[494] MS. 5,650 reads: “than the other weapons [bastons].”
[495] MS. 5,650 reads: “of the color of the fruit.” Cf. Pigafetta’s description of the clove tree with those of Varthema (Travels, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 246) and Linschoten’s Voyage (Hakluyt Society edition), ii, pp. 81–84. See also Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 101–105, and VOL. XIV, p. 58, note 5. Crawfurd remarks that Pigafetta’s account is even yet a good popular one.
[496] Probably Pottebackers Island to the south of Tidore.
[497] Cf. Pigafetta’s description of the nutmeg with those of Varthema (Travels, Hakluyt Society edition), p. 245, and Linschoten’s Voyage (Hakluyt Society edition), ii, pp. 84–86. See also Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 304–306, and VOL. XX, p. 258, note 48.
[498] This method of making cloth from tree-bark is also mentioned by Combés (Historia, Madrid, 1667).
[499] MS. 5,650 adds: “and bruise.” There are supposed to be five palms that produce the product called sago, which is probably the word for the meal, as each of the palms has its own specific name. The most frequently cultivated are the râmbiya, Sagus Konigii or Metroxylon sago, and the bamban or Sagus lævis. The shell of each species is very thin, and the yield of sago very abundant, as it comprises all the pith of the tree. Sago trees grow throughout the Malayan archipelago and Philippines as far as Mindanao. They require a boggy ground and propagate by lateral shoots, as well as by seeds, so that a sago plantation is perpetual. Three trees will yield more nutritive matter than an acre of wheat, and six trees more than an acre of potatoes. Sago is the sole bread of the Moluccas and New Guinea and its neighboring islands, but of no other part of the Archipelago. In the Malay countries it is only the food of the wild tribes, and is hardly used by the Malays themselves. Only the poorer classes in Mindanao use it, while in other islands, such as Java, where rice is abundant, it is not used at all. It is the lowest kind of farinaceous food. The pearl sago of commerce was introduced by the Chinese. The method of preparation is essentially that described by Pigafetta. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 371, 372; and Official Handbook of Philippines (Manila, 1903), pp. 115, 116.
[500] MS. 5,650 omits the remainder of this sentence. Stanley (p. 135, note) says that the dress of the soldiers of Pigafetta’s time was indecent.
[501] MS. 5,650 reads: “seven hundred and ninety.”
[502] These native names for cloves are “ghomodo” and “Bongalauant” in MS. 5,650. The principal names current for the clove in the eastern archipelago are foreign rather than native. In the Moluccas they are called gaumedi, which is a Sanskrit word meaning “cow’s marrow.” The most frequent name is cângkek which is said to be a corruption of the Chinese name theng-hia, meaning “odoriferous nails.” Another name is lawan to which the Malays prefix the words “flower” or “fruit” (as Pigafetta’s bongalauan), and is the name of the Telingas of India, who have always conducted the largest trade between India and the Malayan countries. Sec Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 101, 102.
[503] Still so called and located to the south.