Saavedra
Reached The Moluccas In March 1528, And Anchored At The Island Of Gilolo,
Where He Found The Sea Calm, The Winds Moderate, And No Tempests; And He
Estimated The Distance From Thence To New Spain At 2050 Leagues, Or 8200
Miles.
At this period, Fernando de la Torre was governor of the Molucca
islands, and lived in the city of Tidore, having been chosen instead of
Martin Yniguez de Carquicano, who was recently dead.
Torre waged a fierce
war with Don George de Meneses, captain of the Portuguese; and in a fight
of the fourth of May, Saavedra took a Portuguese galliot, and slew
Fernando de Baldaya the captain. In June, Saavedra set sail on his return
towards New Spain, taking with him Simon de Brito, Patalin, and other
Portuguese prisoners; but, after several months sail, he was forced back
to Tidore by contrary winds, where Patalin was beheaded and quartered,
and the rest of the Portuguese prisoners hanged. In this year, 1528,
Cortes sent 200 infantry, and sixty cavalry, with a large force of
Mexicans, to explore and subdue the country of the Chihimecas, which was
reported to be rich in gold. He then took shipping for Spain, where he
landed with great pomp, bringing with him 250,000 marks in gold and
silver. On his arrival at Toledo, where the emperor then resided; he was
very graciously received. The emperor created him marquis _della Valle_,
and married him to the lady Jane de Zuniga, daughter to the Conde de
Aguilar; after which he returned to resume the government of New Spain.
Saavedra, of whom we have lately made mention, returned from the Moluccas
towards New Spain, in May 1529: and, during, the voyage, came in sight of
land, in lat. 2 deg.S. He ran along the coast to the S.S.E. from that time to
the end of August, upwards of 500 leagues, finding a clean coast, free
from shoals and rocks, with good anchoring ground, inhabited by a black
people, with curled hair. The people of the Moluccas named the inhabitants
of this coast _Papuas_ because they are black with frizzled hair and both
Portuguese and Spaniards have adopted the same name. Having reached to
four or five degrees south of the line, he returned northwards; and near
the equinoctial he discovered an island, which he called _de los Pintados_,
or of the painted people, as the inhabitants were of a white complexion,
but marked with a hot iron[62]; and, from various circumstances, he
concluded that they were originally from China. A kind of boat put off
from the shore, containing a number of these islanders, making many
threatening signs and gestures, as if ordering the Spaniards to go away
from their land, and even proceeded to throw stones from slings at the
ship, but, as the stones did no harm, Saavedra would not allow his people
to fire upon them. A little beyond this island, in 10 deg. or 12 deg. of north
latitude, they discovered a group, consisting of many small low islands,
covered with grass, and full of palm trees, to which they gave the name of
_Los Jardines_, or the gardens[63]. Saavedra came to anchor in the midst
of these islands, where he remained several days, and concluded that the
people had come originally from China, but had, by long residence,
degenerated into lawless savages, using no labour or industry. They wear a
species of white cloth, made of grass, and are quite ignorant of fire,
which put them in great terror. Instead of bread they eat cocoas, which
they pull unripe, burying them for some days in the sand, and then laying
them in the sun, which causes them to open. They eat fish also, which they
catch from a kind of boat called _parao_, or _proa_, which they construct
with tools made of shells, from pine wood that is drifted at certain times
to their islands, from some unknown regions. The wind and weather becoming
more favourable for his return to New Spain, Saavedra resumed his voyage
thither, intending to have gone to Panama, to unload the cloves and other
merchandize he had brought from the Moluccas. His purpose was to have
carried this merchandize in carts from Panama, about four leagues, or
sixteen miles overland, to the river Chagre, which is said to be navigable,
and which discharges itself into the North Sea not far from Nombre de Dios,
where the goods could be reshipped for Spain; by which means all kind of
goods might be brought from India in a shorter time, and with less danger,
than by sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, as the voyage from the
Moluccas to Panama is almost a perfectly straight course between the line
and the tropics. But, in the present voyage, they were never able to
procure a favourable wind, and were therefore forced back to the Moluccas,
where they arrived in great affliction, as Saavedra died by the way[64].
Had Saavedra lived, he intended to have opened a navigable communication
from sea to sea, through the land of Castilia del Oro and New Spain, which
might have been done in one or other of the following places: - 1. From the
gulph of St Michael to Uraba, which is 25 leagues, or 100 miles. 2. From
Panama to Nombre de Dios, which is 17 leagues, or 68 miles, much the
greater part consisting of the river Chagre, navigable for small craft. 3.
Through the river Xaquator, now St Juan, in the province of Nicaragua,
which springs out of a lake that reaches to within three or four leagues
of the South Sea, and falls into the North Sea, being navigable by large
boats and lighters. 4. The other place is from Tecoantepec, through a
river, to Verdadera Cruz, in the bay of Honduras[65].
In the year 1529, Damiano de Goes, a Portuguese, travelled over all Spain,
and went from Flanders into England and Scotland, being at the courts of
the kings of these countries; after that he returned into Flanders, and
travelled through Zealand, Holland, Brabant, Luxemburgh, Switzerland, and
through the cities of Cologne, Spires, Strasburg, Basil, and other parts
of Germany, and so back to Flanders.
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