REMARKABLE FORESIGHT OF THE COURT OF ROME—A PAPAL BULL—FERDINAND MAGELLAN—HE OFFERS HIS SERVICES TO SPAIN—HIS PLANS—HIS FLEET—PIGAFETTA THE HISTORIAN—AN INAUSPICIOUS START—TENERIFFE AND ITS LEGENDS—ST. ELMO'S FIRE—THE CREW MAKE FAMOUS BARGAINS WITH THE CANNIBALS—HEAVY PRICE PAID FOR THE KING OF SPADES—PATAGONIAN GIANTS—PIGAFETTA'S EXAGGERATIONS—THE HEALING ART IN PATAGONIA—THE TRAGEDY OF PORT JULIAN—DISCOVERY OF A STRAIT—THE OPEN SEA—CAPE DESEADO—THE OCEAN NAMED PACIFIC—RAVAGES OF THE SCURVY—A PATAGONIAN PAUL—THE NEEDLE BECOMES LETHARGIC—DISCOVERY OF THE LADRONES—THE FIRST COCOANUT—A CATHOLIC CEREMONY UPON A PAGAN ISLAND.

The Pope of Rome, whose authority was at this period supreme among the princes who were in communion with the Church, now thought proper to anticipate a possible collision between Spain and Portugal, the two monopolists of commerce and discovery. He declared by a bull, or papal decree, that all new countries which should be thereafter discovered to the east of the Azores were to belong to the crown of Portugal, while all that were discovered to the west should be the property of Spain. Thus, a potentate who claimed to be infallible issued a decree based upon the pontifical conviction that the world was flat, even after the very solid arguments to the contrary of Columbus and da Gama. His Holiness, in his wisdom, imagined that one nation might sail to the right, the other to the left, and go on forever: he did not foresee, what was now almost palpable to every eye but that of Roman infallibility, that the Spaniards and the Portuguese would at last meet at the antipodes. There, in time, they did meet, and the very pretty dispute which arose in consequence we shall narrate in the sequel. But a more immediate effect of the decree was this:—a Spaniard, if he felt himself neglected or maltreated by his own sovereign, would offer his services to the Portuguese king, confident of employment at his hands, as the latter would thus weaken Spain and profit by discoveries made by her subjects. A Portuguese, if similarly aggrieved, would in the same way desert to the Spanish king and accept service from the Spanish crown.

It so happened that one FernÂo Magalhaens, known in English as Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese by birth, and who had served with distinction in the East Indies under Albuquerque, addressed himself to the court of Lisbon for the recompense which was his due. His application was treated with disdain. He forthwith withdrew to Spain with a learned man who had been similarly neglected, one Ruy Falero, an astronomer, whom the Portuguese regarded as a conjurer and charlatan. Magellan made overtures for new discoveries to Cardinal Ximenes, then Prime Minister of Spain, and in reality its ruler during the absence of Charles V. The Portuguese ambassador sought by every means in his power to baffle his designs, and demanded of the court that he and Falero should be given up as deserters. He even offered Magellan a reward if he would desist from his purpose, or, at least, execute it in the service of Portugal. But the cardinal listened with favor to the plan presented by Magellan, which was briefly as follows:

Columbus, who started upon his voyage to the west in order to reach the East Indies by a western route, had failed in his object, discovering instead an intermediate continent. Magellan now proposed to seek the Portuguese Moluccas, or Spice Islands, by sailing, if possible, from the Atlantic Ocean into the South Sea, discovered by Balboa five years before. His idea was to attempt to find a passage through the mainland of South America by the Rio de la Plata, or some other channel opening upon its eastern coast. Should this succeed, Spain would possess the East Indies as well as the West, since, if the Moluccas were discovered by way of the west, even though situated to the east, they would fall expressly within the allotment made by the late papal bull. Magellan thought the world was round, in defiance of the pontifical declaration that it was flat.

In accordance with this proposal, the Spanish crown agreed to equip a fleet of five vessels and to give the command of it to Magellan. It was furthermore agreed that he should have a twentieth part of the clear profit of the expedition, and that the government of any islands he might discover should be vested in him and his heirs forever, with the title of Adelantado. The five vessels were accordingly fitted out at Seville, Magellan's flag-ship being named the Trinidada. They were manned by two hundred and thirty-seven men, thirty of whom were able-bodied Portuguese seamen, upon whom Magellan principally relied. The astronomer Falero declined accompanying him, having, in his astrological calculations, foreseen that the voyage would be fatal to him. A certain San Martino, of Seville, who went in his stead, was, as will be seen, assassinated in his place at the island of Zubu. An Italian gentleman, named Pigafetta, was permitted by the cardinal to form part of Magellan's suite. He afterwards became the historian of the voyage.

The fleet set sail from Seville on the 10th of August, 1519, its departure being announced by a discharge of artillery. Seville is nearly one hundred miles from the sea, by the river Guadalquivir, the seaport of which is San Lucar, whence they finally departed on the 20th of September. It would be difficult to imagine circumstances more inauspicious than those under which Magellan left the shores of Europe. The course he was to follow was unexplored: so rash was the attempt considered, that he dared not communicate to his men the real object of the expedition. The season was already advanced, and he would in all probability arrive in high southern latitudes at the coldest period of the year. To the perils naturally incident to such a voyage was to be added the unfortunate fact that the commanders of the other four ships were Spaniards, and consequently inimical to Magellan, who, though in the service of Spain, was of Portuguese birth.

In six days the squadron reached Teneriffe; of this island Pigafetta relates several curious legends current at that time. It never rained there, he says, and there was neither river nor spring in the island. The leaves of a tree, however, which was constantly surrounded by a thick mist, distilled excellent water, which was collected in a pit at its foot, whither the inhabitants and wild beasts repaired to quench their thirst. Early in October the fleet passed between Cape Verd and its islands, and coasted along the shores of Guinea and Sierra Leone. Here they met with contrary winds, sharks, and dead calms. One dark night, during a violent tempest, the St. Elmo fire blazed for two hours upon their topmast. This, which is now known to be an effect of electricity, which the ancient idolaters believed to be Castor and Pollux, which Catholics in Magellan's time regarded as a saint, and which English sailors call Davy Jones, was a great consolation to the Portuguese during the storm. At the moment when it disappeared it diffused a light so resplendent that Pigafetta was almost blinded and gave himself up for lost; but, he adds, "the wind ceased momentaneously."

Passing the equinoctial line and losing sight of the polar star, Magellan steered south-southwest, and in the middle of December struck the coast of Brazil. His men made excellent bargains with the natives. For a small comb they obtained two geese; for a piece of glass, as much fish as would feed ten men; for a ribbon, a basket of potatoes,—a root then so little known that Pigafetta describes it as resembling a turnip in appearance and a roasted chestnut in taste. A pack of playing-cards was a fortune, for a sailor bought six fat chickens with the king of spades. The fleet remained thirteen days at anchor, and then pursued its way to the southward along the territory of the cannibals who had lately devoured de Solis. Stopping at an island in the mouth of a river sixty miles wide, they caught, in one hour, penguins sufficient for the whole five ships. Magellan anchored for the winter in a harbor found in south latitude 49° and called by him Port Julian. Two months elapsed before the country was discovered to be inhabited. At last a man of gigantic figure presented himself upon the shore, capering in the sands in a state of utter nudity, and violently casting dust upon his head. A sailor was sent ashore to make similar gestures, and the giant was thus easily led to the spot where Magellan had landed. The latter gave him cooked food to eat and presented him, incidentally, with a large steel mirror. The savage now saw his likeness for the first time, and started back in such fright that he knocked over four men. He and several of his companions, both men and women, subsequently went on board the ships, and constantly indicated by their gestures that they supposed the strangers to have descended from heaven. One of the savages became quite a favorite: he was taught to pronounce the name of Jesus and to repeat the Lord's prayer, and was even baptized by the name of John by the chaplain. This profession of Christianity did the poor pagan no good, for he soon disappeared,—murdered, doubtless, by his people, in consequence of his attachment to the foreigners.

The whole description given by Pigafetta of these savages, whom Magellan called Patagonians,—from words indicating the resemblance of their feet, when shod with the skin of the lama, to the feet of a bear,—is now known to be much exaggerated. It is certain that they were by no means so gigantic as he represented them. He adds that they drank half a pail of water at a draught, fed upon raw meat, and swallowed mice alive; that when they were sick and needed bleeding they gave a good chop with some edged tool to the part affected; when they wished to vomit they thrust an arrow half a yard down their throat. The headache was cured by a gash in the forehead.

A fearful tragedy was enacted in Port Julian. The four Spanish captains conspired to murder Magellan. The plot was discovered and the ringleaders were brought to trial. Two were hung, another was stabbed to the heart, while a number of their accomplices were left among the Patagonians. Magellan quitted Port Julian in August, 1520, having planted a cross on a neighboring mountain and taken solemn possession of the country in the name of the King of Spain. On the 14th of September, he discovered a fresh-water river, which he named Santa Cruz, in honor of the anniversary of the exaltation of the cross. Here the crew, by Magellan's order, made confession and received the holy communion.

On the 21st of October, Magellan made the great discovery which has immortalized his name. He reached a strait communicating between the Atlantic Ocean and the South Sea: consulting the calendar for a name, he called it in honor of the day, the Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. It is now Magellan's Strait. It was enclosed between lofty mountains covered with snow; the water was so deep that it afforded no anchorage. The crew were so fully persuaded that it possessed no western outlet, that, had it not been for Magellan's confidence and persistence, they would never have ventured to explore it. The strait was found to vary in breadth from one mile to ten, and to be four hundred and forty miles in length. During the first night spent in the strait, the Santo Antonio, piloted by one Emmanuel Gomez, who hated Magellan, found her way back into the Atlantic, and returned at once to Spain. The pilot's object was principally to be the first to tell the news of the discovery, and to carry to Europe a specimen of a Patagonian giant, one of whom he had on board of his vessel. On his way he stopped at Port Julian and took up two of the conspirators who had been abandoned there. The Patagonian was unable to bear the change of climate, and died of the heat on crossing the line.

One of Magellan's remaining four vessels was sent on in advance of the others to reconnoitre a cape which seemed to terminate the channel. The vessel returned, announcing that the strait indeed terminated at this cape and that beyond lay the open sea. "We wept for joy," says Pigafetta: "the cape was denominated Cabo Deseado,—Wished-for Cape,—for in good truth we had long wished to see it." The sight gave Magellan the most unbounded joy, for he was now able practically to demonstrate the truth of the theory he had advanced,—that it was possible to sail to the East Indies by way of the west. He now named the famous strait the Strait of the Patagonians, but a sense of justice induced the Europeans to change its name and to call it the Strait of Magellan. At every mile or two he found a safe harbor with excellent water, cedar-wood, sardines, and shell-fish, together with an abundance of sweet celery,—a specific against the scurvy.

On the 28th of November, the squadron, reduced to three ships by the loss of the Santiago, left the strait and launched into the Great South Sea, to which, from the steady and gentle winds that propelled them over waters almost unruffled, Magellan gave the name of Pacific,—a name which it has ever since retained. They sailed on and on during the space of three months and twenty days, seeing no land, with the exception of two sterile and deserted islands which they named the Unfortunate. During all this time they tasted no fresh provisions. Their biscuit was little better than dust and smelled intolerably, being impregnated with the effluvia of mice. The water was putrid and offensive. The crew were so far reduced that they were glad to eat leather, which they were obliged to soak for four or five days in the sea in order to render it sufficiently supple to be broiled, chewed, and digested. Others lived on sawdust, while mice were sought after with such avidity that they were sold for half a ducat apiece.

Scurvy now began to make its appearance, and nineteen of the sailors died of it. The gums of many were swollen over their teeth, so that, unable to masticate their leathern viands, they perished miserably of starvation. Those who remained alive became weak, low-spirited, and helpless. The Patagonian taken on board the Trinidada at Port Julian was attacked by the disease. Pigafetta, seeing that he could not recover, showed him the cross and reverently kissed it. The Patagonian besought him by gestures to forbear, as the demon would certainly enter his body and cause him to burst. When at death's door, however, he called for the cross, which he kissed: he then begged to be baptized, and was received into the bosom of the Church under the name of Paul.

The vessels kept on and on, seeing no fish but sharks, and finding no bottom along the shores of the stunted islands which they passed. The needle was so irregular in its motion that it required frequent passes of the loadstone to revive its energy. No prominent star appeared to serve as an Antarctic Polar guide. Two stars, however, were discovered, which, from the smallness of the circle they described in their diurnal course, seemed to be near the pole. "We traversed," says Pigafetta, "a space of from sixty to seventy leagues a day; and, if God and His Holy Mother had not granted us a fortunate voyage, we should all have perished of hunger in so vast a sea. I do not think any one for the future will venture upon a similar voyage." It was, indeed, nearly sixty years before Drake, the second circumnavigator, entered the Pacific Ocean.

Early in March, 1521, Magellan fell in with a cluster of islands, where he and his men went ashore to refresh themselves after the fatigues and privations of their voyage. The inhabitants, however, were great thieves, penetrating into the cabins of the vessels and taking every thing on which they could lay their hands. Magellan, exasperated at length, landed with forty men, burned a village and killed seven of the natives. The latter, when pierced with arrows through and through,—a weapon they had never seen before,—would draw them out by either end and stare at them till they died. Magellan gave the name of Ladrones to these islands,—a name which they retain in modern geography, though, in the time of Philip IV. of Spain, they were called the Marianne Isles, in honor of Maria, his queen.

At another island the crew received from the inhabitants the first present of cocoanuts made to a European of which any record exists. Pigafetta describes this now world-famous fruit in a manner which shows that he considered it a most wonderful novelty. We extract a portion of his description:—"Cocoanuts," he says, "are the fruit of a species of palm-tree, which furnishes the people with bread, wine, oil, vinegar, and physic. To obtain wine, they make an incision in the top of the tree, penetrating to the pith, from which drops a liquor resembling white must, but which is rather tart. This liquor is caught in the hollow of a reed the thickness of a man's leg, which is suspended to the tree and is carefully emptied twice a day. The fruit is of the size of a man's head, and sometimes larger. Its outward rind is green and two fingers thick: it is composed of filaments of which they make cordage for their boats. Beneath this is a shell harder and thicker than that of the walnut. This they burn and pulverize, using the powder as a remedy in several distempers. Within, the shell is lined with a white kernel about as thick as a finger, which is eaten, instead of bread, with meat and fish. In the centre of the nut, encircled by the kernel, a sweet and limpid liquor is found, of a corroborative nature. This liquor, poured into a glass and suffered to stand, assumes the consistence of an apple. The kernel and liquor, if left to ferment and afterwards boiled, yield an oil as thick as butter. To obtain vinegar, the liquor itself is exposed to the sun, and the acid which results from it resembles that vinegar we make from white wine. A family of ten persons might be supported from two cocoanut-trees, by alternately tapping each every week, and letting the other rest, that a perpetual drainage of liquor may not kill the tree. We were told that a cocoanut-tree lives a century."

At another island, Pigafetta asserts that, by sifting the earth he found lumps of gold as large as walnuts and some as big as eggs even, and that all the vessels used by the king at his table were of the same precious metal. These are believed to have been gross falsehoods of Pigafetta's invention, in a view to procure for himself the command of a subsequent voyage of discovery. Magellan gratified two island-kings with the spectacle of a grand Catholic ceremony. He sprinkled them with sweet-scented water, and offered them the cross to kiss. On the elevation of the host he caused them to adore the Eucharist with joined hands. At this moment a discharge of artillery, arranged beforehand, was fired from the ships. The entertainment concluded with a hornpipe and sword-dance,—an exhibition which seemed to please the two kings highly. A large cross was then brought, garnished with nails and a crown of thorns. It was set up upon a high mountain, as a signal to all Christian navigators that they would be well treated in the island. The kings were also assured that if they prayed to it devoutly it would defend them from lightning and tempests. They had evidently suffered severely from the vagaries and violence of the electric fluid, and were delighted to be thus easily protected against its pernicious and destructive influence.