[436] MS. 5,650 reads: “two and one-half feet long.”
[437] Cf. Transylvanus, Vol. I, pp. 330, 331. The Tridacna gigas, described by Delgado, Historia, p. 929, under the name of taclobo. Colin asserts that he saw one of the shells which was used as a watering-trough and another as a holy-water font. The shells sometimes attain a length of five or six feet, and weigh hundreds of pounds. The natives burn them for lime. See Official Handbook of Philippines (Manila, 1903), p. 152.
[438] Mosto (p. 89, note 8) conjectures this to be a fish of the family of the Squamipen, perhaps of the genus Heniochus.
[439] Coca: An Italian word formed from the Spanish word “chocar” “to jostle” (Mosto, p. 89, note 9). The living leaves, were the insects of the genus of Phyllium of the order of the Orthoptera. They are known as walking leaves from their resemblance to a leaf.
[440] This sentence is omitted in MS. 5,650. Eden says that Pigafetta kept the leaf “for the ſpace of viii. dayes.”
[441] The date of the departure was September 27, 1521. At this place João Carvalho was deposed from the chief command for his high-handed measures and non-observance of royal orders, and retook his old position as chief pilot. Espinosa was elected in his place and Elcano was chosen captain of the “Victoria.” See Navarrete, iv, pp. 73, 289, 292, 294.
[442] Basilan; see Vol. III, p. 168, note 44.
[443] The true pearl oysters of the Philippine Islands are found along the coasts of Paragua, Mindanao, and in the Sulu Archipelago, especially in the last named, where many very valuable pearls are found. These fisheries are said to rank with the famous fisheries of Ceylon and the Persian Gulf. The mother-of-pearl of the shells is more valuable than the pearls. The Sultan of Joló claims the fisheries as his own and rents them out, but always has trouble with the lessees, and his ownership is disputed by the datos. The pearl fishery has figured in a treaty between that sultan and the United States government. See Affairs of Philippines, Hearing before U. S. Senate Committee (Washington, 1902), part i, p. 18; Official Handbook of Philippines (Manila, 1903), p. 153; and Census of Philippine Islands (Washington, 1905), pp. 534–536. An early interesting account of pearl-fishing is given by Eden (Arber’s edition), pp. 213, 214.
[444] MS. 5,650 reads: “fifty.”
[445] Cáuit is a point and bay on the west coast of Zamboanga, Mindanao; Subanin refers to a portion of Zamboanga; and the island of Monoripa is perhaps the island of Saccol, located at the southeastern end of the Zamboanga province. “Subanim” says Dr. Barrows (Census of the Philippines, i, p. 416) “suggests a settlement of the present aborigines of that part of Mindanao, who are known as Subanon. Here, too, they saw the notorious ‘sea-gypsies,’ the Bajau or Sámal Laut, whose wandering boats, then as now, shifted their stations with the changing of the Monsoon.”