OCEANIC EXPLORATION. 7 



no less than ten thousand miles, touching only at two uninhabited islets to the 

 east of the yet undiscovered Low Archipelago, thus avoiding all the innumerable 

 clusters strewn over the South Seas. The first group met by them was that of the 

 Ladrones, or Mariannas, in 1521, after which, continuing his westerly course, 

 Magellan reached the Philippines, and perished in an encounter with the natives 

 on the island of Mactan, a small member of that archipelago. The lands discovered 

 by him for a long time justly bore the name of Magellania. 



Fig. 3.— Explorations of the Pacific. 

 Scale 1 : 200 000,000. 



3,000 Miles. 



The companions of the Portuguese navigator continued their voyage, at first 

 towards Borneo, then to the Moluccas, beyond which, on the homeward journey 

 across the Indian Ocean, the Basque, Sebastian el Cano, in command of the only 

 surviving vessel, discovered an islet by him named San-Pablo, but at present 

 known as Amsterdam. Of the two hundred and thirty-seven men who had 

 started from Seville, eighteen only returned, amongst them Pigafetta, historian of 

 the memorable voyage of circumnavigation. " I do not think," he wrote, " that 

 anyone will in future undertake a similar journey." Nevertheless, within six 

 months of Magellan's expedition, another Spanish squadron, commanded by 

 Loyasa, also penetrated through Tierra del Fuego into the Southern Ocean, and 



