part i

(Manila, 1904), which says (p. 20) that the only large islands,

besides Luzón, inhabited at present by Negritos are Panay, Negros, Mindanao, and Paragua, although they do inhabit some of the smaller islands. The pure type is decreasing through marriage with the Bukidnon or mountain Visayans; and (p. 22) “so far there is no evidence that Negritos exist on Cebu, Bohol, Samar, and Leyte. The Negrito population of the Philippines is probably not in excess of 25,000. The U. S. census report of 1900 gives to Panglao a population of 14,347, all civilized. See also Census of the Philippines, i, pp. 411, 415, 436, 468, 478, 532, 533.

[380] MS. 5,650 reads: “When entering that house, we were preceded by many reed and palmleaf torches.”

[381] These two words are omitted in MS. 5,650.

[382] See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 368, 369, on the origin and use of rice in the eastern islands, and the etymology of the native names for that grain; and Census of the Philippines, iv.

[383] Instead of this last clause, MS. 5,650 reads: “where he slept with his principal wife.”

[384] MS. 5,650 reads: “in the houses of the king.”

[385] MS. 5,650 reads: “little valleys.”

[386] Cf. Vol. III, pp. 56, 57.

[387] MS. 5,650 reads: “boat.”

[388] MS. 5,650 reads: “Calanoa;” and Eden: “Calauar.”

[389] MS. 5,650 reads: “one hundred and sixty-six;” and Eden: “170.”

[390] Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 221) reads as follows when relating the course of the ships on leaving Cebú: “We left Subu and sailed southwest to a latitude of 9 and three-fourths degrees, between the end of Subu and an island called Bohol. Toward the western end of Subu lies another island, by name, Panilongo, which is inhabited by blacks. That island and Subu contain gold and considerable ginger. The former lies in 9 and one-third degrees and Subu in 10 and one-third degrees. Accordingly we left that channel and went 10 leguas south and anchored in the island of Bohol. There we made two ships of the three, burning the third, because we had no men. The last-named island lies in 9 and one-half degrees. We left Bohol and sailed southwest toward Quipit, and anchored at that settlement on the right hand side of a river. On the northwest and open side are two islets which lie in 8 and one-half degrees. We could get no food there, for the people had none, but we made peace with them. That island of Quipit contains a quantity of gold, ginger, and cinnamon. Accordingly, we determined to go in search of food. The distance from the headland of Quipit to the first islands is about 112 leguas. It and the islands lie in an east by north and south by west direction; and this island [i.e., Mindanao] extends quite generally east and west.”

The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 14) calls the port of Quipit (which is located on the northeastern coast of Mindanao) Capyam or Quype. Carvalho gave the boat of the burned ship to the inhabitants of that place. Brito (Navarrete, iv, p. 309) says that they learned the location of Borneo at Mindanao. Quipit becomes Gibith in Transylvanus, Chipico in Peter Martyr, and Quepindo in Barros (see Mosto, p. 84, note 2).

[391] The first European mention of the island of Luzón. Luzón is derived from the Malay lâsung (Tagalog, losong), “mortar.” See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 222, 223.

[392] Pigafetta evidently means the Chinese by the Lequians who are known to have carried on trade for many years with the Philippines, and who indeed, once owned them.

Following this paragraph in the Italian MS. (folio 40a) is the chart of Caghaiam (q.v., p. 202). This chart is shown on folio 53b in MS. 5,650, preceded by the words: “Below is shown the island of Caghaian.”

[393] MS. 5,650 does not mention the cuirasses.

[394] Eden reads: “40. leagues.”

[395] Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 221) says: “We left that place [i.e., Quipit] and sailed west southwest, southwest, and west, until we came to an island containing very few inhabitants and called Quagayan. We anchored in the northern part of that island, where we asked for the location of the island of Poluan, in order to get provisions of rice, for that island contains it in abundance, and many ships are laden there for other districts. Accordingly we sailed west northwest and came across the headland of the island of Poluan.” The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 14) calls Cagaiam, Caram. It is the island of Cagayan Sulu, which lies northeast of Borneo.

[396] The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 15) says that the ships contained only sufficient provisions for a week.

[397] Eden reads: “C.lxxix. degrees and a third parte.” MS. 5,650 reads: “one hundred and sixty-one and one-third degrees.”

[398] Occurrences at Palawan are given as follows by Albo (Navarrete, iv, pp. 221, 222): “Then we sailed north by east along the coast [of Palawan] until we reached a village called Saocao, where we made peace. Its inhabitants were Moros. We went to another village of Cafres, where we bartered for a considerable quantity of rice, and consequently laid in a good supply of provisions. That coast extends northeast and southwest. The headland of its northeastern part lies in 9 and one-third degrees, and that of the southwestern part in 8 and one-third degrees. Then on returning to the southwest quite to the headland of this island, we found an island near which is a bay. In this course and along Poluan many shoals are found. This headland lies east and west with Quipit and northeast by east and southwest by west with Quagayan.”

The “Roteiro” (Stanley, pp. 15–17) gives a fuller account of occurrences at Palawan. At the first settlement at which they attempt to land, the natives prove hostile, whereupon they go toward another island, but contrary weather compelling them to anchor near Palawan, they are invited ashore on that island by the people of another village. There one of the soldiers, Joam de Campos, lands alone in order to get provisions. Being received kindly at this port, named Dyguasam (perhaps Puerto Princesa), the people set about preparing provisions for the strangers. Then going to another nearby village, where Carvalho makes peace with the chief, provisions of rice, goats, and swine are bought. At the latter village, a Portuguese-speaking negro who has been baptized at the Moluccas, is met, who promises to guide them to Borneo, but he fails them at the last moment. Capturing a prau and three Moros near the former village, they are guided to Borneo. Brito (Navarrete, iv, p. 309) says that the two ships remained a month in Palawan, “a rich country, where they got new directions about Burneo, and captured two men to guide them there.”

At this point in the Italian MS. (folio 41a) follows the chart of Sundan and Pulaoam (q.v., p. 210). MS. 5,650 shows it on folio 54b, where it is preceded by the words: “Chart of the island of Pulaoan and the port of Tegozzao.”

[399] MS. 5,650 reads: “all.”

[400] This passage is defective in MS. 5,650, where it reads as follows: “They have bows with wooden arrows more than one palmo long, some of which are pointed with long sharp fishbones, poisoned with poisonous herbs, while others are tipped with poisoned bamboo.”

[401] MS. 5,650 reads: “mace.” Jannetone as pointed out by Mosto (p. 85, note 4) was a missile weapon.

[402] Cockfighting is still the great diversion of the Malays and Malasian peoples. See Wallace’s Malay Archipelago (New York, 1869), p. 477; and Bowring’s Visit to Philippine Isles (London, 1859). pp. 149–153.

[403] Eden reads: “fyue leaques.”

[404] From the Spanish word almadia, (a sort of canoe used by the inhabitants of the East Indies; also a boat used by the Portuguese and their slaves in the East Indies: generally of one single tree, although there are various kinds, to one of which is given the name coche, “carriage”) which is derived from the Arabic al-madia or almadiya, from the root adar, “to cross,” so called because those vessels are used in crossing rivers.—Echegaray’s Dic. etimológico (Madrid, 1887).

[405] This word is omitted in MS. 5,650.

[406] Gomara says there were eight (Mosto, p. 86, note 1).

[407] MS. 5,650 reads: “a red cap.”

[408] MS. 5,650 omits the remainder of this sentence.

[409] MS. 5,650 adds “and seigniors.”

[410] Stanley makes the unhappy translation “with naked daggers in their hands, which they held on their thighs.”

[411] Cf. the account of the reception accorded the captain of a Portuguese vessel in Borneo in 1578, Vol. IV, pp. 222, 223, where the king is found playing chess.

[412] This clause is omitted in MS. 5,650.

[413] The city of Brunei or Brunai. See Guillemard’s Magellan, pp. 269–373. See also descriptions of Bornean villages in Wallace’s Malay Archipelago; and Forest’s account of Brunai quoted by Crawfurd (Dictionary, p. 70), who mentions the boat-markets held by the women.

[414] MS. 5,650 reads: “twenty or twenty-five thousand.” Crawfurd (Dictionary, p. 70) thinks that Pigafetta overstates the population, and that he probably gained his information from a Malay courtier.

[415] MS. 5,650 reads: “the women and daughters.”

[416] Cherita-tulis, “writers of narratives” (Stanley, p. 114); jurutulis, “adepts in writing” (Crawfurd’s Dictionary, p. 61).

[417] MS. 5,650 reads: “timghuly.”

[418] Ortelius (Theatrum orbis terrarum) calls this region “Lao” (see also chart on p. 210) and Mercatore (Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes) “Lave.” It may possibly be the modern island of Laut off the southeast of Borneo. (See Mosto, p. 87, note 3). Crawfurd (Dictionary, p. 72) conjectures that it is some place in Banjarmasin.

[419] The journey to Borneo, events there, and a description of Borneo are thus described by Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 222): “We sailed from Poluan to Borney. Coasting the above named island [i.e., Poluan] to its southwest headland, we discovered an island with a shoal on its eastern side, and which lies in 7 and one-half degrees, so that we had to deviate to the west for about fifteen leguas. Then we sailed southwest coasting along the island of Borney to a city of the same name. You must needs know that the land must be approached closely, for there are many shoals outside, and one must keep the sounding line in constant use, for it is a harsh coast. Borney is a large city with a very large bay. Both inside and outside of it are many shoals, so that a native pilot of that place is necessary. We remained there for a considerable number of days, and commenced to trade there and made firm friendship. But later, many canoes, in number 260, were equipped to capture us and came upon us. When we saw them, we left hurriedly, and sailed out of the bay, whereupon we saw some junks coming. We went to them and captured one, in which was a son of the king of Luzon. The latter is a very large island. The captain afterward let him go [i.e., the prince of Luzón] without asking advice of anyone. Borney it a large island which yields cinnamon, mirabolans, and camphor, the last named of which is much esteemed in these lands, and it is said that when people die they are embalmed with it. Borney (that is, the port of Borney) lies in a latitude of 5 degrees and 25 minutes, and a longitude of 201 degrees and 5 minutes from the line of demarcation.”

The “Roteiro” (Stanley, pp. 17–20) says that while on the way to Borneo, the ships anchor at islands which they call the islets of St. Paul (now, the Mantanani Islands—Guillemard, Magellan, p. 269) at a distance of two and one-half or three leagues from Borneo. Proceeding past a lofty mountain (Kina Balu—Guillemard) in Borneo, they coast that island to the port of Borneo. Anchoring in that port, the Moro pilots captured at Palawan are sent ashore with one of the crew, and on reaching the city of Borneo, they are taken before the Shahbender of Borneo. The two ships draw in closer to the city and establish trade with the natives. Gonzalo Gomez Espinosa is chosen ambassador to the king to whom he takes a present. After a stay of twenty-three days in Borneo, the men in the ships fearing treachery from the evolutions of a number of praus and junks, attack and capture one of the latter with twenty-seven men. Next morning the junk commanded by the son of the king of Luzon and ninety men, are captured. Of the seven men ashore the king sends two to the ships, but retains the others, whereupon the ships leave, taking with them fourteen men and three women of those captured in the junks. While sailing back over their downward course, the “Trinidad” grounds on a point of the island of Borneo, where it remains for four hours until swung clear by the tide.

Brito in his account (Navarrete, iv, pp. 309, 310) says that the Borneans fear at first lest the strangers be Portuguese and that their object is conquest, but finally being reassured by Espinosa who takes a present to the king, pilots are promised as far as Mindanao. During their stay of a month at Borneo, two Greeks desert the ships. Three others, among them Carvalho’s son, are ashore when the fear of attack instigated by the two Greeks leads the two ships to attack the Borneans, and the five men are left behind on the island.

The island of Borneo, the largest island (properly so-called) in the world, is mentioned first by Varthema (Travels, Hakluyt Society edition), pp. 246–248. See also Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 57–66. See also Henry Ling Roth’s Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo (London, 1896) in two volumes, which is an excellent work on modern conditions in Borneo.

[420] The word “junk” is probably derived from the Malay Jong or Ajong “a great ship.” For a description of these ships, see Yule’s Cathay (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1866), ii, pp. 417, 418.

[421] MS. 5,650 reads: “If venom or poison be put in a vase of fine porcelain, it breaks immediately.” In accordance with this reading we have added in brackets in the Italian the word veleno, i.e., “poison,” which seems to have been omitted by the amanuensis. Mosto (p. 88, note 3) quotes the following from Marcantonio Pigafetta’s Itinerario da Vienna a Constantinopoli (p. 208), when speaking of the present brought to Sultan Selim II by the Persian ambassador which consisted of “eight dishes [piati firuarii] which break if any one puts poison in them. Those piati firuarii are made of the substance which we call porcelain, and are made in China, the province situated in the extreme outskirts of the Orient. They are made of earth, which is kept for more than fifty years buried in the earth, in order to refine it, and which is buried by the father for his son. Thus it passes from hand to hand.” See also Yule’s Cathay, ii, p. 478; and Burnell and Tiele’s Linschoten (Hakluyt Society publications), i, pp. 129, 130.

[422] The small brass, copper, tin, and zinc coins common throughout the eastern islands were called “pichis” or “pitis,” which was the name of the ancient Javanese coin, now used as a frequent appellative for money in general. Chinese coins were early in general use throughout the southern islands of the eastern archipelagoes. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 285–288.

[423] The cate or catty. See Vol. XVIII, p. 141, note 32.

[424] MS. 5,650 mentions only the six porcelain dishes, the wax, and the pitch, for the last eighty, instead of forty, cathils, of bronze being traded. The bahar of the Italian MS. becomes “barrel” or “cask” in the French. The anime (pitch) may have been one of the numerous resins yielded by various trees in the Philippines (see Report of Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, 282, 283).

[425] MS. 5,650 omits this word.

[426] Spectacles were invented in the thirteenth century; and the credit for the invention is assigned to Alessandro dì Spina, a Florentine monk, or to Roger Bacon.

[427] MS. 5,650 reads: “not to wash the buttocks with the left hand; not to eat with it.”

[428] Stanley (p. 116) omits a portion of this paragraph. He says that had Pigafetta been a Spaniard or Portuguese, he would not have written as he did concerning the Mahometan laws, as he would have been better informed. Notwithstanding the fact that Stanley was a convert to Islamism and a student of that faith, some of these practices may have been introduced into Borneo, as the rites there being far from their center, may have become vitiated or imperfectly learned in the first place. For instance, that the law was not strictly observed there is seen from the fact recorded by Pigafetta that they used the intoxicant arrack.

[429] MS. 5,650 says simply that the camphor exudes in small drops. The Malay camphor tree (dipterocarpus or Dryabalanops camphora) is confined, so far as known, to a few parts of the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, where it is very abundant. The oil (both fluid and solid) is found in the body of the tree where the sap should be, but not in all trees. The Malay name for camphor is a slight corruption of the Sanskrit one “karpura,” and to distinguish it from the camphor of China and Japan, the word Barus is annexed (the name of the seaport of the western coast of Sumatra, whence camphor was chiefly exported from that island). The Malay variety is higher priced than the Chinese. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, p. 81.

[430] MS. 5,650 omits mention of the turnips and cabbages, and adds: “hinds.”

[431] Immediately following this paragraph in the Italian MS. are three charts: 1. On folio 45b, the chart of Burne (q.v., p. 210), at the lower (i.e., northern) end of which is a scroll reading “Here are found the living leaves;” found on folio 60b of MS. 5,650, preceded by the words “Chart of the island of Burne and the place where the living leaves are found.” 2. On folio 46b, the chart of Mindanao, which is divided into the districts of Cippit, Butuam, Maingdanao, Calagan, and Benaiam (q.v., p. 230); found on folio 63a of MS. 5,650, preceded by the words “Chart of five islands—Benaian.” 3. On folio 47a, the chart of the islands of Zzolo [i.e., Joló], Tagima, and Chauit and Subanìn, (q.v., p. 230), accompanied by a scroll reading “Where pearls are produced;” found on folio 63b of MS. 5,650, preceded by the words “Chart of the islands of Zzolo, Cauit, Tagima, and others.”

[432] Cape Sampanmangio (Guillemard, p. 274). See ante, note 418.

[433] MS. 5,650 omits this sentence.

[434] The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 20) also narrates the capture of this junk.

[435] In Eden: “Cimbubon, beinge. viii. degrees aboue the Equinoctiall lyne. Here they remayned. xl. to calke theyr ſhyppes and furnyſſe them with freſſhe water and fuell.” Cimbonbon is probably Banguey or one of the neighboring islets between Borneo and Palawan. It is called in the “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 21), port Samta Maria de Agosto, (St. Mary of August) because it was reached on the fifteenth of August, the day of our Lady of August. It is assigned a latitude of fully seven degrees. Herrera says that the ships were overhauled on Borneo itself. Guillemard (p. 274) interprets Pigafetta wrongly by saying that he assigns the careening place as Palawan or Paragua.

[436] MS. 5,650 reads: “two and one-half feet long.”

[437] Cf. Transylvanus, Vol. I, pp. 330, 331. The Tridacna gigas, described by Delgado, Historia, p. 929, under the name of taclobo. Colin asserts that he saw one of the shells which was used as a watering-trough and another as a holy-water font. The shells sometimes attain a length of five or six feet, and weigh hundreds of pounds. The natives burn them for lime. See Official Handbook of Philippines (Manila, 1903), p. 152.

[438] Mosto (p. 89, note 8) conjectures this to be a fish of the family of the Squamipen, perhaps of the genus Heniochus.

[439] Coca: An Italian word formed from the Spanish word “chocar” “to jostle” (Mosto, p. 89, note 9). The living leaves, were the insects of the genus of Phyllium of the order of the Orthoptera. They are known as walking leaves from their resemblance to a leaf.

[440] This sentence is omitted in MS. 5,650. Eden says that Pigafetta kept the leaf “for the ſpace of viii. dayes.”

[441] The date of the departure was September 27, 1521. At this place João Carvalho was deposed from the chief command for his high-handed measures and non-observance of royal orders, and retook his old position as chief pilot. Espinosa was elected in his place and Elcano was chosen captain of the “Victoria.” See Navarrete, iv, pp. 73, 289, 292, 294.

[442] Basilan; see Vol. III, p. 168, note 44.

[443] The true pearl oysters of the Philippine Islands are found along the coasts of Paragua, Mindanao, and in the Sulu Archipelago, especially in the last named, where many very valuable pearls are found. These fisheries are said to rank with the famous fisheries of Ceylon and the Persian Gulf. The mother-of-pearl of the shells is more valuable than the pearls. The Sultan of Joló claims the fisheries as his own and rents them out, but always has trouble with the lessees, and his ownership is disputed by the datos. The pearl fishery has figured in a treaty between that sultan and the United States government. See Affairs of Philippines, Hearing before U. S. Senate Committee (Washington, 1902),