The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth centuryPigafetta, Antonio
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Pigafetta, Antonio
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
On Good Friday, Pigafetta and a companion visit the natives ashore,
where they spend the night in the king’s palace, a typical Visayan
house raised aloft on supports and thatched with nipa. Here the various
ceremonies that he witnesses impress Pigafetta, and his companion, cast
in coarser mould than he, becomes intoxicated. Pigafetta, always
interested in the language of the new peoples whom he meets, writes
down certain of their words, whereat they are greatly astonished. He
records that he “ate meat on Holy Friday, for I could not help
myself.” On Easter Sunday, the natives are deeply impressed by the
mass that is celebrated ashore, and the cross which is planted in the
highest part of the island, and which they promise to adore.
The limited amount of food in Limasaua, which is used only as a place
of recreation by the two kings, who go there to visit one another and
hunt, leads Magalhães to seek a more abundant harbor. Among the places
pointed out where food is abundant is the island of Cebú, and there
Magalhães determines to go, “for so did his unhappy fate will.”
After a seven days’ stay at Limasaua, the course is laid to Cebú
under the pilotage of the king of Limasaua, who is finally taken aboard
the “Trinidad” as his vessel is unable to keep up with the
swifter-moving European vessels. Entering the port of Cebú on April 7,
amid the thunder of their guns, the settlement is thrown into
consternation, but the Malaccan being sent ashore reassures them of his
master’s good intentions, whom he proclaims to be a “captain of the
greatest king and prince in the world,” who “was going to discover
Malucho,” but hearing of the great fame of the king of Cebú, wishes
trade with him. The king of Cebú is willing to accord friendship to
the Europeans, but asks a tribute, as it is the custom for all visitors
to pay it to him. But no tribute will be paid him, asserts Enrique, and
the king, at the advice of a Moro merchant who has heard of the deeds
of the Portuguese along Malacca and the Indian coast, and confuses the
strangers with them, until undeceived by Enrique (who declares them to
be much greater than the Portuguese), expresses his willingness to make
friendship with Magalhães. With the help of the friendly king of
Limasaua, peace is made according to Malay rites, and gifts exchanged.
Magalhães, deeply religious, in common with many of his age, early
seeks to lure the natives of Cebú to holy baptism, by presenting to
them its most attractive side, and promising the king if he becomes a
Christian, a suit of armor; but they must become willing converts, and
not for the hope of gain or for fear. The peace is more firmly cemented
by the visit of Pigafetta and a companion to the king, where they
witness ceremonies similar to those of Limasaua, and where gifts are
bestowed upon the king and some others. They also visit the house of
the prince apparent, where they hear their first concert of Visayan
music and see a native dance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century — John Shaqi
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