The first voyage round the world, by Magellan : $b translated from the accounts of Pigafetta, and other contemporary writersPigafetta, Antonio
History
The first voyage round the world, by Magellan : $b translated from the accounts of Pigafetta, and other contemporary writers
Pigafetta, Antonio
Magalhães, Fernão de, -1521; Voyages around the world -- Early works to 1800
When we arrived at the city, we were obliged to wait about two hours
in the prahu, until there came thither two elephants covered with
silk, and twelve men, each of whom carried a porcelain vase covered
with silk, for conveying and wrapping up our presents. We mounted
the elephants, and those twelve men preceded us, carrying the vases
with our presents. We went as far as the house of the governor, who
gave us supper with many sorts of viands. There we slept through the
night, on mattresses filled with cotton, and covered with silk, with
sheets of Cambay stuff.
On the following day we remained doing nothing in the house till
midday, and after that we set out for the king’s palace. We were again
mounted upon the elephants, and the men with the presents preceded
us as before. From the governor’s house to that of the king, all the
streets were full of men armed with swords, spears, and bucklers, the
king having so commanded. We entered the palace still mounted upon the
elephants; we then dismounted, and ascended a staircase, accompanied by
the governor and some of the chief men, and entered a large room full
of courtiers, whom we should call the barons of the kingdom; there we
sat upon a carpet, and the vases with the presents were placed near us.
At the end of this hall there was another a little higher, but not so
large, all hung with silk stuffs, among which were two curtains of
brocade hung up, and leaving open two windows which gave light to the
room.
There were placed three hundred men of the king’s guard with naked
daggers in their hands, which they held on their thighs. At the end
of this second hall was a great opening, covered with a curtain of
brocade, and on this being raised we saw the king sitting at a table,
with a little child of his, chewing betel. Behind him there were only
women.
Then one of the chief men informed us that we could not speak to the
king, but that if we wished to convey anything to him, we were to say
it to him, and he would say it to a chief or courtier of higher rank,
who would lay it before a brother of the governor, who was in the
smaller room, and they by means of a blow pipe placed in a fissure in
the wall would communicate our thoughts to a man who was near the king,
and from him the king would understand them. He taught us meanwhile
to make three obeisances to the king, with the hands joined above the
head, raising first one then the other foot, and then to kiss the hands
to him. This is the royal obeisance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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