Ferdinand de Magellan was born about 1470 of noble parents, and probably spent his
boyhood as a page of the Queen of Portugal. As a young man he was in the East India
service, then in Morocco. After a slight from King Manuel, he enlisted under the Spanish
king, and set forth his project for a trip round the world. The expedition set sail August
10, 1519. Magellan was killed in April 1521 at Zebu [in the Phillippines], but they had
already reached the eastern edge of the known world, and his men completed the voyage to
Spain. The voyage proved that the earth is round (although most educated people knew this
already!).
This source of this account is a transcription from the paper-book of a
Genoese pilot," who came in the said ship, who wrote all the voyage as it is here. He
went to Portugal in the year 1524 with Dom Amriqui de Menezes."
HE [Magellan] sailed from Seville on the 10th day of August of the said year [1519],
and remained at the bar until the 21st day of September, and as soon as he got outside, he
steered to the southwest to make the island of Tenerife, and they reached the said island
on the day of St. Michael, which was the 29th of September. Thence he made his course to
fetch the Cape Verde islands, and they passed between the islands and the Cape without
sighting either the one or the other. Having got as far as this neighborhood, he shaped
his course so as to make for Brazil, and as soon as they sighted the other coast of
Brazil, he steered to the southeast along the coast as far as Cabo-frio, which is in
twenty-three degrees south latitude; and from this cape he steered to the west, a matter
of thirty leagues, to make the Rio de Janeiro, which is in the same latitude as Cabo-frio,
and they entered the said Rio on the day of St. Lucy, which was the 13th December, in
which place they took in wood, and they remained there until the first octave of
Christmas, which was the 26th of December of the same year.
They sailed from this Rio de Janeiro on the 26th December, and navigated along the
coast to make the Cape of St. Mary, which is in thirty-four degrees and two-thirds; as
soon as they sighted it, they made their course west-northwest, thinking they would find a
passage for their voyage, and they found that they had got into a great river of fresh
water, to which they gave the name of river of St. Christopher, and it is in thirty-four
degrees, and they remained in it till the 2nd of February, 1520.
He sailed from this river of St. Christopher on the 2nd of the said month of February;
they navigated along the said coast, and further on to the south they discovered a point
which is in the same river more to the south, to which they gave the name of Point St.
Antony; it is in thirty-six degrees, hence they ran to the south-west, a matter of
twenty-five leagues, and made another cape which they named Cape St. Apelonia, which is in
thirty-six degrees; thence they navigated to the west-south-west to some shoals, which
they named Shoals of the Currents, which are in thirty-nine degrees; and thence they
navigated out to sea, and lost sight of land for a matter of two or three days, when they
again made for the land, and they came to a bay, which they entered, and ran within it the
whole day, thinking that there was an outlet for Maluco, and when night came they found
that it was quite closed up, and in the same night they again stood out by the way which
they had come in. This bay is in forty-four degrees; they named it the island of St.
Matthew. They navigated from this island of St. Matthew along the coast until they reached
another bay, where they caught many sea-wolves and birds; to this they gave the name of
"Bay of Labors;" it is in thirty-seven degrees; here they were near losing the
flag-ship in a storm. Thence they navigated along the said coast, and arrived on the last
day of March of the year 1520 at the Port of St. Julian, which is in forty-nine and
one-third degrees, and here they wintered, and found the day a little more or less than
seven hours.
In this port three of the ships rose up against the Captain-major, their captains
saying that they intended to take him to Castile in arrest, as he was taking them all to
destruction. Here, through the exertions of the said Captain-major, and the assistance and
favor of the foreigners whom he carried with him, the Captain-major went to the said three
ships which were already mentioned, and there the captain of one of them was killed, who
was treasurer of the whole fleet, and named Luis de Mendo‡a; he was killed in his own
ship by stabs with a dagger by the chief constable of the fleet, who was sent to do this
by Fernando de Magelhaes [i.e., Magellan] in a boat with certain men. The said three ships
having thus been recovered, five days later Fernando de Magelhaes ordered Gaspar de
Queixada to be decapitated and quartered; he was captain of one of the ships, and was one
of those who had mutinied.
In this port they refitted the ship. Here the captain-major made Alvaro re Mesquita, a
Portuguese, captain of one of the ships the captain of which had been killed. There sailed
from this port on the 24th of August four ships, for the smallest of the ships had been
already lost; he had sent it to reconnoiter, and the weather had been heavy, and had cast
it ashore, where all the crew had been recovered along with the merchandise, artillery and
fittings of the ship. They remained in this port, in which they wintered, five months and
twenty-four days, and they were seventy degrees less ten minutes to the southward.
They sailed on the 24th day of the month of August of the said year from this port of
St. Julian, and navigated a matter of twenty leagues along the coast, and so they entered
a river which was called Santa Cruz, which is in fifty degrees, where they took in goods
and as much as they could obtain: the crew of the lost ship were already distributed among
the other ships, for they had returned by land to where Fernando de Magalhaes was, and
they continued collecting the goods which had remained there during August and up to the
18th September, and there they took in water and much fish which they caught in this
river; and in the other, where they wintered, there were people like savages, and the men
are from nine to ten spans in height, very well made; they have not got houses, they only
go about from one place to another with their flocks, and eat meat nearly raw: they are
all of them archers and kill many animals with arrows, and with the skins they make
clothes, that is to say, they make the skins very supple, and fashion them after the shape
of the body, as well as they can, then they cover themselves with them, and fasten them by
a belt round the waist. When they do not wish to be clothed from the waist upwards, they
let that half fall which is above the waist, and the garment remains hanging down from the
belt which they have girt round them. They wear shoes which cover them four inches above
the ankle, full of straw inside to keep their feet warm. They do not possess any iron, nor
any other ingenuity of weapons, only they make the points of their arrows of flints, and
so also the knives with which they cut, and the adze and awls with which they cut and
stitch their shoes and clothes. They are very agile people, and do no harm, and thus they
follow their flocks: wherever night finds them there they sleep; they carry their wives
along with them with all the chattels which they possess. The women are very small and
carry heavy burdens on their backs; they wear shoes and clothes just like the men. Of
these men they obtained three or four and brought them in the ships, and they all died
except one, who went to Castile in a ship which went thither.
They sailed from this river of Santa Cruz on the 18th of October: they continued
navigating along the coast until the 21st day of the same month, October, when they
discovered a cape, to which they gave the name of Cape of the Virgins, because they
sighted it on the day of the eleven thousand virgins; it is in fifty-two degrees, a little
more or less, and from this cape a matter of two or three leagues distance, we found
ourselves at the mouth of a strait. We sailed along the said coast within that strait
which they had reached the mouth of: they entered in it a little and anchored. Fernando de
Magelhaes sent to discover what there was further in, and they found three channels, that
is to say, two more in a southerly direction, and one traversing the country in the
direction of Maluco [i.e., the Straits of Magellan], but at that time this was not yet
known, only the three mouths were seen. The boats went thither, and brought back word, and
they set sail and anchored at these mouths of the channels, and Fernando de Magelhaes sent
two ships to learn what there was within, and these ships went: one returned to the
Captain-major, and the other, of which Alvaro de Mesquita was captain, entered into one of
the bays which was to the south, and did not return any more. Fernan de Magelhaes seeing
that it did not come back, set sail, and the next day he did not choose to make for the
bays, and went to the south, and took another which runs north-west and southeast, and a
quarter west and east. He left letters in the place from which he sailed, so that if the
other ship returned, it might make the course which he left prescribed.
After this they entered into the channel, which at some places has a width of three
leagues, and two, and one, and in some places half a league, and he went through it as
long as it was daylight, and anchored when it was night: and he sent the boats, and the
ships went after the boats, and they brought news that there was an outlet, for they
already saw the great sea on the other side; on which account Fernando de Magalhaes
ordered much artillery to be fired for rejoicing; and before they went forth from this
strait they found two islands, the first one larger, and the other nearer towards the
outlet is the smaller one: and they went out between these islands and the coast on the
southern side, as it was deeper than on the other side. This strait is a hundred leagues
in length to the outlet; that outlet and the entrance are in fifty-two degrees latitude.
They made a stay in this strait from the 21st October to the 26th of November, which makes
thirty-six days of the said year of 1520, and as soon as they went out from the strait to
sea, they made their course, for the most part, to west-north-west, when they found that
their needles varied to the north-west almost two-fourths, and after they had navigated
thus for many days, they found an island in a little more or less than eighteen degrees,
or nineteen degrees: and also there was another, which was in from thirteen to fourteen
degrees, and this in south altitude; they are uninhabited. They ran on until they reached
the line, when Fernan de Magalhaes said that now they were in the neighborhood of Maluco,
as he had information that there were no provisions at Maluco, he said that he would go in
a northerly direction as far as ten or twelve degrees, and they reached to as far as
thirteen degrees north, and in this latitude they navigated to the west, and a quarter
south-west, a matter of a hundred leagues, where on the 6th of March, 1521, they fetched
two islands inhabited by many people, and they anchored at one of them, which is in twelve
degrees north; and the inhabitants are people of little truth, and they did not take
precautions against them until they saw that they were taking away the skiff of the
flagship, and they cut the rope with which it was made fast, and took it ashore without
their being able to prevent it. They gave this island the name of Thieves' Island (dos
ladroes).
Fernando de Magalhaes seeing that the skiff was lost, set sail, as it was already
night, tacking about until the next day; as soon as it was morning they anchored at the
place where they had seen the skiff carried off to, and he ordered two boats to be got
ready with a matter of fifty or sixty men, and he went ashore in person, and burned the
whole village, and they killed seven or eight persons, between men and women, and
recovered the skiff, and returned to the ships; and while they were there they saw forty
or fifty paraos come, which came from the same land, and brought much refreshments.
Fernan de Magalhaes would not make any further stay, and at once set sail, and ordered
the course to be steered west, and a quarter south-west; and so they made land [i.e., in
the Phillippines], which is in barely eleven degrees. This land is an island, but he would
not touch at this one, and they went to touch at another further on which appeared first.
Fernando de Magelhaes sent a boat ashore to observe the nature of the island; when the
boat reached land, they saw from the ships two paraos come out from behind the point; then
they called back their boat. The people of the paraos seeing that the boat was returning
to the ships, turned back the paraos, and the boat reached the ships, which at once set
sail for another island very near to this island, which is in ten degrees, and they gave
it the name of the island of Good Signs, because they found some gold in it. Whilst they
were thus anchored at this island, there came to them two paraos, and brought them fowls
and cocoa nuts, and told them that they had already seen there other men like them, from
which they presumed that these might be Lequios or Magores; a nation of people who have
this name, or Chiis; and thence they set sail, and navigated further on amongst many
islands, to which they gave the name of the Valley Without Peril, and also St. Lazarus,
and they ran on to another island twenty leagues from that from which they sailed, which
is in ten degrees, and came to anchor at another island, which is named Macangor, which is
in nine degrees; and in this island they were very well received, and they placed a cross
in it.
This king conducted them thence a matter of thirty leagues to another island named
Cabo, which is in ten degrees, and in this island Fernando de Magalhaes did what he
pleased with the consent of the country, and in one day eight hundred people became
Christian, on which account Fernan de Magalhaes desired that the other kings, neighbors to
this one, should become subject to this who had become Christian: and these did not choose
to yield such obedience. Fernan de Magalhaes seeing that, got ready one night with his
boats, and burned the villages of those who would not yield the said obedience; and a
matter of ten or twelve days after this was done he sent to a village about half a league
from that which he had burned, which is named Matam, and which is also an island, and
ordered them to send him at once three goats, three pigs, three loads of rice, and three
loads of millet for provisions for the ships; they replied that of each article which he
sent to ask them three of, they would send to him by twos, and if he was satisfied with
this they would at once comply, if not, it might be as he pleased, but that they would not
give it. Because they did not choose to grant what he demanded of them, Fernan de
Magalhaes ordered three boats to be equipped with a matter of fifty or sixty men, and went
against the said place, which was on the 28th day of April, in the morning; there they
found many people, who might well be as many as three thousand or four thousand men, who
fought with such a good will that the said Fernan de Magalhaes was killed there, with six
of his men, in the year 1521.
When Fernan de Magelhaes was dead the Christians got back to the ships, where they
thought fit to make two captains and governors whom they should obey; and having done
this, they took counsel and decided that the two captains should go ashore where the
people had turned Christians to ask for pilots to take them to Borneo, and this was on the
first day of May of the said year; when the two captains went, being agreed upon what had
been said, the same people of the country who had become Christians, armed themselves
against them, and whilst they reached the shore let them land in security as they had done
before. Then they attacked them, and killed the two captains and twenty-six gentlemen, and
the other people who remained got back to the boats, and returned to the ships, and
finding themselves again without captains they agreed, inasmuch as the principal persons
were killed, that one John Lopez, who was the chief treasurer, should be captain-major of
the fleet, and the chief constable of the fleet should be captain of one of the ships; he
was named Gonzalo Vaz Despinosa. Having done this they set sail, and ran about twenty-five
leagues with three ships, which they still possessed; they then mustered, and found that
they were altogether one hundred and 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 amongst 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
Fernan de Magalhaes. Sailing further on amongst islets they came to anchor at an island
which is named Carpyam, where there is gold enough, and this island is in fully eight
degrees.
Whilst 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 burnt: this island has three islets in the offing; here they
took in some refreshments, and sailed further on to south-west, and fell in with another
island, which is named Caram, and is in eleven degrees; from this they went on further to
west south-west, and fell in with a large island, and ran along the coast of this island
to the north-east, and reached as far as nine degrees and a half, where they went ashore
one day, with the boats equipped to seek for provisions, for in the ships there was now
not more than for eight days. On reaching shore the inhabitants would not suffer them to
land, and shot at them with arrows of cane hardened in the 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
a league in the direction in which they wished to go, they anchored, and whilst at anchor
they saw that people on shore were 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 Joam 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 pig's flesh; because in this island they had
dealings with the Moors of Borneo, and because the country and people were greedy, they
made them neither eat pigs nor bring them up in the country. This country is called
Dygua‡am, and is in nine degrees.
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 further on, came to the ships and told them to go
to their village, and that 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 Cucara Canbam, where
Carvalho made peace with the king of the country, and they settled the price of the rice,
and they gave them two measures of rice which weighed one hundred and fourteen pounds for
three fathoms of linen stuff of Brittany; they took there as much rice as they wanted, and
goats and pigs, and whilst they were at this place there came a Moor, who had been in the
village of Dygua‡am, which belongs to the Moors of Borneo, as has been said above,
and after that he went to his country.
While they were at anchor near this village of Dygua‡am, 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 Dygua‡am, and they gave him all this and other things as a present.
They asked the said Bastiam, who spoke Portuguese sufficiently well, since he had been in
Maluco, where he became a Christian, if he would go with them and show them Borneo; he
said he would very willingly, and when the departure arrived he hid himself, and seeing
that he did not come, they set sail from this port of Dygua‡am on the 21st day of
July to seek for Borneo. As they set sail there came to them a parao, which was coming to
the port of Dygua‡am, 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 south-west, 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 south-west 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 seven degrees at the south side of these islands. In the island of Borneo there
is an exceedingly great mountain, to which they gave the name of Mount St. Paul; and from
thence they navigated along the coast of Borneo itself; and they went forward on the same
course and reached the neighborhood of Borneo, and the Moors whom they had with them told
them that there was 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 myrobolans, 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 Shahbendr 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 could 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; they then set sail, and entered this
channel, and being within the channel they anchored, and would not go further 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 further
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. Whilst 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 willingly sell all that there was
in the country for their money. This port of Borneo is in eight degrees.
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 of 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 the boats, and took it with twenty-seven men; and the
ships went and anchored abreast of the island of the Myrolobans, with the junk made fast
to the poop of the flagship, and the paraos returned to shore, and when night came there
came on a squall from the west in which the said junk went to the bottom alongside the
flagship, without being able to receive any assistance from it.
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 whom they had taken in the junk; on which account
the King sent two men of the 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 whom
they had got from the junk. They waited two days for the answer, and there came no
message; then they took thirty men from the junk, and put them into a parao belonging to
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
north-east, returning backwards; and they again passed between the islands and the great
island of Borneo, where the flagship 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.
Whilst 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 cocoa-nuts; and they took in water and
wood, and set sail along the coast of the island to the north-east, until they reached the
extremity of the said island, and met with another small island, where they overhauled the
ships. They arrived at this island on the day of our Lady of August, and in it they found
a very good point for beaching the ships, and they gave it the name of Port St. Mary of
August, and it is in fully seven degrees.
As soon as they had taken these precautions they set sail and steered to the south-west
until they sighted the island which is named Fagajam, and this is a course of thirty-eight
to forty leagues: and as soon as they sighted this island they steered to the south-west,
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 that 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 six degrees. This same night they arrived at the island of Quipe,
and ran along it to the south-east, and passed between it and another island called
Tamgym, and always running along the coast of the island, going thus, they fell in with a
parao laden with bread in loaves, which is bread made of a tree which is named cajare,
which the people of that country eat as bread. This parao carried twenty-one men, and the
chief of them had been in Maluco in the house of Francisco Serram, and having gone further
along this island they arrived in sight of some islands which are named Semrryn; they are
in five degrees, 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 told them
that he would conduct them to Maluco.
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 pilot's work, and they set sail; and
as soon as the inhabitants saw them go they fitted out to go after them: and of these
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 towards 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 Maluco was still further 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 the Salabos; and then they saw a small
island where they anchored to take in some water, and because they feared that in Maluco
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 men 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 Maluco, 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 Maluco, and for rejoicing they fired all the artillery, and
they arrived at the island on the 8th of November of 1521, so that they spent from Seville
to Maluco two years, two months and twenty-eight days, for they sailed on the 10th of
August of 1519.
As soon as they arrived at the island of Tydor, which is in half a degree, 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 a cargo and 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 twenty-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 Brittany 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 further 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 Maluco; 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 him. They gave him an account of the prices which they had settled, at
which he was amazed, and said that 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 whilst 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 it 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 otherwise not. 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 the
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 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 flagship and asked the
captain why he wanted to go, because that which he had agreed upon with him he intended to
fulfill 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 such should be done to them.
They at once brought him this 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 promised them that he would give
them their cargo by the 1st December 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 flagship
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, 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
flagship; 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 Maluco to it was 2,000 leagues
a little more or less. The other ship, which set sail first, left on the 21st of December
of the said year, and went out to sea for Timor, and made its course behind Java, 2,055
leagues to the Cape of Good Hope.
They refitted the ship, and took in the cargo in four months and sixteen days: they
sailed on the 6th of April of the year 1522, and took their course for the mainland of the
Antilles by the strait through which they had come; and at first they navigated to the
North, until they came out from the islands of Ternate and Timor; afterwards they
navigated along the island of Betachina, ten or eleven leagues to the North-east: after
that they steered about twenty leagues to the North-east, and so arrived at an island,
which is named Doyz, and is in three and a half degrees South latitude at its
south-eastern side: from this place they navigated three or four leagues eastwards, and
sighted two islands, one large and the other small; the large one was named
Porquenampello, and passed between it and Batechina, which lay on their starboard side.
They reached a cape, to which they gave the name Cape of Palms, because they sighted it on
the vigil of Palms. This cape is in two and a half degrees: thence they steered to the
South to make Quimar, which is land belonging to the King of Tydor, and the said King had
ordered that they should receive whatever there was in the country for their money, and
there they took pigs and goats, and fowls and coconuts and hava: they remained in this
port eight or nine days. This port of Camarfya is in one and a quarter degree.
They sailed from this port on the 20th of April and steered for about seventeen
leagues, and came out of the channel of the island of Batechina and the island Charam; and
as soon as they were outside, they saw that the said island of Charam ran to the
South-east a good eighteen or twenty leagues, and it was not their course, for their
direction was to the East and a quarter North-east; and they navigated in the said course
some days, and always found the winds very contrary for their course. On the 3rd of May
they made two small islands, which might be in five degrees more or less, to which they
gave the name of islands of St. Antony. Thence they navigated further on to the
North-east, and arrived at an island which is named Cyco, which is in fully nineteen
degrees, and they made this island on the 11th of July. From this island they took a man,
whom they carried away with them, and they navigated further on, tacking about with
contrary winds, until they reached forty-two degrees North latitude.
When they were in this neighborhood, they were short of bread, wine, meat, and oil;
they had nothing to eat only water and rice, without other provisions; and the cold was
great, and they had not sufficient covering, the crews began to die, and seeing themselves
in this state, they decided on putting back in the direction of Maluco, which they at once
carried into effect. When at a distance of five hundred leagues from it, they desired to
make the island which is named Quamgragam, and as they sighted it at night, they did not
choose to make it; they waited thus till it dawned next day, and they were unable to fetch
the said island; and the man whom they carried with them, and whom before they had taken
from that island, told them to go further on, and they would make three islands, where
there was a good port, and this which the black man said, was in order to run away at
them, as indeed he did run away. On arriving at these three islands, they fetched them
with some danger, and anchored in the middle of them in fifteen fathoms. Of these islands,
the largest was inhabited by twenty persons between men and women: this island is named
Pamo; it is in twenty degrees more or less: here they took in rain-water, as there was no
other in the country. In this island the black man ran away. Thence they sailed to make
the land of Camafo, and as soon as they sighted it they had calms, and the currents
carried them away from the land; and afterwards they had a little wind, and they made for
the land, but could not fetch it; they then went to anchor between the islands of Domi and
Batechina, and while at anchor, a parao passed by them with some men who belonged to the
King of an island named Geilolo, and they gave them news that the Portuguese were in
Maluco making a fortress. Learning this, they at once sent the clerk of the ship with
certain men to the captain-major of those Portuguese, who was named Antonio de Bryto, to
ask him to come and bring the ship to the place where they were; because the crew of the
ship had mostly died, and the rest were sick, and could not navigate the ship. As soon as
Antonio de Bryto saw the letter and message, he sent down Dom Gonzalo Amriquiz, captain of
the fortress, and whilst they were discharging its cargo, there came a squall from the
north, which cast it on shore. Where this ship turned to put back to Maluco was a little
more or less than 1050 or 1100 leagues from the island.
This was transcribed from the paper-book of a Genoese pilot, who came in the said
ship, who wrote all the voyage as it is here. He went to Portugal in the year 1524 with
Dom Amriqui de Menezes. Thanks be to God.
From: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee:
University Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. V: 9th to 16th Centuries, pp.
41-57.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton.
This text is part of the Internet
Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
