|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 29
and as they sailed month after month over the waste of waters, the
huge size of our planet began to make itself felt. Until after the
middle of December they kept a northward course, near the coast of the
continent, running away from the antarctic cold. Then northwesterly
and westerly courses were taken, and on the 24th of January, 1521, a
small wooded islet was found in water where the longest plummet-lines
failed to reach bottom. Already the voyage since issuing from the
strait was nearly twice as long as that of Columbus in 1492 from the
Canaries to Guanahani. From the useless island, which they called San
Pablo, a further run of eleven days brought them to another
uninhabited rock, which they called Tiburones, from the quantity of
sharks observed in the neighborhood. There was neither food, nor water
to be had there, and a voyage of unknown duration, in reality not less
than 5,000 English miles, was yet to be accomplished before a trace of
land was again to greet their yearning gaze. Their sufferings may best
be told in the quaint and touching words in which Shakespeare read
them:
"And hauynge in this tyme consumed all theyr bysket and other
vyttayles, they fell into such necessitie that they were inforced to
eate the pouder that remayned therof beinge now full of woormes....
Theyre freshe water was also putrifyed and become yelow. They dyd eate
skynnes and pieces of lether which were foulded abowt certeyne great
ropes of the shyps. But these skynnes being made verye harde by reason
of the soonne, rayne, and wynde, they hunge them by a corde in the sea
for the space of foure or fiue dayse to mollifie them, and sodde them,
and eate them. By reason of this famen and vnclene feedynge, summe of
theyr gummes grewe so ouer theyr teethe [a symptom of scurvy], that
they dyed miserably for hunger. And by this occasion dyed xix. men,
and ... besyde these that dyed, xxv. or xxx. were so sicke that they
were not able to doo any seruice with theyr handes or arms for
feeblenesse: So that was in maner none without sum disease. In three
monethes and xx. dayes, they sayled foure thousande leaques in one
goulfe by the sayde sea cauled Paciflcum (that is) peaceable, whiche
may well bee so cauled forasmuch as in all this tyme hauyng no syght
of any lande, they had no misfortune of wynde or any other tempest....
So that in fine, if god of his mercy had not gyuen them good wether,
it was necessary that in this soo greate a sea they shuld all haue
dyed for hunger. Whiche neuertheless they escaped soo hardely, that it
may bee doubted whether euer the like viage may be attempted with so
goode successe."
One would gladly know--albeit Pigafetta's journal and the still more
laconic pilot's logbook leave us in the dark on this point--how the
ignorant and suffering crews interpreted this everlasting stretch of
sea, vaster, said Maximilian Transylvanus, "than the human mind could
conceive." To them it may well have seemed that the theory of a round
and limited earth was wrong after all, and that their infatuated
commander was leading them out into the fathomless abysses of space,
with no welcoming shore beyond. But that heart of triple bronze, we
may be sure, did not flinch. The situation had got beyond the point
where mutiny could be suggested as a remedy. The very desperateness of
it was all in Magellan's favor; for so far away had they come from the
known world that retreat meant certain death. The only chance of
escape lay in pressing forward. At last, on the 6th of March, they
came upon islands inhabited by savages ignorant of the bow and arrow,
but expert in handling their peculiar light boats. Here the dreadful
sufferings were ended, for they found plenty of fruit and fresh
vegetables, besides meat. The people were such eager and pertinacious
thieves that their islands received the name by which they are still
known, the Islas de Ladrones, or isles of robbers.
On the 16th of March the three ships arrived at the islands which some
years afterward were named Philippines, after Philip II of Spain. Tho
these were islands unvisited by Europeans, yet Asiatic traders from
Siam and Sumatra, as well as from China, were to be met there, and it
was thus not long before Magellan became aware of the greatness of his
triumph. He had passed the meridian of the Moluccas, and knew that
these islands lay to the southward within an easy sail. He had
accomplished the circumnavigation of the earth through its unknown
portion, and the remainder of his route lay through seas already
traversed. An erroneous calculation of longitudes confirmed him in the
belief that the Moluccas, as well as the Philippines, properly
belonged to Spain. Meanwhile in these Philippines of themselves he had
discovered a region of no small commercial importance. But his brief
tarry in these interesting islands had fatal results; and in the very
hour of victory the conqueror perished, slain in a fight with the
natives, the reason of which we can understand only by considering the
close complication of commercial and political interests with
religious notions so common in that age....
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|