magellan monday

(Okay. It’s not technically Monday, but I’m not staying up til midnight to post this and I don’t know how to fudge the date, so bleeah. It’s Monday! It IS!!)

And now, no segue.

Soooo ….. (actually, “soooo” is a perfectly appropriate segue, in my opinion) … more from the Magellan book I’m reading: Over the Edge of the World, by Laurence Bergreen.

Well, the whole mutiny thing I mentioned here has already happened — at least the attempt — and the ships have only been at sea for about 2 months. In a surprising turn, it was led by the inexperienced, disgruntled fellow who’d been granted equal status to Magellan’s by the Head of the Spanish House of Commerce. Magellan was prepared so the attempt failed, but I have a feeling much worse things are a’comin’. Turns out, though, King Charles never intended for this man, Cartagena, and Magellan to share power. But, you see, Cartagena was the illegitimate son of the Head of the House of Commerce and the House’s purposes were served by removing Magellan’s partner — a Portuguese — and replacing him with Cartagena, a Spaniard, who, along with a few other key Spaniards on board, was given final say over the disposition of the fleet, its resources, and its proceeds. Yowsa, Magellan. At this point, Cartagena’s been labeled a mutineer and stripped of his command, but he’s still there, obviously, and still has influence with the crew members and hasn’t magically become experienced or gruntled.

Raise your hand if you think this does not bode well?

The ship stopped in Rio de Janeiro where the crew — uh, made nice with the naked native ladies and Magellan traded with the men:

He took on fresh supplies of water and provision, trading insignificant trinkets, such as tiny bells that he had brought with him from Seville, for precious food. “The people of this place gave for a knife or fishhook five or six fowls and for a comb, a brace of geese,” Pigafetta (the ship’s diarist) wrote. “For a small mirror or a pair of scissors, they gave as many fish as ten men could have eaten. For a bell or a leather lace, they gave us a basketful of fruit. And for a king of playing cards, of the kind used in Italy, they gave me five fowls and even thought they cheated me.”

This bit is fascinating to me — what each culture valued, how they took advantage of one another. Here’s another excerpt from their time ashore in Rio:

“One day, a beautiful woman came to the flagship, where I was,” Pigafetta wrote, “for no other reason than to seek what chance might offer. While there and waiting, she cast her eyes upon the master’s room and saw a nail longer than one finger. Picking it up very delightedly and neatly, she thrust it between the lips of her vagina, and bending down low, immediately departed, the Captain General (Magellan) and I having seen the action.”

The reason for the astonishing behavior was the great value the natives placed on metal objects such as nails, hammers, hooks, and mirrors, all of which were considered to be more valuable than gold, more valuable, perhaps, than life itself.

Um, owie owie owie owie owie owie OWIE!!!

I’ve read that several times now and I cross my legs every damn time.

One final note for Magellan Monday:

Seems one sailor was found sodomizing one of the young boys on board. Spanish law at the time set the punishment at death — death by strangulation. So tie a rope around his neck and throw him overboard, right? I mean, that seems expeditious, right? So of course, that’s what they’d do, right?? Nope.

On the appointed date of execution, one of the sailors — hooded, to protect his identity — just hands-on strangled the offender in full view of the other men, as a warning.

I’m telling you, I can’t keep reading with my heart racing and my eyes bugging out and my legs crossed real tight.

It’s very uncomfy.