NOTICES OF EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE, WITH BORNEO. 501 
at Banda in waiting for the monsoons. And as Don Jorge was the 
first Portuguese that had navigated in those parts, we will give the 
particulars of his voyage.* Don Jorge leaving Malacca with Moorish 
[Malay] pilots, who were acquainted with that route, and coasting’ 
along, entered the Strait of Singapura, which is about the breadth 
of a gun shot,'j' and so shallow that in many places it has not more 
than 6 fathoms water, and a great many reefs which extend one to 
another. There he found that the land had so many elbows that it 
was necessary to use great caution in navigating it. Arriving at an 
island called Pedra Branco, which is much looked for by the pilots of 
those parts, he then steered for an island, which the natives call Pulo- 
gaia [Pulo Gaja] which signifies Elephant Island, the figure of which 
animal it represents. Proceeding from this to many other islands 
which abound in these seas, he arrived at Borneo at the port of the 
city, which is in 5 degrees N. lat. After sending presents to the 
king, and the king to him, he steered between many islands and reefs 
which lie on the coast of Borneo in 7 degrees, and are very dangerous, 
—admitting navigation only by day, with a man in the top looking out 
for shoals, which are not otherwise discernable than by the colour of 
the water. He arrived at St. Michael, which the natives call Cu- 
guahoa, and passed the island of Mindanao, and went between it and 
the island of Taguima, which is on the other side of the channel, 
which Don Jorge kept to avoid the dangers.”^ 
After arriving at the Maluecas Menezes resolved to improve his 
discovery of Brand. His first attempt to open an intercourse with 
it w'as rendered abortive in a strange*and unexpected manner. In 
1527, he sent Vasco Lourenso to examine the country more closely 
and establish a trade.§ Lourenso visited the king, and asked per- 
* 44 Diago do Conto dec. 4 liv. 4. cap, 2, says, that the first that attempted 
to discover this route from Malacca to Maluco via Borneo was Antonio de 
Abreu in the year 1523 by order of Antonio de Birto Captain of Maluco, 
which said Antonio de Abreu, after sailing many days lost amongst those 
islands, put back to Maluco without finishing his voyage.” 
-j- Berco, [cradle) a kind of gun used in former times. This strait is 
probably the narrow one behind the island of Singapore, now called by us 
the Old Strait [by the Malays Salat Tdmbro.') 
i Da Asia. Dec. 4. Part I. p. 101. Don Jorge arrived at Ternate eight 
months after leaving Malacca. 
§ Asia Portugueza. (Kerr’s collection, vol. vi* p.SOT.j In Harris’s 
