The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898—Volume 34 of 55, 1519-1522; 1280-1605 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

by Antonio Pigafetta

Main events while at the Moluccas, are related substantially the same by the “Roteiro” (Stanley, pp. 23–25) as by Pigafetta, although much shorter. The “Roteiro” says however that the king of Tidore sent twenty-five divers to locate the leak of the “Trinidad.” The anonymous Portuguese (Stanley, pp. 31, 32) names the five Moluccas and mentions the island of Banda. See A. Bastian’s Indonesian oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipel, which contains sections entitled: Die Mölukken (Berlin, 1884); Timor and umliegende Inseln (Berlin, 1885): and Borneo und Celebes (Berlin, 1889).

^[544] MS. 5,650 omits this vocabulary; as does Stanley. Mosto has mistranscribed a few of the Malay words. This vocabulary is the most ancient specimen of Malay extant, for in that language there exist neither old inscriptions nor old manuscripts; and it is wonderfully accurate. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, p. 352; also R. N. Cust’s Modern Languages of the East Indies (London, 1878); and Wallace’s East India Archipelago, pp. 608–625.

^[545] Naceran is evidently a corruption of an Arabian word meaning “Nazarene;” in some of the following words used to denote worship, one may see traces also of words brought in with the conquering religion of Mahomet.

^[546] See VOL. XXXIII, p. 315, note 160.

^[547] See VOL. XXXIII, p. 349, note 391.

^[548] At this point in the original Italian MS. are shown two charts: 1. On folio 68b, the islands of Laigoma, Caioian, Giogi, Sico, Labuac, Caphi (with the inscription “The Pigmies live in this island”), Tolyman, Tabobi, Bachiam, Latalata, Batutiga, Maga, and a number of unnamed islands (q.v., p. 104); shown on folio 84a of MS. 5,650, preceded by the words: “Chart of the islands of Bacchian, Toliman, Sico, Caioan, Laigoma, Gioggi, Caphi, Labuan, etc.” 2. On folio 69a, the islands of Sulach, Lumatola, Tenetum, Buru, Ambalao, Ambon, and a number of unnamed islands (q.v., p. 110); in MS. 5,650 shown on folio 84b, preceded by the words “Below is shown the chart of the islands of Ambalao, Ambon, Buru, and others.”

^[549] A number of these and succeeding islands are spelled slightly differently in Eden (p. 260). Mosto (p. 104, note 1) conjectures that Caioan is the Cayoan of Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 224), which he seeks to identify with the island of Kayoa or Kiou; Laigoma is Laigama, one of the islands among the Molucca group; Sico is Siku; Giogi is perhaps Gumorgi; and Caphi is Gafi. See Mosto, p. 104, notes 1–5.

^[550] Throughout the remainder of his narrative, it is seen that Pigafetta has often lent a credulous ear to the Malayan pilots of the ships and to current report. Marco Polo (book iii, xiii), explodes the belief in pigmies, which he declares to have been cleverly made for trade purposes. Pigafetta’s account may possibly refer to an aboriginal people, although more probably it is a reference to the orang-outang.

^[551] MS. 5,650 spells some of these islands differently (Labuan, Toliman, and several others), but in general the changes in spelling are very slight, consisting in a change of vowel or a doubling of a consonant. Labuan corresponds to Laboeha, the southern part of the island of Batchian; Toliman is Twali Bezar; Titameti is perhaps Tawalie Ketijl; Latalata is Latta-latta; Tabobi is perhaps Tappi; Maga is perhaps Loemang; Batutiga is perhaps Oby Major, a headland of which is called Aijer Batoe Geggok. See Mosto, p. 104, notes 6–12.

^[552] Called “Sulan” by Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 225). It is one of the Xulla Islands (see Guillemard’s Magellan, p. 289, and Mosto, p. 104, note 13).