fresh
provisions, but, except the two barren rocks they passed, none were
seen.

The needles of their compasses varied so much, and moved so irregularly,
that they were often compelled to quicken them with a touch of the
loadstone.

After crossing the equator and steering west, they at length arrived, on
the 6th of March, at a cluster of three fertile inhabited islands in
thirteen or fourteen degrees north latitude, just three months and
twenty days from the time of leaving the Straits.

Here they anchored. No sooner did the natives perceive them, than they
came off in their canoes, bringing cocoa-nuts, yams, and rice. They
were well-formed men, of an olive-brown colour, their teeth stained
black and red. Some of them wore long beards, and the hair of their
heads hung down to their waists. They were perfectly naked, their
bodies anointed with cocoa-nut oil, some of them wearing head-dresses
made from the leaves of the palm-tree. The women appeared to have some
idea of modesty, and wore coverings of cloth made from the bark of a
tree. Their hair was black and thick, reaching almost to the ground.
They appeared to be very industrious, and were seen employed in making
nets and mats from fibre. Their houses were built of timber, thatched
with large leaves, and divided into several apartments, the beds in
which were of palm mats piled one above another. Their only weapons
were clubs and long poles tipped with horn. Their canoes were formed of
planks sewn together with fibre, the stem and stern alike, and were
painted either black, white, or red. The sails, which were balanced by
outriggers, were made of broad leaves sewn together, and the rudder was
formed of a broad board at the end of a pole.

When the Spaniards went on shore, the natives received them in a
friendly way, but soon showed that they were of an especially thievish
disposition, pilfering everything on which they could lay hands, either
from those who landed, or when they themselves went on board the
vessels.

From this circumstance Magalhaens bestowed on the islands the name of
the Ladrones, or thieves. The voyagers, indeed, found it impossible to
enjoy any quiet, either while they were ashore or on land, as the
natives stood hovering about to pick up whatever they could find.

At length they stole one of the boats from the stern of the Admiral's
ship, on which, to punish them, he landed with a party of ninety men,
and marching up the countr