244 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



the open sea. " We wept for joy," says Pigafetta : " the cape was 

 denominated Cabo Deseado, — Wished-for Cape, — for in good 

 truth we had long wished to see it." The sight gave Magellan 

 the most unbounded joy, for he was now able practically to de- 

 monstrate the truth of the theory he had advanced, — that it was 

 possible to sail to the East Indies by way of the west. He 

 now named the famous strait the Strait of the Patagonians, but 

 a sense of justice induced the Europeans to change its name and 

 to call it the Strait of Magellan. At every mile or two he 

 found a safe harbor with excellent water, cedar-wood, sardines, 

 and shell-fish, together with an abundance of sweet celery, — a 

 specific against the scurvy. 



On the 28th of November, the squadron, reduced to three 

 ships by the loss of the Santiago, left the strait and launched 

 into the Great South Sea, to which, from the steady and gentle 

 winds that propelled them over waters almost unruffled, Magellan 



gave the name of Pacific, — a name which it has ever since re- 



■ 1 



tained. They sailed on and on during the space of three months 

 and twenty days, seeing no land, with the exception of two sterile 

 and deserted islands which they named the Unfortunate. During 

 all this time they tasted no fresh provisions. Their biscuit was 

 little better than dust and smelled intolerably, being impregnated 

 with the effluvia of mice. The water was putrid and offensive. 

 The crew were so far reduced that they were glad to eat leather, 

 which they were obliged to soak for four or five days in the sea 

 in order to render it sufficiently supple to be broiled, chewed, 

 and digested. Others lived on sawdust, while mice were sought 

 after with such avidity that they were sold for half a ducat 

 apiece. 



Scurvy now began to make its appearance, and nineteen of 

 the sailors died of it. The gums of many were swollen over 

 their teeth, so that, unable to masticate their leathern viands, 

 they perished miserably of starvation. Those who remained alive 

 became weak, low-spirited, and helpless. The Patagonia n taken 



