His Religion, And That Of All His Subjects, Is
Mahometism, In Obedience To Which They Keep The New Moons And Many
Fasts, During Which They Mortify The Flesh All The Day, But Make Up For
Their Abstemiousness By Feasting In The Night.
Having dispatched all his affairs at Ternate, the admiral left the
place, and sailed to a small island to the southwards of Celebes, where
he remained twenty-six days.
This island is all covered with wood, the
trees being of large size, tall, straight, and without boughs, except at
the top, the leaves resembling our English broom. There were here vast
numbers of shining flies, no bigger than our common flies in England,
which, skimming at night among the trees and bushes, made them appear as
if all on fire. The bats in this island were as large as our ordinary
poultry, and there was a sort of land cray-fish, which burrowed in the
ground like rabbits, being so large that one of them was a sufficient
meal for four persons.
Setting sail from thence, and being unable to proceed westwards on
account of the wind, the course was altered to the southwards, yet with
much danger, by reason of the shoals which lie thick among these
islands. Of this they had most dangerous and almost fatal experience on
the 9th January, 1580, by running upon a rock, on which they stuck fast
from eight at night till four in the afternoon of next day. In this
distress, the ship was lightened by landing three tons of cloves, eight
pieces of ordnance, and some provisions on the rock; soon after which,
by the wind chopping round, they happily got off.
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