MAG 
MAGEEYONCOL'LA, a town of Burmah : forty-two 
niiles fouth of Prone. 
MAGEGO'WN, a town of Hindooft’an, in Concans 
twenty-five miles fouth of Severndroog. 
MAG'ELHOLM, a fmall ifiand of Denmark, in the 
Baltic, near the fouth coaft of the ifiand of Laland. Lat. 
54.. 43. N. Ion. 11.17. E. 
MAGEI/LA, in ancient geography, a town of Sicily. 
MAGEL'LAN, or Magalhaens (Ferdinando), an 
eminent navigator, was by birth a Portuguefe of a good 
family. He ferved with reputation for five years under 
Albuquerque in the Eaft Indies, and particularly diftin- 
guifiied himfelf at the conqueft of Malacca in 1510. 
Thinking his fervices ill requited by his own court, he 
expatriated himfelf, and entered into the employment of 
the king of Spain, Charles V. The Portuguefe writers 
charge him with peculation ; and it is not improbable that 
Ibme mifconduft of this kind caufed him to quit his 
country. He was accompanied by Ruy Falero, another 
Portuguefe, well verfed in geography and altronomy. 
They formed the bold defign of difcovering a new pafiage 
by the welt to the Molucca iflands, which they offered to 
prove fell within the divifion of the globe afiigned by the 
pope to the crown of Caftile. It is affirmed that they had 
fir ft propofed this enterprife to Emanuel king of Portugal, 
who rejefted it, as opening a way for other nations to 
have accefs to the Eaft Indies, the trade of which was 
now monopolized by the Portuguefe. The king of Spain 
agreed to the propofal; and on September 20, 1519, Ma¬ 
gellan failed from San Lucar, with five fliips and 236 men 
under his command. Murmurs foon began to arife among 
his officers, who confidered it as a dilgrace to be com¬ 
manded by a renegade Portuguefe ; and when, in the fol¬ 
lowing Eafter, the fleet was lying at a port in South Ame¬ 
rica which they named San Julian, three of the captains 
formed a confpiracy againfthim. This hedifcovered and 
quelled. To one of the fliips he fent a ineflenger with a 
letter to the captain, and a dagger, ordering him to plunge 
it into the captain’s breaft while he was reading the letter. 
He boarded the lecond fliip, and fecured the mutineers; 
and the third fubmitted. One of thefe captains was hung 
at the yard-arm, and the other fet on-fhore. Magellan 
was enabled to perform thefe afts of vigour by the attach¬ 
ment of the majority of the feamen and petty officers, 
many of whom were his countrymen. The coafton which 
they lay was that of Patagonia; and this firft voyage con¬ 
tains accounts of the extraordinary ftature of the natives, 
concerning which fo much difcuffion has fince arifen. 
Towards the end of October they reached a cape which 
they named De las Virgines, forming the entrance of the 
famous ftraits fince bearing the name of Magellan. The 
commander was obliged to exert all his authority to in¬ 
duce his men to venture upon this unknown pafiage, with 
a view of crofting a vaft ocean beyond it, at the hazard of 
running fhort of provifions, of which a fupply for three 
months alone remained. One of the (hips aftually de- 
ferted him, and fleered back for Europe. The reft pro¬ 
ceeded, and difcovered the South Sea on the 27th of No¬ 
vember; which brought tears of joy into the commander’s 
eyes. They continued their voyage over this ocean, now 
firft vifited by Europeans, and were not long in fuffering 
thofe evils from famine which they had apprehended. 
The crews were at length reduced to eat the hides with 
which the rigging was covered ; and many men fell vic¬ 
tims to their lcanty and unwholefome diet. It happened 
alfo, that only two of the numerous iflands in thefe feas, 
and thofe barren and defert, were defcried by them. The 
weather, however, proved fo uniformly calm and tempe¬ 
rate, that they gave the name of Pacific to the ocean over 
which they failed. On the 6th of March they came in 
fight of the Ladrones, fo named by them from the thievifli 
difpofition of the inhabitants. Thence they reached the 
archipelago of St. Lazarus, afterwards called the Philip¬ 
pines. At one of thefe iflands, named Zebu, Magellan 
MAG Q5 
with little difficulty obtained the converfion of the king, 
ufing the argument that by becoming a Chriftian he would 
be rendered fuperior to his- enemies. Under the further 
condition of his becoming a vaflal of Spain, the Portu¬ 
guefe affifted him in his attempts to reduce to fubjeftion 
Tome neighbouring chieftains; and the crofs was erefted 
over fome burnt villages. The chief of a neighbouring 
ifland named Matan, being fummoned to pay tribute to 
the Spaniards and make fubmilfion to the king of Zebu, 
bravely rejected the claim; and Magellan, contrary to the 
advice of the king and of his own officers, refolved to 
punifli his difobedience. With about fifty men be landed 
upon Matan, and was met by its chief with his people, 
when a kind of diftant engagement took place, which 
lafted during the greateft part of the day. At length the 
fire of the Spaniards flackened from want of ammunition ; 
and, the iflanders prefling on, a retreat became necelfary. 
Magellan received a wound from an arrow in the leg ; and, 
being ill fupported by his men, who fled in diforder, he 
was beaten down, and at length (lain with a lance. This 
cataftrophe took place in 1521 ; and by this aft of im¬ 
prudence he loft the honour of being the firft circum¬ 
navigator of the globe, which accrued to John-Sebaftian 
del Cano, who brought his fhip home by the Eaft Indiesi 
Magellan, however, has fecured an immortal name among 
maritime difcoverers, by the commencement of this great 
enterprife, in which he displayed extraordinary (kill and 
refolution, but accompanied with the difregard of juftice 
and humanity then almoft univerfal among adventurers of 
this clafs. Burney's Difcoveries in the South Sea. 
MAGEL'LAN (Straits of), a pafiage between the At¬ 
lantic and Pacific Ocean, at the fouthern extremity of the 
continent of America ; upwards of 300 miles in length, 
from Cape Virgin, in the Atlantic, to Cape Defire, in the 
Pacific Ocean, in fome places feveral leagues over, and in 
others not half a league. The ftraits were difcovered, 
and pafled through, in the year 1520, by Ferdinando Ma¬ 
gellan, as related in the preceding article. It is faid to 
have many f’afe bays, encompafleij with high mountains, 
flickering them fo clofe on all fides, that fliips may f'afely 
ride in them with the leaft anchor. Admiral Drake alfo 
pafled thefe ftraits, in his voyage round the world* 
Monf. Bougainville fays, “after conftant bad and con¬ 
trary weather at Port Galant for twenty-fix days together, 
thirty-fix hours of fair wind, fuch as we never expefted, 
were fufficient to carry us into the Pacific Ocean ; an ex¬ 
ample which, I believe, is the only one of the navigation, 
without anchoring from Port Galant to the open fea. I 
reckon the whole length of the ftrait, from Cape Virgin 
Mary to Cape Pillar, at 342 miles; we employed fifty-two 
days to make them. I muft repeat here, that, from Cape 
Virgin to Cape Noir, we have conftantly found the flood- 
tide to fet to the ealtward, and the ebb to the weftward, 
and that the tides are very ftrong; that they are not fo ra¬ 
pid from Cape Noir to Port Galant, and that their direc¬ 
tion is irregular there; and, laftly, front Port Galant to 
Cape Quod the tides are violent. Notwithftanding the 
difficulties we met with in our pafiage of the Strait of 
Magellan, I would always advife to prefer this courfe to 
that of doubling Cape Horn, from the month of Septem¬ 
ber to the end of March ; during the other months of the 
year, when the nights are fixteen, feventeen, and eigh¬ 
teen, hours long, I would pafs through open fea.” - Lat* 
52. 30. to 54, S. Ion. 70. to 77. W. 
- MAGELLAN'IC, adj. Belonging to the fouthern part 
of America difcovered by Magellan. 
MAGELLAN'IC CLOU'DS, in aftronomy, whitifh ap¬ 
pearances like clouds, feen in the heavens towards the 
fouth pole, and having the fame apparent motion as the 
ftars. They are three in number, two of them near each 
other. The largeft lies far from the fouth pole, but the 
other two are not many degrees more remote from it than* 
the neareft confpicuousftar, that is, about eleven degrees*. 
Mr. Boyle conjectures, that, if thefe clouds were feen. 
through^ 
