Note 345 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO (continued 3)
James Alexander Robertson translation
To this point the Italian MS. and MS. 5,650 agree approximately. The story of the battle in the latter MS., however, is much abridged and much less graphic. It is as follows: “They replied that they had bamboo spears and stakes burned and hardened in the fire, and that we could attack them when we wished. At daybreak, forty-nine of us leaped into the water, in the place whither we had thus gone, at a distance of more than three [sic] crossbow flights before we could reach shore, for the boats could not approach nearer because of the rocks and reefs which were in the water. Thus we reached land, and attacked them. They were arranged in three divisions, of more than one thousand five hundred persons. We shot many arrows at them from a distance, but it was in vain, for they received them on their shields. They leaped hither and thither in such a way that scarce could we wound one of them. On the other hand, our artillery in the boats was so far away from us that it could not aid us. Those people seeing that, and that the captain had had some of their houses burned in order to inspire them with terror, and having become more enraged, threw so many iron pointed spears at us, and shot so many arrows even at the captain himself that we could defend ourselves with difficulty. Finally, having been driven by them quite down to the shore, and while our captain was fighting bravely although wounded in the leg with an arrow, one of those Indians hurled a poisoned bamboo lance into his face which laid him stiff and dead. Then they pressed upon us so closely that we were forced to retire to our boats and to leave the dead body of the captain-general, with our other killed.” The eulogy on the dead commander is approximately the same in both MSS., except at the end, where MS. 5,650 reads: “Eight of our men died there with him, and four Indians, who had become Christians. Of the enemy fifteen were killed by the artillery of the ships, which had at last come to our aid, while many of us were wounded.”