aware of any kind of silk being produced in the islands of the Archipelago; and as I can suggest nothing to modify this wide discrepancy, I must just leave it as it is, and rejoin our travellers in their onward journey.1

This

A desire on the part of Cogiazenor to see the place where the nutmegs and cloves were produced, induced him and Varthema to put themselves under the guidance of their two Christian companions, who were now anxious to return to their own country, but who eventually consented to accompany them, on hearing that Varthema had been a Christian, and had seen Jerusalem, where he had been purchased as a slave, and brought up as a Mussulman. fabricated story so delighted the simple Sarnau couple, that they endeavoured to persuade Varthema to go with them to China, promising that he should be made very rich there, and be allowed the free exercise of his adopted faith. Cogiazenor objected to the latter arrangement, informing them that his companion was the destined husband of his brighteyed niece"Samis," which finally settled the matter. Smaller boats being required for the projected trip,

1 Varthema also mentions that many of the houses in Sumatra were covered with shells of sea turtles, -a remark which I have been able to illustrate by the researches of Mr. R. H. Major (see note 1, on p. 240). But the colossal tortoise of Diodorus Siculus, and even the Colossochelys Atlas of the British Museum, is outdone by one described by Fra Odorico in a country which he calls "Zapa," somewhere in the Indian Archipelago. He says: "And in this place I also saw a turtle of wonderful size like the cuba or trullo [the square tower] of [the church of] Saint Anthony at Padua"! RAMUSIO, vol. ii. p. 248.

wherein there were no dangers to be apprehended from pirates, though the Christians could not promise them immunity from the chances of the sea, two sampans, ready manned, were bought by the Persian for 400 pardai, (about £280,) and after taking on board a stock of provisions, including the best fruits which Varthema had ever tasted, the party sailed from the island of Sumatra.

66

We are now to follow our adventurers on a route never before traversed by Europeans, or, more safely, of which no European before him has left any record.1 "About twenty islands" were passed during the voyage, leading us to infer that they steered along the coast of Java, and in fifteen days they arrived at Bandan," one of the Banda or Nutmeg group. The inhabitants are represented as being "like beasts" they had no ruler, neither was any law necessary, "because the people were so stupid, that if they wished to do evil they would not know how to accomplish it." Nevertheless, they must have been within the area of the trade at that period, and in frequent contact with a superior civilization,

1 As far as I can recollect, Marco Polo and Fra Odorico are the only Europeans, prior to our author, who have given us a personal account of any of the countries to the east of the Malayan peninsula, yet neither of them travelled to the eastward of Borneo. Nevertheless, it is by no means improbable that stray foreigners from the West may have been there long before Varthema. Until very lately, I believed with the rest of the world that Burton was the first European who visited Hurrur; but Padre Sapeto affirms that he himself was there some years before Burton, and that several other Europeans had resided at the place half a century antecedent to his time.

for "

money circulated there as at Calicut." The only production of the island was the nutmeg, which grew spontaneously, and was common property, each person gathering as much as he chose. The tree, nut, and mace, are described with Varthema's usual accuracy, and he states that the market price of twenty-six pounds of nutmegs was half a carlino, or about three pence of our currency.

Leaving Bandan, the next place gained was "Monoch,"1 a distorted form of Maluka, the proper collective name of the Moluccas, which they reached in twelve days. Mr. Crawfurd remarks that Varthema "seems to consider the Moluccas as one island, including probably under this name the great island of Gilolo."2 This is hardly so; for our author mentions expressly "other neighbouring islands where cloves grow," but says "they are small and uninhabited." It is impossible to decide with certainty which of the islands the party landed at, but as it is described as being "much smaller than Bandan," I have conjectured that it was either Ternaté or Tidor. The inhabitants are represented as being worse than those of Bandan, but lived much in the same style. The only object of interest here was the cloves,—an object which, as Mr. Crawfurd correctly says, " mainly prompted the European nations of the fifteenth century to the discovery of the New World." Varthema gives a very fair account of the clove tree, the soil in

1 I perceive that, by an oversight, I have written "Maluch”

for Monoch in the 23rd line of the note on p. 247.

2 Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands, etc., p. 64.

ing the spice.

which it flourished, and the simple manner of gatherThe price of the cloves was double that of the nutmeg, but they were sold by measure "as the people did not understand weights." He says the country was very low, which is only true of the latitude of the Moluccas; and that was evidently our author's meaning, for he immediately subjoins: "and the north star is not seen from it."

After a short stay at "Monoch," the Christians proposed to conduct our travellers to "the largest island in the world;" for so they designated Java, proving how ignorant they were of its relative size. But they must first go to "Bornei," or Borneo, and procure a large ship there, "because the sea is more rough." As this precaution would have been uncalled for had the party taken the same route as that by which they had come, I was at first inclined to suppose that they might have sailed through the Macassar Strait; but that would not agree with the course pursued, which Varthema says was "constantly to the southward." Hence, I have been led to infer that the Java Sea was the rougher passage indicated; though one fails to see the necessity for their having taken the route by Borneo, when they might have reached Java without touching there at all, unless, indeed, the Christians had some particular object in visiting that island. Unluckily, the space of two hundred miles, which Varthema interposes between the Moluccas and Borneo, affords no clue to determine the route, as the nearest extremities of those two places are more than twice that distance apart,

which leads to the conjecture that by some mischance the word miles has been substituted for leagues. However this may be, the place where they disembarked was certainly in the highway of trade, for "a very great quantity of camphor" was shipped from it every year. Varthema heard that this substance was the gum of a tree, but not having seen the tree himself, he abstains from asserting the truth of the report.

Chartering a vessel at " Bornei," the party pursued their course towards the south. The captain,-who was probably a Malay, for Varthema and the Persian communicated with him through the Christians, whereas, had he been an Arab, they would not have required an interpreter," carried the compass and magnet after our manner, and had a chart which was all marked with lines perpendicular and across." Mr. Markham assumes that the compass was of European manufacture, its index pointing to the north, and not like that of the Chinese pointing to the south. It may be so; nevertheless, I have not yet met with any conclusive proof that the Easterns borrowed the use of the compass, as they now have it, from the West. However, as the polar star was invisible, Cogiazenor inquired of the master how he navigated. To which he replied, that he steered by his compass, which was adjusted to the north; but, pointing out "four or five stars, among which he said there was one which was opposite to our north star," he stated that on the other side of the said island, towards the south, [Java?] there were "some other