On the 6th of November, they espied a cluster of five islands, which their pilots, obtained at their last station, declared to be the famous Moluccas. They had therefore proved the world to be round, for vessels sailing to the west from Spain had now met vessels sailing thence to the east. They returned thanks to God, and fired a round from their great guns. They had been at sea twenty-six months, and had at last, after visiting an infinity of islands, reached those in quest of which they had embarked in the expedition. On the 8th, three hours before sunset, they entered the harbor of the island of Tidore. They came to anchor in twenty fathoms' water, and discharged all their cannon. The king, shaded by a parasol of silk, came the next day to visit them, said he had dreamed of their approaching visit, had consulted the moon in reference to this dream, and was now delighted to see it confirmed. He added, that he was happy in the friendship of the King of Spain, and was proud to be his vassal. This potentate, whose name was Rajah Soultan Manzour, was a Mohammedan: he was "an eminent astrologer," and had numerous wives and twenty-six children. [Illustration: TIDORE.] On the 12th, a shed was erected in the town of Tidore by the Spaniards, whither they carried all the merchandise they intended to barter for cloves. A tariff of exchange was then drawn up. Ten yards of red cloth were to be worth four hundred pounds of cloves, as were also fifteen yards of inferior cloth, fifteen axes, thirty-five glass tumblers, twenty-six yards of linen, one hundred and fifty pairs of scissors, three gongs, or a hundredweight of copper. As the stock of articles brought by the strangers diminished, however, their Value naturally rose, and a yard of ribbon would buy a quintal of cloves: in fact, every thing with which the ships could dispense on their return voyage was bartered for cloves. They were soon so deeply laden that they hardly had room in which to stow their water. The Trinidada, becoming leaky, was left behind, Juan Carvajo, her pilot, and fifty-three of the crew, remaining with her. The Vittoria bade adieu to her consort on the 21st of December, the two vessels exchanging a parting salute. The number of Europeans on board of the Vittoria was now reduced to forty-six; and the fleet, which formerly consisted of five sail, was now reduced to one. As the Vittoria made her way through the thick archipelagoes of islands which dot the seas in these latitudes, her Molucca pilot told Pigafetta amazing stories of their inhabitants. In Aracheto, he said, the men and women were but a foot and a half high; their food was the pith of a tree; their dwellings were caverns under ground; their ears were as long as their bodies; so that when they lay down one ear served as a mattress and the other as a blanket!