68 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



Spice Islands on the one hand, from India, Persia, Arabia 

 and Egypt, and the Mediterranean on the other. The 

 conquest of Malacca, Albuquerque believed, would prove 

 the ruin of Mecca and Cairo, and would give to Portugal 

 exclusive control of the trade of the furthest East. From 

 Malacca he sent envoys to Canton, to Siam, to Cochin 

 China, to Tongking, to Pegu, to Sumatra, and to Java. 

 And an expedition was immediately equipped for the 

 exploration of the Spice Islands. 



The island This expedition is of great interest in our story. It was 

 voyage c nQ ^Q^^ j^e direct result of information received by the 

 Portuguese from our Italian traveller, Ludovico di Var- 

 thema. On his return to India, after his visit to the Spice 

 Islands and Java, he had joined the Portuguese in Calicut, 

 just in time to witness the great victory of 1506 over the 

 Arabian fleet, which seemed, he says, "like some huge forest, 

 from the great masts of the ships. Never have I seen braver 

 men than these Portuguese." No doubt he told them of 

 Molucca and its cloves, of Banda and its nutmegs, of the 

 great and rich island of Java, and of the report of voyages 

 to some far distant land in the South. The conquest of 

 Malacca, the gate through which passed the spice trade, was 

 immediately followed by this expedition in search of the 

 Spice Islands themselves (December 1511). It consisted 

 of three ships. The names of two of the captains were 

 d'Abreu and Francisco Serrano. According to some con-, 

 temporary statements, the name of the third was Ferdinand 

 Magellan, who had " given a very good account of himself " 

 at the capture of Malacca. On the whole, these statements 

 seem untrustworthy ; 1 but it is a point of importance in our 

 story that Francisco Serrano and Ferdinand Magellan had 

 fought side by side and were very intimate friends. 



The story of the voyage is told by Antonio Galvano, a 

 Portuguese writer of very high character, who went to 

 India in 1527, and was for six years Governor and Apostle 

 of the Moluccas. In the three ships, he writes, 2 sailed only 

 one hundred and twenty men ; " not more went to discover 

 New Spain with Columbus, nor India with Gama; nor, in 

 1 Guillemard, p. 69. 2 Galvano, p. 115. 



