And When I Made Mention Of The _Veronica_ Or _Vernacle_ Of The
Face Of Christ[101], And Of The Heads
Of St Peter and St Paul, the
chiefest of the apostles, they told me secretly that if I would go
With
them, I should become a great man in their country by my knowledge of
these divine things. But being deterred by the length of the journey,
and fearful that I might never be able to get home, I refused to
accompany them. At length we came to Borneo, which is 200 miles from
Molucca and is somewhat bigger[102] and as low under the horizon. The
inhabitant are idolaters of a sharp wit and decent manner of life. Their
complexion inclines towards fair. They do not all dress alike, as some
wear cotton shirts, while others have camblet mantles, and others wear
pointed caps of a red colour. They are under regular government and
submit to laws, which are righteously administered. This island yields
great quantities of _camphor_, which I was told was the gum of a tree;
but I dare not affirm this for fact, as I have never seen the way in
which it is procured.
[Footnote 101: The Veronica among the Catholics, is the handkerchief
with which our Saviour is supposed to have wiped his face during his
passion, which they allege took from his bloody sweat a miraculous
impression or portrait of his countenance. - E.]
[Footnote 102: Instead of being only _somewhat_ larger than Gilolo,
Borneo is perhaps the largest island in the world, except New Holland,
being about 880 English miles in its greatest diameter from S.W. to N.E.
and 550 in the opposite direction at the widest. - E.]
At Borneo my companion hired a light bark for 100 pieces of gold, and
having laid in provisions for the voyage, we directed our course for the
great island of _Gyava_, or Java, to which we came in five days, sailing
towards the south. Our pilot used the mariners compass with loadstone,
and the sea chart as ours do. Observing that the north star could not be
seen, my companion asked the Christian merchants in what manner they
guided their course in those seas. To this the pilot made answer, that
in navigating these southern seas, they were particularly guided by five
stars, and one other particular star which was directly opposite thee
north star, and that they also used the loadstone, which always points
to the north. He said moreover, that beyond the island of Java there was
a certain people who were antipodes to them of European Sarmatia,
inhabiting a cold climate, and as near to the antarctic pole as Sarmatia
is to the arctic, as was evident by the shortness of their day, which
was only four hours long in winter[103], in which conversation we took
much delight.
[Footnote 103: This pilot must have been acquainted with the southern
extremity of South America, or must have built this information on
hypothesis, as there is no known inhabited land of this description to
the South of Java - E.]
Proceeding on our voyage for five days, we came to the great island of
Java, in which there are many kingdoms and peoples, all idolaters, but
of sundry manners and customs. Some worship the sun, others the moon,
some consider cows as their gods, while others worship all day whatever
they first meet in the morning. This island produces silk, which grows
spontaneously in the woods, and has the finest emeralds in the world, as
also great plenty of gold and copper. The soil is as productive of corn
and fruits as that of Calicut, and has an abundance of flesh. The
inhabitants are an honest and fair-dealing people, much of the same
stature and colour with Europeans, but with larger foreheads, very large
eyes of a brazil or red colour, with flat noses, and wear their hair
long. It has a great number of birds different from ours, except
peacocks, turtle-doves, and crows, which are the same as we have. In
their dress, the natives wear mantles or cloaks of cotton, silk, or
camblet, always having one arm bare. They have no defensive armour, as
they are hardly ever at war; but when they go to sea they use bows and
arrows, and likewise poisoned arrows made of reeds, which they blow from
long hollow canes, and the poison with which these arrows are infected
is so virulent that death certainly follows from the slightest wound.
They have no kind of fire-arms. They eat all kinds of flesh, fish, or
fruit, as they please or can procure.
Some of the natives of this island are so very barbarous, that when
their parents become feeble from age, so as to be useless to themselves
and others, they bring them into the public market and sell them to the
cannibals who eat human flesh, who immediately upon buying them, kill
and eat them. Likewise when any young person falls into disease of which
they do not expect he shall recover, his kinsmen sell him in the same
manner to the cannibals. When my companion expressed his horror at this
barbarous and savage practice, a certain native merchant observed, "That
no sacrifice could redeem the sins of the Persians, who gave the flesh
of their dead to be eaten by the worms." Abhorring these savage manners,
we returned to our ship not willing to tarry longer in that island.
While we were there, the Christian merchants, who were ever desirous to
shew us strange things which we might relate at our return to our own
country, made us remark that the sun at noon-day was to the north of us,
which as they said is always the case in the month of July. I must
acknowledge however, that I hardly remember these things distinctly, as
I had then almost forgot the names of our months. At this island my
companion bought two fine emeralds for 1000 pieces of gold, and
likewise two children who were eunuchs, for two hundred pieces, as there
are in that country certain merchants who deal solely in these young
eunuchs.
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