CHAPTER XXI.

THE SPICE ISLANDS.--WONDERFUL BIRDS.--CLOVES, CINNAMON, NUTMEGS, GINGER.--THE SHIPS OVERLOADED.

The massacre at Matan caused the Spaniards to lose credit in the eyes of the natives. The King of Seba turned against them, thus throwing a shadow on the glory of Magellan's missionary work. The Spaniards were, however, much to blame for the change that took place in the King's heart.

Their ships were becoming unseaworthy.

They were reduced to two ships, the Victoria and the Trinidad, and these shaped their course for the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, by the way of Borneo. Del Cano began to represent the spirit of Magellan among the crews.

They came to the Bornean city, Brunei, "a collection of houses built on piles over the water, where were twenty-five thousand fires or families." On the shore was the palace of a voluptuous Sultan, its walls hung with brocades of silk. Here was also one of the most curious markets in all the world, carried on at high tide, when there gathered a great army of canoes.

On November 8, 1521, the two ships anchored off Tidor on the Spice Islands, saluting the King of the place with a broadside.

They concluded a treaty of peace with the King, and began to load the two ships with spice, and especially with cloves, a kind of spice at that time regarded as a great luxury in Spain.

If Pigafetta had desired above all things to see the wonders of the ocean world, he must again have been gratified here at some of the presents sent to the ships by the natives. Columbus had brought to Spain gorgeous parrots or macaws. But the King of Batchian sent to him a bird whose plumage surpassed anything that he had ever seen.

"It is the bird of Paradise," said the agent of the royal almoner.

The Italian did not doubt it. He wished to learn the history of this superb inhabitant of the air.

He did in a way that excited his wonder beyond measure.

The bird, after the Mohammedan account, was born in Paradise. It came down from Heaven where dwelt departed souls, who had died true to the Moslem faith.

These birds were found dead, and they had no feet. If Pigafetta inquired the cause of this, he doubtless was answered:

"They do not need feet; they never alight on the ground."

But as greatly as the Chevalier must have wondered, he was not induced to accept the Moslem faith.

They overcrowded the ships while receiving the favors of the Sultan of Tidor.

An account of their voyage about the Spice Islands, "most delightful to read," as we are told in the title, was written by one Maximilianus Transylvanus, from which we gather the following incidents (Hakluyt Society) of great pearls and strange men:

"They came to the shores of the Island of Solo, where they heard that there were pearls as big as dove's eggs, and sometimes as hen's eggs, but which can only be fished up from the very deepest sea. Our men brought no large pearl, because the season of the year did not allow of the fishery. But they testify that they had taken an oyster in that region, the flesh of which weighed forty-seven pounds. For which reason I could easily believe that pearls of that great size are found there; for it is clearly proved that pearls are the product of shellfish. And to omit nothing, our men constantly affirm that the islanders of Porne told him that the King wore in his crown two pearls of the size of a goose's egg.

"Hence they went to the Island of Gilo, where they saw men with ears so long and pendulous that they reached to their shoulders. When our men were mightily astonished at this, they learnt from the natives that there was another island not far off where the men had ears not only pendulous, but so long and broad that one of them would cover the whole head if they wanted it (_cum exusu esset_). But our men, who sought not monsters but spices, neglecting this nonsense, went straight to the Moluccas, and they discovered them eight months after their Admiral, Magellan, had fallen in Matan. The islands are five in number, and are called Tarante, Muthil, Thidore, Mare, and Matthien; some on this side some on the other, and some upon the equinoctial line.

"One produces cloves, another nutmegs, and another cinnamon. All are near to each other, but small and rather narrow."

The world to-day thinks little of spices, for commerce has made common the luxuries of the Indian Ocean. Cloves, nutmegs, allspice, cinnamon, ginger are found in every home in all civilized lands, and even children make few inquiries about them.

This was not so in the early days of the Viceroys of India. Spices which were gathered and sold by Arabian merchants, were held in Europe as a gift of Arabia, and esteemed to be the greatest, or among the greatest of luxuries. A ship laden with spices was hailed in the ports of the Iberian peninsula as next to a ship freighted with gold, as the Golden Hynde was welcomed in the days of Sir Francis Drake. It used to be said that the odors of the spice ships from the East Indies could be breathed through the breezes that wafted them toward the land.

The principal Spice Islands were the Moluccas, or the islands of the East India Archipelago between Celebes on the west and New Guinea on the east, Timor on the south and the open Pacific Sea on the north. They are distributed over a wide ocean area. Of these the Moluccas form the principal group. Here are the paradises of the seas.

It was to these islands where could be procured the products of "Araby the Blessed" that Magellan had hoped to find a new way. There were brighter shores than Spain, and to these he sought the shortest routes over which ships could travel.

The Peruvian adventurers wished to find gold; the voyagers to the Antilles, magical waters and new productions of the earth; but Magellan's dream was of the spiceries of the Indian seas. They all found what they sought, except Ponce de Leon, who hoped to find the Fountain of Eternal Youth.

Transylvanus speaks of another wonderful bird that only alighted at death, and whose feathers were believed to possess magic powers.

"The kings of Marmin began to believe that souls were immortal a few years ago, induced by no other argument than that they saw that a certain most beautiful small bird never rested upon the ground nor upon anything that grew upon it; but they sometimes saw it fall dead upon the ground from the sky. And as the Mohammedans, who traveled to those parts for commercial purposes, told them that this bird was born in Paradise, and that Paradise was the abode of the souls of those who had died, these kings (reguli) embraced the sect of Mohammed, because it promised wonderful things concerning this abode of souls. But they call the bird Mamuco Diata, and they hold it in such reverence and religious esteem that they believe that by it their kings are safe in war, even though they, according to custom, are placed in the forefront of battle."

He continues his narrative:

"But, our men having carefully inspected the position of the Moluccas and of each separate island, and also having inquired about the habits of the kings, went to Thedori, because they learnt, that in that island the supply of cloves was far above that of the others, and that its King also surpassed the other kings in wisdom and humanity. So, having prepared their gifts they land, and salute the King, and they offer the presents as if they had been sent by Cæsar. He, having received the presents kindly, looks up to Heaven, and says:

"'I have known now for two years from the course of the stars, that you were coming to seek these lands, sent by the most mighty King of Kings. Wherefore your coming is the more pleasant and grateful to me, as I had been forewarned of it by the signification of the stars.

"'And, as I know that nothing ever happens to any man which has not been fixed long before by the decree of fate and the stars, I will not be the one to attempt to withstand either the fates or the signification of the stars, but willingly and of good cheer, will henceforth lay aside the royal pomp and will consider myself as managing the administration of this island only in the name of your King. Wherefore draw your ships into port, and order the rest of your comrades to land; so that now at last, after such a long tossing upon the seas, and so many dangers, you may enjoy the pleasures of the land and refresh your bodies. And think not but that you have arrived at your King's kingdom.'

"Having said this, the King, laying aside his crown, embraced them one by one, and ordered whatever food that land afforded to be brought. Our men being overjoyed at this, returned to their comrades, and told them what had happened. They, pleased above measure with the friendly behavior and kindness of the King, take possession of the island. And when their health was completely restored, in a few days, by the King's munificence, they sent envoys to the other kings, to examine the wealth of the islands, and to conciliate the other kings."

His description of the clove trees is very pleasing:

"Tirante was the nearest, and also the smallest, of the islands; for it has a circumference of a little more than six Italian miles. Matthien is next to it, and it, too, is small. These three produce a great quantity of cloves, but more every fourth year than the other three. These trees only grow on steep rocks, and that so thickly as frequently to form a grove. This tree is very like a laurel (or bay tree) in leaf, closeness of growth, and height; and the gariophile, which they call clove from its likeness to a nail (clavus), grows on the tip of each separate twig. First a bud, and then a flower, just like the orange flower is produced.

"The pointed part of the clove is fixed at the extreme end of the branch, and then growing slightly longer, it forms a spike. It is at first red, but soon gets black by the heat of the sun. The natives keep the plantations of these trees separate, as we do our vines. They bury the cloves in pits till they are taken away by the traders."

He also describes the cinnamon tree:

"Muthil, the fourth island, is not larger than the rest, and it produces cinnamon. The tree is full of shoots, and in other respects barren; it delights in dryness, and is very like the tree which bears pomegranates. The bark of this splits under the influence of the sun's heat, and is stripped off the wood; and, after drying a little in the sun, it is cinnamon."

Also the nutmeg tree:

"Near to this is another island, called Bada, larger and more ample than the Moluccas. In this grows the nutmeg, the tree of which is tall and spreading, and is rather like the walnut tree, and its nut, too, grows like the walnut; for it is protected by a double husk, at first like a furry calix, and under this a thin membrane, which embraces the nutlike network. This is called the Muscat flower with us, but by the Spaniards mace, and is a noble and wholesome spice. The other covering is a woody shell, like that of a hazelnut, and in that, as we have already said, is the nutmeg."

And ginger:

"Ginger grows here and there in each of the islands of the archipelago. It sometimes grows by sowing, and sometimes spontaneously; but that which is sown is the more valuable. Its grass is like that of the saffron, and its root is almost the same too, and that is ginger."

While sailing among these bowery ocean gardens, and gathering their odorous products, the poetic Maximilianus was presented with one of the immortal birds that protected a hero in battle, "the bird of God."

He thus speaks of the rare present:

"Our men were kindly treated by the chiefs in turn, and they, too, submitted freely to the rule of Cæsar, like the King of Thidori. But the Spaniards, who had but two ships, resolved to bring some of each (spice) home, but to load the ships with cloves, because the crop of that was the most abundant that year, and our ships could contain a greater quantity of this kind of spice. Having, therefore, loaded the ships with cloves, and having received letters and presents for Cæsar from the Kings, they make ready for their departure. The letters were full of submission and respect. The gifts were Indian swords, and things of that sort. But, best of all, the Mamuco Diata; that is, the bird of God, by which they believe themselves to be safe and invincible in battle. Of which five were sent, and one I obtained from the Captain (_congran prieghi_), which I send to your reverence, not that your reverence may think yourself safe from treachery and the sword by means of it, as they profess to do, but that you may be pleased with its rareness and beauty. I send also some cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves, to show that our spices are not only not worse, but more valuable than those which the Venetians and Portuguese bring, because they are fresher."

He also relates the disasters which fell to one of the overloaded ships:

"When our men had set sail from Thedori, one of the ships, and that the larger one, having sprung a leak, began to make water, so that it became necessary to put back to Thedori. When the Spaniards saw that this mischief could not be remedied without great labor and much time, they agreed that the other ship should sail to the Cape of Cattigara, and afterward through the deep as far as possible from the coast of India, lest it should be seen by the Portuguese, and until they saw the promontory of Africa which projects beyond the tropic of Capricorn, and to which the Portuguese have given the name of Good Hope; and from that point the passage to Spain would be easy.

"But as soon as the other ship was refitted it should direct its course through the archipelago, and that vast ocean toward the shores of the continent which we mentioned before, till it found that coast which was in the neighborhood of Darien, and where the southern sea was separated from the western, in which are the Spanish Islands, by a very narrow piece of land. So the ship sailed again from Thedori, and, having gone twelve degrees on the other side of the equinoctial line, they did not find the Cape of Cattigara, which Ptolemy supposed to extend even beyond the equinoctial line; and when they had traversed an immense space of sea, they came to the Cape of Good Hope and afterward to the Islands of the Hesperides.

"And, as this ship let in water, being much knocked about by this long voyage, the sailors, many of whom had died by hardships by land and by sea, could not clear the ship of water. Wherefore they landed upon one of the islands, which is named after Saint James, to buy slaves.

"But as our men had no money, they offered, sailor fashion, cloves for the slaves. This matter having come to the ears of the Portuguese who were in command of the island, thirteen of our men were thrown into prison. The rest were eighteen in number.

"Frightened by the strangeness of this behavior, they started straight for Spain, leaving their shipmates behind them. And so, in the sixteenth month after leaving Thedori, they arrived safe and sound on the 6th of September, at the port near Hispalis (Seville). Worthier, indeed, are our sailors of eternal fame than the Argonauts who sailed with Jason to Colchis. And much more worthy was their ship of being placed among the stars than that old Argo; for that only sailed from Greece through Pontus, but ours from Hispalis to the South; and after that, through the whole West and the Southern hemisphere, penetrating into the East, and again returned to the West."

His subscription is interesting:

"I commend myself most humbly to your reverence. Given at Vallisoleti, on the 23d of October, 1522.

"Your most reverend and illustrious lordship's "Most humble and constant servant, "MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS."

When the spice ship began to fill with water, the officers sent for native divers. But these, although very skillful, could not find the place or the cause of the leak.

Let us change our view to a different scene, across the wide tropical world.