WALKING LEAVES. 



253 



wise accorded, which took place with every possible ceremony, — . 

 processions of elephants, presents of cinnamon, and illumina- 

 tions of wax flambeaux. Notwithstanding these professions of 

 friendship, the squadron was obliged to leave Borneo very sud- 

 denly, in consequence of the appearance of one hundred armed 

 canoes, which they imagined to be bent upon a hostile expedition. 



Among the wonders of Borneo, Pigafetta mentions two pearls 

 as large as hens' eggs, and so round that if placed upon a 

 polished table they never remained at rest, and cups of porce- 

 lain possessing the power to denote the presence of poison, by 

 breaking if any were put into them. At a neighboring island 

 where the fleet remained undergoing repairs for six weeks, 

 Pigafetta saw a sight which he thus describes : — "We here found 

 a tree whose leaves, as they fall, become animated and walk 

 about. They resemble the leaves of the mulberry-tree. Upon 

 being touched they make away, but when crushed they yield no 

 blood. I kept one in a box for nine days, and, on opening the 

 box, found the leaf still alive and walking round it. I am of 

 opinion they live on air." Pigafetta's mistake here was in 

 stating that a leaf resembled an insect : he should have spoken 

 of the curiosity as an insect resembling a leaf. It is now known 

 to naturalists as a species of locust. 



On the 6th of "November, they espied a cluster of five 

 islands, which their pilots, obtained at their last station, declared 

 to be the famous Moluccas. They had therefore proved the 

 world to be round, for vessels sailing to the west fro:zi Spain 

 had now met vessels sailing thence to the east. They returned 

 thanks to God, and fired a round from their great guns. They 

 had been at sea twenty-six months, and had at last, after 

 visiting an infinity of islands, reached those in quest of which 

 they had embarked in the expedition. On the 8th, three hours 

 before sunset, they entered the harbor of the island of Tidore. 

 They came to anchor in twenty'fathoms' water, and discharged 

 all their cannon. The king, shaded by a parasol of silk, came 



