Antonio Pigafetta Discovers the Coconut
Antonio Pigafetta’s account of the Magellan-Elcano expedition gives us both first-hand historical detail and color — the human aspects of the journey.
The Italian scholar learned all he could about the cultures that Magellan’s fleet encountered, even sitting down and recording samples of languages.
An example of Pigafetta’s curiosity is his description of the coconut and the palm tree, which he learned about soon after the fleet’s arrival in the Philippines. Like the pineapple Magellan tried in Rio, the coconut was an unknown.
“Cocoanuts are the fruit of the palmtree. Just as we have bread, wine, oil, and milk, so those people get everything from that tree.
“They get wine in the following manner. They bore a hole into the heart of the said palm at the top called palmito [i.e., stalk], from which distils a liquor which resembles white must. That liquor is sweet but somewhat tart, and [is gathered] in canes [of bamboo] as thick as the leg and thicker. They fasten the bamboo to the tree at evening for the morning, and in the morning for the evening.
“That palm bears a fruit, namely, the cocoanut, which is as large as the head or thereabouts. Its outside husk is green and thicker than two fingers. Certain filaments are found in that husk, whence is made cord for binding together their boats.
“Under that husk there is a hard shell, much thicker than the shell of the walnut, which they burn and make therefrom a powder that is useful to them.
“Under that shell there is a white marrowy substance one finger in thickness, which they eat fresh with meat and fish as we do bread; and it has a taste resembling the almond. It could be dried and made into bread.
“There is a clear, sweet water in the middle of that marrowy substance which is very refreshing. When that water stands for a while after having been collected, it congeals and becomes like an apple.
“When the natives wish to make oil, they take that cocoanut, and allow the marrowy substance and the water to putrefy. Then they boil it and it becomes oil like butter.
“When they wish to make vinegar, they allow only the water to putrefy, and then place it in the sun, and a vinegar results like [that made from] white wine.
“Milk can also be made from it for we made some. We scraped that marrowy substance and then mixed the scrapings with its own water which we strained through a cloth, and so obtained milk like goat’s milk.
“Those palms resemble date-palms, but although not smooth they are less knotty than the latter.
“A family of ten persons can be supported on two trees, by utilizing them week about for the wine; for if they did otherwise, the trees would dry up. They last a century.”
To see Pigafetta’s entire journal, check EnriqueOfMalacca.com’s Resources page, which includes links to two important English translations of the journal, both free and in multiple digital formats. Available also are links to other online resources on the Magellan-Elcano expedition.
Image: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0.
© 2021 by John Sailors. All rights reserved.
See Also:
Enrique of Malacca Completes First Circumnavigation — by Language
On March 28, 1521, Enrique of Malacca became the first person to complete a linguistic circumnavigation of the globe — he traveled so far in one direction that he reached a point where his language was spoken. Enrique’s journey began a decade earlier following the sack of Malacca, when he became a slave of Ferdinand Magellan. A teenager, he accompanied Magellan back to Portugal, then to Spain, and finally on the Armada de Molucca to locate a westward route to the Spice Islands. Read more:
