BIBLIOTHECA AUGUSTANA

 

Ferdinando Magellano

1480 - 1521

 

Relazione del primo viaggio

intorno al mondo

 

1519 - 1522

 

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Gennaio 1522

 

Partendone de quella ysola de baru a la carta deL garbin verso ponente circa otto gradi de longitudine ariuassemo a tre ysolle vna apresso lalta dette zolot nocema mor et galiau et nauigando þ mezo di queste ne assalto vna grã fortuna þ ilque facessemo vno pelegrino a la nȓa donna de la guida et pigliando apopa lo temporale desseme in vna ysola alta et inanci ajungessemo iui Se afaticassemo molto þ le refegue decendeuão de li sui mõti et þ li grandi Corenti de hacqua li homini de questa ysola sonno saluatici et bestialli mã gianno carne humana et non hanno re vanno nudi cõ qella scorsa como li alti senon Quando vanno a Combatere portanno certi pezi de pelle de bu phalo dinanzi et de drieto et neli fianchi adornati cõ corniolli et denti de porci et con code de pelle caprine atacate denanzi et de drietto portano ly capili in alto cõ certi petini de cana longui ɋ li passano da parte aparte et li tieneno alti anno le sue barbe riuolte in foglie et posti in canuttj de canna cosa ridicula aL vedere et sonno li piu bruti sianno in questa india li sui archi et le sue freze Sonno de canna et anno Certi sachi facti de foglie de arbore ne liqalli portanno lo suo mangiare et bere Le sue femine Quando ne vistenno ne venirono in contra cõ archi ma dandoli alguni þ senti Subito diuentassemo sui amici Qiui tardassemo quindici giornj per Conciare La naue ne li Costadi Jn questa ysola se troua galine Capre cochi cera þ vna libra de fero vechio ne donorono quindici de cera et peuere lõgo et rotondo JL peuere longo he como qelle gatelle ɋ fanno li nizolle quãdo he linuerno il suo arbure e Como elera et atacasse ali arbori Como quella ma le sue foglie sonno como qelle diL moraro et lo chiamano luli JL peuere rotondo nasce Como questo ma in spigue como lo fromẽtone della india et se desgrana et lo chiamano lada in queste parte sonno piennj li campi de questo peuere facti in modo de pergoladi pigliassemo quiui vno homo açio ne cõducesse ad alguna ysola hauesse victuuaria Questa ysola sta de latitudine aL polo antarticho in octo gradi et mezo et cento et sesantanoue et dui terzi de longitudine de la linea repartitionalle et chiamasse malua.

Ne disse iL nȓo piloto Vechio de maluco como apresso quiui era vna ysola chiamata arucheto li homini et femine delaqalle non sonno magiorj dun cubito et anno le orecquie grande como loro de vna fanno lo suo lecto et de lalta se copreno vanno tosi et tuti nudi corenno molto anno la voce sotille habitano in caue soto terra et mangiano pesce et vna cosa ɋ nasce fra larbore et la scorsa che chiancha et rotonda como coriandoli de cõfeto deta ambulõ ma þ li grã corenti de hacqua et molti bassi nõ li andasemo

Sabato a vinticinque de Jennaro m vcxxij Se partissemo de la ysola de ma lua et la dominica a vinti sey ariuassemo a vna grande ysola longi de qella cinque legue fra mezo di et garbin Jo solo andai in terra a parlare aL magiore duna vila deta amaban açio ne desse victuuaria me rispose ne darebe buphali porci et capre ma nõsi potessemo aCordare per che voleua molte cose þ vno bufalo noi auendone pocque et constrigẽdone la fama retenessemo ne la naue vno principalle cõ vno suo figliolo de vnalta vila deta balibo et þ paura nõ lo amazassemo Subito ne dette sei buphali cinque capre et dui porci et þ compire lo numero de diese porci et diece capre ne dete vno bufalo perche cussi Laueuamo dato taglia poi li mandassemo in tera Contentissimi cõ tella panny Jndiani de seta et de bombaso accete cortelizi indiani forfice Spechi et cortelli qeL Signiore a cui anday a parlare teniua solum femine Lo seruiuano tutte vano nude Como le altre et portano atacate ale orechie Schione picole de horo cõ fiocqi de seta pendenti et ne li braci anno molte maniglie de oro et de latonne fin aL cubito li homini vanno Como le femine Se non anno atacate aL colo certe cose de horo tonde Como vn tagliere et petini de canna adornatj con schione de oro posti neli capili et algu ni de questi portanno coli de zuche Seche posti ne le orechie þ schione de oro.

Jn Questa ysola se truoua lo sandalo biancho et nõ altroue gengero bufali por ci capre galine rizo fighi canne dolci naranci limonj cera mandolle fa zoli et altre cose et papagali de diuersi colorj de lalta parte de lisola stano catro fratelli ɋ sonno li re de questa ysola doue stauamo nuy erano ville et alguni principalle de qelle. Ly nomi de li catro habitatiõe deli re sonno questi oibich lichsana suai et Cabanaza oibich e la magiore. Jn cabanaza si Como ne fu deto se truoua asay oro in vno monte et Comperano tute le Sue cose cõ pezetti de oro tuto lo sandalo et la cera ɋ contractano queli de Jaua et di malaca Contractano da questa banda aqui trouamo vno Jonco de lozon venuto þ merchadantare Sandalo Questi populi sonno gentilli et quando vanno a taglaire lo sandalo Como loro ne discero seli mosta lo de monio en varie forme et li dice se anno bisognio de qalque cosa li la demãdino þ Laqalle aparitione stanno infermi alquanti giornj lo sandalo si taglia a vno certo tempo de la luna þ che altramente nõ sarebe bonno la mercã tia ɋ vale Quiui þ lo sandalo e panno rosso tella accete fero et chiodi Questa ysola he tuta habitata et molto longa da leuante a ponente et poco larga de mezo di a la tramõtana sta de latitudine aL polo antartico in dieci gra di et cento et Settanta catro gradi et mezo de longitudine dala linea de la repartiõe et se chiama timor. Jn tutte le ysolle hauemo trouate in questo arcipelago regnia lo maL de S. Jop et piu Quiui ɋ in alto luocho et Lo chiamano foi franchi çioe maL portughese.

Longi vna giornata de qui tra iL ponente et iL maestrale ne fu deto trouarse vna Jsola in laqalle nascie assai cannella et se chiama Ende eL suo populo he gentille et nõ hanno re et como sonno a la medesma [Jso: crossed out in original MS.] via molte ysolle vna dietro a lalta in fina a Jaua magiore et aL capo de malaca li nomi de leqalle sonno questi ende tana butun creuo chile bimacore aranaran Mani Zumbaua lomboch chorum et Jaua ma giore Questi populi nõ la chiamano Jaua ma Jaoa le magiorj ville sono in Jaua Sonno queste Magepaher iL suo re Quando viueua era magiore de tutte queste ysolle et chiamauasse Raia patiunus Sunda in questa nasce molto peueri da ha dama gaghi amada Minutarãghan Cipara Sidaiu tuban cressi Cirubaia et balli et como Jaua minore essere la ysola de Madura et stare apresso Jaua magiore meza legha Ancho ne dissero Quando vno homo de li principali de Jaua magiore more Se brusa Lo suo corpo La sua moglie piu principalle adornassi cõ girlande de fiori et fassi portare de tre ho catro hominj soura vno scanno þ tuta qella vila et ridendo et confortando li sui parenti que piangeno dice nõ piangere þ cio me vado questa cera a Cennare coL mio caro marito et dormire secho in questa nocte poy et portata aL foco doue se brusa Lo suo marito et ley voltandosi contra li sui parẽti et confortando li vnalta fiata Segetta neL fuocho oue se brusa lo suo marito et se questo nõ facesse nõ saria tenuta donna da benne ne vera moglie deL marito morto et Como li Joueni de Jaua Quando sono Jnamo rati in qalque gentiL donna se ligano certi sonagli cõ fillo tra iL membro et la pelessina et vanno soto le fenestre de le sue Jnamorate et facendo mostra de horinare et Squasando Lo membro sonano cõ qelli sonagli et fin tanto le sue Jnamorate hodeno lo sono subito qelle veneno Ju et fanno suo volere Sempre cõ qelli sonagliti þ che loro donne se piglianno grã spassa asen tirsi Sonare de dentro Questi sonagli sonno tucti Coperti et piu se copreno piu sonano JL nȓo piloto piu vechio ne disse Como in vna ysola deta acoloro soto de Jaua magiore in Quella trouarsi sinon femine et quelle Jnpregniarsi de vento et poi Quando parturiscono siL parto et maschio Lamazano se he femina lo aleuano et se hominj vanno aqella sua ysola loro amazarli purche possianno.

Ancho ne discero de soto de Jaua magiore ɣso la tramõtana neL golfo de la chijna Laqalle li anticqui chiamano signo magno trouarsi vno arbore grandisso neLqalle habitano vcceli deti garuda tanto grandi ɋ portano vn bufalo et vno elefante aL luoco doue he labore re chiamato puza thaer et Lo arbore cam panganghi aL suo fructo bua panganghi eLqalle he magiore ɋ vna anguria li mori de burne haueuamo ne li naui ne discero loro hauerne veduto þ che lo suo re haueua dui mandatigli daL regnio de siam niun Jonco ne altra barcha da tre ho catro legue se po aþximare aL luoco de larbore þ li grandi reuolutiõe de hacqua que sonno circa questo La pima fiata que si sepe de questo arbure fu vn Jonco spinto da ly vẽti ne la riuo lutiõe iLqalle tuto se disfece tutti li homini se anegorono ecceto vn puto picolo ilqalle essendo atacato soura vna tauola þ miraculo fo spinto apresso questo arbore et mõtato soura lo arbore nõ acorgendosi se misse soto lala a vno de qelli vcceli lo giorno seguento Lo vccelo andando in tera et hauendo pigliato vn bufalo iL puto venne de soto a la hala aL meglio puoto þ custui se sepe Questo et alhora Cogniobero qeli populi vicini li fructi trouauano þ iL mare essere de questo arbore.

 

Leaving the above mentioned island of Baru, and taking the course toward the southwest by west, we reached, [after sailing through] about eight degrees of longitude, three islands, quite near together, called Zolot, Nocemamor, and Galiau. While sailing amid them, we were struck by a fierce storm, which caused us to make a pilgrimage to our Lady of Guidance. Running before the storm we landed at a lofty island, but before reaching it we were greatly worn out by the violent gusts of wind that came from the mountains of that island, and the great currents of water. The inhabitants of that island are savage and bestial, and eat human flesh. They have no king, and go naked, wearing only that bark as do the others, except that when they go to fight they wear certain pieces of buffalo hide before, behind, and at the sides, which are ornamented with small shells, boars' tusks, and tails of goat skins fastened before and behind. They wear their hair done up high and held by certain long reed pins which they pass from one side to the other, which keep the hair high. They wear their beards wrapped in leaves and thrust into small bamboo tubes – a ridiculous sight. They are the ugliest people who live in those Indias. Their bows and arrows are of bamboo. They have a kind of a sack made from the leaves of a tree in which their women carry their food and drink. When those people caught sight of us, they came to meet us with bows, but after we had given them some presents, we immediately became their friends. We remained there a fortnight in order to calk the sides of the ship. In that island are found fowls, goats, cocoanuts, wax (of which they gave us fifteen libras for one libra of old iron), and pepper, both long and round. The long pepper resembles the first blossoms of the hazelnut in winter. Its plant resembles ivy, and it clings to trees as does that plant; but its leaves resemble those of the mulberry. It is called luli. The round pepper grows like the former, but in ears like Indian corn, and is shelled off; and it is called lada. The fields in those regions are full of this [last variety of] pepper, planted to resemble arbors. We captured a man in that place so that he might take us to some island where we could lay in provisions. That island lies in a latitude of eight and one-half degrees toward the Antarctic Pole, and a longitude of one hundred and sixty-nine and two-thirds degrees from the line of demarcation; and is called Malua.

Our old pilot from Maluco told us that there was an island nearby called Arucheto, the men and women of which are not taller than one cubit, but who have ears as long as themselves. With one of them they make their bed and with the other they cover themselves. They go shaven close and quite naked, run swiftly, and have shrill voices. They live in caves underground, and subsist on fish and a substance which grows between the wood and the bark [of a tree], which is white and round like preserved coriander, which is called ambulon. However, we did not go there because of the strong currents in the water, and the numerous shoals.

On Saturday, January 25, MCCCCCXXII, we left the island of Malua. On Sunday, the twenty-sixth, we reached a large island which lies five leguas to the south southwest of Malua. I went ashore alone to speak to the chief of a city called Amaban to ask him to furnish us with food. He told me that he would give me buffaloes, swine, and goats, but we could not come to terms because he asked many things for one buffalo. Inasmuch as we had but few things, and hunger was constraining us, we retained in the ship a chief and his son from another village called Balibo. He for fear lest we kill him, immediately gave us six buffaloes, five goats, and two swine; and to complete the number of ten swine and ten goats [which we had demanded] they gave us one [additional] buffalo. For thus had we placed the condition [of their ransom]. Then we sent them ashore very well pleased with linen, Indian cloth of silk and cotton, hatchets, Indian knives, scissors, mirrors, and knives. That chief to whom I went to talk had only women to serve him. All the women go naked as do the other women [of the other islands]. In their ears they wear small earrings of gold, with silk tassels pendant from them. On their arms they wear many gold and brass armlets as far as the elbow. The men go as the women, except that they fasten certain gold articles, round like a trencher, about their necks, and wear bamboo combs adorned with gold rings in their hair. Some of them wear the necks of dried gourds in their ears in place of gold rings.

White sandal wood is found in that island and nowhere else. [There is also] ginger, buffaloes, swine, goats, fowls, rice, figs [i.e., bananas], sugarcane, oranges, lemons, wax, almonds, kidney-beans, and other things, as well as parrots of various colors. On the other side of the island are four brothers, who are the kings of that island. Where we were, there were cities and some of their chiefs. The names of the four settlements of the kings are as follows: Oibich, Lichsana, Suai, and Cabanaza. Oibich is the largest. There is a quantity of gold found in a mountain in Cabanaza, according to the report given us, and its inhabitants make all their purchases with little bits of gold. All the sandal wood and wax that is traded by the inhabitants of Java and Malaca is traded for in that region. We found a junk from Lozon there, which had come thither to trade in sandal wood. Those people are heathens. When they go to cut the sandal wood, the devil (according to what we were told), appears to them in various forms, and tells them that if they need anything they should ask him for it. They become ill for some days as a result of that apparition. The sandal wood is cut at a certain time of the moon, for otherwise it would not be good. The merchandise valued in exchange for sandal wood there is red cloth, linen, hatchets, iron, and nails. That island is inhabited in all parts, and extends for a long distance east and west, but is not very broad north and south. It lies in a latitude of ten degrees toward the Antarctic Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and seventy-four and one-half degrees from the line of demarcation, and is called Timor. The disease of St. Jop was to be found in all of the islands which we encountered in that archipelago, but more in that place than in others. It is called foi franchi that is to say «Portuguese disease.»

A day's journey thence toward the west northwest, we were told that we would find an island where quantities of cinnamon grow, by name Ende. Its inhabitants are heathens, and have no king. [We were told] also that there are many islands in the same [isl: crossed out in original MS.] course, one following the other, as far as Java Major, and the cape of Malaca. The names of those islands are as follows: Ende, Tanabutun, Creuo, Chile, Bimacore, Aranaran, Mani, Zumbaua, Lomboch, Chorum, and Java Major. Those inhabitants do not call it Java but Jaoa. The largest cities are located in Java, and are as follows: Magepaher (when its king was alive, he was the most powerful in all those islands, and his name was Raia Patiunus); Sunda, where considerable, pepper grows; Daha; Dama; Gagiamada; Minutaranghan; Cipara; Sidaiu; Tuban; Cressi; Cirubaia; and Balli. [We were told] also that Java Minor is the island of Madura, and is located near to Java Major, [being only] one-half legua away. We were told also that when one of the chief men of Java Major dies, his body is burned. His principal wife adorns herself with garlands of flowers and has herself carried on a chair through the entire village by three or four men. Smiling and consoling her relatives who are weeping, she says: «Do not weep, for I am going to sup with my dear husband this evening, and to sleep with him this night.» Then she is carried to the fire, where her husband is being burned. Turning toward her relatives, and again consoling them, she throws herself into the fire, where her husband is being burned. Did she not do that, she would not be considered an honorable woman or a true wife to her dead husband. When the young men of Java are in love with any gentlewoman, they fasten certain little bells between their penis and the foreskin. They take a position under their sweetheart's window, and making a pretense of urinating, and shaking their penis, they make the little bells ring, and continue to ring them until their sweetheart hears the sound. The sweetheart descends immediately, and they take their pleasure; always with those little bells, for their women take great pleasure in hearing those bells ring from the inside. Those bells are all covered, and the more they are covered the louder they sound. Our oldest pilot told us that in an island called Acoloro, which lies below Java Major, there are found no persons but women, and that they become pregnant from the wind. When they bring forth, if the offspring is a male, they kill it, but if it is a female they rear it. If men go to that island of theirs, they kill them if they are able to do so.

They also told us that a very huge tree is found below Java Major toward the north, in the gulf of Chiina (which the ancients call Signo Magno), in which live birds called garuda. Those birds are so large that they carry a buffalo or an elephant to the place (called Puzathaer), of that tree, which is called cam panganghi, and its fruit bua panganghi. The latter is larger than a cucumber. The Moros of Burne whom we had in our ship told us that they had seen them, for their king had had two of them sent to him from the kingdom of Siam. No junk or other boat can approach to within three or four leguas of the place of the tree, because of the great whirlpools in the water round about it. The first time that anything was learned of that tree was [from] a junk which was driven by the winds into the whirlpool. The junk having been beaten to pieces, all the crew were drowned except a little boy, who, having been tied to a plank, was miraculously driven near that tree. He climbed up into the tree without being discovered, where he hid under the wing of one of those birds. Next day the bird having gone ashore and having seized a buffalo, the boy came out from under the wing as best he could. The story was learned from him, and then the people nearby knew that the fruit which they found in the sea came from that tree.

 

Biblioteca ambrosiana di Milano, Ms. L 103 Sup., fol. 74r