The Travels of Mendes Pinto

Front Cover
University of Chicago Press, 1989 - History - 663 pages
This text, ostensibly the autobiography of Portugese explorer Fernão Mendes Pinto, came second only to Marco Polo's work in exciting Europe's imagination of the Orient. Chronicling adventures from Ethiopia to Japan, Travels covers twenty years of Mendes Pinto's odyssey as a soldier, a merchant, a diplomat, a slave, a pirate, and a missionary, and continues to overwhelm questions about its source with the sheer enjoyment of its narrative.

"[T]here is plenty here for the modern reader. . . . The vivid descriptions of swashbuckling military campaigns and exotic locations make this a great adventure story. . . . Mendes Pinto may have been a sensitive eyewitness, or a great liar, or a brilliant satirist, but he was certainly more than a simple storyteller."—Stuart Schwartz, The New York Times
 

Contents

List of Illustrations
ix
Acknowledgments
xi
Introduction
xv
Europe under Charles V
xvi
Flowering of the Renaissance
xvii
Spain under Philip II
xix
Portugal under Manuel I and John III
xxi
Publication History of the Book
xxiii
The Great Wall of China
185
The Submerged City
187
Business and Trade Practices in China
191
The Floating Cities of China
194
More about the Wonders of China
197
Arrival in Peking
200
IOI A Favorable Ruling
202
Of Judges and Influence
204

Translations
xxviii
Summary of the Text
xxx
Influences
xxxiv
The Historical Author
xxxvi
Satire and the Fictive Author
xxxix
A Note on the Translation
xlv
The Early Years I
1
The Passage to India
3
A Renegade in the Red Sea
4
The Land of Prester John
6
Captive in Mocha
8
On the Slave Block
9
The Siege of Diu
12
Impressment at Sea
13
The Queen of Honowar
14
Defeat at Honowar
15
The Queens Treachery
17
Departure for Malacca
18
The Battak Envoy
20
Through the Jungles of Sumatra
22
At the Court of the Battak
24
Observing the Battak at War
26
The Battak Army in Retreat
27
The Battaks Warning
29
A Malay Tyrant
31
The Elusive Isle of Gold
34
The Ambassador from Aaru
36
The Aaru on the Eve of War
38
Shipwrecked off the Island of Sumatra
40
Captive in Siak
42
Back in Malacca
44
The Achinese Threat to Portuguese Power
45
The Death of the King of Aaru
47
The Queen of Aaru Seeks Revenge
49
The Queen of Aaru in Malacca
50
The Queen of Aaru Departs in Anger
51
Jantana Lays Claim to Aaru
53
Jantana and Achin at War
55
Rescue at Sea
57
Tomé Lobo in Danger
59
Murder of the King of Pahang
60
Disaster in the Harbor of Lugor
62
Lady of the Swamp
65
Antonio de Faria Swears Vengeance
66
In Search of Khoja Hassim
68
Pirates off the Coast of Champa
69
Exploring Champa
72
Night Raid off Hainan Island
74
The Armenians Story
76
Gathering Information in Hainan
80
Encounter with a Chinese Pirate
81
The Unlucky Bride
85
No Word of the Lord
87
Problems Unloading the Cargo
90
Victory in the Madel River
91
The Corsairs Confession
93
King of the Sea
95
Shipwreck off the Isle of Thieves
98
Marooned
99
A Precocious Child
101
Partners in Piracy
104
News of Khoja Hassim
106
Preparations for the Attack
109
A Glorious Victory III
111
After the Battle
113
The Storms Ravages
117
The Prisoners of Nouday
119
The Mandarins Reply
121
The Sack of Nouday
123
Pirates at the Gates of Ningpo
125
A Message from Ningpo
127
Antonio de Farias Reception in Ningpo
129
The Vicar of Ningpo
132
A Banquet in Honor of Antonio de Faria
133
The Voyage to Calempluy
135
A Doubtful Course
138
Of Men and Beasts
140
Similau Disappears
142
The Fabulous Isle of Calempluy
144
Desecration of the Tombs
146
The Old Hermit of Calempluy
148
The Hermit Spreads the Alarm
150
Antonio de Faria Meets His
152
Castaways in China
153
The Wayside Shelter
155
Thrown to the Leeches
157
Arrested in Taypor
162
Transferred to Nanking
163
Legal Aid for the Poor
165
A Letter of Recommendation
167
The City of Nanking
169
The Pagoda of Pocasser
171
The Great Albuquerque Defamed
175
Inez de Leiria
177
The Legend of Nancá
180
The Child Prophet
182
The Founding of Peking
183
Sentenced to Hard Labor
206
The Kindly Captain of Quansy
211
The Splendors of Peking
212
Chinese Banqueting Houses
215
Sightseeing in Peking
218
Prison of the Outcasts
220
Treasure House of the Dead
223
The Shrine of the Queen of Heaven
225
The Shrine of the 113 Kings
228
Social Welfare in China
230
Provisions against Famine
232
Farewell to Peking
233
IIS A Point of Honor
236
Calvo
238
The Tartar Invasion
241
Jorge Mendes Takes a Chance
243
A Portuguese Hero among the Tartars
245
On to Peking with the Tartars
248
Summoned in Audience
250
The Tartar King
252
The Tartars Lift the Siege
255
At the Tartar Court
256
Jorge Mendes Stays Behind
257
Departure from Tartary
259
A Heathen Pope
261
En Route to Cochinchina
265
Death on the Suicide Pyre
267
The Tartar Ambassador at the Court of Cochin
268
The Cochinese King Returns in Triumph
271
The Discovery of Japan
272
The Inquisitive Prince of Tanegashima
274
How Firearms Came to Japan
276
The King of Bungo
278
A Shooting Accident
282
The Princes Recovery
285
Shipwreck off the Ryukyu Islands
288
Arrested for Piracy
289
Under Sentence of Death
291
The Compassionate Women of the Ryukyus
294
The Dowager Queen of the Ryukyus
296
A Brief Description of the Ryukyu Islands
299
Mission to Martaban
301
The Pathetic Little King
303
A Throne of Straw
305
Arrival in Martaban
310
The Siege of Martaban
311
Martaban Capitulates
314
The Surrender Ceremony
318
The Sack of Martaban
321
The Burmese Tyrants Revenge
323
Betrayed by a Portuguese Nobleman
325
The Burmese Attack Prome
328
The Fall of Prome
331
The Fall of Meleitay
333
New Military Alliances
335
Journey to the Land of the Calaminhan
337
The Pagoda of Tinagogo
338
The Festival of Xipatilau
341
The Frightful Penitents of Tinagogo
344
Encounter with a Portuguese Woman
348
At the Palace of the Calaminhan
352
News of the Redeemer
356
A Brief Description of the Calaminhans Empire
361
Strange Races and Places
364
Funeral Rites for the Holy Rolim
366
Election of the New Rolim
370
The New Rolim Ascends the Holy Throne
375
Escape from Burmese Captivity
378
Back in Goa
380
The Ambassadress from Java
382
The Javanese Lay Siege to Pasuruan
384
The Amucks Sally Forth
386
The Pasuruans Attack Again
387
A Portuguese Renegade
389
A Young Assassin
391
Anarchy in Demak
393
Struggle over a Life Raft
395
Ransomed from Slavery
397
Portuguese Mercenaries in Siam
399
The King of Siam Poisoned by the Queen
401
The Good King of Siam
404
The Queen and Her Lover Usurp the Throne
408
The Burmese Invade Siam
411
Rebellion in Pegu
417
The Abominable Crime of Diogo
425
The Burmese Recapture Pegu
432
The Xemindó Captured
439
The Second Voyage to Japan
445
Two Japanese Passengers Taken
451
Repairing the Fleet
457
Victory in the Perlis River
463
An Invitation from the King
471
Embassy to the King of Bungo
517
Currency
643
SixteenthCentury Ships and Other
647
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 653 - RELIGION IN CHINA; containing a brief Account of the Three Religions of the Chinese ; with Observations on the Prospects of Christian Conversion amongst that People.

Bibliographic information