This King Has Great Pride In The Possession Of A
White Elephant, Having Red Eyes, Which Glare Like A Flame Of Fire.
In
this country there is a certain species of small vermin, which attaches
itself to the trunks of the elephants, to suck their blood, by which many
elephants die.
The skull of this insect[24] is so hard as to be
impenetrable to a musket shot. They have on their livers the figures of
men and women, which the natives call Toketa, resembling a mandrake; and
it is affirmed, that whoever has one of these about him cannot be killed
by an iron weapon. They have also wild kine in this country, in the heads
of which certain stones are found, which have the virtue to bring good
fortune to merchants.
After the return of Duarte Fernandes from Siam, Albuquerque sent a knight
named Ruy Nunnez de Acunha, as ambassador to the king of the Sequies, the
country we now call Pegu. He went in a junk of the country, passing Cape
Rachado, and thence to the city of Pera, on the river Salano, on which
river are many other villages, where Duarte had been before; and he
afterwards went by Tanacerim to the city of Martavan, in 15 deg. N. and the
city of Pegu in 17 deg. N. This was the first Portuguese who travelled in
that kingdom, and who brought back a good account of the country and
people.
In the end of 1511, Albuquerque sent three ships to the islands of Banda
and Molucca, under command of Antonio de Breu and Francis Serrano, with
an hundred and twenty men. Passing through the Straits of Saban, and
along the island of Sumatra, and other islands on their left, named the
Salites, they came to the islands of Palimbang and Lu-Suparam, whence
they sailed by the noble island of Java, and eastwards between it and the
island of Madura. In this last island the men are strong and warlike, and
care little for their lives, even their women going out to war. These
people are almost continually engaged in war and mutual slaughter, like
the Mocos, and seem to place their only delight in bloodshed. Beyond Java
they came to another island called Bali, and afterwards to Avajave,
Sambaba, Solor, Galao, Malva, Vitara, Rosalanguin, and Arus; whence are
brought beautiful birds, in much estimation on account of their
feathers[25]. Beyond these islands they came to numbers of others, lying
in 7 or 8 degrees of south latitude, all so close together as to appear
like one entire mainland, and stretching near 500 leagues in length. The
ancient cosmographers describe all these islands by one general name, the
_Javos_; but more recent knowledge has found that they have all separate
names. Beyond these, and more to the north, there are other islands, which
are inhabited by a whiter people, clothed in shirts, doublets, and
trowsers, something like the Portuguese dress, and who also have silver
money. Their magistrates carry red staves in their hands, as badges of
command, and seem to have some affinity in this respect with the people of
China. There are other islands in these parts, or which the inhabitants
are red; and it is reported they are the same people with the Chinese.
De Breu went northwards to the small island of Gumnape or Ternate, from
the highest part of which flakes or streams like fire fell continually
into the sea. He went thence to the islands of Burro and Amboyna, and
came to anchor in the haven of Guliguli, where, in a village near a river,
they found dead men hanging up in the houses, as the people are cannibals.
Here they burnt the ship of Serrano, as she was old and rotten; and going
to a place on the other side of the island, in 8 deg. S. they loaded cloves,
nutmegs, and mace, in a junk or barque, which Serrano bought. It is said,
that in an island not far from Banda, there are immense quantities of
snakes, especially in a cave in the centre of the island. The same is
said of Formentera, in the Mediterranean, anciently Ophiusa, between
Majorca and Minorca. On their return from Banda towards Malacca, in 1512,
Francis Serrano perished with his junk on the flats called Baxos de
Lucapinho, nine or ten of the Portuguese crew escaping to the island of
Mindanao, who were sent for by the kings of the Moluccas. These were the
first of the Portuguese who came to the Islands of Cloves, which are in
lat. 1 deg. N. and they remained there seven or eight years. Some Portuguese
and princes of the Moors once endeavoured to go near that part of the
isle of Ternate which throws out fire, but could not accomplish it. But
Antonio Galvano accomplished this enterprise, and found a spring so cold
that he could not bear his hand in the water, nor suffer any of it in his
mouth, though almost directly under the line.
In these Molucca islands, there are certain men who have spurs on their
ancles like cocks; and I was told by the king of Tidore, that in the
islands of Batochina, there are people with tails, who have a lactiferous
nipple on the scrotum. There are small hens also in these parts, many of
which are black in the flesh, and lay their eggs, larger than those of
ducks, in holes above nine feet under ground. They have likewise hogs
with horns, and excellent talking parrots, which they call _Noris_. There
is also a river so very hot that it takes off the skin of any living
creature that bathes in its waters, and yet contains living fish. Their
crabs are very sweet to eat, yet their claws are so strong that they will
break the iron of a pickax; and there are small hairy crabs in the sea
which are rank poison, as whoever eats of them immediately dies.
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