[419] The journey to Borneo, events there, and a description of Borneo are thus described by Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 222): “We sailed from Poluan to Borney. Coasting the above named island [i.e., Poluan] to its southwest headland, we discovered an island with a shoal on its eastern side, and which lies in 7 and one-half degrees, so that we had to deviate to the west for about fifteen leguas. Then we sailed southwest coasting along the island of Borney to a city of the same name. You must needs know that the land must be approached closely, for there are many shoals outside, and one must keep the sounding line in constant use, for it is a harsh coast. Borney is a large city with a very large bay. Both inside and outside of it are many shoals, so that a native pilot of that place is necessary. We remained there for a considerable number of days, and commenced to trade there and made firm friendship. But later, many canoes, in number 260, were equipped to capture us and came upon us. When we saw them, we left hurriedly, and sailed out of the bay, whereupon we saw some junks coming. We went to them and captured one, in which was a son of the king of Luzon. The latter is a very large island. The captain afterward let him go [i.e., the prince of Luzón] without asking advice of anyone. Borney it a large island which yields cinnamon, mirabolans, and camphor, the last named of which is much esteemed in these lands, and it is said that when people die they are embalmed with it. Borney (that is, the port of Borney) lies in a latitude of 5 degrees and 25 minutes, and a longitude of 201 degrees and 5 minutes from the line of demarcation.”
The “Roteiro” (Stanley, pp. 17–20) says that while on the way to Borneo, the ships anchor at islands which they call the islets of St. Paul (now, the Mantanani Islands—Guillemard, Magellan, p. 269) at a distance of two and one-half or three leagues from Borneo. Proceeding past a lofty mountain (Kina Balu—Guillemard) in Borneo, they coast that island to the port of Borneo. Anchoring in that port, the Moro pilots captured at Palawan are sent ashore with one of the crew, and on reaching the city of Borneo, they are taken before the Shahbender of Borneo. The two ships draw in closer to the city and establish trade with the natives. Gonzalo Gomez Espinosa is chosen ambassador to the king to whom he takes a present. After a stay of twenty-three days in Borneo, the men in the ships fearing treachery from the evolutions of a number of praus and junks, attack and capture one of the latter with twenty-seven men. Next morning the junk commanded by the son of the king of Luzon and ninety men, are captured. Of the seven men ashore the king sends two to the ships, but retains the others, whereupon the ships leave, taking with them fourteen men and three women of those captured in the junks. While sailing back over their downward course, the “Trinidad” grounds on a point of the island of Borneo, where it remains for four hours until swung clear by the tide.
Brito in his account (Navarrete, iv, pp. 309, 310) says that the Borneans fear at first lest the strangers be Portuguese and that their object is conquest, but finally being reassured by Espinosa who takes a present to the king, pilots are promised as far as Mindanao. During their stay of a month at Borneo, two Greeks desert the ships. Three others, among them Carvalho’s son, are ashore when the fear of attack instigated by the two Greeks leads the two ships to attack the Borneans, and the five men are left behind on the island.
The island of Borneo, the largest island (properly so-called) in the world, is mentioned first by Varthema (Travels, Hakluyt Society edition), pp. 246–248. See also Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 57–66. See also Henry Ling Roth’s Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo (London, 1896) in two volumes, which is an excellent work on modern conditions in Borneo.
[420] The word “junk” is probably derived from the Malay Jong or Ajong “a great ship.” For a description of these ships, see Yule’s Cathay (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1866), ii, pp. 417, 418.
[421] MS. 5,650 reads: “If venom or poison be put in a vase of fine porcelain, it breaks immediately.” In accordance with this reading we have added in brackets in the Italian the word veleno, i.e., “poison,” which seems to have been omitted by the amanuensis. Mosto (p. 88, note 3) quotes the following from Marcantonio Pigafetta’s Itinerario da Vienna a Constantinopoli (p. 208), when speaking of the present brought to Sultan Selim II by the Persian ambassador which consisted of “eight dishes [piati firuarii] which break if any one puts poison in them. Those piati firuarii are made of the substance which we call porcelain, and are made in China, the province situated in the extreme outskirts of the Orient. They are made of earth, which is kept for more than fifty years buried in the earth, in order to refine it, and which is buried by the father for his son. Thus it passes from hand to hand.” See also Yule’s Cathay, ii, p. 478; and Burnell and Tiele’s Linschoten (Hakluyt Society publications), i, pp. 129, 130.
[422] The small brass, copper, tin, and zinc coins common throughout the eastern islands were called “pichis” or “pitis,” which was the name of the ancient Javanese coin, now used as a frequent appellative for money in general. Chinese coins were early in general use throughout the southern islands of the eastern archipelagoes. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 285–288.
[423] The cate or catty. See Vol. XVIII, p. 141, note 32.
[424] MS. 5,650 mentions only the six porcelain dishes, the wax, and the pitch, for the last eighty, instead of forty, cathils, of bronze being traded. The bahar of the Italian MS. becomes “barrel” or “cask” in the French. The anime (pitch) may have been one of the numerous resins yielded by various trees in the Philippines (see Report of Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, 282, 283).
[425] MS. 5,650 omits this word.