th a great number
of men, in a scandalous attempt to rob the sepulchres of the kings of
that country of a great quantity of gold they were said to contain.
Antonio was now left by Albuquerque in the command of the new fort of
Pisang, with three ships which were afterwards of great service against
a Moor who infested the coast. On his return to Malacca, of which he had
the command, Albuquerque prepared to make war upon the king of Bintang.
That island, about 40 leagues from Malacca, is forty leagues in
circumference, having two strong castles, and its rivers staked to
prevent the access of ships, so that it was considered as almost
impregnable. Albuquerque went from Malacca with 18 vessels and 600 men,
and finding it impossible to get his ships up, he endeavoured to land
his men from boats to attack one of the forts; but the water being up to
their middles, and the enemy making a brave resistance, they were forced
to retire after losing twenty men, besides a great number wounded.

In the same year 1521, Antonio de Brito sailed for the Molucca islands.
These islands are in the middle of a great number of others under the
equator, about 300 leagues east from Malacca. There are five principal
islands to which the general name of Moluccas is applied, about 25
leagues distant from each other, the largest not exceeding six leagues
in circumference. The particular names of these are _Ternate_, _Tidore_,
_Mousell_, _Macquein_ and _Bacham_[154]. They are covered with woods and
subject to fogs, and are consequently unhealthy. These five islands
produce cloves, but no kind of food; and the large island of
_Batochina_, which is 60 leagues long, produces food but no cloves. In
some of these islands, particularly Ternate, there are burning
mountains. Their chief subsistence is of a kind of meal made from the
bark of certain trees resembling the palm[155]. There are certain canes
that have a liquor in their hollows between the joints, which is
delightful to drink. Though the country abounds in animals, the natives
eat very little flesh, but live chiefly on fish which their seas produce
inexhaustibly. They are very warlike and by no means affable, and are
most expert both in running and swimming. Their religion is idolatrous,
but we have no account whatever respecting their original. The Moors had
possessed themselves of this country not long before the coming of the
Portuguese, as a Mahometan priest who had come along with the first of