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one of his ships, the Victoria, with a handful of men, returned 

 to Spain, after a voyage lasting three years, having been (lie 

 first to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan's voyage was 

 prompted by the desire of Spain to find a way to the Moluccas 

 on the west, with the object of disputing the claims of Portugal, 

 and wresting from her the spice trade. With a similar object, 

 the Spanish Viceroys of Mexico and Peru despatched various 

 expeditions to the Moluccas. In one of these voyages, in 

 15*28, Saavedra, sent out by Cortez, sighted New Guinea, 

 which had previously been seen by the Portuguese. In 

 1564 the Philippines were colonised by the Spaniards. In 

 another voyage, in 1568, Mendana discovered the Solomons, 

 and brought to Peru such a glowing account of their wealth 

 that in 1595 he was despatched with a fleet to found a settle- 

 ment there. He failed, however, to find the islands, and 

 unsuccessfully attempted to plant a colony on Santa Cruz. 

 Fernandez de Quiros, his pilot on this voyage, was firmly 

 persuaded that here at last was the great Terra Anstralis. 

 He petitioned the King of Spain to be allowed to colonize it, 

 and in his memorial " it is soberly affirmed to be a terrestrial 

 paradise for wealth and pleasures." He declares that the 

 country abounds in fruits and animals, in silver and pearls, 

 probably also in gold, and is nothing inferior to Guinea in the 

 land of Negroes. In 1605 Quiros set out from Peru with a 

 powerful fleet to settle a plantation in the southern paradise. 

 On a large island which lie discovered, and which he took to 

 be a part of the Southern Continent, and named Australia del 

 Espiritu Santo — it is in fact one of the New Hebrides — he 

 founded the short-lived and unfortunate town of New 

 Jerusalem. One of his companions, Luis Paz de Torres, 

 separated from the fleet and steered westward, sailing 

 through the strait which now bears liis name, and skirting 

 the south coast of New Guinea. The first English- 

 man to enter the Pacific was Sir Francis Drake. In his 

 "Famous Voyage" in 1577 he stole through Magellan 

 Strait, fell upon and plundered the Spanish settlements in 

 Peru, and, following in Magellan's track across the South Sea, 

 made the Moluccas, and returned to England laden with booty. 

 In the latter part of the 16th and early part of the 17th 

 centuries several Dutch navigators accomplished similar 

 circumnavigations. All these expeditions crossed the Pacific 

 near the equator, and though they discovered islands they 

 threw no light on the problem of the Terra Anstralis. More 

 important was the voyage of the Dutch navigators Le Maire 

 and Schouten in 1616. They found a new passage into the 

 South Sea, between Tierra del Fuego and Statenland. Sailing 

 through this Strait of Le Maire they reached the open ocean, 



