[375] Baloto signifies a canoe dug out of a single log. One of twenty varas in length is termed bilis, while the hull alone is called dalámas.
[376] Most of the words of Pigafetta’s Visayan vocabulary can be distinguished in the dictionaries of that language, although it is necessary to make allowance at times for Pigafetta’s Italian phonetic rendering. Following is a list of the words that can be distinguished from Diccionario bisaya-español y español-bisaya (Manila, 1885), by Juan Félix de la Encarnación, O.S.A. (Recollect); and Diccionario Hispano-bisaya y bisaya-español (Manila, 1895) by Antonio Sanchez de la Rosa, O.S.F. See also Pocket dictionary of the English, Spanish and Visayan languages (Cebu, 1900) by H. M. Cohen; and Mallat’s Les Philippines (Paris, 1846), ii, pp. 175–238. The words queried in the following list are simply offered as conjectural equivalents.
Some of the words present difficulties however, due probably to error on Pigafetta’s part and the obstacles in the method of communication between peoples the genius of whose respective languages is entirely distinct. The general Visayan word for “man” is tao or tauo, although Mallat gives a form dala, which may correspond to the lac of Pigafetta (but see Vol. V, p. 123, where the origin of the words lalac, “man,” and babaye, “woman,” are given by Loarca). Babaye (babae) is the general word for “woman” or “married woman;” while binibini is given by Mallat as the Tagálog equivalent of “girl,” and by Santos in his Vocabulario de la lengua tagala (Manila, 1835) as the equivalent of “influential woman.” Liog is used for both “throat” and “neck.” Tian is properly “belly,” and the mistake would arise naturally in Pigafetta pointing to himself when desiring the word for “body,” which would be construed by the natives to that particular part toward which he happened to point. Boto is used for both the male and female generative organs, especially the latter, as well as for the testicles. Britiis corresponds to both “shin” and “calf of the leg.” Iro denotes also the civet cat. Bulan the equivalent of Pigafetta’s bolon is the word for “moon” instead of “star.” The occurrence of what are today Tagálog forms in Pigafetta’s list shows how the various dialects shade into one another and how the one has retained words that have sunk into disuse in the other.
[377] Preceding this paragraph in the Italian MS. (folio 38b) is the chart of the island of Panilonghon (Panisonghon; q.v., p. 202). It is given on folio 51a of MS. 5,650, preceded by the words: “Below is shown the islands of Panilonghon.”
[378] The “Roteiro” (Stanley, pp. 13, 14) says that the captains elected in place of those killed at Cebú were “Joam Lopez [Carvalho], who was the chief treasurer” to “be captain-major of the fleet, and the chief constable of the fleet” to “be captain of one of the ships; he was named Gonzalo Vaz Despinosa.” Pigafetta makes no mention at all of Elcano, who brought the “Victoria” home; both the above captains remaining with the “Trinidad.” When the “Concepcion” was burned, only one hundred and fifteen men were left for the working of the two ships (see Guillemard, ut supra, p. 267), although the “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 14) says one hundred and eight men, and Barros, one hundred and eighty.
[379] In Eden: “Pauiloghon, where they founde blacke men lyke vnto the Saraſins.” This is the island of Panglao and the “black men” are the Negritos. See W. A. Reed’s Negritos of Zambales, published by Department of the Interior “Ethnological Survey Publications” ii, part i (Manila, 1904), which says (p. 20) that the only large islands, besides Luzón, inhabited at present by Negritos are Panay, Negros, Mindanao, and Paragua, although they do inhabit some of the smaller islands. The pure type is decreasing through marriage with the Bukidnon or mountain Visayans; and (p. 22) “so far there is no evidence that Negritos exist on Cebu, Bohol, Samar, and Leyte. The Negrito population of the Philippines is probably not in excess of 25,000. The U. S. census report of 1900 gives to Panglao a population of 14,347, all civilized. See also Census of the Philippines, i, pp. 411, 415, 436, 468, 478, 532, 533.
[380] MS. 5,650 reads: “When entering that house, we were preceded by many reed and palmleaf torches.”
[381] These two words are omitted in MS. 5,650.
[382] See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 368, 369, on the origin and use of rice in the eastern islands, and the etymology of the native names for that grain; and Census of the Philippines, iv.