Mameluco

“ Malco Diaz appeared to be collecting his thoughts for some minutes; then he resumed:
"Can I reckon on my brothers?" said he, casting at the Indians the look of a viper.
"We are warriors; let the mameluco explain himself. If he wishes to gain some advantage by the war that is recommencing, we will serve him by serving ourselves," answered Tarou Niom.
The half-caste knew the Indians too well not to understand the ironical meaning of the words pronounced by the Guaycurus chief. ”

“ Malco is prudent; a slave might betray the confidence of his master, and sell his secret to an enemy. The mameluco reserves it to inform us himself of the affair he wishes to propose to us."
"Good!" answered the chief. "What matters this man to me? I have only come on the invitation of my brother. I know that he will not betray me."
"I thank my brother, Tarou Niom, for his opinion of me ”

“ The reverse is the case in South America, where the mixture of the Portuguese or Brazilian with the Indian produces the "Mameluco," who is not unfrequently lighter than either parent, and always lighter than the Indian. ”

“ They pass generally under shade, and part of the way through groves of coffee and orange trees, fragrant plantations of cacao, and tracts of second-growth woods. The narrow brook-watered valleys, with which the land is intersected, alone have remained clothed with primæval forest, at least near the town. The houses along these beautiful roads belong chiefly to mameluco, mulatto, and Indian families, each of which has its own small plantation. There are only a few planters with larger establishments and these have seldom more than a dozen slaves. ”

“ The population seemed to consist chiefly of semi-civilised Indians, living as usual in half-finished mud hovels. The streets were irregularly laid out and overrun with weeds and bushes swarming with "mocuim," a very minute scarlet acarus, which sweeps off to one's clothes in passing, and attaching itself in great numbers to the skin causes a most disagreeable itching. The few whites and better class of mameluco residents live in more substantial dwellings, white-washed and tiled. ”

“ As the Mamelucos grew in numbers their demands for native labour increased, and its monopoly by the Jesuits came to be a grievance which the laymen determined to redress. Raids upon the Indians of the interior were consequently organised, and the adventurous Paulistas did not hesitate to risk their lives in the pursuit of tribes as far as the borders of Bolivia after the nearer districts had been cleared of natives, and in these expeditions even the mission settlements of the Guayaná were not spared. ”

“ The inhabitants of the Moluccas are in general of a swarthy complexion, approaching to black, with a yellow stain: they partake much of the Malay character, and seem to derive their origin from that nation; they have their language, their manners, and, like them, with little personal strength, are nevertheless cruel and ferocious: perhaps the harshness of their manners may be traced to the wandering and solitary life they lead in the woods, to avoid becoming the slaves of the Dutch. ”

“ The men of Malacca are courageous, and the women very wanton. At this time the city of Malacca was rich and populous, being the centre of trade between the eastern and western parts of India, Mahomet was then king of Malacca, against whom the king of Siam had sent an army of 40,000 men, most of whom perished by sundry misfortunes, but chiefly through similar treacherous devices with those which had been put in practice against Sequeira. But now Albuquerque approached to revenge them all. ”

“ The Mamlukes, and ourselves, who were considered as such, are authorised to worship as Hanefis, which is the superior of the four sects; but the Maleki being the form here used, every one complies with it. A belief of the evil eye, devils, gholes, genii, and spirits, is universal; charms and fasting till sunset, are a sure preventive of mischief.
The people attached to the Mosques are the Kadi, who is the head; the Imaum or priest, who, in the absence of the Kadi, prays and preaches; and the Mouadden or crier, who calls the people to prayers, and repeats the responses. ”

“ Therefore if the king our lord take Maluco for his own (for people say that his Majesty has a right to it) , the ships sent out will be able to carry out two commissions in one voyage, taking on a cargo of cloves and of cinnamon, for Maluco lies in the course, and is a very good port, where they must of necessity touch. I have called attention to what I have seen in this island. Finally, I shall now speak of all the others which are on terms of peace, at least as far as concerns those where the Spaniards have been. The second is the island of Negros, which is absolutely peaceful. ”

“ MALACCA, n.p. The city which gives its name to the Peninsula and the Straits of Malacca, and which was the seat of a considerable Malay monarchy till its capture by the Portuguese under D'Alboquerque in 1511. One naturally supposes some etymological connection between Malay and Malacca. And such a connection is put forward by De Barros and D'Alboquerque (see below, and also under MALAY) . ”

“ Men and women betoken in their dress the natural haughtiness of their disposition. The variety of their languages is not little. It may happen that one village cannot understand the language of the next. Malay, being most easy to pronounce, is most common. From the variety of languages it is inferred that these islands have been populated by different nations. Antiquity, and the art of navigating in those districts, is ascribed to the Chinese. Others affirm that the Malucos are descended from the Javanese, who, attracted by the sweetness of the odors wafted by the spices, stopped at Maluco. ”

“ For after the death of Gonzalo Pereyra, who had gone with the Portuguese to fight at Cubu, and who had died at Maluco after his return there, the noble above named, Diego de Sanbucho, was captain of Maluco. He found that certain of the married men had gone to live at Anbon and others to Malaca, and that they had taken all their cattle and artillery with them in two galliots, which they now have at Anbon. The cause of the loss of the said Maluco was the revolt of the said natives and a war because a Portuguese had killed their king. Immediately the people revolted, and besieged the Portuguese. ”

“ Since we are now upon the Description of the Moluccos, and in regard Moluccos describ’d. that those delightful Provinces are so remote from us, we will go on with what is remarkable in them, to show the desperate Fury of those People, who had condemn’d them to the Flames. All the five Molucco Islands are almost round, and of the same Shape. The compass of the biggest is not seven Leagues. They have all Crags, of a wonderful Height, cover’d with an odoriferous Fragrancy of wild Cloves; and about them several Cities, Towns and Forts. ”

“ The Fame of his arrival was soon spread abroad, and when certainly known, the Cannon was fir’d, the flat Drums in the Temples were beaten, and the Bells rung, the Sound whereof uses to draw the People of the Moluccos together, and in short there was a general Rejoycing, without quitting their Arms. All Men cry’d up Cachil Salama to the Skies, calling him the Deliverer of Tydore, and Neza Maluco, Neza signifies a Spear, and Maluco a Kingdom, and both together the Spear, that is, the Defence of the Kingdom. ”

“ And as soon as they see them begin this work, they cry out saying, amuco, amuco, [313] in order that people may take care of themselves, and they kill them with dagger and spear thrusts. Many of these Javans live in this city with wives and children and property. This city possesses very good water and fruit, and is very healthy. Other provisions are brought from outside. The King of Malaca has got much treasure, and a large revenue from the duties which he collects. To him the lord of Pam made himself tributary, who was a ruler in the kingdom of Ansyam, and he raised himself up against it. ”

“ The islands they inhabit are fertile, but they do not practise any cultivation, and live on sago, which grows wild in great quantities in this archipelago.
The religion of the inhabitants of the Moluccas is a corruption of Mahometanism.
The only persons who go clothed are the women and the priests; the men only cover the head with a hat, painted in different colours, made of the leaves of the latanier; the rest of the body is naked, with the exception of a bit of narrow cloth, for the sake of decency. ”

“ For five centuries there have been Mamelukes in Egypt, yet not one of them has left a subsisting line: there exists not one family of the second generation, all 21their children perish in the first or second generation. The Ottomans are nearly in the same condition, and it is observed that they only preserve themselves from the same fate by marrying indigenous females—what the Mamelukes have always disdained. (The wives of the Mamelukes were, like their slaves, imported from Georgia, Mongrelia, etc.) ”

“ In all the above-mentioned islands of Maluco are to be found cloves, ginger, sagu, which is their bread made of wood, rice, cocoa-nuts, plantains, almonds larger than ours, sweet and bitter pomegranates, sugar-canes, oil of cocoa and of sesame, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, comilicai, [249] which is a refreshing fruit the size of a water-melon, another fruit like a peach called guave, and other eatable vegetables. They also have goats and fowls, honey produced by bees not larger than ants, which make their hives in trunks of trees. ”

“ STADTHAUS, MALACCA, January 23.
Malacca fascinates me more and more daily. There is, among other things, a mediaevalism about it. The noise of the modern world reaches it only in the faintest echoes; its sleep is almost dreamless, its sensations seem to come out of books read in childhood. Thus, the splendid corpse of a royal tiger has been brought in in a bullock-cart, the driver claiming the reward of fifteen dollars, and its claws were given to me. ”

“ We are located in the best center of the country although there is no other advantage in this island than that it is well settled, and consequently we can maintain ourselves until your Majesty have us informed of what is best for your royal service and that we should support ourselves. We are stationed here at the gateway of great kingdoms and Maluco is very near, where our holy faith will be exalted and your royal patrimony increased, for there is a natural fitness for it. ”

“ I have only spoken above of what occurs among the planters; for in large towns man is pretty much the same every where.
The Mamalucos are more frequently to be seen in the Sertam than upon the coast. They are handsomer than the mulattos; and the women of this cast particularly surpass in beauty all others of the country; they have the brown tint of mulattos, but their features are less blunt, and their hair is not curled. I do not think that the men can be said to possess more courage than the mulattos ”

“ As you know, these Mamelukes are the slaves of the beys in Egypt. I hope to have the good fortune to be purchased by a bey. I know all that is necessary to become the servant of a Mameluke."
"And what is necessary?" asked Mohammed, eagerly. "What is it that you know?"
"I can ride as well as the best of the horsemen of the grand-vizier. On a bare horse I can fly over the plains with the speed of a bird. I know how to handle the sword and the spear, and in the fastest gallop I can sever the head of a horse from his body. ”

“ Majapahit, originally only one of several Javan kingdoms, rapidly acquired strength and subjugated her neighbours and the nearest portions of the islands around. Malacca, formed when the Malay colony of Singapore was overwhelmed by Javanese, became the great commercial depot of the Straits and the chief centre of Mohammedanism in the Archipelago. The two powers therefore stood for two faiths and two cultures: Majapahit for Brahminism and Hindu influence, Malacca for Islam and the more practical civilisation of Arabia. ”

“ The mamelucho, as the gaucho of Tucuman is called, the horseman of the plains, with the help of his wife, who makes the greater part of his clothing, has almost everything he wants about him. He knows not, and therefore needs not, those comforts which become wants in less genial climes, and where civilization is more advanced. Free as the air he breathes, he gallops over boundless plains unfettered by the slightest restraint upon his own inclinations. ”

“ As to the second, we assert that the Malucos fall many degrees within their Majesties' demarcation. In verification of this assertion it is to be noted, that, since the sphere has a circumference of three hundred and sixty degrees, this number should, of necessity, correspond to the distance, demonstrated by the deputies of the King of Portugal, to be comprised between the meridian of the island of La Sal and the Malucos, plus our assertion of the distance westward to the same Malucos. ”

“ To find the last of the Mamelukes was an important step, for he would have the record of his race, and might direct the pilgrims to the mahdi, who was shortly expected.
Girzilla could help them in this, if she really possessed Mameluke blood, for she would know the signs and signals which bound together that most powerful body of men.
The Mamelukes were a brotherhood, having secret signs, and possessed of all the fraternal strength of the Free Masons.
That was the reason Sherif asked the question:
“What says Girzilla?”
The girl smiled, sadly.
[85]
“I am away from my people ”