"'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 andgrateful 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 ofeach (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 theother 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.
While the little ship Victoria, which had sought for Mesquita in vain, was sailing around the world, and was returning laden with spice, Mesquita himself remained shut out from the sun by the shadows of prison walls. His lite became more and more silent and neglected.
We know not by what authority he was held in a dungeon for advising the supposed crimes of his cousin Magellan. It could not have been that of Juana, who was still watching over the tomb from which she expected her husband to rise, nor by good Cardinal Ximenes, and possibly not by Charles V himself, but perhaps by one of his ministers. It may have been by the direction of Charles, for his imprisonment implies doubt; otherwise with such an array of testimony against him, we might expect he would have been executed.
Two years had passed over beautiful Seville, and the India House there must have began to doubt the story of Gormez as not one of the other ships returned.These ships might have been cast away in the wintry seas that Gormez and his crew described, or the flag of Spain that the daring Portuguese had set toward the Spice Islands of the East by the way of the South might be seen again some day, rising over the Guadalquivir.
Mesquita believed in his cousin Magellan; not only in him as a true man, but as one who had a divine calling to fulfill; as one whom destiny had allotted to lead the decisive events of mankind. He still felt that he would prove another Columbus or Vasco da Gama.
The two priests whom Magellan had marooned had honestly thought Magellan mad. But Mesquita had his own confessor, and we can easily fancy how the prisoner must have opened his heart to him.
"Padre, I am misunderstood," we can hear him say. "Time tells the truth about all men. Time vindicates all.
"Padre, some messenger from Magellan will come back again. Time weighs all events, and life is self revealing. The heralds will blow their trumpets then, and the bells will ring.
"Padre, they do well to prolong my life. Some day my prison doors will open wide, and I shall ride through the streets of Seville, and those who doubt me now will hail me as a heart that, was always true to a Knight whose heart will be found true to the Emperor!"
The lamp of his faith burned clear and odorous oil. He had a quiet conscience. But how must the conspirators have felt during these uncertain months? The ships did not return. That seemed to favor one view of the madness of Magellan, and yet it did not leave them at ease. There were some who reasoned: If Magellan were indeed mad on his own ship, why might not one or more of the other ships have returned? If the other ships had been loyal to the lantern of Magellan, and had kept together, might the fleet not return again? Should it return what a stigma would be cast on the characters of the cowardly mutineers! In such a case Mesquita would become a hero, and the latter would have to flee from their own names.
Charles V was in his promise of glory now. In 1519, as we have before stated, he had been elected Emperor of Germany; and in 1520 he had been crowned at Aix la Chapelle, amid great rejoicings, and the Pope had bestowed upon him the title of Cæsar or Emperor of the Roman world. He was called "Cæsar" in the chronicles of the times.
Poor Juana took no interest in any of these pomps of her son, as they shook the world. Her ears were deaf to them, her heart was dead to them all. The mother of "Cæsar" was almost the only person in Spain who hailed not the glory of Cæsar.
Amid all the splendors of his court the dream of Magellan must still have haunted the mind of thenew Cæsar. He had accepted the story brought by the returned ship; but Magellan the madman might come back again. Madmen had returned before.
The period was a wonderful one. Printing, the art of which had been but recently developed after the discovery of Gutenberg, was revealing its great possibilities. These were the times of Francis in France, and of Henry VIII in England. The Reformation was overturning Germany. The whole world seemed to be changing.
If the ships of Magellan were to find a new way to the East, and were to sail around the world, what surprising events might follow!
So, night after night, Mesquita could but hope and ask:
"Where is the lantern of Magellan now?"
Seville was full of maritime prosperity. The tuneful bells in her many churches had frequent occasions to ring out for national festivals. The sailors loved these services, and especially those that celebrated the triumphs of the Virgin whose dominion had become, as was supposed, the sea, and who was hailed as the "Star of the Deep."
The happy crowds on their way to the rejoicing churches must have passed the prison walls where Mesquita was detained. Life indeed must have been mysterious to him. The world in which he deserved so much honor and happiness was shut out from him—even the sun and stars.
Pigafetta was no Munchausen, but he had a love of marvelous stories, and there never was a voyage that offered to a European a greater number of curious events and superstitions. Some of the incidents that excited our Chevalier's wonder were natural events which have been since explained. The superstitious legends of the people were, however, for the most part but the growth of folklore through the imagination.
One of these accounts relates to the wise old women who prepared the sacrifices of the wild boar as offerings to the sun. It shows how small may be the real meaning of pompous and pretentious ceremonies. The rites took place in the Philippines.
Says Pigafetta in his narrative prepared for the Grand Master of the Knight of Rhodes:
"Since I have spoken of the idols, it may please your illustrious Highness to have an account of theceremony with which, in this island, they bless the pig. They begin by sounding some great drums (tamburi); they then bring three large dishes; two are filled with cakes of rice and cooked millet rolled up in leaves, with roast fish; in the third are Cambay cloths and two strips of palm cloth. A cloth of Cambay is spread out on the ground; then two old women come, each of whom has in her hand a reed trumpet. They step upon the cloth and make an obeisance to the sun; they then clothe themselves with the above-mentioned cloths. The first of these puts on her head a handkerchief which she ties on her forehead so as to make two horns, and taking another handkerchief in her hand, dances and sounds her trumpet and invokes the sun.
"The second old woman takes one of the strips of palm cloth and dances, and also sounds her trumpet; thus they dance and sound their trumpets for a short space of time, saying several things to the sun. The first old woman then drops the handkerchief she has in her hand and takes the other strip of cloth, and both together sounding their trumpets, dance for a long time round the pig which is bound on the ground. The first one always speaks in a low tone to the sun, and the second answers her. So the sun and the two old women had a luminous partnership.
"The second old woman then presents a cup of wine to the first, who, while they both continue theiraddress to the sun, brings the cup four or five times near the mouth as though going to drink, and meanwhile sprinkles the wine on the heart of the pig. She then gives up the cup, and receives a lance which she brandishes, while still dancing and reciting, and four or five times directs the lance at the pig's heart; at last, with a sudden and well-aimed blow, she pierces it through and through. She withdraws the lance from the wound, which is then closed and dressed with herbs.
"During the ceremony a torch is always burning, and the old woman who pierced the pig takes and puts it out with her mouth; the other old woman dips the end of her trumpet in the pig's blood, and with it marks with blood the forehead of her husband and of her companion, and then of the rest of the people. But they did not come and do this to us.
"That done the old women took off their robes and ate what was in the two dishes, inviting only women to join them. After that they get the hair off the pig with fire. Only old women are able to consecrate the boar, and this animal is never eaten unless it is killed in this manner."
Pigafetta saw wonderful things in Borneo, among them a wild boar whose head was two and a half spans long, and oysters as large as turtles. He says that the flesh of one of these oysters weighed forty-five pounds.
But the thing there which probably must have most greatly excited his curiosity was thewalking leaves. There were certain trees on the islands that had very animated leaves. When one of these leaves fell from the tree, it did not lie where it fell, to rot or to be shuffled by the winds, but it lifted itself up and walked away.
Here was a sight indeed to make the young Italian fly to his memoranda book, which he did.
Other travelers later saw the same curious thing, but they examined the miracle more closely than the credulous Chevalier. They found that the leaves were moved by an insect that lived inside of them, like the Mexican bean, which is used as a toy, and will jump about a table.
The islands of the Indian Ocean abound in sandalwood. Of the sandal trees Pigafetta heard other curious legends. One of them tells us that when the people of the Timor went out to cut sandalwood, the devil appeared to them, and demanded them to bargain with him for the wood. This they did, for those who cut the wood are otherwise likely to fall sick; a poisonous miasma is exhaled from the wounded wood.
Pigafetta heard also marvelous tales of the Emperor of China, who seemed to live amid human walls. There may be some truths in these incidents; if so, what a remarkable condition must have been that of the Chinese court four hundred years ago!
He says:
"The kingdom of Cocchi lies next; its sovereign is named Raja Seri Bummipala. After that follows Great China, the king of which is the greatest sovereign of the world, and is called Santoa Raja. He has seventy crowned kings under his dependence; and some of these kings have ten or fifteen lesser kings dependent on them. The port of this kingdom is named Guantan, and among the many cities of this Empire, two are the most important, namely, Nankin and Comlaha, where the King usually resides.
"He has four of his principal ministers close to his palace, at the four sides looking to the four cardinal winds; that is, one to the west, one to the east, to the south, and to the north. Each of these gives audience to those that come from his quarter. All the kings and lords of India major and superior obey this King, and in token of their vassalage, each is obliged to have in the middle of the principal palace of his city the marble figure of a certain animal named Chinga, an animal more valuable than the lion; the figure of this animal is also engraved on the King's seal, and all who wish to enter his port must carry the same emblem in wax or ivory.
"If any lord is disobedient to him, he is flayed, and his skin, dried in the sun, salted, and stuffed, is placed in an eminent part of the public place, with the head inclined and the hands on the head in theattitude of doing zongu; that is obeisance to the King.
"He is never visible to anybody; and if he wishes to see his people he is carried about the palace on a peacock most skillfully manufactured and very richly adorned, with six ladies dressed exactly like himself, so that he can not be distinguished from them. He afterward passes into a richly adorned figure of a serpent called Naga, which has a large glass in the breast, through which he and the ladies are seen, but it is not possible to distinguish which is the King. He marries his sisters in order that his blood should not mix with that of others.
"His palace has seven walls around it, and in each circle there are daily ten thousand men on guard, who are changed every twelve hours at the sound of a bell. Each wall has its gate, with a guard at each gate. At the first stands a man with a great scourge in his hand, named Satuhoran with satubagan; at the second, a dog called Satuhain; at the third, a man with an iron mace, called Satuhoran with pocumbecin; at the fourth, a man with a bow in his hand, called Saturhoran with anatpanan; at the fifth, a man with a lance, called Satuhoran with tumach; at the sixth, a lion, called Saturhorimau; at the seventh, two white elephants, called Gagiapute.
"The palace contains seventy-nine halls, in which dwell only the ladies destined to serve the King;there are always torches burning there. It is not possible to go round the palace in less than a day. In the upper part of it are four halls where the ministers go to speak to the King; one is ornamented with metal, both the pavement and the walls; another is all of silver, another all of gold, and the other is set with pearls and precious stones. The gold and other valuable things which are brought as tribute to the King are placed in these rooms; and when they are there deposited, they say, 'Let this be for the honor and glory of our Santoa Raja.' All these things and many others relating to this King, were narrated to us by a Moor, who said that he had seen them."
A palace of seven walls, seventy-nine halls, and ten thousand men on guard! A hall of silver, another of gold, and one of precious stones! It took a day to encompass it. We may well wonder how much of truth there was in this brief Oriental story!
When the adventurers came to Java they heard some tales that were marvelous, and that quite equaled those which Queen Scheherezade of the Arabian Nights told of Sinbad the Sailor.
One of these fabulous stories, told them by a pilot, had an Oriental charm and coloring. It was of a giant bird, like the roc of the Arabian Nights.
According to this fanciful legend which we give with some freedom, there was a land called Java Major on the north of the Gulf of China, where grewan enormous tree, seemingly as big as a mountain—one of the greatest trees in all the world. In this tree, which might have shaded a hill, lived a colony of birds, with wings like clouds, so broad and powerful that they could lift an elephant or a buffalo into the air and bear him away to the mountainous tree. The fruit of this tree was larger than the largest melons.
There were Moors on the ship where this story of the great tree and the great bird was told. One of them said:
"I haveseenthe great bird with my own eyes!"
Another Moor said:
"One of the birds was once captured, and sent as a present to the King of Siam!"
An account of the capture of such a bird would have been very interesting!
There were great whirlpools around the mountainous tree. So that no ship could approach within three or four leagues of it.
But once, according to the legend, some adventurous sailors sailed near the great tree. They had a little boy on board their boat, and he must have surveyed the giant of the forest with wonder.
They sailed too near, for presently their boat began to go round and round, and they found themselves in the power of the whirlpool.
Round and round went the junk until it struckagainst a rock, and all on board perished, except the little boy, who was supple.
This child caught a plank and held on to it. He was carried hither and thither among the eddies and breakers, but he found himself drawing nearer and nearer the great tree. At last he was cast on shore at the foot of the tree.
"Here must be my home," said he, for he thought he never could get away again. No boat could come to him, andhecould not fly.
The tree had great masses of bark, so that he could climb up into it. He mounted up to its high limbs. He could not starve, for the fruit of such a tree must have been sufficient to have supplied a colony.
So cast away on the tree, he here expected to live and to die.
Toward sunset great wings like clouds darkened the shining air. The birds were coming home to-night in the tree. Their nests were there as big as houses.
They settled down, causing a great wind, and put their great heads under their wings and went to sleep.
The boy was bright, and a plan of getting away from the tree came to him. He reasoned that if he could not fly the bird could, and what would be the weight of a little boy to a bird who could carry away an elephant?
So he marked the largest and most powerful bird with his eye, and crept up to it and got under his wing, and into his great feathers.
The bird was asleep and did not wake!
Morning came, and with the first red dawn, as we may fancy, the bird threw up his head and begun to stir. He lifted himself up and shook himself, but he did not shake off the boy, who was safely nestled among the little forest of its feathers.
The sun was brightening the islands, and the bird mounted up and flew away in search of food, carrying the little boy under his wing.
After traversing the sunrise air for a long time, the bird flew over a land of buffaloes.
He here descended to capture a buffalo, to bear him away to the mountainous tree for food. As he alighted on the back of the buffalo with a wild scream of delight, the little boy dropped out from under his wing, and so found his way to his own island.
It was the little boy that told this large story, quite like Sinbad's.
There were found mysterious fruits floating on the sea, which were supposed to have fallen from the tree.
"I have seen the bird myself," said a third Moorish pilot, and with the testimony of the little boy, and the three pilots and the floating fruit, this storyought to be as trustworthy as the one of Sinbad the Sailor.
The voyage back to the Cape of Good Hope and thence to the Cape Verde Islands was one for strange reflections. Del Cano now was the leader of the returning mariners. The expedition had gone out from the port of Seville amid shouting quays and towers, with some two hundred and seventy men. Only one ship was returning and she was bringing home hardly as many men as composed her own crew.
We can imagine Del Cano on deck, with the lantern of Magellan still swinging above him, talking with his officers on a tropical night off the African coast.
"Magellan has found an unknown grave," we may hear him say.
"But humanity will mourn for him, and honor him, and the grave matters not," answers a padre.
"We shall never see Mesquita again," continues Del Cano.
"We can not be sure," replies the padre. "We can know nothing that we do not see."
"We surely shall never meet Carthagena again. I can see in my memory those last biscuits and bottles of wine. He needs none of them now."
"He may have them all," answers the padre.
"We are yet rich in spices. We shall surprise the world when we drop anchor at Seville."
"And Seville may have surprises for us," says the hopeful padre.
They drifted on under favoring airs. The soul of Del Cano was lost to common events in the wonderful revelations of the sea. Should he reach Seville, he would be the living hero of the most marvelous voyage ever made by any mariner.
Such were the scenes and tales that crowded upon the mind of Pigafetta, who wished "to see the wonders of the world." The story of the Emperor of China's palace is associated with objects so marvelous that the meaning of their names is lost to-day.
When they reached the Cape Verde Islands, the sailors found that a very strange thing had happened.
They had lost a day—or, the islanders had gained a day!
They met the ships from Seville there, and doubtless disputed with the traders in regard to what day of the week it was.
"This is the 6th of September," they said; "a day that we shall ever have occasion to celebrate."
"It is the 7th of September," said their joyous friends.
The sailors consulted with each other. All agreed that it was the 6th of September. Nowhere had they failed to make a daily memorandum. The people of Seville must have lost a day.
The solar year consists of three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours, and if one sails West three years one will gain a day, and if one sails East, one will lose a day.
If the reader will note the following dates of this wonderful voyage, he will solve the mystery of the "lost day:"
They sought provisions of the Portuguese colony at Cape Verde.
The Portuguese persecution of the expedition, which Magellan had made for Spain, did not cease even here. The Victoria sent out boats for rice. One of the sailors could not restrain his joy, and told the Portuguese who he was and whence he came.
The jealousy of the Portuguese was aroused again.
"The expedition carries glory to Spain," said they. "Did not the King tear the arms from Magellan's door?"
One of the boats sent out for rice did not return. The Victoria knew why they were detained, and sailed away while she could, to bear the glorious news of the discovery to Seville.
The Victoria cast anchor in the Port of Seville on September 8, 1522. Joy filled the city on that day, and heralds went forth to proclaim the news.
What news it was!
That Magellan had found a new way to the Pacific.
That he had discovered the Pacific to be a mighty ocean.
That he had sailed over it and found a new ocean world.
That he was dead.
That he had made immortal discoveries, and that one of his ships had sailed around the world.
The hero of the day was Del Cano, the commander of the Victoria.
There was a most beautiful church in Seville, called Our Lady of Victory. To that the returning mariners were summoned to give thanks for theirdiscovery on the day after their arrival, September 9, 1522.
Bells rang out on the shining air. The remnant of the happy crews entered the church amid the joyous music to hear the songs of thanksgiving for victory:
"We praise thee, O God!We believe thee to beThe Father everlasting!"
They had returned in the Victoria, and the service had to them a special significance in the church of that name.
Mesquita must have heard the acclaiming city.
To the prisoner who had waited in hope, the trumpets of the heralds must have been sweet after his release! Juana, the demented Queen, was yet watching by the tomb in view of her window, hoping at each dawn of the morning that she would find that the dust had awakened to life again. Charles was mapping Europe; his fire of ambition was glowing, and the news of the new fields of the ocean that these discoveries had brought to him filled him with pride and exultation.
He resolved on giving Del Cano and his mariners a splendid reception, after the manner that Isabella had received Columbus.
Del Cano was now the living representative of Magellan. In publicly receiving him with heralds, music, and festival he would do honor to Magellan,whose name was now immortal. So Charles spread his tables of silver and gold to those who had lived on the open sea on scraps of leather, and magnanimously welcomed as knights of the sea those who had followed the sun around the world.
Spain opened the prison doors of Mesquita.
How must Del Cano have welcomed Mesquita as he came forth from his prison, vindicated on these festal days!
Mesquita was a hero now, and a hero among heroes, for he had been a martyr to the cause. The people's hearts overflowed toward him.
So the islands of the new ocean world came to be the possessions of Spain, and from Philip, who succeeded Charles, were called the Philippines. They were to be governed, robbed, taxed, and, in part, reduced to slavery for the enrichment of Spain for nearly four hundred years. Then Spain was to vanish from their history in the smoke of Admiral Dewey's guns, and over them was to float the flag of the republic of the West.
It is a strange allotment of events that these islands should introduce the republic of the West into the Asiatic world. A half century ago the subject of Europe in Asia excited the attention of mankind, but no one ever dreamed that a like topic ofAmerica in Asia would ever become one of the political problems of the world.
Pigafetta presenting the history ofthe voyage to the King of Spain.
The future of these islands must be one of civilization, education, and development, and we may hope that these will be brought about under the divine law of American institutions, that "all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." Justice alone is the true sword of power, perpetuity, and peace. To lead the natives of these islands to desire to receive all that is best in civilized life, is one of the great missions of the republic of the West; and that republic, governed by the conscience of the people, will be true to the cause of human rights.
Pigafetta?We must let him tell the story of his life on his return. "Leaving Seville I repaired to Valladolid, where I presented his sacred Majesty, Don Carlos, neither gold nor silver, but other things far more precious in the eyes of so great a sovereign. For I brought to him, among other things, a book written in my own hand, giving an account of all the things which had happened day by day on the voyage.
"Then I went to Portugal, where I related to King John the things that I had seen.
"Returning by the way of Spain, I came to France, where I presented treasures that I had brought home to the regent mother of the most Christian King Don Francis.
"Then I turned my face toward Italy, where I gave myself to the service of the illustrious Philipde Villiers l'Isle Adams, the Grand Master of Rhodes."
The scene of the presentation of the parchment story of Magellan to Charles V is most interesting. That manuscript was like the return of Magellan himself; it told what the hero of the sea had been and what he had done. It was in itself a work of genius, and the world has never ceased to read it in the spirit of sympathy in which it was written.
We may fancy the scene: the young King surrounded by his court, in his happiest days; the Italian Knight amid the splendors of the audience room, placing in the hands of the new Cæsar the roll of the narrative of the voyage around the world! Such a story no pen had ever traced before. That must have been one of the proudest moments in the life of Charles as he took from the Knight the map of the round world.
To the last Pigafetta was true to the Admiral; and one of the best things that can be said of any man is, "He is true hearted."
A wooden statue of Del Cano was found at Cavite on the surrender of that port to Commodore Dewey. It was sent to Washington. It should be replaced by some worthy work of art.
The island of Guam, of the Ladrones, which broke the long voyage of Magellan over the Pacific, and which is some fifteen hundred miles from Luzon, wascaptured by Captain Glass, of the United States cruiser Charleston, July 21, 1898. It is a connecting link between the West and the Orient. A memorial of Magellan, Del Cano, and Pigafetta might be suitably placed there.
The author of the Songs of the Sierras has described the spirit of Columbus in a poem which has been highly commended. The interpretation applies as well to Magellan. We quote two verses: genius must overcome obstacles, and all obstacles, to be made divine.
THE PORT.
Behind him lay the gray Azores,Behind, the gates of Hercules.Before him not the ghosts of shores,Before him only shoreless seas.The good mate said: "Now must we pray,For, lo! the very stars are gone.Brave Admiral, speak—what shall I say?""Why say—Sail on, sail on, sail on!"They sailed, they sailed. Then spoke the mate:"This mad sea shows her teeth to-night;She curls her lip and lies in waitWith lifted teeth as if to bite.Brave Admiral, say but one good word,What shall we do when hope is gone?"The words leaped as a leaping sword—"Sail on, sail on, sail on and on!"
The Philippine Islands, which promise to become a republic of the seas, and the first republic in Asiatic waters, were for generations held by Spain. These one thousand and more sea gardens, some eleven thousand miles from New York, number about as few islands of importance as there are American States. The government of the more populous islands has been so restrictive that, before the boom of Dewey's guns in the China Sea, little was known about them to the world.
The archipelago consists of some six hundred islands that might find marking on an ordinary map of the world.
Twenty-five of these have gained a commercial standing, from which are collected products for foreign trade. The chief of these is Luzon, and the principal ports of the larger islands are Iloilo, on the island of Panay; Zebu and Zamboango.
Luzon and the northern islands are inhabited bya partly civilized race, called the Tagals, who are supposed to be descended from immigrants from the Malay peninsula. They have had the reputation of a mild-mannered people, as they have long received, directly or indirectly, European influences. There are two thousand one hundred schools in Luzon and some six millions of the natives of the islands are claimed as Catholics.
A sultanate was formed on the Sulu archipelago nearly eight hundred years ago, and the Mohammedan populations are called Moros or Moors. The Visayas people are a lower race. Colonies of Chinese are to be found in many of the larger islands, and these constitute the centers of thrift and industry.
The official language of the islands is Spanish, but the natives speak in twenty or more dialects. The islands are supposed to contain about ten million people, but there are no correct censuses by which to compute the number. Even the islands themselves seem not to have been correctly counted.
The history of the islands since their discovery has been one of the most silent in the world. They have been governed by Spain in such a manner as to enrich the Crown of Spain. When the Pope apportioned the newly discovered world among the Kings of the Church, the Western Hemisphere was given to Spain, and by an error of division Spain received the Moluccas or Spice Islands. Magellan declared the King of Spain suzerain of the islands, and aftermany years Spain sent an expedition from one of her colonies to Zebu to begin the occupation of the Spicery. The leader of this expedition, Miguel de Legaspi, caused his men to marry native women, hoping thereby more easily to subdue a wild and untrained race.
In 1571 this colonizer brought Manila under his influence, and induced the native King to accept the suzerainty of the Spanish King. He proclaimed Manila the seat of Government, and made it an episcopal city.
Legaspi came to learn a very strange thing. It was that the Chinese had made themselves masters of navigationby monsoons. They came down from their coasts to Manila Bay on northwest monsoons, and when the monsoons changed they were carried back again. This power was akin to steam. Their boats were junks, but they filled the marts of Manila with silks and other Oriental luxuries.
Legaspi encouraged this trade. He was the founder of trade in the ports of the China Sea. He caused a market place to be built for the Chinese traders in Manila, in the form of a circus, and afterward opened a quarter for them within the walls. The Chinese still hold a large part of the retail trade of the port. Before the late Spanish war, they numbered about sixty thousand, and one hundred thousand in the port and provinces.
The monks came and sought to convert thepeople; their efforts were partly successful, but sometimes ended in tragedies.
The trade between Spain and the Philippines was for a long time carried on by the way of Mexico. The intercourse between the Crown and her dependencies here was infrequent. The Mohammedans waged frequent wars against the Catholic missionaries, whom they sought to exterminate.
The friars became the real rulers of the civilized parts of the islands. The will of the Spanish priest was absolute. He was independent of State authority. The rule of the Church was so severe that it brought religion into disfavor, and when the power of Aguinaldo arose, that chief insisted upon the expulsion of certain monastic orders, as detrimental to liberty, and demanded the restoration of the estates of the Church to the people.
Such is, in brief, the simple history of the islands discovered by Magellan before the archipelago was ceded by the treaty of Paris to the United States.
Beautiful Manila, shining over the China Sea—so seductive to the white man when seen from a distance, so withering to all his energies when the same white man becomes a resident there!
A two days' voyage from Hong Kong brings the traveler to Luzon to the river Pasig, where the grim old fortresses of Manila, earthquake rent,like a haze of green vegetation, break the view. Palms lift their green cool shadows in the burning air.
Manila is a walled city. The entrance is by drawbridges, which are raised at night.
The mediæval atmosphere does not disappear when one finds one's self within the walls. Exhaustion and decay are everywhere. The large open bay lies in the splendors of the sunlight when the day is calm, and the visitor would never dream of its turbulent condition when it is lashed by the typhoon.
Admiral Dewey.
Across the bay stands Cavite, the naval station, the scene of Dewey's victory over the Spanish fleet.
The city has some two hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants. The merchants, as we have said, are largely Chinese, and their quarters are picturesque with gay bazaars.
In the shadow land of trees and open dry marshes outside of the city are beautiful estates, and along the roadsides people go waving their fans slowly and listlessly. Here are the parks, the bull ring, and the lovely botanical gardens.
Commercial Manila is a city of coolies, who baretheir backs to the sun, though little work can be done here in the noonday heat.
Some years ago a terrible cold came to Manila. It was on a late December night, near morning. The thermometer went down to 74°. Think of that, and of the poor coolies, and of the negritos, or the little black dwarfs, and of those who lived in the thousands of huts of bamboo or reeds! True, 74° would indicate a hot day in our American June or July,but in Manila it was a cold morning, and the people came shivering into the streets, to tell each other of their sufferings.
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
The best description of Manila before the war that we have seen was written by Crozet, and is contained in an English translated book entitled Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, the Ladrone Islands, and the Philippines. From this beautifully illustrated work we present a view of the city and the surrounding island as it appeared seven years or more ago:
"The city of Manila is one of the most beautiful that Europeans have built in the East Indies; its houses are all of stone, with tile roofs and they are big, comfortable and well ventilated. The streets of Manila are broad and perfectly straight; there are five principal streets, which divide the city lengthwise, and about ten which divide it broadways. The form of the city is that of an oblong, surrounded by walls and ditches, and defended onthe side of the river by a badly planned citadel, which is about to be pulled down and rebuilt. The city walls are flanked by a bastion at every one of the four angles. There are at Manila eight principal churches, with an open place in front of every one; they are all beautiful, large and very richly decorated.The Cathedral is a building which would grace any of our European cities, and has just been rebuilt by an Italian Theatin,[G]who is an able architect. The two rows of columns which support the vaults of the nave and of the aisles are of magnificent marble; so also are the columns of the portal, the altars, the steps, and the pavement. These marbles are obtained from local quarries, are of great variety, and are of the greatest beauty. The space in front of the Cathedral is very large, and is the finest in the city.
"On one side the palace of the Governor is flanked by the Cathedral, on the other by the Town Hall. The Town Hall is very beautiful. At the extremity of the place in front of the Cathedral a large barracks is being constructed, which is to be capable of lodging eight thousand troops.
"Private houses, as well as public buildings, are all one story high. Spaniards never live on the ground floor, on account of the dampness, but they occupy the first floor instead. The heat of the climatehas induced them to build very large apartments, with verandas running right round the outside, so as to keep out of the sun; the windows form part of the verandas, and the daylight only enters the rooms by means of the doors which open out on to these verandas. The ground floor serves as a storehouse, and to prevent the rising of moisture from the soil its surface is raised a foot, by means of a bed of charcoal; then sand or gravel is placed on top of this bed, which is finally paved with stone or brick laid with mortar.
"As the country is very subject to earthquakes, the houses, although built of stone, are strengthened with large posts of wood or iron fixed perpendicularly in the ground, rising to the top of the wall-plates, and built within the walls, so that they can not be seen, and then crossed on every floor by master girders, strongly bound together and bolted by wooden keys, which so consolidate the whole building.
"Manila is built on the mouth of a beautiful river, which flows from a lake, called by the SpaniardsLagonne-de-bay, and which is situated five leagues inland. Forty streams flow into this lake, which is twenty leagues in circumference, and around which there are as many villages as streams. The Manila River is the only one which flows out of the lake. It is covered with boats, bringing to the city every sort of provision from the forty agricultural tribes established on the lake shores.
"The suburbs are bigger and more thickly populated than the city itself; they are separated from it by a river, across which a beautiful bridge has been thrown. The Minondo suburb is more especially inhabited by half-breeds, Chinese, and Indians, who are for the most part goldsmiths and silversmiths, and all of them work people.
"The Saint Croix suburb is inhabited by Spanish merchants, by foreigners of all nations, and by Chinese half-breeds. This quarter is the most agreeable one in the country, because the houses, which are quite as fine as those of the city, are built on the river bank, and thereby they enjoy all the conveniences and pleasantness due to such a position.
"In spite of such advantages, the city is badly situated, being placed between two intercommunicating volcanoes, and of which the interiors, being always active, are evidently preparing its ruin. The two volcanoes are those of the Lagonne-ed-Taal and of Monte Albay. When one burns, the other smokes.I shall speak later on of the former of these volcanoes, which, to me at least, appeared a most singular one.
Native houses in Manila
"Until the shocks of the volcanoes shall decide its fate, Manila remains the capital of the Spanish establishments in the Philippines. Here reside the Governor, who is called the Captain General and President of the Royal Audience. Don Simon de Auda filled this office when I arrived at Manila.This Governor had previously been a member of the Royal Audience, and when the English, at the end of the last war, took Manila, he escaped from the city before the surrender, placed himself at the head of the Indians of the province of Pampague, and, without regard to the capitulation of the city, he is said to have succeeded in confining the English within their conquest, starving equally the conquerors and the conquered. Noticing that the Chinese established outside the city walls were furnishing provisions to English and Spaniards alike, he butchered them, putting more than ten thousand to the sword. It seemed to me, however, that the Spaniards in general considered the efforts of this councillor to be more harmful than advantageous to the welfare of the Spanish colony. The English, harassed by the Indians under Don Simon de Auda, had on their part armed and raised other provinces of Luzon, so as to oppose Indian to Indian, and this sort of civil war did more harm to the colony than even the capture of Manila by the English.
"However this may be, Don Simon de Auda returned to Spain after the peace, was rewarded for his zeal by being made Privy Councillor of Castile, and was sent back to Manila as Governor General of the Philippines. Since his arrival in his province he has started a number of important projects, but difficult to be carried out at one and the same time. He has started considerable fortifications in variousparts of the city, very large barracks, dykes at the mouth of the river, a powder-mill, smelting furnaces and forges to work the iron mines, and a number of other useful works, which might have succeeded better had they been started in due succession.
"The Philippine Archipelago contains fourteen principal islands, the Government of which is divided into twenty-seven provinces, which are governed byalcaldesunder the orders of the Governor Captain General. All these islands are thickly populated, being about three million. These islands extend from the tenth to the twenty-third degree north latitude, and vary in breadth from about forty leagues at the north end of Luzon up to two hundred leagues from the south of the southeast point of Mindanao to the southwest point of Paragoa.
"They are all fertile and rich in natural products. But although the Spaniards have been established here for more than two hundred years, they have not yet succeeded in making themselves masters of the islands. They have no foothold on Paragoa, which is almost eighty leagues long, nor on the adjacent small islands; they only possess a few acres on the big island of Mindanao, which is two hundred leagues in circumference, nor are they yet fully acquainted with the interior of the island of Luzon, where they have their chief settlement, namely, the city of Manila. Luzon is the largest of these islands,being a hundred and forty leagues long from Cape Bojador to Bulusan Point, which is the most northerly point, and about forty leagues broad. In the northern part of Luzon, near the province of Ilocos, there are some aborigines with whom the Spaniards have never been able to establish communication. It is believed that these people are the descendants of Chinese, who, having been shipwrecked on these shores, have established themselves in the mountains of this part of the island. It is said that some Indians know the routes by which access is gained to this people, and that they have been well received by them; but it is in the interest of these Indians to withhold the knowledge from the Spaniards, on account of their great trade profits with those people, who lack many things and have only provisions and gold."
Dr. José Rizal, a virtuous Catholic reformer, was the Samuel Adams of the awakening of moral feeling against the tyranny of Spain. He sought to reform the Government and to correct corruption in the Church.
He belonged to the province of Cavite. He was a small man, of a clear, sensitive conscience, and great intellectual penetration and force. It became the one purpose of his life to free his countrymen. "He organized the Revolution," says a monument to Samuel Adams, and Dr. Rizal sought to organize arevolution in a like manner as the "last of the Puritans" in New England, by the collecting of facts for correspondence with patriots at Manila and Hong Kong.
In his school life he beheld the universal corruption going on around him. His heart was moved to pity the people.
He wrote a letter in which he urged reform by the expulsion of corrupt officers of the Government and of certain immoral priests. This awakened the Government and made him secret enemies. He was accused by the Government of treason and by the decadent priests of the Church of blasphemy. He held to his convictions against all opposition, knowing that right was right and truth was truth.
He sought to unite the worthy representatives of the State and Church in an effort to bring about a change which should honor morals and give justice to the people. Among men of conscience his influence secretly grew. He hoped to gain such force as to make an appeal to the court at Madrid.
He organized a moral revolution.
Conscience is power, but its progress is slow.
In 1890 Dr. Rizal published a pamphlet that stirred the island world. He pictured the sufferings of the natives under the Spanish rule. He appealed to the enlightened Church, conscience and humanity.
The patriot's friends saw that the reform movement was about to be crushed, and said to Rizal:
"Escape to Hong Kong!"
There was a patriotic club in Hong Kong that sought the emancipation of the natives of Luzon and the Philippines from the extortions of Spain. It would be well for him now to go there.
"How shall I leave the city?" was the one question that suddenly haunted his mind.
He must go by sea. He could not go on board a ship without being detected and detained.
"Get into a perforated box," said a fellow patriot, "and I will ship you with the merchandise."
Dr. Rizal secreted himself in the perforated box, and was shipped from Luzon to Hong Kong.
He was received with great enthusiasm by the Philippine patriots in Hong Kong.
But he was more dangerous to the officials of Luzon in Hong Kong than at Cavite. It became a problem with the latter how to get him once more in their power.
The Governor General Weyler caused a dispatch to be sent to him which stated that he "was too valuable a man for the State to lose his services," that his past conduct would be overlooked, and that he could safely return to his own island.
Honest himself, he could not believe that the dispatch was insincere.
He went back to Manila. His foes were bent on his destruction.
He was one day absent from his rooms attendingprobably to his medical duties, when some soldiers led by a spy entered his apartments and searched his trunks and pretended to find there seditious books.
Dr. Rizal was arrested. His enemies formed the court to try him for treason.
The books were put out as evidence against him.
"I imported no books," said he.
"But the books are here."
"The customhouse officers found no books in my trunks," said Dr. Rizal.
"But here are the books that witness against you."
"There were no books in my room when I left it," said he.
"But we found them there."
"Let me call the customhouse officers."
The court refused the request.
"Let me summon the owner of my room."
The court refused the request.
"The witness against me is a convict, a spy, and a perjurer."
The court found him guilty.
He was sent into exile. The injustice of the trial was a flame of liberty; the British consul protested against it, and riots broke out in Cavite against the officials that countenanced such a mockery of justice.
He went again to Hong Kong. Weyler had left Luzon, and had been succeeded by Despajol.
His case aroused the Patriot Club. The patriots resolved to go to Spain and lay their cause before the throne. They were mobbed in Spain and sent to Manila for trial.
The trial was a farce; Dr. Rizal was again condemned.
On December 6, 1896, he was led out of the Manila prison into the courtyard. A file of soldiers awaited the coming. A sharp volley of shots broke the stillness of the air; and that heart, so true to liberty, was broken and lay bleeding on the earth. So perished one of the noblest patriots of the islands of the China Sea.
Aguinaldo, called "the greatest of the Malays," in that he rose against Spanish tyranny, is one of the interesting characters of the closing century. His true character can hardly be determined at the present time. Future events must reveal it. He is of mixed blood, and is said to more resemble a European than a Malay.
He was born in the province of Cavite, and is supposed to have European blood in his veins. He was brought up as a house boy in the apartments of a Jesuit priest—a house boy being an errand boy; a boy handy for all common work.
It has been the policy of Spain for centuries to keep her subjects on the Pacific islands in partial ignorance; but this bright boy had an impulse to learn, to acquire knowledge, to grasp the truth of life. He had a remarkable memory, and he became such an apt scholar as to excite wonder. When he was fourteen years old he entered the medical school at Manila. He lost the favor of the Church by joining the Masonic order.
Aguinaldo.
In 1888 he went to Hong Kong, where was a Philippine colony. Here he sought and obtained a military education, and studied military works, and the historical campaigns of the world's greatest heroes. He learned Latin, English, French, and Chinese.
At the breaking out of the insurrection of the Philippines against Spain in 1896, Aguinaldo espoused the cause of liberty, and was made an officer and became a leader. The revolution grew and affected the native troops, and its spirit filled the archipelago. It became the purpose of the more fiery patriots to "drive the Spaniards into the sea."
Aguinaldo advocated the acceptance of concessionsby the Spanish Government, by which the rights of the native races should be recognized and protected. His policy was accepted, and the insurgents disbanded. He received Spanish gold to abandon the war for independence, and fell under the suspicion that his patriotism was purchasable. This suspicion has shadowed his fame. He went to Hong Kong.
The island Hong Kong, which is English, is a school of good government. Here Aguinaldo seems to have conceived an ambition to free the native races of the archipelago, and form a republic of the confederated islands. The Spanish-American War revealed to him an opportunity to strike for liberty. He said to the Filipinos: "The hour has come."
The Filipinos looked upon him as the man for the crisis.
An article in the Review of Reviews represents the chief as saying to an American naval officer:
"There will be war between your country and Spain, and in that war you can do the greatest deed in history by putting an end to Castilian tyranny in my native land. We are not ferocious savages. On the contrary, we are unspeakably patient and docile. That we have risen from time to time is no sign of bloodthirstiness on our part, but merely of manhood resenting wrongs which it is no longer able to endure. You Americans revolted for nothing at all compared with what we have suffered. Mexico andthe Spanish republics rose in rebellion and swept the Spaniard into the sea, and all their sufferings together would not equal that which occurs every day in the Philippines. We are supposed to be living under the laws and civilization of the nineteenth century, but we are really living under the practices of the Middle Ages.