fleet across the Atlantic. He coasted along South America
to Tierra del Fuego, entered the strait which now bears his name, passed
well up the western coast, and turning westward sailed toward India. He
was then on the ocean which Balboa had discovered and named the South
Sea. But Magellan found it so much smoother than the Atlantic that he
called it the Pacific. Five ships and 254 men left Spain; but only one
ship and fifteen men returned to Spain by way of India and Cape of Good
Hope. Magellan himself was among the dead.[1]

[Footnote 1: Magellan was killed by the natives of one of the Philippine
Islands. The captain of the ship which made the voyage was greatly
honored. The King of Spain ennobled him, and on his coat of arms was a
globe representing the earth, and on it the motto "You first sailed
round me."]

%9. Importance of Magellan's Voyage.%--Of all the voyages ever made
by man this was the greatest.[2] In the first place, it proved beyond
dispute that the earth is round. In the second place, it proved that
South America is a great continent, and that there is no short southwest
passage to India.

[Footnote 2: By all means read the account of this voyage by Fiske, in
his _Discovery of America_, Vol. II., pp. 190-211.]

%10. Search for a Northwest Passage; our North Atlantic Coast
explored.%--All eyes, therefore, turned northward; the quest for a
northwest passage began, and in that quest the Atlantic coast of the
United States was examined most thoroughly.

SUMMARY

1. Towards the close of the fifteenth century the Turks cut off the old
route of trade between Asia and Europe.

2. In attempting to find a new way to Asia, the Portuguese then began to
explore the west coast of Africa.

3. When at last they got well down the African coast it was thought that
such a route was too long.

4. Columbus (1492) then attempted to find a shorter way to Asia by
sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean, and landed on some islands
which he supposed to be the East Indies.

5. The explorations of men who followed Columbus proved that a new
continent had been discovered and that it blocked the way to India.

6. The attempts to find a southwest passage or a northwest passage
through our continent led to the exploration of the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts.

7. The new world was called America, after the explorer Americus.

8. The voyage of Magellan proved that the earth is round.

CHAPTER II

THE SPA