Impressive as they were, these exchanges were a mere prelude. The excitement began when the prince escorted Pigafetta and several others to his raised hut. They climbed ladders and within found “four young girls were playing—one, on a drum like ours, but resting on the ground; the second was striking two suspended gongs alternately with a stick wrapped somewhat thickly at the end with a palm cloth; the third, one large gong in the same manner; and the fourth two small gongs held in her hand, by striking one against the other, which gave forth a sweet sound. They played so harmoniously that one would believe that they possessed good musical sense.”
The Europeans noticed more than musical ability; the girls were bare-breasted and extremely alluring. “Those girls were very beautiful and almost as white as our girls and as large. They were naked except for palm cloth hanging from the waist and reaching to the knees. Some were quite naked and had large holes in their ears with a small round piece of wood in the hole. . . . They have long black hair, and wear a short cloth about the head, and are always barefoot. The prince had three quite naked girls dance for us.” Reluctant to contradict Magellan’s prohibition against intercourse with native women until they converted to Christianity, Pigafetta refrains from describing the frolicking and lovemaking with the female musicians, but he leaves no doubt about the evening’s outcome.
All around them similar celebrations of European-Cebuan amity involving ordinary villagers and sailors were taking place that night. The one question is whether Magellan participated as well, but, given his restraint and self-denial throughout the voyage, it is unlikely that he yielded to the temptations of the flesh, even on this occasion.
When they returned to the ships that night, the four emissaries were greeted with sobering news: Two shipmates lay near death. The next morning, April 10, Martín Barreta, a passenger, succumbed to the lingering effects of the scurvy he had suffered during the ninety-eight days of the Pacific crossing. Hours later, Juan de Areche, a sailor, breathed his last.
In the morning, Pigafetta and Enrique returned to the island to make arrangements for Christian burials for both men, which meant consecrating a cemetery on Cebu, complete with a cross. The king, as accommodating as ever, said he wished to worship the cross as soon as it was erected. Magellan turned the occasion into a religious lesson for the islanders’ benefit. “The deceased was buried in the square with as much pomp as possible, in order to furnish a good example. Then we consecrated the place and in the evening buried another man.”
Pigafetta spent enough time on Cebu to become familiar with local burial customs, and was impressed by their sophistication and parallels to European practices. He found that women took the leading role in the rites, which started simply and then grew in power. “The deceased is placed in the middle of the house in a box. Ropes are placed about the box in the manner of a palisade, to which many branches of trees are attached. In the middle of each branch hangs a cotton cloth like a curtained canopy. The most principal women sit under those hangings, and are all covered with white cotton cloth, each one by a girl who fans her with a palm-leaf fan. The other women sit about the room sadly. Then there is one woman who cuts off the hair of the deceased very slowly with a knife. Another who was the principal wife of the deceased lies down upon him and places her mouth, her hands, and her feet upon those of the deceased. When the former is cutting off the hair, the latter weeps; and when the former has finished the cutting, the latter sings.” After five or six days of mourning, “They bury the body in the same box which is shut in a log by means of wooden nails and covered and enclosed by wooden logs.”
A few days later, Pigafetta confided to his diary that he, along with other men of the fleet, had been intimate with the women of Cebu. That was not surprising in itself; far more extraordinary were the bizarre sexual customs practiced by both sexes, especially palang, or genital stretching.
“The males, large and small, have their penis pierced from one side to the other near the head, with a gold or tin bolt as large as a goose quill,” Pigafetta observed, scarcely believing his eyes. “In both ends of the same bolt, some have what resembles a spur, with points upon the ends; others are like the head of a cart nail. I very often asked many, both old and young, to see their penis, because I could not credit it.” Fascinated by the devices, Pigafetta studied them closely. “In the middle of the bolt is a hole, through which they urinate. The bolt and spurs always hold firm.”
Pigafetta naturally wondered how the women of the island tolerated palang during sexual intercourse. Surely the bolts injured or hurt them. Not at all, the Cebuan men told him. “Their women wish it so, and said that if they did otherwise, they would not have communication with them.” And they proceeded to explain precisely how palang, in their experience, actually enhanced sexual gratification for both men and women. In the process, Pigafetta received a graphic lesson in the art of love, Cebuan style. “When the men wish to have communication with their women, the latter themselves take the penis not in the regular way and commence very gently to introduce it [into the vagina], with the spur on top first, and then the other part. When it is inside, it takes its regular position; and thus the penis always stays inside until it gets soft, for otherwise they could not pull it out.”
Palang was not confined to men. Women also used it, starting in infancy. “All of the women from six years and upward have their vaginas gradually opened because of the men’s penises,” he learned. Having sexual intercourse with palang prolonged the act; the bolts and spurs discouraged sudden movements; and it was believed to intensify the pleasurable sensations experienced by both sexes. One of the most difficult things for the Europeans to understand was that palang was intended to enhance female pleasure by stimulating a variety of sensations in the vagina. Intercourse using palang lasted as long as a day, or even more, as the two lovers remained locked in an embrace of passion.
Pigafetta’s clinical description contained enough detail to suggest that he observed the islanders having intercourse, and he came away both excited and dismayed by what he saw. “Those people make use of that device because they are of a weak nature,” he decided, equating weakness with pleasure-loving. He went on to explain that “they have as many wives as they wish, but one of them is the principal wife.” Both the practice of palang, with its emphasis on increasing pleasure, and polygamy, which Pigafetta associated with it, ran counter to Catholic teachings. For all these reasons, Pigafetta found palang disconcerting and, to prove his point, he insisted, “All the women loved us very much more than their own men,” presumably because the unadorned Europeans lacked the cumbersome accessories.
For the Armada de Molucca and the Spanish expeditions that followed, palang was just one of many unacceptable customs practiced by the islanders. It was said that the Filipino families of the ruling class resorted to infanticide by burying the victims or hurling them into the sea. Also, unmarried women regularly underwent abortions to make it easier to find a husband. Virginity was actually considered such a serious liability that “professional deflowerers” could be engaged to take care of the problem. The Filipinos emphasized female sexual pleasure, and women even had access to artificial penises to assuage their lust. The Spanish, especially the clergy who came after Magellan, were intent on eliminating the practice, which they felt was nearly as repugnant as palang itself.