PREVIEW： Epochs #230 ｜ Magellan： Part XI
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Summary
The story of Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe, and his first stop in the Philippines, the island of Cebu. Magellan and his crew were greeted by the King of Limasawa, a friendly and welcoming man who welcomed them with open arms. But Magellan had other ideas.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome back to the penultimate episode of my story of Magellan and his men's
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voyage around the world, the first circumnavigation of the globe. If you remember last time we were
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in the Philippines, Magellan and his men were in the Philippines, the island of Cebu. So let's pick
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up the story there. So Lawrence Burgreen in his excellent book, Over the Edge of the World, which
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I've been reading from, tells us that Pigafetta wrote this, quote, at noon on Sunday, April the 7th,
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and we're in the year 1521, remember, we entered the port of Cebu, passing by many villages where
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we saw many houses built upon logs. On approaching the city, the Captain General ordered the ships
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to unfurl their banners. The sails were lowered and arranged as if for battle, and all the artillery
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was fired, an action which caused a great deal of fear to those people, end quote. Yeah, Magellan loves
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doing this. It's one of his sort of signature things, is firing off aquabuses or even their bigger
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artillery pieces from their ships. And of course, you know, of course, it causes massive fear and
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confusion among the indigenous peoples. They've never, ever heard or seen such a thing before.
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And of course, it would be terrifying, wouldn't it? It's like the only thing they would ever know,
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even remotely close to it, would be thunder. But he even does it. Sometimes they try to explain
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to these island people that, no, it's meant as a nice or good greeting. If they're going to celebrate
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an important day, a feast or a festival or a mass or something, to sort of celebrate that,
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they'll fire off their cannon. So to the Europeans, it's not scary, it's good. It's sort of cool,
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if you like, in a way. But obviously, to the indigenous people, it's going to be terrifying.
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And also, Magellan knows that as well. So it is like a dominance thing, like, you know,
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announcing yourself and, you know, immediately saying, we're more powerful than you. We can do
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things you can't dream of, sort of thing. So, okay, Magellan loves doing it. Bergering goes on.
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Once the ships dropped to anchor, Magellan dispatched his illegitimate son, Cristobal Rebello,
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and Pigafetta says, as ambassador to the king of Cebu, along with the slave Enrique to serve as an
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interpreter. Arriving on land, Rebello and Enrique found a vast crowd of people together with the king,
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all of whom had been frightened by the Mortons, Green says. To reassure the distraught inhabitants,
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Enrique explained that it was the fleet's custom to discharge their weapons when entering such places
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as a sign of peace and friendship, quote. Yeah, and you know, they're not going to necessarily know
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it's a sign of peace and friendship, are they? They're almost certainly not going to take it that
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way. But there you go, just a classic, a classic sort of miscommunication, a classic misunderstanding
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between two worlds. But again, I suspect, well, we kind of know as well, don't we, that Magellan and
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his men also knew, you know, that it would be scary for the people. His words had their intended effect
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and soon the local chieftain was asking what he could do for them. Enrique stepped forward again
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and announced that his captain owed allegiance to, quote, the greatest king and prince in the world
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and that he was going to discover the Moluccas, obviously the greatest king and prince's,
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childs of Castile, he means, Spain. And Enrique continues to explain to, to that his captain had
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decided to pass this way because of the great report that he had of him from the king of Limasawa
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and to buy food, end quote. So remember, they just come from this, the island of Limasawa,
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which is very, very peaceful, very, very friendly and inviting and generous and peaceful
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on Limasawa. And they're told Magellan, if you remember last episode, they're told Magellan
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that go over to Cebu, they're sort of bigger, more important, richer, you know, if you're looking
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for trading posts and civilisation, essentially, you want to go to Cebu, they're bigger and more
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important than us. So they just come from Limasawa, so remember that. And in fact, they've
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got the king of Limasawa with them, say king, it's just basically like a tribal chief,
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really, is what it is. This is the king of Cebu. Impressed, the king welcomed the visitors,
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but he advised, quote, it was their custom for all ships that entered their ports to pay tribute,
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end quote. Only four days before, a junk from Siam, quote, laden with gold and slaves, quote,
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had called on the island and paid its tribute. To back up his story, the king produced an Arab
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merchant from Siam who had remained behind. The merchant explained that it was necessary to pay
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tribute to the local rulers in exchange for safe passage, and he urged Magellan to follow his
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example. Now, Magellan sort of makes a, you know, a tactical decision here. We're told,
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Magellan scorned the Arabs' live-and-let-live approach to the islanders and refused to pay
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anyone. He saw the local populace as prey, as helpers and as heathen, not as equals, and he intended
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to claim their territory for Spain and their souls for the church. Negotiations between Magellan and
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the king of Cebu broke down when Magellan, through Enrique, insisted that his king, King Charles of
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Castile, was the greatest in all the world and the Armada de Molucca would never pay tribute to a
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lesser ruler. He ended by declaring, quote, if the king wished peace, we would have peace, but if war
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instead, then he would have war, end quote. So Magellan there is being really quite belligerent. You know,
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people have looked back on it and thought, you know, kind of needlessly belligerent. There's no
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need for him to be like this. Remember, he's the first explorer in the Philippines. He really is
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still in uncharted waters. So there's no need for him to sort of try and claim the lands for Spain,
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try and convert all the people to Christianity. That wasn't in his orders, his official orders
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from the court of Castile. He wasn't charged with doing that, and he just doesn't have to do it.
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It's not part of his remit, but that's exactly what he's deciding to do. He's making a rod for
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his own back, Magellan. He's giving himself bigger, more difficult tasks than need be necessary. He
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could have just paid the king of Cebu, a guy called Hamabon, Raja Hamabon. He could have just
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paid him some tribute. Or, you know, he could have just said, you know, he could have just played it
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another, a number of ways, rather than being haughty and sort of insisting that he's the more
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important party here. But that's what Magellan decides to do. Bergering says, at this point,
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the merchant from Siam uttered a few words that pique effect to mean, have good care, O king.
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And in this sense, the king is, he's talking to Magellan. Have good care, O king, that what you do
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for these men are of those who have conquered Calicut, Malacca, and all India the greater.
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If you give them good reception and treat them well, it will be well for you. But if you treat
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them ill, so much the worse it will be for you. Enrique seconded the merchant's advice. If the king
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of Cebu refused to yield, then the captain general would send so many men that they would destroy him.
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End quote. So Magellan's getting pretty aggressive straight off the bat. You know, he's been asked
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for some tribute, which seems to have been the normal custom. He said, not only am I not going
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to pay any tribute, but if you ask me again, if you push me on it at all, I'm just going to start
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attacking you. Basically what he says. So yeah, that's aggressive. Magellan hasn't really been acting
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like this before, has he? So it's interesting to see, again, from our point of view, looking back
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on it centuries later, it looks like some sort of change has come over Magellan. It's probably not
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necessarily the case. He probably always had these traits in him, but for whatever reason, this is how
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he's deciding to act at this point of the voyage. And, you know, even despite the relatively large
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amount of accounts we've got from Pigafetta, from Demaphra, from one or two others, we don't know the
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exact detail, you know, day by day, what's going on in Magellan's head. So we can't tell exactly what his
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thought processes are, exactly what his calculations were to start acting like this. But this is how he
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decides to act at this stage of the voyage, you know, very bellicose. Burgreen says, the king of Cebu
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shrewdly replied that he would confer with his chieftains and return the next day. As a sign of
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his peaceful intentions, he offered the landing party, quote, refreshments of many dishes, all made
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from meat and contained in porcelain platters beside many jars of wine, end quote. He sent them happily
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stumbling back to their waiting ships, where they told Magellan and the ever-present Pigafetta the
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details of the exchange. Despite his belligerent words, Magellan possessed one diplomatic
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asset, the king of Limusawa, who they, you know, they brought with them, who had come along on this
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leg of the journey and was pleased to, quote, speak to the king of the great courtesy of our
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captain general, quote. So he got the king of Limusawa to speak to the king of Cebu and say,
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tell him that, look, these guys, you know, they sound belligerent, they're being a bit aggressive
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here, but they're not crazy. They're not devils. They're not, you know, they're not here just to
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completely do bad things. They'll barter. You know, they've actually got things that are cool that we want,
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you know, like beads and mirrors and cloth caps and stuff. So it seems like the king of Limusawa
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sort of calms the situation down a bit with the king of Cebu. So we're told, Berggring tells us
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that the local king's soothing words had the desired effect, and on Monday morning, the Armada's
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notary, i.e. that is Pigafetta, accompanied by Enrique, held a formal meeting with the king of Cebu,
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that's the Raja or king, Hamabon. This time, Hamabon offered to pay tribute to the most powerful
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king in the world, rather than demanding it for himself. So completely, it completely worked.
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But Magellan's belligerence completely worked. Not only does he not need to pay any tribute to
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Hamabon anymore, he's going to get some in return. So you can see why Magellan might be acting like
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this. If he's a little bit of belligerence, like on Limusawa and on Guam and other places,
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a little bit of aggression has served him well. It has sort of worked out well for him so far.
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If you show your power a bit, most of the time, or nearly all the time so far, that's worked out
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well. The indigenous island peoples have just submitted to any sort of show of strength,
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puffing his chest out, or sabre rattling. It has worked. I mean, this time, again,
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it seems to have worked perfectly. So you can see if that's what's going on in Magellan's mind,
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all he needs to do is act aggressively, and he gets everything he wants. And that's repeatedly worked.
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Why wouldn't you keep doing that, I suppose? Okay.
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The impasse was broken. Magellan acknowledged Hamabon's generous offer and announced he would
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trade with him and no others. Prompted by the ruler of Limusawa, the Cebuan ruler offered to
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become blood brothers with Magellan. The captain general had only to send a drop of his blood from
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his right arm, and he would do the same as a sign of the most sincere friendship. Almost despite
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himself, Magellan had found a home in Cebu. The next day, Tuesday, Magellan had more good news.
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The Limusawaan king announced that Hamabon was preparing a great feast to send to the ships,
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and that after dinner, he would send two of his nephews with other notable men to make peace
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with him, quote. After gratefully receiving the food, Magellan decided to make another show of force
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and trotted out an armor-clad seaman whose demonstrations of European-style combat
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predictably alarmed the Cebuan emissary, who seemed more intelligent than the others, quote.
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Once again, Magellan turned the situation to his advantage, Pigafetta says. The captain general told
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him not to be frightened, for our arms were soft towards our friends and harsh towards our enemies,
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and as handkerchiefs wipe off sweat, so do our arms overthrow and destroy all our adversaries
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and the enemies of our faith, end quote. The lesson had its intended effect, i.e., you know, the, again,
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the indigenous people of Cebu saw the strength, just like on Limusawa and Guam, they saw the strength
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of Spanish armor and arms and did realize that, you know, we've got nothing like that. Armed with such
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things, these men could, you know, defeat us, so we'll sort of be kind and generous towards them.
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Bergering goes on. Once Magellan had alternately impressed and intimidated the Cebuans, relations
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between the two proceeded like a tale in a storybook. The king's nephew came aboard Trinidad,
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accompanied by a retinue of eight chieftains, to swear loyalty. Holding court, Magellan played the
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part of a magnanimous potentate with gusto, Pigafetta says. The captain general was seated in
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a red velvet chair, the principal men of the ships on leather chairs and the others on mats upon the
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floor. The captain general asked them, through an interpreter, whether that prince had the authority
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to make peace, i.e., the nephew of the king of Cebu, that prince. The captain general said many things
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concerning peace and that he prayed to God to confirm it in heaven. They said that they had
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never heard such words and that they took great pleasure in hearing them. The captain general,
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seeing that they listened and answered willingly, began to advance arguments to induce them to accept
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the faith, end quote. So again, right away, Magellan's getting involved in religion and the job of
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converting these people, you know, missionary work. And once again, that's not his job. That's not his
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orders to do that. He hasn't been massively interested in that before, you know, when they were sailing
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down the coast of Patagonia and Brazil and things. It didn't seem to be like that was his main goal in
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any way. But now it seems like it is sort of one of the most, perhaps even the most important thing
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to Magellan now. You'll see how all this plays out. It seems like, once again, probably not the case,
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but it just seemed like something switched in his mind at this point and converting them to
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Christianity is sort of the most important thing to him. But okay, I'll carry on.
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Murray Green says, rising from his special chair, Magellan abruptly changed the subject,
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wanting to know who would succeed the king after his death, Pigavetta says. They replied that the
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king had no son, but many daughters, and that this prince, who was his nephew, had as wife the king's
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eldest daughter, and for love of her, he was called prince. And they said, moreover, that when the
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father of the nephews were old, no more account was taken of them, but the children commanded them,
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end quote. That's interesting, isn't it? Quite a lot of societies aren't like that.
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You know, old people are revered, unless, you know, they're so old that they're sort of senile
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or bedridden. You know, usually older people are revered. But in this culture, in this society,
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at this time, at a certain point, old people are just commanded by their children, or so we're told.
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And that's very unchristianry, that's quite un-Catholic, that sort of state of affairs.
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So, Berggrini says, this state of affairs struck Magellan as contradictory to the commandments,
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and he proceeded to explain some basic tenets of the Bible. Pigavetta wrote,
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God made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything else, and that he had commanded us
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to honor our fathers and mothers, and that whoever did otherwise was condemned to eternal fire,
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that we are all descended from Adam and Eve, our first parents, that we have an immortal spirit.
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His oratory must have been highly persuasive because, all joyfully entreated the Captain
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General to leave them two men, or at least one, to instruct them in the faith, end quote.
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Berggrini goes on. Magellan explained that he could not leave anyone behind with them,
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but if they wished, the Armada's priest, Father Valderrama, would gladly baptize the Sibuens,
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and when they returned, they would bring, like, some other year, like, maybe years from now,
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when they come back again, they don't, this particular group of Europeans don't, but they
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say, when they returned, they would bring priests and friars to instruct them. Pigavetta reported
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that the chieftains, Magellan, and the onlookers all became so excited by the prospect that everyone,
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quote, wept with great joy, quote. What significance the highly emotional baptismal rite held for the
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Filipinos can only be guessed, but it meant something very specific to Magellan. Baptism,
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a word derived from the Greek baptismos, meant immersion, and carried with it the idea of
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cleansing the soul of sin and rebirth into the Christian faith. Before he began in earnest,
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Magellan cautioned the Sibuens not to convert to Christianity simply to win his favor, and promised
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not to cause any displeasure to those who wish to live according to their own law, but, he said,
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the Christians would get preferential treatment. Pigavetta says, all cried out with one voice that they
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were not becoming Christians through fear or to please us, but of their own free will. And Magellan
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was so encouraged by this response that he promised to leave behind a suit of armor, just one, in
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gratitude. So, that's an interesting point. We're told that at this stage, Magellan says, you know,
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I want you to. It'd be great if you all converted to Christianity. That would be brilliant. That's
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exactly what I really, really, really want. But you don't have to. And certainly, if you're doing it
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under coercion, under duress, or out of fear, or you're just trying to curry favor with me, don't
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do it. You need to genuinely accept it, you know, accept Jesus into your heart. And you have to do it
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with your own free will. And if you don't want to, you know, we won't hurt you or anything, but we are
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going to give preferential treatment to those that do. Now, this comes up because quite quickly,
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that's not the deal that Magellan is offering. Quite quickly, it becomes convert or we might burn
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down your houses and maybe kill you. Like, very quickly, within days, that becomes the deal. But at
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this early stage, he's still saying, you don't have to. And, you know, you have to do it out of your own
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free will. And, you know, there's no punishment if you don't. But it was absolutely not Magellan's job
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to start threatening and bullying indigenous island folk of Southeast Asia into becoming
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Christian. But that's how it goes. Okay, Bergering continues. He also raised the highly sensitive
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subject of sex between his men and the Sebuen women, Pigavetta says. We could not have intercourse
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with their women without committing a very great sin, since they were pagans. And he assured them
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that if they became Christians, the devil would no longer appear to them, except in the last moment
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of their death. End quote, Bergering continues. Magellan implied that it was a lesser sin to become
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intimate with Sebuen women who had been baptized. And the crew, as ravenous for sex as they were for
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food, immediately took advantage of the loophole. But there is no suggestion that he became, that he,
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Magellan himself, became intimate with any of the Sebuen women. He found fulfillment of a more
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spiritual nature. Pigavetta again. The captain embraced them weeping and clasping one of their
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prince's hands, and one of the kings between his own, said to them that he would give them
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perpetual peace with the king of Spain. End quote. Okay, so in Bergering's book, over the next few
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pages, quite a few pages actually, he goes on and on about sex. So let's talk about that a little bit,
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because it becomes important. The men stay on Sebu, or in this part of the Philippines, for quite a while,
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in this region anyway, and there's lots of sex going on, because these particular indigenous peoples
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are quite open, quite free, promiscuous. I mean that with that not as a pejorative, but they're just,
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the women are quite free, and the men, unlike on Guam, if you remember, the men don't seem to mind
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particularly. It's a polygamous society, so the men will have many, many quote-unquote wives. They'll
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have one principal wife, but on top of that, they'll have many wives. And so, yeah, it's just one of
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those societies where, yeah, there isn't any, hardly any stigma or prudishness about sex. So,
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and the women go around topless quite often, if not sometimes just completely naked. So, yeah,
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so, as you can imagine, whenever possible, sex is going on. Okay, so one of the things to mention
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is that they do it very differently. And as I say, in Bergering's books, and in other books about this,
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there's usually an aside at this stage all about it. So there's a thing in this part of the world,
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which gets called Palang. And what it is, is some sort of genital jewelry that the men wear.
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It's described as like a bolt straight through the penis. I mean, there's something similar now.
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I haven't got any piercings, personally, if you want to know. Certainly not downstairs. But that's
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a thing, isn't it? Some people got that. Is it like a Prince Albert? I don't even know what it's
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called. But a big bolt straight through your dick, right? It's pretty serious. I mean, I think you
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can, if you're not careful, certainly in the pre-modern age, and it's not a professional
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doing it, you might like some serious blood vessels or whatever. But anyway, apparently all the men
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have got this, this bolt through their dick, right? And there's even, it even describes as,
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that there's even like some barbs on it. So, okay. And their fashion of having sex is, I mean,
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I don't want to get too, too explicit here, but it's not to sort of thrust in and out, but just to
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like go inside and then just hold it there. Because otherwise it would be too brutal. It'd be, it would
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damage the woman, wouldn't it? It would be too much, be too aggressive. It could internal,
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internally wound the woman. So there's no real thrusting. You just hold it there. And apparently
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for hours and hours, or even as long as a day, you're just locked in this embrace for like a day,
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maybe, or certainly hours and hours. And that's how they did it. That was how they did it. And
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so to Pigafetta and these Europeans, that's sort of entirely new. They've never heard of or seen
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anything like it. And to them, they think it's, they think it's weird. You can imagine they think
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it's weird. They think it's a quote, brutal custom. And they describe it as a bizarre sexual
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custom. You know, different folks, different strokes, right? Whatever floats your boat.
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But the 16th century Europeans thought it was weird and bizarre. I mean, okay, this quick paragraph
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from Bergering sort of sums it up. It says, quote, Pigafetta's clinical description contained
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enough details to suggest that he observed the islanders having intercourse. And he came away both
00:23:15.040
excited and dismayed by what he saw. And these are his words. Those people make use of that device,
00:23:21.240
the penis piercing of Palang. Those people make use of that device because they are of a weak nature.
00:23:27.480
He thought that made them weak. And he equated weakness with pleasure loving. Like the fact that
00:23:33.000
they had intercourse for hours and hours and hours on end. To Pigafetta's mind, that made them weak.
00:23:37.740
And he went on to explain that, quote, they have as many wives as they wish, but one of them is their
00:23:43.360
principal wife, Bergering says, both the practice of Palang, with its emphasis on increasing pleasure
00:23:49.740
and polygamy, which Pigafetta associated with it, ran counter to Catholic teachings. For all these
00:23:55.860
reasons, Pigafetta found Palang disconcerting. And to prove his point, he insisted, quote,
00:24:01.700
all the women loved us very much more than their own men, quote, presumably because the unadorned
00:24:07.180
Europeans lacked the cumbersome accessories. For the Armada de Moluca and the Spanish expeditions
00:24:12.880
that followed, Palang was just one of many unacceptable customs practiced by the Islanders.
00:24:18.700
It was said that the Filipino families of the ruling class resulted to infanticide by burying the
00:24:25.380
victims or hurling them into the sea. Also, unmarried women regularly underwent abortions to make it easier
00:24:32.160
to find a husband. Virginity was actually considered such a serious liability. It's bad to be a virgin
00:24:38.560
for them, you know, very different to 16th century Spanish Catholics, but they considered virginity to
00:24:44.420
be considered such a serious liability that professional deflowerers could be engaged to take
00:24:50.920
care of the problem. The Filipinos emphasized female sexual pleasure and women even had access
00:24:56.780
to artificial penises to assuage their lust. The Spanish, especially the clergy who came after
00:25:02.500
Magellan, were intent on eliminating the practice, which they felt was nearly as repugnant as Palang
00:25:08.840
itself. It is said that Magellan's do-or-die emphasis on conversion interfered with precious
00:25:14.660
cultural traditions, but he saw matters quite differently. He was engaged in a mission to rescue a
00:25:20.380
benighted people from barbarism in this world and perdition in the next. In contrast to his
00:25:26.760
pragmatic crew members who considered themselves travellers through an alien landscape, Magellan
00:25:31.960
conducted himself as if he were an instrument of the Lord. He believed that Providence had sent him to
00:25:37.800
the Philippines to bring Christianity to the heathen and considered the local customs as grave social ills.
00:25:44.600
In Magellan's mind, Christianity offered the best and the only cure." End quote. So, okay, back to the
00:25:51.240
narrative, the main narrative of the story. After Magellan has started his process of insisting that he and, by
00:26:02.520
extension, the King of Spain are the most important actors in this whole thing. They're the centre stage. All the
00:26:09.960
indigenous peoples must bow down to them. And beyond that, will need to accept, should really, but very soon need to
00:26:17.160
accept Christianity. They have a great feast, and there's a lot about this great feast, but I won't
00:26:24.040
necessarily bore you with all the details of that. And then the next evening, Bergering tells us,
00:26:29.240
when Magellan finally left Trinidad to make his triumphal entry into Cebu, the next day, sort of a
00:26:35.320
formal entry onto Cebu, the occasion proved every bit as majestic as he could have wished. A delegation from the
00:26:42.360
ships, including an excited Pigafetta, landed on Cebu to formally meet Hummerbon, dressed in regal
00:26:49.480
splendour to greet his guests. And these are Pigafetta's words. When we reached the city, we
00:26:55.080
found the King in his palace, surrounded by many people. He was seated on a palm mat on the ground,
00:27:00.680
with only a cotton cloth before his private parts, and scarf embroidered with a needle about his head,
00:27:07.160
a necklace of great value hanging from his neck, and two large gold earrings, fastened to his ears,
00:27:13.000
set around with precious gems. He was fat and short, and tattooed with fire in various designs.
00:27:19.000
From another mat on the ground, he was eating turtle eggs, which were in two porcelain dishes,
00:27:24.200
and he had four jars full of palm wine in front of him, covered with sweet-smelling herbs, and arranged
00:27:30.520
with four small reeds in each jar, by means of which he drank. Having duly made reverence to him,
00:27:36.840
the interpreter, Enrique, told the King that his master thanked him very warmly for his present,
00:27:42.440
and that he sent this present not in return for his present, but for the intrinsic love
00:27:47.320
which he bore for him. We dressed him in the robe, placed the cap on his head, and gave him other
00:27:52.680
things. Then, kissing the beads and putting them on his head, I presented them to him. He doing the
00:27:58.520
same accepted them. The King had us eat some of those eggs, and drank through those slender reeds.
00:28:04.840
The King wished to have us stay to supper with him, but we told him that we could not stay."
00:28:10.280
So again, all seems to be going fairly well. The exchange of gifts, and on some level,
00:28:15.000
Hummerbon has accepted Magellan as sort of the senior partner here, on some level.
00:28:22.440
Impressive as they were, these exchanges were a mere prelude. The excitement began when the
00:28:28.280
Prince escorted Pigafetta, and several others, to his raised hut. They climbed ladders, and within
00:28:34.360
found four young girls were playing, one on a drum like Al's, but resting on the ground. The second,
00:28:40.440
while striking two suspended gongs alternately with a stick wrapped somewhat thickly at the end,
00:28:45.960
with a palm cloth. The third, one large gong in the same manner, and the fourth, two small gongs held
00:28:51.960
in her hand, by striking one against the other, which gave forth a sweet sound. They played so
00:28:58.040
harmoniously, that one would believe that they possessed a good musical sense." End quote.
00:29:02.840
It seems surprised that they were capable of using any sort of instrument. Okay, Bergring says,
00:29:08.280
"...the Europeans noticed more the musical ability. The girls were bare-breasted and extremely alluring."
00:29:13.880
Pigafetta writes, "...these girls were very beautiful, and almost as white as our girls,
00:29:18.440
and as large. They were naked except for palm cloths hanging from their waist, and reached to their
00:29:23.880
knees. Some were quite naked, and had large holes in their ears, with a small round piece of wood in
00:29:29.320
the hole. They have long black hair, and wear a short cloth about their head, and are always barefoot.
00:29:34.760
The prince had three quite naked girls dance before us." And that's the end of Pigafetta's
00:29:39.640
account of that. But Bergring says, "...reluctant to contradict Magellan's prohibition against
00:29:44.200
intercourse with native women until they converted to Christianity, Pigafetta refrains from describing
00:29:50.520
the frolicking and lovemaking with the female musicians, but he leaves no doubt about the evening's
00:29:55.640
outcome. All around them, similar celebrations of European Sebuan amity involving ordinary villagers and
00:30:02.920
sailors, were taking place that night. The one question is whether Magellan participated. But
00:30:08.200
given his restraint and self-denial throughout the voyage, it is unlikely that he yielded to the
00:30:12.680
temptations of the flesh, even on this occasion." So, a great night. That was always one of the things
00:30:18.040
that would draw men to go out to sea, even up to the 19th century, or perhaps even in the 20th century.
00:30:24.520
You go abroad, you go all the way around the world for the hope of treasure and fame and adventure and
00:30:33.240
women. Tahiti is famous. Tahiti isn't in this story, but in centuries to come, in decades and centuries to
00:30:39.080
come, Tahiti becomes famous for that the women are really, really beautiful and really, really easy,
00:30:44.920
for want of a better word. So yeah, if you're sort of a young man, sort of a kind of crazy young man,
00:30:50.760
you're prepared to risk your life. Yeah, you're looking for money and women. So the sailors finally
00:30:57.880
get a bit of it here in the Philippines. Okay, Bergering goes on. When they returned to the ships
00:31:04.040
that night, the four emissaries were greeted with sobering news. Two shipmates lay near death. The
00:31:10.120
next morning, April the 10th, Martin Beretta, a passenger, succumbed to the lingering effects of the
00:31:16.360
scurvy he had suffered during the 98 days of the Pacific crossing. Hours later, Juan de Areche,
00:31:23.400
a sailor, breathed his last. In the morning, Pigafetta and Enrique returned to the island to
00:31:28.760
make arrangements for Christian burials for both men. Really important that, you know, you have to
00:31:33.240
have a bit of consecrated ground. You know, they've got their father Valderrama who can consecrate a
00:31:38.440
small piece of ground and they can be buried there and the correct prayers and things said over them.
00:31:44.040
And then, you know, their souls can at least potentially go to heaven. If you don't do
00:31:48.600
those things, then, you know, it's bad news for your eternal soul. And so they start doing those
00:31:53.880
things. And so, yeah, they make arrangements for Christian burials for both men, which meant
00:31:58.840
consecrating a cemetery on Cebu, complete with a cross. The king of Cebu, as accommodating as ever,
00:32:06.520
said he wished to worship the cross as soon as it was erected. Magellan turned the occasion into a
00:32:11.560
religious lesson for the islander's benefit. Pigafetta writes, the deceased was buried in
00:32:16.600
the square with as much pomp as possible in order to furnish a good example. Then we consecrated the
00:32:22.200
place and in the evening buried another man. If you enjoyed that preview, please consider heading
00:32:28.360
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