WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES!
On Wednesday, March 6th, Magellan sighted islands. His lantern had
crossed the Pacific Ocean. Here he hoped to find food. He approached the
shores eagerly. So hungry were the crews that one of the sick men begged
that if any of the natives were killed human flesh might be brought him.
But the natives here were not only wild men, they were robbers; they
sought to kill the voyagers and to steal everything. Hence, Magellan
called the islands the Ladrones (robbers).
The robbers threw stones at the famishing mariners as the ships turned
away in search of more hospitable shores. The women were dressed in
bark.
The ships moved on into unknown seas.
On Saturday, March 16, 1521, a notable sight appeared in the dawn of the
morning. It was a high bluff, some three hundred leagues distant from
the Thieves' Islands. The island was named Zamal, now called Samar.
Magellan saw another island near. It was inhabited by a friendly
people. He determined to land there for the sake of security, as he
could there gather sea food and care for the sick. He planted his tents
there, and provided the sick with fresh meat.
Where was he?
Here surely was a new archipelago which had found no place on a map.
March 16, 1521, was to be a notable date of the world.
He had discovered the Philippine Islands, though they were not then
known by that name. They were the door to China from the West--this he
could hardly have known.
The islands as now known consist of Luzon, fifty-one thousand three
hundred square miles in extent; and Mendanao, more than twenty-five
thousand miles in extent. The islands lying between Luzon and Mendanao
are called the Bissayas, of which Samar has an area of thirteen thousand
and twenty miles. Magellan visited Mendanao and then sailed for Zebu, a
small island where the first Spanish settlement was made, before Manila,
which was founded in 1581.
This archipelago was a new world of wonder. The small islands are now
computed to number fourteen hundred. Magellan never knew the extent of
his discovery.
Here he was to find the happiest days of his life, after the serene but
famishing voyage.
The people here were to receive him with open arms; to feast him; to
raise his expectations and to bow down before the Cross. We must
describe in detail--thanks to the Italian who was true to the heart of
the Admiral--this golden age of the troubled life of Magellan.
After all the struggle for so many years against many overwhelming
oppositions, Magellan now rose into the vantage ground of success, and
fulfilled the vision which had illumined his soul in his darkest hours.
Every man has a right to his record, and whatever might happen now, his
record no power could destroy; he had discovered the Pacific Ocean, and
a new way around the world. Whatever might be his fate, the world must
follow his lantern.
On the 18th of March, 1521, after dinner on shore, the Admiral saw a
boat coming out from a near island toward his ship. There were men in
it.
"Let no one move or speak," said Magellan.
The crews awaited the coming of the strangers in the blazing sunlight of
the tropic sea. The Indians landed, led by a chief.
They were friends. They signified by signs their joy at seeing them.
Magellan feasted the Indians and gave them presents.
When these people saw the good disposition of the Captain, they gave him
palm wine and figs "more than a foot long." On leaving they promised to
return with fruits.
Pigafetta, our Italian Chevalier, vividly describes the scenes that
followed between Magellan and the friendly people of the
newly-discovered islands, which we call the Philippines, but which were
not so named at that time.
He tells us in a wonderfully interesting narrative a translation of
which we closely follow:
"That people became very familiar and friendly, and explained many
things in their language, and told the names of some islands which they
beheld. The island where they dwelt was called Zuluam, and it was not
large. As they were sufficiently agreeable and conversible the crews had
great pleasure with them. The Captain seeing that they were of this good
spirit, conducted them to the ship and showed them specimens of all his
goods--that he most desired--cloves, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg,
mace, and gold.
"He also had shots fired with his artillery, at which they were so much
afraid that they wished to jump from the ship into the sea. They made
signs that the things which the Captain had shown them grew there.
"When they wished to go they took leave of the Captain and of the crew
with very good manners and gracefulness, promising to come back.
"The island where the ships had moored was named Humunu; but because
the men found there two springs of very fresh water it was named the
Watering Place of Good Signs. There was much white coral there, and
large trees which bear fruit smaller than an almond, and which are like
pines. There were also many palm trees both good and bad. In this place
there were many circumjacent islands, on which account the archipelago
was named St. Lazarus. This region and archipelago is in ten degrees
north latitude, and a hundred and sixty-one degrees longitude from the
line of demarcation.
"Friday, the 22d of March, the above-mentioned people, who had promised
to return, came about midday with two boats laden with the said fruit,
cochi, sweet oranges, a vessel of palm wine, and a cock, to give us to
understand that they had poultry in their country." The Italian thus
describes the habits of the people:
"The lord of these people was old, and had his face painted, and had
gold rings suspended to his ears, which they name 'schione,' and the
others had many bracelets and rings of gold on their arms, with a
wrapper of linen round their head. We remained at this place eight days;
the Captain went there every day to see his sick men, whom he had placed
on this island to refresh them; and he gave them himself every day the
water of this said fruit, the cocho, which comforted them much."
Pigafetta tells us that near this isle is another where there is a kind
of people "who wear holes in their ears so large that they can pass
their arms through them"--a very remarkable statement--"and these people
go naked, except that round their middles they wear cloth made of the
bark of trees. But there are some of the more remarkable of them who
wear cotton stuff, and at the end of it there is some work of silk done
with a needle. These people are tawny, fat, and painted, and they anoint
themselves with the oil of cocoanuts and sesame to preserve them from
the sun and the wind. Their hair is very black and long, reaching to the
waist, and they carry small daggers and knives, ornamented with gold."
Pigafetta fell into the sea here, and he gives a vivid account of the
personal accident:
"The Monday of Passion week, the 25th of March, and feast of our Lady,
in the afternoon, and being ready to depart from this place, I went to
the side of our ship to fish, and putting my feet on a spar to go down
to the storeroom, my feet slipped, because it had rained, and I fell
into the sea, without any one seeing me; and being near drowning, by
luck I found at my left hand the sheet of the large sail which was in
the sea, I caught hold of it and began to cry out till some came to help
and pick me up with the boat. I was assisted not by my merits, but by
the mercy and grace of the Fountain of Pity. That same day we took the
course between west and southwest, and passed amid four small islands;
that it to say, Cenalo, Huinanghar, Ibusson, and Abarien."
The Italian describes in an interesting way the visit of the King of one
of the islands to the ships. He says of this first visit of a Philippine
King to the Europeans:
"Thursday, the 28th of March, having seen the night before fire upon an
island, at the morning we came to anchor at this island, where we saw a
small boat which they call boloto, with eight men inside, which
approached the ship of the Captain General. Then a slave of the
Captain's, who was from Sumatra, otherwise named Traprobana, spoke from
afar to these people, who understood his talk, and came near to the side
of the ship, but they withdrew immediately, and would not enter the ship
from fear of us.
"So the Captain, seeing that they would not trust to us, showed them a
red cap and other things, which he had tied and placed on a little
plank, and the people in the boat took them immediately and joyously,
and then returned to advise their King. Two hours afterward, or
thereabout, we saw come two long boats, which they call ballanghai, full
of men.
"In the largest of them was their King sitting under an awning of mats;
when they were near the ship of the Captain General, the said slave
spoke to the King, who understood him well, because in these countries
the kings know more languages than the common people. Then the King
ordered some of his people to go to the Captain's ship, while he would
not move from his boat, which was near enough to us.
"This was done, and when his people returned to the boat, he went away
at once. The Captain made a good entertainment to the men who came to
his ship, and gave them all sorts of things, on which account the King
wished to give the Captain a rather large bar of solid gold, and a chest
full of ginger. However, the Captain thanked him very much, but would
not accept the present. After that, when it was late, he went with the
ships near to the houses and abode of the King."
The Captain in refusing the offer of gold and ginger from his guest,
showed indeed a true sense of hospitality. The incident pictures the
life of Magellan. He obeyed his moral sense and his heart was true. He
was a Portuguese gentleman of the old type, and presented an example
worthy of imitation in any age.