FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 305 



lomateya, who was then reigning at Ternate, learned 

 from the Arabs how to build vessels, and, having pre- 

 pared a fleet, conquered the Sula Islands. The Arabs 

 and Javanese meantime made great exertions to con- 

 vert these people to Mohammedanism, and in a. d. 

 1460,"^ a little more than two centuries after it had 

 been introduced into Java, Mahum, the prince of Ter- 

 nate, became a Mohammedan " through the influence 

 of the Javanese." About this time Malays and Chi- 

 nese came from Banda to purchase cloves, which they 

 sold to Indian traders at Malacca. In 1512 Francisco 

 Serano, whose vessel struck on the Turtle Islands, 

 when returnino- with D'Abreu from Amboina and 

 Banda, induced the natives to assist him in getting 

 his ship afloat while the rest of the fleet were return- 

 ing to Malacca, and to pilot him to Ternate; and 

 thus he was the first European who reached the great 

 centre of the clove- trade. In 1521 the fleet of Magel- 

 lan anchored off Tidore, an island separated from 

 Ternate by only a narrow strait. 



Ferdinand Magellan, who organized this fleet, was 

 a Portuguese nobleman. He sailed, however, under 

 the patronage of Charles V. of Spain. On the 20th 

 of September, 1519, he left the port of St. Lucas with 

 " five small ships of from sixty to one hundred and 

 thirty tons," his object being to find sl western passage 

 to the Indies, particularly the Spice Islands. Coast- 



* Tliis date is corroborated by Pigafetta, who wrote iu 1521, and 

 remarks in regard to this point : " Hardly fifty years have ehipsed since 

 the Moors (Arabs) conqiioiX'd (converted) Malucco (the Mohiccas), and 

 dwelt there, Previonsly these islands were peopled with (4entiles (i. e., 

 heathen) only." 

 20 



