Opening the text

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

Name: The first voyage round the world, by Magellan : $b translated from the accounts of Pigafetta, and other contemporary writers
Author: Pigafetta, Antonio

Pigafetta, Antonio

Magalhães, Fernão de, -1521; Voyages around the world -- Early works to 1800

As it is the custom that no king disembarks on the land of another
king, the King of Tadore came to visit him of Bachian in his own prahu:
this one, seeing the other coming, rose from the carpet on which he was
sitting, and placed himself on one side to make way for the king of the
country: but he, out of ceremony, would not sit on the carpet, but sat
on the other side of it, leaving the carpet between them. Then the King
of Bachian gave to him of Tadore five hundred _patol_, as if in payment
of the daughter he was giving as a wife to his brother. _Patols_ are
cloths of gold and silk worked in China, and are very much prized in
these islands. Each of these cloths is paid for with three bahars of
cloves more or less, according as they are more or less rich in gold
and embroidery. Whenever one of the chief men die, his relations put on
these cloths to do him honour.

Monday, the King of Tadore sent a dinner to the king of Bachian,
carried by fifty women clothed with silk from their waists to their
knees. They went two and two with a man between in the midst of them.
Each one carried a large dish upon which were small dishes with various
viands; ten of the oldest of these women were the mace-bearers. They
proceeded in this way to the prahu, and presented everything to the
king who was sitting on a carpet under a red and yellow canopy. As
they were returning, they caught some of our men who had come out of
curiosity and who were obliged to make them presents of some trifle
to get free. After that the king sent also to us a present of goats,
cocoanuts, wine, and other things.

This day we bent on the ships new sails, upon which was the cross of
St. James, of Gallicia, with letters which said: “This is the figure of
our good fortune.”

Tuesday, we presented to the king some pieces of artillery; that is
some arquebuses which we had taken as prizes in the Indies, and some of
our swivel-guns with four barrels of powder. We took on board each ship
eighty barrels of water. Wood we were to find at the island of Mare,
where the king had already five days ago sent a hundred men to prepare
it, and near which we were to pass.

This day, the King of Bachian, with the consent of the King of Tadore,
came on shore, preceded by four men holding up daggers in their hands,
to make alliance with us: he said, in the presence of the King of
Tadore and of all his suite, that he would always be ready for the
service of the King of Spain, that he would keep in his name the cloves
left in his island by the Portuguese, until another Spanish squadron
arrived there, and he would not give them up without his consent. He
sent through us to the King of Spain a present of a slave and two
bahars of cloves. He would have wished to have sent ten bahars, but our
ships were so heavily laden, that we could not receive any more.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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

As it is the custom that no king disembarks on the land of another
king, the King of Tadore came to visit him of Bachian in his own prahu:
this one, seeing the other coming, rose from the carpet on which he was
sitting, and placed himself on one side to make way for the king of the
country: but he, out of ceremony, would not sit on the carpet, but sat
on the other side of it, leaving the carpet between them. Then the King
of Bachian gave to him of Tadore five hundred _patol_, as if in payment
of the daughter he was giving as a wife to his brother. _Patols_ are
cloths of gold and silk worked in China, and are very much prized in
these islands. Each of these cloths is paid for with three bahars of
cloves more or less, according as they are more or less rich in gold
and embroidery. Whenever one of the chief men die, his relations put on
these cloths to do him honour.

Monday, the King of Tadore sent a dinner to the king of Bachian,
carried by fifty women clothed with silk from their waists to their
knees. They went two and two with a man between in the midst of them.
Each one carried a large dish upon which were small dishes with various
viands; ten of the oldest of these women were the mace-bearers. They
proceeded in this way to the prahu, and presented everything to the
king who was sitting on a carpet under a red and yellow canopy. As
they were returning, they caught some of our men who had come out of
curiosity and who were obliged to make them presents of some trifle
to get free. After that the king sent also to us a present of goats,
cocoanuts, wine, and other things.

This day we bent on the ships new sails, upon which was the cross of
St. James, of Gallicia, with letters which said: “This is the figure of
our good fortune.”

Tuesday, we presented to the king some pieces of artillery; that is
some arquebuses which we had taken as prizes in the Indies, and some of
our swivel-guns with four barrels of powder. We took on board each ship
eighty barrels of water. Wood we were to find at the island of Mare,
where the king had already five days ago sent a hundred men to prepare
it, and near which we were to pass.

This day, the King of Bachian, with the consent of the King of Tadore,
came on shore, preceded by four men holding up daggers in their hands,
to make alliance with us: he said, in the presence of the King of
Tadore and of all his suite, that he would always be ready for the
service of the King of Spain, that he would keep in his name the cloves
left in his island by the Portuguese, until another Spanish squadron
arrived there, and he would not give them up without his consent. He
sent through us to the King of Spain a present of a slave and two
bahars of cloves. He would have wished to have sent ten bahars, but our
ships were so heavily laden, that we could not receive any more.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The first voyage round the world, by Magellan : $b translated from the accounts of Pigafetta, and other contemporary writers

The first voyage round the world, by Magellan : $b translated from the accounts of Pigafetta, and other contemporary writers

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