Filipino swords and axes in the 13th Century?

[migueldiaz]

I found another source material though it's not quite 13th century.

Below is an excerpt from Giovanni B. Ramusio's Delle Navigationi et Viaggi (Venice 1554, 2nd edition), Vol. 1, fol. 375-v.

I was planning to buy a copy but I thought that my wife will hack me to pieces if she finds out the price (anywhere from Usd 48,000 to 65,000!).

So here's the geographer's description of Mindanao, and note the blade weapons mentioned:

"This island is very large: after circumnavigating it, we found it was 2,200 kilometers around, and extends mainly east and west ... It is inhabited by many and varied people: there are Moros, gentiles, and different kings and lords who wear certain clothes without sleeves, short, like marlottas which they call patolas, and the rich have them of silk like tafetta, and the other people of cotton and in different styles. They have many offensive arms of iron and steel, such as scimitars, daggers, and spears: and defensive arms they make of animal hide, which is tougher and stronger than that of Anta. In a certain part of the island which the Moros rule over, there is small artillery. There are pigs, deer, and buffalos in that island, and other animals of the chase, and Castillan chickens, and rice and palms and coconuts ..."

The 'small artillery' for sure refers to the lantaka.

The interesting word to research further however would be 'scimitar'.

So the question is, would anybody know what it says in the original text?

Hope somebody can take a peek at an original copy of this publication