“I left four here: 1st, the master of the ship, named Juan Bautista, who is the most skilful of them all, and has sailed in ships belonging to your Highness, and who is the one who took command, and who after the death of Magallanes must have taken his fleet to Maluco; 2nd, the clerk, who is a good sailor and pilot; 3d, the boatswain; and 4th, a carpenter who is needed to repair this ship by which I am now sending by way of Burneo....
“In regard to the master, clerk, and pilot, I am writing to the chief captain that it will be more to the service of your Highness to order them beheaded than to send them there. I detained them in Maluco because it is an unhealthy country, with the intention of having them die there, as I did not dare order them beheaded for I was ignorant whether such action would meet your Highness’s approval. I am writing to Jorge de Alburquerque to detain them in Malaca, which is also a country that is very unhealthy.”
Navarrete describes the adventures of the “Trinidad” and the fate of her crew in his Col. de viages, iv, pp. 98–107; for a translation of which see Stanley’s First Voyage, pp. 237–241. Cf. also the account in Guillemard’s Magellan, pp. 298–307, where many details not in Navarrete are to be found. The mortality of the crew of the “Trinidad” was terrible, and of the 53 men left with Juan Carvalho at Tidore, only the following returned to Spain, and that only after a number of years: Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa, alguazil; Ginés de Mafra, sailor; Leon Pancado [mentioned above by Brito], sailor; and Juan Rodriguez of Seville, sailor. The German gunner, Hans Vargue, also reached Lisbon with Espinosa and Ginés de Mafra, but died almost immediately upon his arrival there, in prison. See Guillemard, ut supra, pp. 338, 339.
The goods left and accumulated in Tidore by the Spaniards is thus given by Brito (Navarrete, iv, p. 310): “The goods which remained in Tidor belonging to the Castilians amounted to 1,125 quintals 32 libras of copper, 2,000 libras of quicksilver, two quintals of iron, three bombards with iron blocks (one is a pasamuro and two are roqueiras), 14 iron culverins without any chamber, three iron anchors (consisting of a fugareo, one large one, and one broken one), 9 crossbows, 12 muskets, 32 breast-plates, 12 serveilheras, 3 helmets, 4 anchors, 53 iron bars, 6 iron culverins, 2 iron falconets, 2 large iron bombards with four chambers, and 1,275 quintals of cloves.”
[538] So Pigafetta calls the minister in charge of the religious matters of Tidore, which had embraced the Mahometan worship.
[539] MS. 5,650 adds: “was forty-five years old.”
[540] MS. 5,650 omits mention of the camotes. The comulicai becomes comulicar in MS. 5,650. Eden reads: “and a marueilous coulde frute which they name Camulicai.” The comulicai is perhaps a species of Anona. The fruit like the peach called guava is evidently the mango or manga (Mangifera Indica). See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, p. 263 (who fails to note that Pigafetta mentions this fruit as existing in the Moluccas). It is mentioned by the Italian traveler Varthema (Travels, Hakluyt Society edition, pp. 159, 160).
[541] The generic name for “parrot” is loony. Its correct Malay form is noyras (Crawfurd, Dictionary, p. 221, nuri and Javanese nori). The corruption nori began to be common in the seventeenth century. (See Linschoten’s Voyage, Hakluyt Society edition, i, p. 307). Nicolò de’Conti says that there are three species of parrots in Banda. The first two species are both known by the name of nori, “bright,” and are about the size of doves, one species having red feathers and a saffron-colored beak and the other being of various colors. The third species are white and as large as the common domestic fowl, and are called cachi, “better.” They imitate human speech better than the others. Bellemo says that the lori [i.e., nori] are parrots with red feathers, giachi those which speak more easily, while the white ones cockatoos which do not speak (Mosto, p. 100, note 3).
[542] The modern names of the Moluccas are Ternate, Tidor, Mortier, Makian, and Batjian; or in a more correct orthography, Târnati, Tidori, Mortir, Makiyan, and Bachian (see Crawfurd’s Dictionary, p. 283). Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 225) includes Gilolo among the Moluccas.
[543] In describing the five Moluccas Islands, Eden (p. 260) says that Tidore lies in 171 degrees of longitude. “Terenate, is vnder the Equinoctial line foure minutes vnder the pole Antartike.... Theſe Ilandes are lyke foure ſharpe mountaynes, except Macchian which is not ſharpe. The byggeſt of all theſe, is Bacchian.”