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
that a ship called the Junk of Ciama,[309] laden with gold and slaves,
had paid him his tribute, and, to verify what he said, he showed them
a merchant of the said Ciama, who had remained there to trade with the
gold and slaves. The interpreter said to him that this captain, on
account of being captain of so great a king as his was, would not pay
tribute to any sovereign in the world; and that if he wished for peace
he would have peace, and if he wished for war he would have war. Then
the merchant above-mentioned replied to the king in his own language,
“Look well, oh king,[310] what you will do, for these people are of
those who have conquered Calicut, Malacca, and all greater India; if
you entertain them well and treat them well you will find yourself the
better for it, and if ill, it will be so much the worse for you, as
they have done at Calicut and Malacca.” The interpreter, who understood
all this discourse, said to them that the king, his master, was a good
deal more powerful in ships and by land than the King of Portugal,
and declared to him that he was the King of Spain and Emperor of all
Christendom, wherefore, if he would not be his friend and treat his
subjects well, he would another time send against him so many men as
to destroy him. Then the king answered that he would speak to his
council, and give an answer the next day. Afterwards the king ordered
a collation to be brought of several viands, all of meat, in porcelain
dishes, with a great many vessels of wine. When the repast was over,
our people returned, and related all to the captain; and the King of
Mazzabua, who was on board the captain’s ship, and who was the first
king after him of Zzubu, and the lord of several isles, wished to go on
shore to relate to the king the politeness and courtesy of our captain.
Monday morning our clerk went with the interpreter to the town of
Zzubu, and the king, accompanied by the principal men of his kingdom,
came to the open space, where we made our people sit down near him, and
he asked whether there was more than one captain in all those ships,
and whether he wished that the king should pay tribute to the emperor,
his master, to which our people answered, no, but that the captain only
wished to trade with the things which he had brought with the people
of his country, and not with others. Then the king said that he was
content, and as a greater sign of affection he sent him a little of
his blood from his right arm, and wished he should do the like. Our
people answered that he would do it. Besides that, he said that all the
captains who came to his country had been accustomed to make a present
to him, and he to them, and therefore they should ask their captain if
he would observe the custom. Our people answered that he would; but
as the king wished to keep up the custom, let him begin and make a
present, and then the captain would do his duty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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