pigafetta’s voyage round the World.

353

ttten, who bore the prefents made us by the King, marched before us ; and when wecame to the governor’s houfe, the prefent intended by his Majefty for each of us was,as before, laid on our left fhoulder.

We afterwards faw nine men coming to the houfe where we were, each carrying atra y of wood, with on it ten or eleven bowls of porcelain, containing different kinds°f meat, that is to fay, veal, capons, fowls, pea-fowls, and others, with many kinds ofhfh ; of flefh and fowl alone there were upwards of thirty different kinds.

We fupped off the floor, feated on a mat of palm. After each mouthful, as wastheir cuftom, we flipped fome of the fpirit diftilled from rice out of a porcelain cup,a bout the fize of an egg. We likewife ate fome rice and other articles, prepared withfugar, ufing golden fpoons for the purpofe, fimilar to thofe with us.

We flept in the fame place we had done the night before ; and in this apartmenttwo wax flambeaux were conftantly kept burning in lilver candlefticks, and two largelamps fupplied with oil, and with four different lights to each. Two men kept watchall night long to attend to them.

The next day we repaired to the fea fhore, where we found two pirogues deftinecfto carry us on board our fhips.

The city is built in the fea, the King’s palace and the houfes of the principal per-sons excepted. It contains twenty-five thoufand hearths, or families *. The houfesate built of wood upon large piles, to keep them from the water. When the tidefifes, the women, who are the chief venders of neceffaries, traverfe the town in boats,m front of the King’s palace is a large wall, built with bricks of great fize, with em*brazures, or rather port-holes, as in a fortrefs ; and on the wall are mounted fifty-fixbombards of brafs, and fix of iron : in courfe of the tvro days we palled in the city,l bey made feveral difcharges from thefe guns.

The King, who is a Mahometan, is called Rajah Siripada. He is very corpulent,^d may be about forty years of age. He is waited upon by women alone, thedaughters of the chief inhabitants of the ifland. No one is allowed to addrefs himotherwife than in the manner I have defcribed, through a farbacane. He has ten fe-Cl “etaries conftantly employed on different matters of ftate, who write on a very thinepidermis of certain trees which is called chiritoles. He never leaves his palace uponan y occafion other than to hunt.

On the morning of the 29th July we faw more than a hundred pirogues ad-vancing towards us, divided into three fquadrons, with as many tungulis, which is- e denomination given to their fmall barks. As we were apprehenfive of fomeea cherous attack, we immediately fet fail, and that in fuch hafte that we left one of?'? r . anchors. Our fufpicions encreafed on paying attention to feveral large junks,nich the day before had come to an anchor in the rear of our fhips, and which madej tearful of being affailed from all Aides at once. Our firft care was to relieve ourfelves°ni the junks, at which we fired and killed a number of thofe on board. We madeth- 6 ^ our j un ^- s ’ f° ur ot h ers faved themfelves by running on fhore. In one offlunks taken by us tvas the fon of the King of Lozon, who was the captain-generalcall Kin S Btirne, and w ho with his junks had come from fubduing a large citye d Laoe f, built on a point of the ifland oppofite to Great Java. In this expedition

*

J^j-This number appears to be exaggerated. At prefent it comprifes no more than two or three thoufandj. e 2 ' Gen des Voyages, tom. xv. p. 138.

there^ 30 ^ ls not a c ' t y> hut a fmall ifland off the fouthern point of Burne. Pigafetta not having been, 1 no doubt, mifunderitood what was told him refpe&mg it. Amorf.tti, At the time PigafettaL ' **• %z wrote,