eat the flesh of sheep, or of stags, or, indeed, of wild hogs, and some others eat fish and fruits. THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW IN THIS ISLAND THE OLD PEOPLE ARE SOLD BY THEIR CHILDREN OR THEIR RELATIONS, AND AFTERWARDS ARE EATEN. The people in this island who eat flesh, when their fathers. become so old that they can no longer do any work, their children or relations set them up in the market-place for sale, and those who purchase them kill them and eat them cooked.1 And if any young man should be attacked by any antagonism with Mr. Crawfurd, that our traveller may have landed at some out-of-the-way place in the island, where the people were comparatively uncivilized, and that he drew his general inferences from what he saw in that restricted locality. Under any circumstances, the introduction of fire-arms into Java at this period was recent, and their use at the outset was most likely confined to the people of the more advanced maritime districts, whilst those residing in less frequented parts, and in the interior, would not have adopted them till some time after. In support of the plausibility of this suggestion, I submit the two following considerations:-1st., that the Arabs of Yemen were unacquainted with fire-arms in 1515, although the Egyptians, who invaded their coast in that year, had long possessed them, (see note on p. 65 ante ;) and, 2ndly., that notwithstanding the contiguity of the two countries, and the frequent intercourse which had for centuries subsisted between them, the inhabitants of Ceylon appear to have been ignorant of artillery in 1507 when Don Lorenzo De Almeyda first discovered that island, whereas those of Western India had certainly used it at least twenty-five years before. See p. 193 ante, and note. 1 Mr. Crawfurd remarks on Varthema's description of Java generally, and on this statement in particular, that "his account is obviously false or worthless, for he describes parents as selling their children to be eaten by the purchasers, and himself as quitting the island in haste for fear of being made a meal of." (Desc. Dict., pp. 165-6.) Now, it is evident that our traveller is speaking of a class quite distinct from the more civilized community of the place, for these latter he had designated as "the most trustworthy men in the world ;" hence, the question arises whether among the rude aborigines of the island at that period, (and I have already conjectured that Varthema may have visited great sickness, and that it should appear to the skilful that he might die of it, the father or the brother of the sick man kills him, and they do not wait for him to die. And when they have killed him they sell him to others to be eaten. We, being astonished at such a thing, some merchants of the country said to us: "O you poor Persians, why do you a part where such were likely to be found,) there were not some addicted to the practice of eating human flesh. Non nobis tantas componere lites; nevertheless, I would submit the following independent testimony as to the prevalence of cannibalism in the Malayan Peninsula and the Archipelago at this period, leaving the reader to form his own judgment on Varthema's credibility. Premising as possible, that the credulity and fears of the party may have been imposed upon in this instance, such a supposition is inadmissible in the case of Nicolò de' Conti, who resided in Sumatra a whole year, and who describes the custom as prevailing there in his time :-" In one part of the island called Batech, the inhabitants eat human flesh, and are in a state of constant warfare with their neighbours. They keep human heads as valuable property, for when they have captured an enemy they cut off his head, and, having eaten the flesh, store up the skull and use it for money." To which quotation the editor appends the following note :-" Batech-Batta; a district extending from the river Singkell to the Tabooyong, and inland to the back of Ayer Bañgis. Marsden, in his History of Sumatra (p. 390, 3rd edit.) gives instances of cannibalism among this people as late as the year 1780." (India in the Fifteenth Century, ii. p. 9.) Pigafetta also, describing Sulacho, fifty miles distant from the Moluccas, says: "The men of this island are Pagans, and eat human flesh;" and he subsequently attributes the same practice to one of the Ladrone or Marian Islands, which he calls Maulla, stating that "its inhabitants are savages and bestial, and eat human flesh." (RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 368.) I note that Mr. Crawfurd must have used a different edition of Pigafetta's Voyages from that given in Ramusio, for this passage does not appear in his long quotation from that author. (Desc. Dict., pp. 268-9.) Lastly, De Faria y Souza, in his account of the territory of Siam, says: "It contains much mountain and plain, and in both sundry sorts of people, some most barbarous and cruel, who feed on human flesh, as the Guei, who for ornament make figures on their bodies with hot irons." Portuguese Asia, translated by STEVENS, vol. i. p. 223. On the whole, although Varthema's account of Java is certainly less accurate than his descriptions in general, I hardly think it merits the epithets of being "obviously false or worthless" which Mr. Crawfurd casts upon it. leave such charming flesh to be eaten by the worms?" My companion hearing this immediately exclaimed: Quick, quick, let us go to our ship, for these people shall never more come near me on land." THE CHAPTER WHERE, AT MID-DAY, THE SUN CASTS A SHADOW IN THE ISLAND OF GIAVA. The Christians said to my companion: "O my friend, take this news to your country, and take this other also which we will show you. Look there, now that it is midday, turn your eyes towards where the sun sets." And raising our eyes we saw that the sun cast a shadow to the left more than a palmo. And by this we understood that we were far distant from our country, at which we remained exceedingly astonished. And, according to what my companion said, I think that this was the month of June; for I had lost our months, and sometimes the name of the day. You must know that there is little difference between the cold with us and here. Having seen the customs of this island, it appeared to us that there was not much reason to remain in it, because it was necessary to be all night on guard for fear some wretch should come and carry us off to eat us. Wherefore, having called the Christians, we told them that, as soon as they could, we would return to our country. Before we departed, however, my companion In the original, " fa spera," but in the edition of Ramusio of 1613 it is rendered "faceva ombra." This is undoubtedly a gloss, but the meaning is preserved. ? I am indebted to my friend Mr. Markham for the following note on this passage:"The equator bisects the island of Borneo, therefore, in the month of June, when Varthema was navigating, his vessel on the way to Java would have crossed the sun's path, and, as he so concisely observes, when he looked to the west the sun would be to his north, and the shadow or reflection would be cast on his left hand." S bought two emeralds for a thousand pardai, and he purchased for two hundred pardai two little children who had no sexual organs; for in this island there are a kind of merchants, who follow no other trade excepting that of purchasing little children, from whom they cut off in their childhood everything, and they remain like women.1 THE CHAPTER CONCERNING OUR RETURN. Having remained in this island of Giava altogether fourteen days, we determined to return back, because, partly through the fear of their cruelty in eating men, partly also through the extreme cold, we did not dare to proceed farther, and also because there was hardly any other place known to them [the Christians]. Wherefore we chartered a large vessel, that is, a giunco, and took our way outside the islands towards the east; because on this side there is no archipelago, and the navigation is more safe. We sailed for fifteen days and arrived at the city of Malacha, and here we stopped for three days, where our Christian companions remained, whose bewailings and lamentations it would be impossible shortly to describe; so that, truly, if I had not Barbosa attributes a similar inhuman practice to the Mussulmans of Bengal :-"Li Mori mercatanti di questa città vanno fra terra a comprar garzoni piccolini dalli lor padri e madri gentili, e da altri, che gli rubbano, e li castrano, levandogli via il tutto, di sorte che restano rasi, come la palma della mano: e alcuni di questi moiono, ma quelli che scampano, gli allevano molto bene, e poi li vendono per cento e ducento ducati l'uno alli Mori di Persia, che gli apprezzano molto, per tenerli in guardia delle lor donne, e della lor robba, e per altre dishonestà." Pigafetta also mentions the kingdom of Cirote in Burmah as the place "dove si fanno tutti li Eunuchi che sono condotti di Levante." (RAMUSIO, vol. i. pp. 316, 391.) It is a well known fact, that the excision described was at one time extensively practised in Upper Egypt, and that rumour, whether true or false I know not, attributed the horrible operation to certain Coptic monks. had a wife and children, I would have gone with them. And likewise they said, that if they had known how to come in safety, they would have accompanied us. And I believe also that my companion comforted them for not coming, because they would not be obliged to give an account to the Christians of so many lords who are in their country, who are also Christians and possess immense riches. So that they remained, saying that they would return to Sarnau,1 and we went with our ship to Cioromandel. The captain of the ship said that around the island of Giava, and around the island of Sumatra, there were more than eight thousand islands. Wherefore my companion bought in Malacha five thousand pardai worth of small spices, and silk stuffs, and odoriferous things. We sailed for fifteen 2 days, and arrived at the said city of Cioromandel, and here the ship chartered in Giava was unladen. We remained in this country about twenty days, and then took a ship, that is to say, a Ciampana, and went to Colon, where I found twenty-two Portuguese Christians. On which account I had a very great desire to escape, but I remained, because they were few, and I was afraid of the Moors; for there were some merchants with us who knew that I had been at Mecha and to the body of Mahomet, and I was afraid that they might imagine that I should discover their hypocrisies, wherefore I abstained from running away. Twelve days afterwards we took our route towards Calicut, that is, by the river, and arrived there in the space of ten days. Now it will be an easy thing for every kind reader to perceive, by the long discourse concerning various countries. contained in the above written books, that my companion and myself having become wearied, partly by the different temperatures of the air as may be imagined, partly by the See note 3 on p. 212 ante. 2 Colon Quilon. See note on pp. 182-4 ante. |