Being Afraid That We Might Be Attacked By A Greatly Superior Force From Malacca, We Now Departed From The Neighbourhood Of The Sambilam Islands, And Went To A Bay In The Kingdom Of Junkseylon, Between Malacca And Pegu, In The Lat.

Of 8 deg.

N. We here sent on shore the soldier who had been left on board our ship by the captain of the galeon, because he could speak the Malay language, to deal with the people for pitch, of which we were in much need, which he did very faithfully, procuring two or three quintals, with promise of more, and several of the natives came off along with him to our ship. We sent commodities to their king, to barter for ambergris and the horns of the abath, the trade in both of which articles is monopolized by the king of this country. This abath is a beast having only one horn in her forehead, thought to be the female unicorn, and the horn is highly prized by all the Moors in those parts, as a most sovereign remedy against poison.[20] We got two or three of these horns, and a reasonable quantity of ambergris. At length the king was disposed to detain the Portuguese soldier and our merchandise treacherously; but he told the king that we had gilt armour, shirts of mail, and halberts, which things they prize greatly, and in hope of procuring some of these he was allowed to return on board.[21]

[Footnote 20: This Abath, or Abadia, is the Rhinoceros Monoceros, or One-horned Rhinoceros. The virtue of the horn, mentioned in the text, is altogether imaginary. - E.]

[Footnote 21: At this place Hakluyt makes the following remark on the margin: - "Some small quantity of these things might be carried out to pleasure those kings."]

Leaving this coast, we returned in sight of Sumatra, and went thence to the islands of Nicobar, which we found inhabited by Moors. After we came to anchor, the people came daily on board in their canoes, bringing fowls, cocoas, plantains, and other fruits; and within two days they brought ryals of plate, which they gave us in exchange for calicut cloth. They find these ryals by diving for them in the sea, having been there lost in two Portuguese ships not long before, that were cast away when bound for China. In their language the cocoa-nut is called calambo; the plantain, pison; a hen, jam; a fish, iccan; and a hog, babee. Departing from the Nicobar Islands on the 21st November, we made sail for the island of Ceylon, where we arrived about the 3d December, 1592, and anchored on its south side, in six fathoms water, but lost our anchor, as the ground was foul and rocky. We then ran along the south-west side of the island, and anchored at a place called Punta del Galle, meaning to remain there in waiting for the Bengal fleet of seven or eight ships, the Pegu fleet of two or three, and the ships from Tanaserim, a great bay to the south of Martaban, in the kingdom of Siam, which ships, according to different informations we had got, were expected to come this way within fourteen days, with commodities for the caraks, which usually depart from Cochin, on the homeward voyage, about the middle of January.

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