Part 6

A number of boats came from Tarenate daily laden with cloves, but, as we were awaiting the king, we did not barter for anything except food. The men who came from Tarenate were very sorry because we refused to trade with them. On Sunday night, November twenty-four, and toward Monday, the king came with gongs a-playing, and passed between the ships, [whereat] we discharged many pieces. He told us that cloves would be brought in quantity within four days. Monday the king sent us seven hundred and ninety-one [501] cathils of cloves, without reckoning the tare. The tare is to take the spices for less than they weigh, for they become dryer daily. As those were the first cloves which we had laden in our ships, we fired many pieces. Cloves are called ghomode there; in Saranghani where we captured the two pilots, bongalauan; [502] and in Malaca, chianche.

On Tuesday, November twenty-six, the king told us that it was not the custom of any king to leave his island, but that he had left [his] for the love that he bore the king of Castiglia, and so that we might go to Spagnia sooner and return with so many ships that we could avenge the murder of his father who was killed in an island called Buru, [503] and then thrown into the sea. He told us that it was the custom, when the first cloves were laden in the ships or in the junks, for the king to make a feast for the crews of the ships, and to pray [504] their God that He would lead those ships safe to their port. He also wished to do it because of the king of Bachian and one of his brothers who were coming to visit him. He had the streets cleaned. Some of us imagining that some treachery was afoot, because three Portuguese in the company of Francesco Seranno had been killed in the place where we took in water, by certain of those people who had hidden in the thickets, and because we saw those Indians whispering with our prisoners, declared in opposition to some who wished to go to the feast that we ought not go ashore for feasts, for we remembered that other so unfortunate one. We were so urgent that it was concluded to send a message to the king asking him to come soon to the ships, for we were about to depart, and would give him the four men whom we had promised him, besides some other merchandise. The king came immediately and entered the ships. He told some of his men that he entered them with as great assurance as into his own houses. He told us that he was greatly astonished at our intention of departing so soon, since the limit of time for lading the ships was thirty days; and that he had not left the island to do us any harm, but to supply the ships with cloves sooner. He said that we should not depart then for that was not the season for sailing among those islands, both because of the many shoals found about Bandan and because we might easily meet some Portuguese ships [in those seas]. However, if it were our determination to depart then, we should take all our merchandise, for all the kings roundabout would say that the king of Tadore had received so many presents from so great a king, and had given nothing in return; and that they would think that we had departed only for fear of some treachery, and would always call him a traitor. Then he had his koran [505] brought, and first kissing it and placing it four or five times above his head, and saying certain words to himself as he did so (which they call zambahean [506]), he declared in the presence of all, that he swore by Allah and by the koran [507] which he had in his hand, that he would always be a faithful friend to the king of Spagnia. He spoke all those words nearly in tears. In return for his good words, we promised to wait another fortnight. Thereupon, we gave him the signature of the king and the royal banner. None the less we heard afterward on good authority that some of the chiefs of those islands [508] had proposed to him to kill us, saying it would be doing the greatest kind of pleasure to the Portuguese, and that the latter would forgive those of Bachian. [509] But the king had replied that he would not do it under any consideration, since he had recognized the king of Spagnia and had made peace with him.

After dinner on Wednesday, November twenty-seven, the king had an edict proclaimed that all those who had cloves could bring them to the ships. All that and the next day we bartered for cloves with might and main. On Friday afternoon, the governor of Machian came with a considerable number of praus. He refused to disembark, for his father and one of his brothers who had been banished from Machian were living in Tadore. Next day, our king and his nephew, the governor, entered the ships. As we had no more cloth, the king sent to have three brazas of his brought and gave it to us,510 and we gave it with other things to the governor. At his departure we discharged many pieces. Afterward the king sent us six brazas of red cloth, so that we might give it to the governor. We immediately presented it to the latter, and he thanked us heartily for it, telling us that he would send us a goodly quantity of cloves. That governor’s name is Humar, and he was about twenty-five years old.

On Sunday, the first of December, that governor departed. We were told that the king of Tadore had given him some silk cloth and some of those gongs [511] so that he might send the cloves quicker. On Monday the king went out of the island to get cloves. On Wednesday morning, as it was the day of St. Barbara, [512] and because the king came, all the artillery was discharged. At night the king came to the shore, and asked to see how we fired our rockets and fire bombs, [513] at which he was highly delighted. On Thursday and Friday we bought many cloves, both in the city and in the ships. For four brazas of ribbon, they gave us one bahar of cloves; for two brass chains, worth one marcello, [514] they gave us one hundred libras of cloves. Finally, when we had no more merchandise, one man gave his cloak, another his doublet, and another his shirt, besides other articles of clothing, in order that they might have their share in the cargo. On Saturday, three of the sons of the king of Tarenate and their three wives, the daughters of our king, and Pietro Alfonso, the Portuguese, came to the ships. We gave each of the three brothers a gilt glass drinking-cup, [515] and scissors and other things to the women. Many pieces were discharged at their departure. Then we sent ashore many things to the daughter of our king, now the wife of the king of Tarennatte, as she refused to come to the ships with the others. All those people, both men and women, always go barefoot.

On Sunday, December eight, as it was the day of the conception, we fired many pieces, rockets, and fire bombs. [516] On Monday afternoon the king came to the ships with three women, who carried his betel for him. No one except the king can take women with him. Afterward the king of Jailolo came and wished to see us fight together again. Several days later our king told us that he was like a child at the breast who knew his dear mother, who departing would leave him alone. Especially would he be disconsolate, because now he had become acquainted with us, and enjoyed some of the products of Spagnia. Inasmuch as our return would be far in the future, he earnestly entreated us to leave him some of [his: crossed out in original MS.] our culverins [517] for his defense. He advised us to sail only by day when we left, because of the numerous shoals amid those islands. We replied to him that if we wished to reach Spagnia we would have to sail day and night. Thereupon, he told us that he would pray daily to his God for us, asking Him to conduct us in safety. He told us that the king of Bachian was about to come to marry one of his brothers to one of his [the king of Tidore’s] daughters, and asked us to invent some entertainment in token of joy; but that we should not fire the large pieces, because they would do great damage to the ships as they were laden. During that time, Pietro Alfonso, the Portuguese, came with his wife and all his other possessions to remain in the ships. Two days later, Chechili de Roix, son of the king of Tarennate, came in a well-manned prau, and asked the Portuguese to go down into it for a few moments. The Portuguese answered that he would not go down, for he was going to Spagnia with us, whereupon the king’s son tried to enter the ship, but we refused to allow him to come aboard, as he was a close friend to the Portuguese captain of Malaca, and had come to seize the Portuguese. He severely scolded those who lived near the Portuguese because they had allowed the latter to go without his permission.

On Sunday afternoon, December fifteen, the king of Bachian and his brother came in a prau with three tiers of rowers at each side. In all there were one hundred and twenty rowers, and they carried many banners made of white, yellow, and red parrot feathers. There was much sounding of those gongs, for the rowers kept time in their rowing to those sounds. He brought two other praus filled with girls to present them to his betrothed. When they passed near the ships, we saluted them by firing pieces, and they in order to salute us went round the ships and the port. Our king came to congratulate him as it is not the custom for any king to disembark on the land of another king. When the king of Bachian saw our king coming, he rose from the carpet on which he was seated, and took his position at one side of it. Our king refused to sit down upon the carpet, but on its other side, and so no one occupied the carpet. The king of Bachian gave our king five hundred patols, because the latter was giving his daughter to wife to the former’s brother. The said patols are cloths of gold and silk manufactured in Chiina, and are highly esteemed among them. Whenever one of those people dies the other members of his family [518] clothe themselves in those cloths in order to show him more honor. They give three bahars of cloves for one of those robes or thereabouts, according to the [value of the] robe.

On Monday our king sent a banquet to the king of Bachian by fifty women all clad in silk garments from the waist to the knees. They went two by two with a man between each couple. Each one bore a large tray filled with other small dishes which contained various kinds of food. The men carried nothing but the wine in large jars. Ten of the oldest women acted as macebearers. [519] Thus did they go quite to the prau where they presented everything to the king who was sitting upon the carpet under a red and yellow canopy. As they were returning, those women captured some of our men [520] and it was necessary to give them some little trifle in order to regain their freedom. After that our king sent us goats, cocoanuts, wine, and other things. That day we bent the new sails in the ships. On them was a cross of St. James of Galitia, [521] with an inscription which read: “This is the sign [figura] of our good fortune.”

On Tuesday, we gave our king certain pieces of artillery resembling arquebuses, which we had captured among those India [islands], and some of our culverins, [522] together with four barrels of powder. We took aboard at that place eighty butts of water in each ship. Five days previously the king had sent one hundred men to cut wood for us at the island of Mare, by which we were to pass. On that day the king of Bachian and many of his men came ashore to make peace with us. Before the king walked four men with drawn daggers in their hands. In the presence of our king and of all the others he said that he would always remain in the service of the king of Spagnia, and that he would save in his name the cloves left by the Portuguese until the arrival of another of our fleets, and he would never give them to the Portuguese without our consent. He sent as a present to the king of Spagnia a slave, two bahars of cloves (he sent x, but the ships could not carry them as they were so heavily laden), and two extremely beautiful dead birds. Those birds are as large as thrushes, and have a small head and a long beak. Their legs are a palmo in length and as thin as a reed, [523] and they have no wings, but in their stead long feathers of various colors, like large plumes. Their tail resembles that of the thrush. All the rest of the feathers except the wings are of a tawny color. They never fly except when there is wind. The people told us that those birds came from the terrestrial paradise, and they call them bolon diuata, [524] that is to say, “birds of God.” On that day each one of the kings of Maluco wrote to the king of Spagnia [to say] that they desired to be always his true subjects. The king of Bachian was about seventy [525] years old. He observed the following custom, namely, whenever he was about to go to war or to undertake any other important thing, he first had it done two or three times on one of his servants whom he kept for no other purpose.

One day our king sent to tell our men who were living in the house with the merchandise not to go out of the house by night, because of certain of his men who anoint themselves [526] and roam abroad by night. They appear to be headless, and when any of them meets any other man, he touches the latter’s hand, and rubs a little of the ointment on him. The man falls sick very soon, and dies within three or four days. When such persons meet three or four together they do nothing else than [527] to deprive them of their senses. [The king said] that he had had many of them hanged. When those people build a new house, before they go to dwell there they make a fire round about it and hold many feasts. Then they fasten to the roof of the house a trifle of everything found in the island so that such things may never be wanting to the inhabitants. Ginger is found throughout those islands. We ate it green like bread. Ginger is not a tree, but a small plant which puts forth from the ground certain shoots a palmo in length, which resemble reeds, and whose leaves resemble those of the reed, except that they are narrower. [528] Those shoots are worthless, but the roots form the ginger. It is not so strong green as dry. Those people dry it in lime, [529] for otherwise it would not keep.

On Wednesday morning as we desired to depart from Malucho, the king of Tadore, the king of Jaialolo, the king of Bachian, and a son of the king of Tarennate, all came to accompany us to the island of Mare. The ship “Victoria” set sail, and stood out a little awaiting the ship “Trinitade.” But the latter not being able to weigh anchor, suddenly began to leak in the bottom. [530] Thereupon, the “Victoria” returned to its anchorage, and we immediately began to lighten the “Trinitade” in order to see whether we could repair it. We found that the water was rushing in as through a pipe, but we were unable to find where it was coming in. All that and the next day we did nothing but work the pump, [531] but we availed nothing. When our king heard of it, he came immediately to the ships, and went to considerable trouble in his endeavors to locate the leak. He sent five of his men into the water to see whether they could discover the hole. They remained more than one-half hour under water, but were quite unable to find the leak. The king seeing that he could not help us and that the water was increasing hourly, said almost in tears that he would send to the head of the island for three men, who could remain under water a long time. Our king came with the three men early on Friday morning. He immediately sent them into the water with their hair hanging loose so that they could locate the leak by that means. They stayed a full hour under water but were quite unable to locate it. When the king saw that he could be of no assistance, he asked us weeping who of us would go “to Spagnia to my sovereign, and give him news of me.” [532] We replied to him that the “Victoria” would go there in order not to lose the east winds which were beginning to blow, while the other ship until being refitted would await the west winds and would go then to Darien which is located in the other part of the sea in the country of Diucatan [i.e., Yucutan]. The king told us that he had two hundred and twenty-five carpenters who would do all the work, and that he would treat [533] all who remained here as his sons. They would not suffer any fatigue beyond two of them [534] to boss the carpenters in their work. He spoke those words so earnestly [535] that he made us all weep. We of the ship “Victoria,” mistrusting that the ship might open, as it was too heavily laden, lightened it of sixty quintals of cloves, which we had carried into the house where the other cloves were. Some of the men of our ship desired to remain there, as they feared that the ship would not last out the voyage to Spagnia, but much more for fear lest they perish of hunger.

On the day of St. Thomas, Saturday, December twenty-one, our king came to the ships, and assigned us the two pilots whom we had paid to conduct us out of those islands. They said that it was the proper time to leave then, but as our men [who stayed behind] were writing to Spagnia, we did not leave until noon. [536] When that hour came, the ships bid one another farewell amid the discharge of the cannon, and it seemed as though they were bewailing their last departure. Our men [who were to remain] accompanied us in their boats a short distance, and then with many tears and embraces we departed. The king’s governor accompanied us as far as the island of Mare. We had no sooner arrived at that island than we bought four praus laden with wood, and in less than one hour we stowed it aboard the ship and then immediately laid our course toward the southwest. Johan Carvaio stayed there with fifty-three [537] of our men, while we comprised forty-seven men and thirteen Indians. The said island of Tadore has a bishop, [538] and he who then exercised that office [539] had forty wives and a multitude of children.

Throughout those islands of Malucho are found cloves, ginger, sago (which is their wood bread), rice, goats, geese, chickens, cocoanuts, figs [i.e., bananas], almonds larger than ours, sweet and tasty pomegranates, oranges, lemons, camotes [batate], honey produced by bees as small as ants, which make their honey in the trees, sugarcane, cocoanut oil, beneseed oil, watermelons, wild cucumbers, gourds, a refreshing fruit as large as cucumbers [augurie] called comulicai, another fruit, like the peach called guava, and other kinds of food. [540] One also finds there parrots of various colors, and among the other varieties, some white ones called cathara, and some entirely red called nori. [541] One of those red ones is worth one bahar of cloves, and that class speak with greater distinctness than the others. Those Moros have lived in Malucho for about fifty years. Heathens lived there before, but they did not care for the cloves. There are still some of the latter, but they live in the mountains where the cloves grow.

The island of Tadore lies in a latitude of twenty-seven minutes toward the Arctic Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and sixty-one degrees from the line of demarcation. It is nine and one-half degrees south of the first island of the archipelago called Zamal, and extends north by east and south by west. Tarenate lies in a latitude of two-thirds of a degree toward the Arctic Pole. Mutir lies exactly under the equinoctial line. Machian lies in one-quarter degree toward the Antarctic Pole, and Bachian also toward the Antarctic Pole in one degree. Tarenate, Tadore, Mutir, and Machian are four lofty and peaked mountains where the cloves grow. When one is in those four islands, he cannot see Bachian, but it is larger than any of those four islands. [542] Its clove mountain is not so sharp as the others, but it is larger. [543]

Words of those Moro people [544]