interesting account of the expedition. He describes a
Patagonian thus: "He was huge of body, and ugly. He was clad in a zebra
skin, and on his head he bore a plume made of ostrich feathers; [7] he
carried a bow, and on his feet had fastened some bits of leather." He
describes, briefly and graphically, the storms that scattered the
ships and caused the foundering of the "Santi Spiritus." Shortly after
entering the strait, "a pot of pitch took fire on the commander's
ship, and the ship began to burn, and little was lacking that we did
not burn in it, but by God's help, and the great care exercised,
we put out the fire." "We left the strait in the month of May,
five hundred and twenty-six [_sic_] [8]--the commander's ship,
two caravels, and the tender. A few days afterward we had a very
great storm, by the violence of which we were separated from one
another, and we never saw each other again.... In these adversities
died the accountant Tejada and the pilot Rodrigo Bermejo. On the
thirtieth of July died the captain-general Fray Garcia de Loaisa,
and by a secret provision of his majesty, Juan Sebastian del Cano
was sworn in as captain-general ... On the fourth of August ... died
Juan Sebastian del Cano, and the nephew of the commander Loaisa,
[9] who was accountant-general." When they reached the Ladrones "we
found here a Galician ... who was left behind in this island with
two companions from the ship of Espinosa; and, the other two dying,
he was left alive.... The Indians of these islands go about naked,
wearing no garments. They are well built men; they wear their hair
long, and their beards full. They possess no iron tools, performing
their work with stones. They have no other weapons than spears--some
with points hardened with fire, and some having heads made from the
shin bones of dead men, and from fish-bones. In these islands we took
eleven Indians to work the pump, because of the great number of sick
men in the ship." The trouble with the Portuguese in the Moluccas
is well narrated. Of the people of Java, Urdaneta says: "The people
of this island are very warlike and gluttonous. They possess much
bronze artillery, which they themselves cast. They have guns too,
as well as lances like ours, and well made." Others of their weapons
are named. Further details of negotiations with the Portuguese are
narrated, as well as various incidents of Urdaneta's homeward trip in
a Portuguese vessel by way of the Cape of Good Hope.