THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MONOCH,1 WHERE THE CLOVES GROW.

We disembarked in this island of Monoch, which is much smaller than Bandan; but the people are worse than those

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1 Varthema here applies the collective name to one of the five islands forming the proper Moluccas, but affords no indication enabling us to identify the island where he landed, which was probably either Ternaté or Tidor. With regard to the collective appellative, Mr. Crawfurd remarks :-"The collective name, which the Portuguese write Maluca, and is correctly Maluka, is equally unknown, although said to be that of a place and people of the island of Gilolo. No such name is, at present, known to exist in that island. There can be no doubt, however, but that this word was used by the Malays and Javanese, who conducted the spice trade, before it fell into the hands of the Portuguese; for it is employed by Barbosa, who visited the Archipelago before the conquest of Malacca; and again in 1521 by Pigafetta, who writes the word Malucco." (Desc. Dict., p. 283.) It is clear that Gilolo was not Varthema's Monoch, for he describes the latter as much smaller than Bandan. Pigafetta gives a circumstantial account of the group, but Barbosa's briefer narrative comprises the most important particulars respecting their condition at this period:-"In advance of these islands, [Ambon Amboyna,] towards the north, are the five islands of Maluco, in all of which cloves grow, and they belong to Pagans and Muhammedans, and the kings are Muhammedans. The first is called Bachan; the second, Machian, which has a good harbour; the third, Motel; the fourth, Tidoro; the fifth, Terenati, in which there is a Muhammedan king called Sultan Heraram Corala, [the second word is probably a corruption of Khair-Allah; I can make nothing of the first,] who used to rule over all the said Clove islands, but four were taken from him, and each has a king of its own. The mountains of these five islands are all full of cloves, which grow on certain trees like the laurel, which has a leaf like the comari [?] and grows like the flower of an orange. In the beginning it [the clove] is green, then it becomes white, and when ripe is red. The people then gather it with the hand, climbing on the trees, and place it to dry in the sun, which makes it black; and if there is no sun, they dry it in smoke, and when it is well dried, they sprinkle it with acqua salsa [this may mean salt water] that it may not break, and that it may retain its virtue. Of these cloves, the quantity is so great that they can never wholly gather them, so that much of them is left to go to the bad. Those trees from which fruit is not collected for three years remain in a wild state, and those cloves are worthless. These islands are frequented every year by those from Malaca and Giava who come to load with cloves, and bring to buy with, quicksilver, cinnaber, cloths from Cambaia,

of Bandan, but live in the same manner, and are a little more white, and the air is a little more cold. Here the cloves grow, and in many other neighbouring islands, but they are small and uninhabited. The tree of the cloves is exactly like the box tree, that is, thick, and the leaf is like that of the cinnamon, but it is a little more round, and is of that colour which I have already mentioned to you in Zeilan, [Ceylon,] which is almost like the leaf of the laurel. When these cloves are ripe, the said men beat them down with and place some mats under the said tree to catch them. The place where these trees are is like sand, that is, it is of the same colour, not that it is sand. The country is very low,1 and the north star is not seen from it. When we had seen this island and these people, we asked the Christians if there was anything else to see. They replied: "Let us see a little how they sell these cloves." We found that they were sold for twice as much as the nutmegs, but by measure, because these people do not understand weights.

canes,

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF BORNEI.

We were now desirous of changing countries, in order to Bengala, and Paleacate, drugs of Cambaia, some pepper, porcelain vases, large metal bells which are made in Giava, and brass and tin basins. The cloves here are so cheap, that they get them almost for nothing. This king of Maluco is a Muhammedan, and almost a Pagan, for he has a Muhammedan wife, and keeps in his house between three and four hundred beautiful girls who are Pagans, of whom he has sons and daughters, and only the sons of the Muhammedan women become Muhammedans. Besides, he has always in his service many hunchbacked women, whose shoulders and backs he causes to be broken in infancy, and this he does for the sake of show and reputation. He has between eighty and a hundred of these, who always stand around and near him, and serve him instead of pages, for one hands him betel-leaf, and another his sword, and in like manner they perform all other offices." RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 319.

Meaning, perhaps, as to latitude.

Then said the Christians:

learn new things in every way. "O dear companion, since God has conducted us so far in safety, if it please you, we will go to see the largest island in the world,' and the most rich, and you will see a thing which you have never seen before. But we must first go to another island which is called Bornei, where we must take a large ship, for

1 By "the greatest island in the world" the Christians appear to have meant Java, showing how ignorant they were of the comparative size of Borneo. At what point of the latter island the party landed is uncertain, but it was undoubtedly on the southern part, for our author says: "pigliammo il camino verso la detta isola, alla qual sempre si va al mezzo giorno.". And yet, if this inference is correct, one fails to perceive the necessity of the precaution suggested by the Christians, that they must first go to Borneo, and take a larger vessel there, because the sea on the way was rougher; since, from the southern part of that island, their route to Java would have been much the same as that by which they had sailed from Sumatra to the Banda Islands, except, indeed, that in the one case they probably hugged the coast of Java, (Varthema tells us that they found about twenty islands on the way,) and in the other would have to cross the Java sea. Unfortunately, the approximate measurement given of the distance between the Moluccas and Borneo affords no aid in settling either the course pursued or the point of disembarcation, as the nearest extremities of the two places are 450 miles apart, which leads to the conjecture that by some mischance "200 miles" may have been substituted for "200 leagues" in the original MS., or in the first copies. Further, it is open to question whether the mainland of Borneo was the locality visited: Varthema's description of the island as being "alquanto maggiore che la sopradetta [referring to his Maluch,] e molto più bassa," would rather indicate one of the islets on the south-eastern side of Borneo, though perhaps by "bassa" he refers to latitude; otherwise we must pronounce his usual accuracy greatly at fault in this instance, or infer that his informants were as unacquainted as himself with the real size of Bornei. However this may be, his statement respecting the large export of camphor warrants the inference that the place was situated in the highway of the trade of that period, and his account of the inhabitants shows that they had attained a degree of civilization far beyond that of the aboriginal Dayaks. These latter, according to Crawfurd, rarely reach the sea-coast, which is in the occupation of foreign settlers, whom he considers to be generally of Malay descent, and Varthema's brief description of those whom he met at Bornei coincides with that opinion.

For further information respecting Borneo, I refer the reader to the

the sea is more rough." He replied: "I am well pleased to do that which you wish." And so we took our way towards the said island, the route to which is constantly to the southward. While on our way the said Christians had no other pleasure, night and day, than that of conversing with me upon subjects relating to the Christians and about our faith. And when I told them of the Volto Santo which is in St. Peter's, and of the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of many other saints, they told me secretly that if I would go with them I should be a very great lord, for having seen these things. I doubted that after they had conducted me there I should ever have been able to return to my country, and therefore I abstained from going. When we had arrived in the island of Bornei, which is distant from Monoch about two hundred miles, we found it to be somewhat larger than the abovementioned, and much lower. The people of this island are Pagans, and are good people. Their colour is more white than otherwise. Their dress consists of a cotton shirt, and some go clothed in camelots. Some wear red caps. In this island justice is strictly administered, and every year a very great quantity of camphor is shipped, which they say grows there, and which is the gum of a tree. If it be so, I have not seen it, and therefore I do not affirm it. Here my companion chartered a vessel for one hundred ducats.

THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW THE MARINERS MANAGE THE NAVIGATION TOWARDS THE ISLAND OF GIAVA.

When the chartered vessel was supplied with provisions, we took our way towards the beautiful island called Giava, able article under that head in Mr. Crawfurd's Descriptive Dictionary, where he has collected together all the available authorities on the early history of the island, and the first attempts made by Europeans to open commercial relations with the inhabitants.

at which we arrived in five days, sailing towards the south. The captain of the said ship carried the compass with the magnet after our manner, and had a chart which was all marked with lines, perpendicular and across. My companion asked the Christians: "Now that we have lost the north star, how does he steer us? Is there any other north star than this by which we steer?" The Christians asked the captain of the ship this same thing, and he showed us four or five stars, among which there was one which he said was contrario della (opposite to) our north star,1 and that he sailed by the north because the magnet was adjusted and subjected to our north. He also told us that on the other side of the said island, towards the south, there are some other races, who navigate by the said four or five stars opposite to ours ;3

In Varthema's Travels as contained in the edition of Ramusio of 1613, the words are : "ch'era incontro della." The meaning doubtless is, over against, opposite to.

"In the original "acconcia," i. e. conformed to, adjusted to.

3 Being but very imperfectly acquainted with nautical astronomy, I submitted this chapter to my friend C. R. Markham, Esq., the Honorary Secretary of the Hakluyt Society, and also to R. H. Major, Esq., of the British Museum, whose able Introduction to the Early Voyages to Terra Australis, now called Australia, is a sufficient warranty of his qualifications to give an opinion on any subject connected with the infancy of navigation in that part of the globe. I append their respective notes, with the initials of their names attached.

"These four or five stars are the constellation of the Southern Cross. When the Southern Cross is vertical, a line drawn through the upper and lower stars passes through the South Pole, and meets a star called B. Hydrus, which is about twice as far from the South Pole as the star which we call the Pole Star is from the North Pole. This, no doubt, is the star alluded to by Varthema as being 'contrary to our North Star.' The skipper navigated by the North, because his compass was of European manufacture [?], its index pointing to the North, and not like that of the Chinese pointing to the South." C. R. M.

Andrea Corsalis, a century after Varthema, gives the following interesting account and diagram of the Southern Cross, which he also describes as being "opposta alla nostra Tramontana :". "After passing the equinoctial line, we were in an altitude of 37°, in the other hemisphere, opposite the Cape of Good Hope,-a stormy and cold climate,