MACT AN. 
127 
was wounded in the leg by an arrow. His person being known to the enemy, he was made, 
when seen to be no longer invulnerable, the object of a special attack. His Spaniards ran 
for their boats, moored at some distance from the shore. Magallanes, whose helmet w^as 
twice beaten off with stones, and who was unable to use his sword, having been wounded in 
the right arm, was pursued into the water, and, overpressed by the multitude, fell, and was 
slain with a lance-thrust. 
It was on the 20th January that we went to see the monument erected by the orders 
of Queen Isabella II. on the spot where, according to tradition, Magallanes’ body was buried. 
The structure overlooks the northern entrance of the 
narrow channel between Zebu and Mactan. Like the 
Spaniards of old, we had to leave our boats at some 
distance from the shore and wade across the wide coral 
reef which extends in front of the monument. While 
looking out for the lump of coral on which to seek a 
foothold, the idea struck me that this must be the verv 
reef across which the Spaniards retreated to regain their 
boats, and in whose shallow waters the unhappy Magallanes perished, surrounded by a crowd 
of yelling savages. 
The monument rises to a height of about fifty feet, and in its design possesses 
considerable merit. Encircled by an iron railing, it rests upon a broad pediment adorned with 
funeral urns, and is surmounted by a tall obelisk. On its northern face is the inscription— 
“1520. Glorias Espanolas;” on the western side, “A Hernando de Magallanes;” on 
the south side, “1866. Regnando D a Ysabel 2 a ;'’ and on the east side, “ Siendo Gob. el 
Coronel D. Miguel Creus.” 
I was surprised to find the date of 1520 given on the monument, as the death of 
Magallanes is stated by the best authorities to have occurred in the year 1521, on a Saturday, 
the 27th of April. It is well known that Magalhaens, by birth a Portuguese—called 
Magallanes by the Spaniards and Magellan by the English—fought with distinction under 
Albuquerque at the time of the conquest of the Indies. Disappointed on his return by the 
scanty recognition his skill and valour met at the hands of his countrymen, he entered the 
service of Spain, and was appointed in 1519, by the Emperor Charles V., to the command 
of a fleet, of which only one vessel, with eighteen men, returned to Europe, in September, 
1522, having perforce left the body of their brave commander in the hands of the savages 
of Mactan. 
On our return from visiting the monument, we landed at the pier in front of the convent 
of N a S a of Opong, situated on the same island, one of those ecclesiastical piles which, by 
their size and splendour, contrast unpleasantly with the squalid huts by which they are 
surrounded. At the end of the pier stands a square tower, or rather three towers, one rising 
above the other, the topmost one commanding a fine view of the strait between Mactan and 
Zebu, the well wooded and cultivated shores and the distant hills of the latter island. 
TOMB OF MAGALLANES, ISLAND OF MACTAN. 
