Pribilof Islands

“ These Precipices are natural; for the Rocks seem too hard to work on; nor is there any sign that Art hath been employed about them. On Bashee Island there is one such, and built upon, with its back next the Sea. Grafton and Monmouth Isles are very thick set with these Hills and Towns; and the Natives, whether for fear of Pirates, or Foreign Enemies, or Factions among their own Clans, care not for Building but in these Fastnesses; which I take to be the Reason that Orange Isle, though the largest, and as Fertile as any, yet being Level, and exposed, hath no Inhabitants. ”

“ This island is inhabited by men who are savages going utterly stark, with no covering at all, the women, however, concealing their private parts with the leaf of a tree. The people are large of frame, robust, and given to pilfering, whence the name of the island Ladrones. The natives brought us fruits, fish, [318] rice, and other eatables, which they bartered for iron, which they value more than gold. ”

“ On January 8 an island was reached where the people "were afraid of our ship and of us and our weapons. They are well proportioned, tall of stature, and bearded, their beards reaching to their waists. The men wear their hair long like women, neatly combed and tied behind in a knot. They are greedy, very treacherous, and thoroughly unprincipled. ”

“ After the fleet had sailed for fifty days in the same course between nine and ten degrees, a degree more or less, we reached land, which proved to be an island inhabited by poor and naked fishermen. This island was about four leagues in circumference, and had a population of about two hundred men. ”

“ Everywhere is wealth of trees, clothing the mountains to their summits, and bordering the long green miles of ocean-shore.
On a smaller scale, but not less beautiful than lordly Luzon, are the many minor islands, such as Panay, Negros, Cebú, Sámar, and others of names that would be strange to foreign ears. Here there are no stretches of barren lands, no drought-stricken shores, as in some of the isles of the West, no flat and chalky fields like those of Barbadoes; and even the loveliest of the Antilles must yield the palm of beauty to these charming isles of the eastern ocean. ”

“ The island was formerly in a far more prosperous state owing to the fact that a large proportion of the inhabitants were then kept as slaves.
The duties of the "old men" (the democratic islands are supposed to be ruled by the "old men," who meet in a body to make laws) are really the demarcation and recording of lands; they can go back for generations in the division of island lands. [181] The population of Piru is about twenty-five hundred; the police, at present, number about one thousand men uniformed in blue jumpers, jean trousers, and a wisp of red on the arm. ”

“ This island is entirely inhabited. It extends a long way from east to west, and little from north to south. Its south latitude is in 10 deg., and the longitude 174 deg. 30 min. from the line of demarcation.
In all these islands that we visited in this archipelago, the evil of Saint Job prevailed, and more here than in any other place, where they call it “for franki”, that is to say, Portuguese illness.⁠ [400]
We were told that at a day’s voyage, west-north-west from Timor, there was an island in which much cinnamon grows, called Ende;⁠ [401] its inhabitants are Gentiles, and have no king. ”

“ They went on to a third Island, which is the biggest, heard Humane Voices, and saw some Piraguas, with the People that cry’d out, who were crossing from one Island to another. Our Men drew near in the Boat to take a View, and all of them put into a clean Harbour, whence they discover’d a Town, not Barbarous, but Decent and Lofty, like ours in Europe, and abundance of People, who having sunk the Piraguas, Populous Islands. and standing on the Mountains, with their Arms in their Hands, call’d to our Men from a Wood, to Land, as ours did them to draw near the Sea. ”

“ This island is thickly populated and large. The greater and better part of it is still to be conquered, I would say from what I have seen of the villages and land. It does not seem to me that there will be any more resistance from any of them when they learn of the advantages of friendship with the Spaniards; for they have already been informed of the way in which those are treated who resist. To the present time, all that has been explored in this island is about fifty or sixty leagues along the coast from Manilla to Yvalón, [7] which is the landing-place for the ships sailing to Nueva Spaña. ”

“ However, to a certain degree, the characteristic indolence of these Islanders is less dependent on themselves than on natural law, for the physical conditions surrounding them undoubtedly tend to arrest their vigour of motion, energy of life, and intellectual power. ”

“ That the same name should be carried farther afield and applied to a remote island of the Atlantic Ocean is quite in accordance with the natural course of things and the general experience of mankind. No doubt the name Man might be derived from other sources, but the chances are in this instance that the Irish people whose navigators found Brazil Island (or imagined it, if you please) did the same favor for the crescent-shaped “Man,” quite overriding for a hundred years any preceding or competing titles. ”

“ To the horrors of famine are added the sufferings of the dread scurvy. Pigafetta, whose curiosity is always alert and active, and who remains well, diverts himself with talking to the Patagonian, who is finally baptized, but who is one of those to die. In the vast stretch from the strait to the Ladrones (first seen by them of all Europeans) , only two islands, both desert, are sighted, and those, since they are unable to find anchorage there, are called the “Unfortunate Isles.” Pigafetta mentions the southern constellation Crux and the star clouds since called after Magalhães. ”

“ On this island they saw a town where the Moro pilot declared that he was known, and that he was on friendly terms with its inhabitants; but under pretense of friendship, the natives treacherously killed him with a lance-thrust. The space of one week had been given to them, but it took much longer; for the return could be accomplished only by sailing around the island which was one hundred and fifty leagues in circumference. ”

“ At the first settlement at which they attempt to land, the natives prove hostile, whereupon they go toward another island, but contrary weather compelling them to anchor near Palawan, they are invited ashore on that island by the people of another village. ”

“ The natives attempt pursuit but are unable to overtake the two ships. Next day sighting an island, and a calm coming upon them, while the currents drew the vessels in toward shore, the old pilot escapes. Continuing they sight “three high mountains belonging to a nation of people whom they call the Salabos [Celebes?] ,” and shortly after desiring to take water at a small island, they are deterred by one of their native pilots, who assures them that the people are hostile. ”

“ Our men burned many houses all along the coast. The town inland on this island is large and thickly populated, and abounds in all things which are raised in the island. There our men found about two pounds of very good sulphur, and took one of the natives alive, who was brought to the ship, and whom I am sending to that Nueba España. This island is called Ladrones, which according to the disposition of the inhabitants, is the most appropriate name that could have been given it. Eleven days after reaching this island, we set sail following our course in the aforesaid latitude. ”

“ There is no good reason for discrediting so many of the old maps. Their makers sometimes went wrong; but they tried to be accurate and would hardly, through a century or two, persist in making the northern island the greater one unless it was at first really so. Of course the most natural solution of the difficulty is that Corvo’s border has sunk or the sea has risen over it, completely drowning the territory which made the lobes or curved outline of the island form in the medieval maps and leaving only above water its rocky backbone, with the crater for a nucleus. ”

“ There was once a large town in this island [Bohol] , which, shortly before the Spaniards came hither, was plundered by the people of Maluco, and the majority of its inhabitants were dispersed throughout the other islands, where they now dwell. The settlements inland among the mountains are small and poor, and are not yet wholly under subjection. In this island, as well as in the many nearby uninhabited islets—these latter abounding also in fish—there is great abundance of game, both deer and boars. The island is about forty leagues in circumference, and eight or ten leagues wide. ”

“ Its water is excellent, and the whole land is quite fertile and healthful, and abounds in rice, swine, fowls, and palm-wine; and there is much hunting of buffaloes, deer, wild hogs, and birds. A great amount of wax, cotton, and gold is collected in this district, in which articles the natives pay their tribute. Two leagues opposite the bar of the river Taxo is the dense population of the Babuyanes Islands. One island is an encomienda under the control of his Majesty, and is said to contain one thousand men. ”

“ The first thing which I shall attempt to relate herein will be an expedition which was made by Captain Juan de Salzedo when he was governor in the island of Panai. As has been already related in other accounts, written in the year sixty-nine, the Portuguese raised the blockade established by them on the island of Çubú against the camp of his Majesty, because of certain difficulties which arose; and the governor determined to cross to the island of Panay with his captains in order to levy tribute upon the people of certain provinces. ”

“ The seas shall teem with ships carrying the products of the islands to foreign shores, and bringing back full cargoes to supply the demands of the islanders, commerce steadily growing in amount as civilization awakens the natives to the perception of new wants.
Examples of a similar rejuvenation could easily be pointed out, and there is no conceivable reason why the Philippines should not be added to the list. These islands have been lavishly dealt with by nature; they have an industrious population; yet they have been allowed to remain for centuries in a semi-savage industrial condition ”

“ But in point of fact the map as we have it answers to the narrative singularly well. Any blurs or lacunae which needed restoration must have occurred in very fortunate places. Iceland, Shetland,142 Greenland, Scotland, Estotiland, and Drogio are all not very far from where they should be. The Orkneys and Fair Island, if too far west in fact, are only far enough to suit the tale, for when Antonio sails eastward he comes to them and knows he has passed east of Iceland, a reflection more likely to occur if the interval were rather small than if it were very great. ”

“ The tides or currents are strong and irregular here, as may be expected, from the extending reefs, shoals, and keys, and its vicinity to Endeavour Straits.
We steered from these hostile savages to other islands in sight, and sent some armed men on shore, with orders to keep pretty near us, and to run close along shore in the boats. But they returned without success. This island we called Plumb Island, from its bearing an austere, astringent kind of fruit, resembling plumbs, but not fit to eat. ”

“ I conceive then, that the island marked 3, is the projecting point which I have named Point Bell; and that 1 and 2 are the two cliffy projections further northward. The island marked 4 will be the largest of Purdie's Isles; and in looking on, nearly in the same line, we find 5 in Lacy's Island. The island 6, or St. Francis, should lie to the west-south-west, or perhaps south-west, for since the line of the five islands is two points too much to the right, this bearing may be the same. To the south-west-by-south the large Isle St. ”

“ The group lies between the south end of New Ireland and the north end of the great Bougainville Island in the Solomon Archipelago, and consists of six low, well-wooded and fertile islands, enclosed within a barrier reef, forming a noble atoll, almost circular in shape. All the islands are thickly populated at the present day by natives, who are peaceable enough, and engage in bêche-de-mer and pearl-shell fishing. ”

“ It is also known by the name of Nevil's Island and Johnston's Island; and it has been hitherto considered by navigators and others as uninhabited. This is not surprising; as we were told by the natives, that no white man had ever visited the place; though it seemed, from the pieces of iron in their possession, and from other circumstances, that they had had some communication with the Spaniards and Portuguese in that quarter of the world. [4] Like many other islands in those seas, this is surrounded by a coral reef, which is from an eighth to one half of a mile wide ”

“ The port has two entrances, opening northeast and southwest. Through my influence and with [S: against] the consent of most of the men, the camp was removed to the island of Panae. I went there by order of the governor, and drew the plan of a fort, which now is being built. [It has the same people, and trade, and customs as the islands named above.] The center of it is in about ten and two-thirds degrees of latitude.
Farther west is another island, called Buglas, or Negros, because the inhabitants are black. ”