CH. vni. VOYAGES ROUND THE WORLD. 57 





 It remained like this till, on his return, he came back to 



the same place where it had changed, and then it passed 

 gradually back to its first position. From this he learnt 

 that, although the magnetic needle always points towards 

 the north, it varies a little in different parts of the world. 

 The reason of this is not even now clearly understood, and 

 we must content ourselves here with knowing that it is so. 



The next grand voyage of discovery was made by Vasco 

 de Gama, a Portuguese, who set sail July 9, 1497, to try 

 whether it was possible to sail round the south of Africa. 

 He succeeded, and during the voyage he could not help 

 remarking the new constellations or groups of stars, never 

 seen in Portugal, which appeared in the heavens. This 

 proved to him that the earth must certainly be a globe, for 

 if you were to sail for ever round a flat surface, you would 

 always have the same stars above your head. 



At last there came a third discoverer, Ferdinand Magellan 

 (or Magalhaens), of Spain, who set off August 10, 1519, 

 determined to sail right round the world. He steered 

 westward to South America, and discovered the Straits 

 which separate Terra del Fuego from the mainland, and 

 which were called after him the Straits of Magellan. Then 

 he sailed northwards, across the equator again, till he came 

 to the Ladrone Islands, where he was killed fighting a 

 battle to help the native king. Sebastian del Cano, his 

 lieutenant, then took the command of the ship, which 

 arrived safely back in the port of St. Lucar, near Seville 

 in Spain, on September 7, 1522. This ship, guided by 

 Magellan, was the first which ever sailed quite round the 

 world ; and all these voyages, proving that the earth is a 

 round globe, and bringing back accounts of new stars in 

 the heavens, set men thinking that there was much still to 

 be learnt about the universe. 



