Page:First Voyage Round the World.djvu/16

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iv
INTRODUCTION AND

fifty thousand ducats.[1] As late as 1535, Caspar Correa mentions, tom. iii, p. 661, a Dominican friar in Portuguese India, who was learned in cosmography, and who asserted that the Moluccas fell within the demarcation of Castile.

The grounds of complaint of the Portuguese against Magellan are, perhaps, best expressed, and in the strongest terms, by Bishop Osorio, so it may be well to quote from him the following passage. Lib. xi, § 23.

"About this time a slight offence on the part of the king (D. Manuel) so grievously exasperated the mind of a certain Portuguese, that, forgetful of all faith, piety, and religion, he hastened to betray the king who had educated him, and the country which had brought him forth; and he risked his life amongst the greatest perils. Ferdinand Magellan, of whom we have before spoken, was a man of noble birth, and endued with a high spirit. He had given proofs in India, in warlike affairs, of courage and perseverance in no small degree. Likewise in Africa he had performed his duties with great ardour. Formerly it was the custom among the Portuguese that the king's servants should be fed in the palace at the king's expense; but when the number of these servants had become so great (because the sons of the king's officers retained the same station, and besides, many were admitted for their services into the king's household), it was seen to be very difficult to prepare the food of such a multitude. On this account it was determined by the Kings of Portugal that the food which each man was to receive in the palace should be provided by himself out of the king's money. Thus it was settled that a certain sum of money was assigned per month to each man. That money, indeed,

  1. See Appendix V, pp. 392-396, to De Morga's Philippine Islands, Hakluyt Society, with respect to the negotiations about the Moluccas.