He Wore At His Side A Sword Or
Dagger, With A Haft Of Gold, And A Scabbard Of Carved Wood.
This country
is so rich, that one of the natives offered a crown of massy gold in
exchange for six strings of glass beads; but Magellan would not allow
such bargains, lest the Spaniards might appear too greedy of gold.
[Footnote 10: These stories of gold in such wonderful abundance, are
obvious falsehoods contrived by Pigafetta, either to excite wonderment,
or to procure the command of an expedition of discovery; a practice we
have formerly had occasion to notice in the early Spanish conquests and
settlements in America. - E.]
The natives were active and sprightly, the common men being quite
naked, except painting their bodies; but the women are cloathed from the
waist downwards, and both sexes wore gold ear-rings. They all
continually chewed areka, a fruit like a pear, which they cut in
quarters, rolling it up in a leaf called betel, resembling a bay-leaf,
alleging that they could not live without this practice. The only
religious rite observed among them, was looking up to heaven, to which
they raised their joined hands, and calling on their god Abba.
Magellan caused a banner of the cross, with the crown of thorns and the
nails, to be exposed and publicly reverenced by all his men in the
king's presence; desiring the king to have it erected on the top of a
high mountain in the island, as a token that Christians might expect
good entertainment in that country, and also as a security for the
nation; since, if they prayed to it devoutly, it would infallibly
protect them against lightning and tempests, and other evils. This the
king promised should be done, knowing no better, and glad to be so
easily defended from thunderbolts.
Leaving this island, and conducted by the king's pilots, the Spaniards
came to the isles of Zeilon, Zubut, Messana, and Caleghan, of which
Zubut was the best, and enjoyed the best trade. In Massana, they
found dogs, cats, hogs, poultry, goats, rice, ginger, cocoa-nuts,
millet, panic, barley, figs, oranges, wax, and plenty of gold. This
island lies in lat. 9 deg. 40' N. and in long. 162 deg. from their first
meridian.[11] After remaining here eight days, they sailed to the N.W.
passing the islands of Zeilon, Bohol, Canghu, Barbai, and Caleghan;
in which last islands there are bats as large as eagles, which they
found to eat, when dressed, like poultry. In this island, among various
other birds, there was one kind resembling our hens, but having small
horns, which bury their eggs in the sand, where they are hatched by the
heat of the sun. Caleghan is about twenty miles W. from Messana; and
Zubut, to which they now directed their course, fifty leagues W. from
Caleghan. In this part of the voyage they were accompanied by the king
of Messana, whom Magellan had greatly attached to him by many
services.
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