[263] In MS. 5,650, “Mazzaua;” in Eden, “Meſſana;” in Mosto, “Mazana,” while in the chart it appears as “Mazzana;” Transylvanus, “Massana;” and Albo, “Masava.” It is now called the island of Limasaua, and has an area of about ten and one-half square miles.
[264] Mosto mistranscribes the Italian word for “among” fra as prima “first.” The error arises through the abbreviation used, namely fa, Mosto mistaking it for pa, which would be prima.
[265] Stanley mistranscribes “Gatighan” from MS. 5,650 as “Satighan.” The names of the five islands as given by Eden are: “Zeilon, Bohol, Canghu, Barbai, and Catighan.” These are the islands of Leite, Bohol, Canigao (west of Leyte), the northern part of Leyte (today the name of a town, hamlet and inlet in Leyte), and possibly Apit or Himuquitan, or one of the other nearby islands on the west coast of Leyte. See chart of these islands on p. 112.
Albo (Navarrete, iv, pp. 220, 221) says: “We left Mazava and went north toward the island of Seilani, after which we ran along the said island to the northwest as far as 10 degrees. There we saw three rocky islands, and turned our course west for about 10 leguas where we came upon two islets. We stayed there that night and in the morning went toward the south southwest for about 12 leguas, as far as 10 and one-third degrees. At that point we entered a channel between two islands, one of which is called Matan and the other Subu. Subu, as well as the islands of Mazava and Suluan extend north by east and south by west. Between Subu and Seilani we spied a very lofty land lying to the north, which is called Baibai. It is said to contain considerable gold and to be well stocked with food, and so great an extent of land that its limits are unknown. From Mazava, Seilani, and Subu, on the course followed toward the south, look out for the many shoals, which are very bad. On that account a canoe which was guiding us along that course, refused to go ahead. From the beginning of the channel of Subu and Matan, we turned west by a middle channel and reached the city of Subu. There we anchored and made peace, and the people there gave us rice, millet, and meat. We stayed there for a considerable time. The king and queen of that place and many of the inhabitants readily became Christians.” The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 11) says that the king of Macangar (i.e., Mazaua) conducted the Spaniards “a matter of thirty leagues to another island named Cabo [i.e., Cebú], which is in ten degrees, and in this island Fernando de Magalhães did what he pleased with the consent of the country.” Brito says merely (Navarrete, iv, p. 308): “After that, after passing amid many islands, they reached one called Mazaba, which lies in 9 degrees. The king of Mazaba conducted them to another large island called Zubó.”
[266] MS. 5,650 reads: “only one of them.” Barbastili is a Venetian word for pipistrelli. These bats are the Pteropi or “flying foxes,” the large fruit-eating bats of which so many species inhabit the Malay Archipelago. Bats are especially found in Guimarás, Siquijor, and Cebú, and the skins of some are used as fur. See Guillemard (ut supra, p. 235). See also Delgado’s Historia, pp. 842, 843; and U. S. Philippine Gazetteer.
[267] Stanley mistranslates as “tortoises.” The “black birds with the long tail” are the tabón “mound-building Megapodes, gallinacious birds peculiar to the Austro-Malayan subregion” (Guillemard’s Magellan, p. 235). See also Vol. V, p. 167, note 14, and Vol. XVI, page 198, note 43; also Vol. XVI, p. 81, note 84.
[268] These are the Camotes, which lie west of Leyte, and their names are Poro, Pasijan, and Pansón. See Pigafetta’s chart showing these islands on p. 112.
[269] Following this point in the Italian MS. (folio 26a) is the chart of the islands of Bohol, Mattam, and Zzubu (q.v., p. 136).
MS. 5,650 presents this chart on folio 51a, preceded by the words: “Below are shown the islands of Zzubu, Mattan, and Bohól.”
[270] MS. 5,650 reads: “But the interpreter reassured them by telling them.”