The Bats In This Island Were As Large As Our Ordinary
Poultry, And There Was A Sort Of Land Cray-Fish, Which Burrowed In The
Ground Like Rabbits, Being So Large That One Of Them Was A Sufficient
Meal For Four Persons.
Setting sail from thence, and being unable to proceed westwards on
account of the wind, the course was altered to the southwards, yet with
much danger, by reason of the shoals which lie thick among these
islands.
Of this they had most dangerous and almost fatal experience on
the 9th January, 1580, by running upon a rock, on which they stuck fast
from eight at night till four in the afternoon of next day. In this
distress, the ship was lightened by landing three tons of cloves, eight
pieces of ordnance, and some provisions on the rock; soon after which,
by the wind chopping round, they happily got off.
On the 18th of February, they fell in with the fruitful island of
Baratene,[37] having in the mean time suffered much from cross winds
and dangerous shoals. They met with a friendly reception from the people
of this island, who were handsomely proportioned, and just in all their
dealings. The men wore no cloathing, except a slight covering round
their middles, but the women were covered from the waist to the feet,
having likewise many large heavy bracelets of bone, horn, or brass, on
their arms, the smallest weighing two ounces, and having eight or ten of
these on at once. This island affords gold, silver, copper, sulphur,
nutmegs, ginger, long-pepper, lemons, cocoas, frigo, sago, and other
commodities, and linen was found to be in much request by the natives,
as of it they make girdles and rolls for wearing on their heads. Among
the productions of this island, there was a particular sort of fruit,
resembling barberries in size, form, and husk, very hard, yet of a
pleasant taste, and becoming soft and easy of digestion when boiled. In
short, they met with no place in the whole voyage that yielded greater
abundance of every comfort than this island, excepting Ternate.
[Footnote 37: No circumstance in the text serves to indicate what island
is here meant, except that it appears to have been to the eastward of
Java. - E.]
Leaving Baratene, they sailed to Java Major, where also they were
courteously and honourably entertained. This island was ruled over by
six kings, who lived in entire peace and amity with each other, and they
once had four of them on board at one time, and very often two or three
together.[38]
[Footnote 38: The names of the kings or princes of Java, when Sir
Francis Drake was there, were Rajah Donaw, R. Rabacapala, R. Bacabatra,
R. Tymbanton, R. Mawgbange, and R, Patemara. - Hakluyt.]
The Javans are a stout and warlike people, well armed with swords,
targets, and daggers, all of their own manufacture, and are very curious
and ingenious, both in the fashion of their weapons, and in giving them
an excellent temper. They wear turbans on their heads, the upper parts
of their bodies being naked; but, from the waist downwards, they have a
pintado, or a silken wrapper, trailing on the ground. They manage their
women quite differently from the Moluccans; for, while these will hardly
let them be seen by a stranger, the Javans will very civilly offer a
female bedfellow to a traveller. Besides being thus civil and hospitable
to strangers, they are good humoured and sociable among themselves; for
in every village they have a public-house, where the inhabitants meet
together, each bringing their shares of provisions, and joining the
whole in one social feast for the keeping up of good fellowship.
The Javans have a peculiar mode of boiling rice. It is put into an
earthen pot of a conical form, open at the large end, and perforated all
over with small holes, which is placed within a larger earthen pot full
of boiling water. The rice swells and fills the holes of the inner pot,
so that very little water gets in, and by this mode of boiling the rice
is brought to a firm consistency, and cakes into a sort of bread, of
which, with butter or oil, sugar, and spices, they make several very
pleasant dishes. The lues venerea prevails among the inhabitants of this
island; but, instead of expelling the poison by salivation, they drive
it out by perspiration, sitting for this purpose in the sun for some
hours, by which the pores are opened, giving free vent to the noxious
particles of the disease.
While in Java, the following words in the native language were taken
notice of, and are recorded by Hukluyt.
Sabuck, silk. Gula, black sugar.
Sagu, bread. Tadon, a woman.
Larnike, drink. Bebeck, a duck.
Paree, rice in the husk. Aniange, a deer.
Braas, boiled rice. Popran, ointment.
Calapa, cocoa nuts. Coar, the head.
Cricke, a dagger. Endam, rain.
Catcha, a mirror. Jonge, a ship.
Arbo, an ox. Chay, the sea.
Vados, a goat. Sapelo, ten.
Gardunge, a plantain. Dopolo, twenty.
Hiam, a hen. Treda no.
Seuit, linen. Lau, understand you?
Doduck, blue cloth. Bayer, go!
Totoppo, a cap. Adadizano, I will fetch it.
Cabo, gold. Suda, enough.
Having news of some great ships being at no great distance, and not
knowing whether they might prove friends or enemies, the admiral set
sail from Java, sailing directly for the Cape of Good Hope, which was
the first land he fell in with; neither did he touch at any, till he
arrived at Sierra Leona on the coast of Guinea. He passed the cape on
the 18th June, 1580, and by the facility of the navigation round that
southern promontory of Africa, found how much the Portuguese had imposed
upon the world by false representations of its horrors and dangers. He
arrived at Sierra Leona on the 22d July, where were elephants, and
abundance of oysters fastened on the twigs of trees, hanging down into
the water, where they grow and multiply.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 20 of 221
Words from 19361 to 20371
of 224764
