THE DEATH OF MAGELLAN.
Magellan, as we have shown, had sought not wealth, nor glory, but the
good of the world in his life. He was ever ready to put his own interest
aside in the service of that which was best for others. He had sought
welfare and not wealth, service and not self, and his life was about to
end in the unselfish spirit in which it had lived.
On Friday, April 26, 1520, Zula, one of the great chiefs of the Island
of Matan, sent to Magellan one of his sons and two goats as a present.
He had promised his service to the King of Spain, but this surrender of
royalty had been opposed by another chief named Silapalapa. This chief
had declared with native spirit that Matan would never submit to the
Spanish King.
"But I can overthrow Silapalapa," ran the Matan chief's message, "if I
can have your help. Send me a boatload of men. Let them come to-morrow
night."
Magellan received the message and the presents in a friendly feeling,
and resolved to follow the chief's lead.
"I will not send another on this expedition so full of peril," he
thought. "I will lead it myself."
So he set out from Zubu to Matan at midnight, with sixty men, in
corselets and helmets. He took with him the Christian King, and the
chief men of his new adherents.
The boats moved silently over the tropic waters under the moon and
stars. Magellan had become a happy man. He could not doubt that he was
on his way to new victories. Pigafetta, the Italian, always true to the
Admiral, was with him.
The expedition arrived at Matan just before the dawn of the morning.
The mellow nature of Magellan came back to him on this short night
journey. He had no wish to slaughter men.
So he spoke to a Moorish merchant.
"Go to the natives," he said, "and tell them if they will recognize a
Christian King as their sovereign I will become their friend. If not,
that they must feel our lances."
The Moorish ambassador was landed, and met the chiefs.
"Go tell your master," they said, "that if he has lances, so have we,
and our lances are hardened by fire."
At the red dawn of the morning, the Admiral gave the order to
disembark, and forty-nine men leaped into the water. They faced a fierce
army, some fifteen hundred in number.
Magellan divided his followers into two bands. The musketeers and cross
bowmen began the attack. But the firing was not effective. The black
army moved down upon them like a cloud, throwing javelins and spears
hardened with fire. Some of them singled out Magellan. They threw at him
lances pointed with iron.
Magellan, seeing that the odds were against him in such a contest,
sought to break their lines by firing their houses. Some thirty houses
burst into flame.
The sight of the fire maddened the natives and rendered them furious.
They discovered that the legs of the invaders were exposed, and that
they could be wounded there with poisoned arrows.
A poisoned arrow was aimed at Magellan. It pierced him in the leg. He
felt the wound, and knew its import.
He gave orders to retreat. A panic ensued, and his men took to flight.
The air was filled with arrows, spears, stones, and mud.
The Spaniards tried to escape to the boat. The islanders followed them
and directed their fury to Magellan. They struck him twice on his
helmet.
Magellan's thought now was not for himself, but for the safety of his
men.
He stood at his own post fighting that they might make safe their
retreat.
He thus broke the assault for nearly an hour, until he was almost left
alone.
An Indian suddenly rushed down toward him having a cane lance. He thrust
this into his face. Magellan wounded the Indian, and attempted to draw
his sword. But he had received a javelin wound in his arm, and his
strength failed.
Seeing him falter, the Indian rushed upon him and brought him down to
the earth with a rude sword.
The Indians now fell upon him and ran him through with lances.
He tried to rise up, to see if his men were safe. He did not call for
assistance, but to the last sought to secure the safety of his men. In
fact, he never seemed to so much as think of himself in the whole
contest. It was thus that his life went out, and his heart ceased to
beat. He was left dead on the sand, on April 27, 1521. The natives
refused to surrender his body. Eight of his own men and four Indians,
who had become Christians, perished with him.
[Illustration: The death of Magellan.]
There was one man who was true to the Admiral to the end. He was wounded
with him, but survived. He it was that saw that the Admiral had
forgotten himself at the hour of the final conflict. It was Pigafetta,
the Italian, whose narrative we are following.
This hero of the pen says of him to whom he gave his heart:
"One of his principal virtues was constancy in the most adverse
fortune."
"It was God who made me the messenger of the new heavens and new earth,
and told me where to find them," said Columbus. "Maps, charts, and
mathematical knowledge had nothing to do with the case."
As sublime an inspiration is seen in the words of Pigafetta in regard to
Magellan:
"_No one gave to him the example how to encompass the globe._" His sight
was the inner eye, the pure vision of a consecrated purpose in life.
No hero of the sea has ever been more noble! His purpose in life was
everything; he had the faith of a Christian Knight; he was as nothing to
himself, but to others all, and he died giving his own body for a shield
to his men. His name will always be associated with what is glorious in
the history of the Philippines.
Magellan was dead, but a good purpose lives in others. Magellan dead,
Del Cano yet lives, and the Italian historian has other scenes to
record.
The farol of Magellan will go on; it will never cease to shine, and the
cast-out name of the Christian Knight will become a fixed star amid the
lights that have inspired the world.