"That done the old women took off their robes and ate what was in the two dishes, inviting only women to join them. After that they get the hair off the pig with fire. Only old women are able to consecrate the boar, and this animal is never eaten unless it is killed in this manner."
Pigafetta saw wonderful things in Borneo, among them a wild boar whose head was two and a half spans long, and oysters as large as turtles. He says that the flesh of one of these oysters weighed forty-five pounds.
But the thing there which probably must have most greatly excited his curiosity was the walking leaves. There were certain trees on the islands that had very animated leaves. When one of these leaves fell from the tree, it did not lie where it fell, to rot or to be shuffled by the winds, but it lifted itself up and walked away.
Here was a sight indeed to make the young Italian fly to his memoranda book, which he did.
Other travelers later saw the same curious thing, but they examined the miracle more closely than the credulous Chevalier. They found that the leaves were moved by an insect that lived inside of them, like the Mexican bean, which is used as a toy, and will jump about a table.
The islands of the Indian Ocean abound in sandalwood. Of the sandal trees Pigafetta heard other curious legends. One of them tells us that when the people of the Timor went out to cut sandalwood, the devil appeared to them, and demanded them to bargain with him for the wood. This they did, for those who cut the wood are otherwise likely to fall sick; a poisonous miasma is exhaled from the wounded wood.
Pigafetta heard also marvelous tales of the Emperor of China, who seemed to live amid human walls. There may be some truths in these incidents; if so, what a remarkable condition must have been that of the Chinese court four hundred years ago!
He says:
"The kingdom of Cocchi lies next; its sovereign is named Raja Seri Bummipala. After that follows Great China, the king of which is the greatest sovereign of the world, and is called Santoa Raja. He has seventy crowned kings under his dependence; and some of these kings have ten or fifteen lesser kings dependent on them. The port of this kingdom is named Guantan, and among the many cities of this Empire, two are the most important, namely, Nankin and Comlaha, where the King usually resides.
"He has four of his principal ministers close to his palace, at the four sides looking to the four cardinal winds; that is, one to the west, one to the east, to the south, and to the north. Each of these gives audience to those that come from his quarter. All the kings and lords of India major and superior obey this King, and in token of their vassalage, each is obliged to have in the middle of the principal palace of his city the marble figure of a certain animal named Chinga, an animal more valuable than the lion; the figure of this animal is also engraved on the King's seal, and all who wish to enter his port must carry the same emblem in wax or ivory.