said man whom they
had sent arrived, they set sail and went to anchor at the village of
those who had come to call them, which was named Vay Palay Cucar a
Canbam, where Carvalho made peace with the King of the country, and they
settled the price of rice, and they gave them two measures of rice,
which weighed one hundred fourteen pounds, for three fathoms of linen
stuff of Britanny; they took there as much rice as they wanted, and
goats and pigs; and while they were at this place there came a Moor, who
had been in the village of Dyguacam, which belongs to the Moors of
Borneo, as had been said above, and after that he went to his country.
While they were at anchor at this village of Dyguacam, there came to
them a parao in which there was a negro named Bastiam, who asked for a
flag and a passport for the Governor of Dyguacam, and they gave him all
this and other things for a present. They asked the said Bastiam, who
spoke Portuguese sufficiently well, since he had been in Molucca, where
he had become a Christian, if he would go with them and show them
Borneo; he said he would be very willing, and when the departure arrived
he hid himself, and, seeing that he did not come, they set sail from
this port of Dyguacam on July 21st to seek for Borneo. As they set sail
there came to them a parao, which was coming to the port of Dyguacam,
and they took it, and in it they took three Moors, who said they were
pilots and that they would take them to Borneo.
Having got these Moors, they steered along this island to the southwest,
and fell in with two islands at its extremity, and passed between them;
that on the north side is named Bolyna, and that on the south Bamdym.
Sailing to the west-southwest a matter of fourteen leagues, they fell in
with a white bottom, which was a shoal below the water; and the black
men they carried with them told them to draw near to the coast of the
island, as it was deeper there, and that was more in the direction of
Borneo, for from that neighborhood the island of Borneo could already be
sighted. This same day they reached and anchored at some islands, to
which they gave the name of islets of St. Paul, which was a matter of
two and a half or three leagues from the great island of Borneo, and
they were in about 7 deg. at the south side of these islands. In the island
of Borneo there is an exceedingly big mountain to which they gave the
name of Mount St. Paul; and from thence they navigated along the coast
of Borneo to the southwest, between an island and the island of Borneo
itself; and they went forward on the same course and reached the
neighborhood of Borneo, and the Moors they had with them told them that
there was no Borneo, and the wind did not suffer them to arrive thither,
as it was contrary. They anchored at an island which is there, and which
may be eight leagues from Borneo.
Close to this island is another which has many Myrobalans, and the next
day they set sail for the other island, which is nearer to the port of
Borneo; and going along thus they saw so many shoals that they anchored
and sent the boats ashore in Borneo, and they took the aforesaid Moorish
pilots on shore, and there went a Christian with them; and the boats
went to set them on land, from whence they had to go to the city of
Borneo, which was three leagues off, and there they were taken before
the Shahbender of Borneo, and he asked what people they were, and for
what they came in the ships; and they were presented to the King of
Borneo with the Christian. As soon as the boats had set the said men on
shore, they sounded, in order to see if the ships should come in closer;
and during this they saw three junks which were coming from the port of
Borneo--from the said city--out to sea, and as soon as they saw the
ships they returned inshore; continuing to sound, they found the channel
by which the port is entered; then they set sail, and entered this
channel, and being within the channel they anchored, and would not go
farther in until they received a message from the shore, which arrived
next day with two paraos: these carried certain swivel guns of metal,
and a hundred men in each parao, and they brought goats and fowls and
two cows, and figs and other fruit, and told them to enter farther in
opposite the islands which were near there, which was the true berth;
and from this position to the city there might be three or four leagues.
While thus at anchor they established peace, and settled that they
should trade in what there was in the country, especially wax, to which
they answered that they would be willing to sell all that there was in
the country for their money. This port of Borneo is in 8 deg..
For the answer thus received from the King they sent him a present by
Gonzalo Mendes Despinosa, captain of the ship Victoria, and the King
accepted the present, and gave to all of them China stuffs; and when
there had passed twenty or twenty-three days that they were there
trading with the people on the island, and had got five men on shore in
the city itself, there came to anchor at the bar, close to them, five
junks, at the hour of vespers, and they remained there that evening and
the night until next day in the morning, when they saw coming from the
city two hundred paraos, some under sail, others rowing. Seeing in this
manner the five junks and the paraos, it seemed to them that there might
be treachery, and they set sail for the junks, and as soon as the crews
of the junks saw them under sail, they also set sail and made off where
the wind best served them; and they overhauled one of the junks with
boats, and took it with twenty-seven men; and the ships went and
anchored abreast off the Island of the Myrobalans, with the junk made
fast to the poop of the flag-ship, and the paraos returned to the shore,
and when night came there came a squall from the west in which the said
junk went to the bottom alongside the flag-ship, without being able to
receive any assistance from it whatever.
Next day, in the morning, they saw a sail, and went to it and took it.
This was a great junk in which the son of the King of Lucam came as
captain, and had with him ninety men; and as soon as they took them they
sent some of them to the King of Borneo; and they sent him word by these
men to send the Christians whom they had got there, who were seven men,
and they would give him all the people they had taken in the junk; on
which account the King sent two men of seven whom he had got there in a
parao, and they again sent him word to send the five men who still
remained, and they would send all the people they had got from the junk.
They waited two days for the answer, and there came no message; and they
took thirty men from the junk, and sent them to the King of Borneo, and
set sail with fourteen men of those they had taken and three women; and
they steered along the coast of the said island to the northeast,
returning backward, and they again passed between the islands and the
great island of Borneo, where the flag-ship grounded on a point of the
island, and so remained more than four hours, and the tide turned and
it got off, by which it was seen clearly that the tide was of
twenty-four hours.
While making the aforesaid course the wind shifted to northeast, and
they stood out to sea, and they saw a sail coming, and the ships
anchored and the boats went to it and took it. It was a small junk and
carried nothing but cocoanuts; and they took in water and wood, and set
sail along the coast of the island to the northeast, until they reached
the extremity of the said island, and met with another small island,
where they overhauled the ships, and they gave it the name of Port St.
Mary of August, and it is in fully 7 deg..
As soon as they had taken these precautions they set sail and steered to
the southwest until they sighted the island, which is called Fagajam,
and this is a course of thirty-eight to forty leagues; and as soon as
they sighted this island they steered to the southwest, and again made
an island which is called Seloque, and they had information that there
were many pearls there; and when they had already sighted the island the
wind shifted to a head wind, and they could not fetch it by the course
they were sailing, and it seemed to them that it might be in 6 deg.. This
same night they arrived at the island of Quipe, and ran along it to the
southeast, and passed between it and another island called Tamgym; and
always running along the coast of the said island, and going thus, they
fell in with a parao laden with sago leaves (which is of a tree which is
named _cajare_), which the people of that country eat as bread. The
parao carried twenty-one men, and the chief of them had been in Molucca,
in the house of Francisco Semrryn; this was in 5 deg., a little more or
less. The inhabitants of this land came to see the ships, and so they
had speech of one another, and an old man of these people said he would
conduct them to Molucca.
In this manner, having fixed a time with the old man, an agreement was
made with him, and they gave him a certain price for this; and when the
next day came, and they were to depart, the old man intended to escape,
and they understood it, and took him and others who were with him, and
who also said that they knew pilots' work, and they set sail; and as
soon as the inhabitants saw them go, they fitted out to go after them;
and of the paraos, there did not reach the ships more than two, and
these reached so near that they shot arrows into the ships, and the wind
was fresh and they could not come up with them. At midnight of that day
they sighted some islands, and they steered more toward them; and next
day they saw land, which was an island; and at night following that day
they found themselves very close to it, and when night fell the wind
calmed and the currents drew them very much inshore; there the old pilot
cast himself into the sea and betook himself to land.
Sailing thus forward, after one of the pilots had fled, they sighted
another island and arrived close to it, and another Moorish pilot said
that Molucca was still farther on; and navigating thus, the next day in
the morning they sighted three high mountains, which belonged to a
nation of people whom they called Salabos; and then they saw a small
island and they anchored to take in some water, because they feared that
in Molucca they would not be allowed to take it in; and they omitted
doing so because the Moorish pilot told them that there were some four
hundred in that island, and that they were all very bad, and might do
them some injury, as they were men of little faith; and that he would
give them no such advice as to go to that island; and also because
Molucca, which they were seeking, was now near, and that its kings were
good men, who gave a good reception to all sorts of men in their
country; and while still in this neighborhood they saw the islands
themselves of Molucca, and for rejoicing they fired all the artillery,
and they arrived at the island on November 8, 1521, so that they spent
from Spain to Molucca two years and two months.
As soon as they arrived at the island of Tydor, which is in 30', the
King thereof did them great honor, which could not be exceeded. There
they treated with the King for their cargo, and the King engaged to give
them whatever there was in the country for their money, and they settled
to give for the bahar of cloves fourteen ells of yellow cloth of
seventy-seven tem, which are worth in Castile a ducat the ell; of red
cloth of the same kind ten ells; they also gave thirty ells of Britanny
linen cloth, and for each of these quantities they received a bahar of
cloves; likewise for thirty knives, eight bahars. Having thus settled
all the above mentioned prices, the inhabitants of the country gave them
information that farther on, in another island near, there was a
Portuguese man. This island might be two leagues distant, and it was
named Targatell. This man was the chief person of Molucca; there we now
have got a fortress. They then wrote letters to the said Portuguese to
come and speak with them, to which he answered that he did not dare,
because the King of the country forbade it; that if they obtained
permission from the King he would come at once. This permission they
soon got, and the Portuguese came to speak with them.
They gave him an account of the prices which they had settled, at which
he was amazed, and said on that account the King had ordered him not to
come, as they did not know the truth about the prices of the country;
and while they were thus taking in cargo there arrived the King of
Baraham, which is near there, and said that he wished to be a vassal of
the King of Castile, and also that he had got four hundred bahars of
cloves, and that he had sold them to the King of Portugal, and that they
had bought it, but that he had not yet delivered it; and if they wished
for it, he would give it all to them; to which the captains answered
that if he brought it to them, and came with it, they would buy it, but
not otherwise. The King, seeing that they did not wish to take the
cloves, asked them for a flag and a letter of safe-conduct, which they
gave him, signed by the captains of the ships.
While they were thus waiting for the cargo, it seemed to them, from the
delay in delivery, that the King was preparing some treachery against
them, and the greater part of the ships' crews made an uproar and told
the captains to go, as the delays which the King made were for nothing
else than treachery: as it seemed to them all that it might be so, they
were abandoning everything and were intending to depart; and being about
to unfurl the sails, the King, who had made the agreement with them,
came to the flag-ship and asked the captain why he wanted to go, because
that which he had agreed upon with him he intended to fulfil it as had
been settled. The captain replied that the ships' crews said they should
go and not remain any longer, as it was only treachery that was being
prepared against them. To this the King answered that it was not so, and
on that account he at once sent for his _Koran_, upon which he wished
to make oath that nothing should be done to them. They at once brought
him his _Koran_, and upon it he made oath, and told them to rest at ease
with that. At this the crews were set at rest, and he promised them that
he would give them their cargo by December 15, 1521, which he fulfilled
within the said time, without being wanting in anything.
When the two ships were already laden and about to unfurl their sails,
the flag-ship sprung a large leak, and, the King of the country learning
this, he sent them twenty-five divers to stop the leak, which they were
unable to do. They settled that the other ship should depart, and that
this one should again discharge all its cargo and unload it; and as they
could not stop the leak, the King promised that they, the people of the
country, should give them all that they might be in need of. This was
done, and they discharged the cargo of the flag-ship; and when the said
ship was repaired, they took in her cargo, and decided on making for the
country of the Antilles, and the course from Molucca to it was two
thousand leagues, a little more or less. The other ship, which set sail
first, left on December of the said year, and went out to sea for the
Timor, and made its course behind Java, two thousand fifty-five leagues,
to the Cape of Good Hope.
ANTONIO PIGAFETTA
In order to double the Cape of Good Hope, we went as far as 42 deg. south
latitude, and we remained off that cape for nine weeks, with the sails
struck, on account of the western and northwestern gales, which beat
against our bows with fierce squalls. The Cape of Good Hope is in 34 deg.
30' south latitude, sixteen hundred leagues distant from Cape of
Molucca, and it is the largest and most dangerous cape in the world.
Some of our men, and among them the sick, would have liked to land at a
place belonging to the Portuguese called Mozambique, both because the
ship made much water and because of the great cold which we suffered;
and much more because we had nothing but rice-water for food and drink,
all the meat of which we had made provision having putrefied, for the
want of salt had not permitted us to salt it. But the greater number of
us, prizing honor more than life itself, decided on attempting at any
risk to return to Spain.
At length, by the aid of God, on the 6th of May, we passed the terrible
cape, but we were obliged to approach it within only five leagues'
distance, or else we should never have passed it. We then sailed toward
the northwest for two whole months without ever taking rest; and in this
short time we lost twenty-one men, between Christians and Indians. We
made then a curious observation on throwing them into the sea; that was
that the Christian remained with the face turned to the sky, and the
Indians with the face turned to the sea. If God had not granted us
favorable weather, we should all have perished of hunger.
Constrained by extreme necessity, we decided on touching at the Cape
Verd island named St. James. Knowing that we were in an enemy's country
and among suspicious persons, on sending the boat ashore to get
provision of victuals, we charged the seamen to say to the Portuguese
that we had sprung our foremast under the equinoctial line--although
this misfortune had happened at the Cape of Good Hope--and that our ship
was alone, because while we tried to repair it our captain-general had
gone with the other two ships to Spain. With these good words, and
giving our merchandise in exchange, we obtained two boat-loads of rice.
In order to see whether we had kept an exact account of the days, we
charged those who went ashore to ask what day of the week it was, and
they were told by the Portuguese inhabitants of the island that it was
Thursday, which was a great cause of wondering to us, since with us it
was only Wednesday. We could not persuade ourselves that we were
mistaken; and I was more surprised than the others, since, having always
been in good health, I had every day, without intermission, written down
the day that was current. But we were afterward advised that there was
no error on our part, since, as we had always sailed toward the west,
following the course of the sun, and had returned to the same place, we
must have gained twenty-four hours, as it is clear to anyone who
reflects upon it.
The boat, having returned for rice a second time to the shore, was
detained with thirteen men who were in it. As we saw that, and, from the
movement in certain caravels, suspected that they might wish to capture
us and our ship, we at once set sail. We afterward learned, some time
after our return, that our boat and men had been arrested, because one
of our men had discovered the deception and said that the
captain-general was dead, and that our ship was the only one remaining
of Magellan's fleet.
At last, when it pleased heaven, on Saturday, September 6, 1522, we
entered the Bay of San Lucar; and of sixty men who composed our crew
when we left Molucca, we were reduced to only eighteen, and these for
the most part sick. Of the others, some died of hunger, some had run
away at the island of Timor, and some had been condemned to death for
their crimes.
From the day when we left this Bay of San Lucar until our return
thither, we reckoned that we had run more than fourteen thousand four
hundred sixty leagues, and we had completed going round the earth from
east to west.
Monday, September 8th, we cast anchor near the mole of Seville, and
discharged all the artillery.
Tuesday we all went in shirts and barefoot, with a taper in our hands,
to visit the shrine of Santa Maria de Antigua.
Then leaving Seville, I went to Valladolid, where I presented to his
sacred majesty Don Carlos neither gold nor silver, but things more
precious in the eyes of so great a sovereign. I presented to him, among
other things, a book written by my hand of all the things that occurred
day by day in our voyage. I departed thence as I was best able and went
to Portugal, and related to King John the things which I had seen.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] Translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley.
THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD
A.D. 1520
J. S. BREWER
From the magnificence of the preparations made for the
famous meeting described in the following pages, the plain
on which it took place, between Guines and Ardres, France,
received the name of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold."
The meeting of the two kings, Henry VIII of England and
Francis I of France, was brought about by circumstances
connected with the rivalry between Francis and the emperor
Charles V. The enmity of the two latter and their repeated
wars form a principal subject of European history during
many years.