We Therefore Resumed Our Voyage, And Came There In Seven Days.

This island[99] is very narrow, yet is longer than Banda, and the inhabitants are even more barbarous than those of Banda, for if it were not for the human shape, they differ in nothing from brutes. Their colour is whiter, owing to the air being colder.

This island produces cloves, which likewise grow on several small and desolate islands on its coast. The body of the tree resembles the box-tree, and has leaves almost like the bay tree. When the cloves are ripe, the inhabitants beat them off the tree with long canes, having previously laid matts under the tree to receive them. The soil is sandy, and so low under the horizon that the north star cannot be seen[100]. The price of cloves is about double that formerly mentioned for nutmegs, but they are sold by measure, as the natives are entirely ignorant of the use of weights.

[Footnote 99: Instead of one island, the Moluccas are a group of islands, the largest of which, Gilolo, is about 200 miles from N. to S. On its western side are several small islands, the most important of which for the produce of cloves are Ternate and Tidore. Gilolo was probably the island visited by Verthema. - E.]

[Footnote 100: A strange mode of expressing that Gilolo is immediately under the line. - E]

As we were conversing together respecting our voyages, the Christian merchants addressed me as follows: "Dearly beloved friend, as by the grace of God we are come thus far in safety, we will, if it so please you go to visit one of the finest islands in the world, and so rich as we believe you have never seen. But we must go in the first place to another island named _Borneo_, where we shall procure a larger vessel, as we have to cross a deep and rough sea." My companion then desired them to do as they thought proper. Therefore hiring a larger foist, we directed our voyage to that island, sailing to the southward both by day and night, and passing our time in much pleasant conversation. The merchants, among other things, asked me many questions respecting the ceremonies and solemnities of the Christian religion as used among us in Europe. And when I made mention of the _Veronica_ or _Vernacle_ of the face of Christ[101], and of the heads of St Peter and St Paul, the chiefest of the apostles, they told me secretly that if I would go with them, I should become a great man in their country by my knowledge of these divine things. But being deterred by the length of the journey, and fearful that I might never be able to get home, I refused to accompany them. At length we came to Borneo, which is 200 miles from Molucca and is somewhat bigger[102] and as low under the horizon. The inhabitant are idolaters of a sharp wit and decent manner of life.

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