pigafetta’s voyage round the world.

333

to defer his departure for fome days iu order to gather the harveft of rice and otherproduce of the earth: he at the fame time entreated the captain to lend him part ofthe crew in order to haften the conclufion of the harveft. The captain accordinglyfent him fome men; but the Kings had eaten and drunk fo much the day before, thatwhether their health fuffered in confequence, whether they had not yet recovered frominebriety, they were unable to give any directions, and our men were confequentlyidle. The two fucceeding days they worked very hard, and completed what they hadto do.

We palTed feven days on this illand; in the courfe of which we had full opportunity°f noticing the manners and cuftoms of the people. The men go naked, merelycovering their privities with a piece of cloth, and their bodies are painted. The"'omen wear a petticoat made of the rind of a tree which defcends from their waiftdownwards. Their hair is black, and fometimes fo long as to reach to the ground.'I heir ears are bored, and adorned with rings and pendants of gold. They are greatdrinkers; and are conftantly chewing a fruit called areca *, which refembles a pear :they cut it in quarters, and fold it in the leaves of the fame tree called betref, whichfefemble thofe of the mulberry, and mix with it a portion of lime : after well chewingthey fpit out the mafticated fruit, &c. and their mouth is deeply reddened with thejuice. There are none of thefe illanders but chew this fruit of the betre, which, asthey pretend, ferves to enliven them; I am even allured that were they to abftain fromthis pra&ice they would die. The animals of this illand are dogs, cats, hogs, goats,2nd fowls ; and of edible vegetables are found rice, millet, panicle, maize, cocoa-nuts,°rangts, lemons, bananas, and ginger. Wax alfo is found on the illand.

Gold abounds, as is evident from two facts to which I was witnefs. A man broughtUs a large bowl of rice and figs for which in exchange he demanded a knife. The cap-tain in lieu of a knife., offered him fome pieces of money, and among others a doubloon ;but he refufed the money and preferred the knife. Another offered a large ingot°f malfive gold for fix firings of glafs beads ; but the captain forbade the bargain, leftdie illanders Ihould thence comprehend that we placed a higher value on gold than onS^ls and other merchandize.

■1 he illand Maffana lies in latitude nine degrees forty minutes north, and in longitude°ne hundred and fixty-two degrees well of the line of demarcation. It is twenty-fivet>a gues diflant from the illand Humunu

We failed from this illand on the 5th April 1521, and fleered fouth-eaft, threadingetween five iflands called Ceylon, Bohol , Canigan, Baybay, and Gatigan §. In thisIlc We faw bats as large as eagles. One of them we killed and ate, and found itj^Uch refembled a fowl in talle ||. Here alfo are pigeons, doves, parrots, and otherrds > black and as large as fowls, which lay eggs eaqul in lize to thofe of the duck, andan excellent food. We were told that the female lays her eggs in the fand, and that

* Tk

, practice of chewing areca !areca catechu, Linn.) folded in leaves of betel ftill fubfids.t ro . ^ his ls betel. The bentiit derived from the ufe of betel with lime, in countries fituate between theis ,? 1C ' S ' w here the warmth and moifture of the atmofphere tend fo much to debili ate the human Irame,an i°V Ced with much difeernment by M. Peron. (Voyage of Difc. to the Aultral Regions, chap. viii. ;l cha P. xx. fed. 7.) Eng. Tr.

fi<3fcrabl rna ^' aVa ' S ‘ ndeed * n latitude ftated ; but in the longitude, as elfewhere, the error is con-

of T T B /*°l ret ains its name. Candigan and Gatigan are found in old charts, and efpecially in chart xviii,

1 u, b no M™.! D.U- ... • . i- _ r in...,. • _ c... 1

r>o Monti. Beilin place’s thefe iflands in his map,v «pertillio Vampyrus. Linn.

but without names,

they