3 2 °
fet fail immediately, under prefs of canvas, not choofing to wait for the fecond,which the pilot wilhed to leave behind, as he had intention to avail himfelf of thedarknefs of the night to retrace his courfe, and return to Spain by the fame way wecame.
This pilot was Emanuel Gomez, who hated Magellan , for the foie reafon that,when he came to Spain to lay his project before the Emperor of proceeding to theMoluccas by a weftern paffage, Gomez himfelf had requefted, and was on the pointof obtaining, fome caravellas for an expedition of which he would have had the com-mand. This expedition had for its object to make new difcoveries ; but the arrivalof Magellan prevented his requeft from being complied with, and he could only obtainthe fubaltern fituation of pilot; what, however, no lefs ferved to increafe his irritation,was the refle&ion of his ferving under a Portugueze. In the courfe of the night he con-fpired with the other Spaniards on board the fhip. They put in irons, and even woundedthe captain, Alvaro de Mefchita, the coufin-german of the captain-general, and carriedhim thus to Spain . They reckoned likewife on tranfporting thither one of the twogiants we had taken, and who was on board their fhip; but we learnt, on our return,that he died on approaching the equinoftial line, unable to bear the heat of thetropical regions.
The veffel, the Conception , which could not keep up with the Sant Antonio, con-tinued to cruize in the channel to await its return, but in vain.
We, with the two other veffels, entered the remaining channel, on the fouth-weft ;and, continuing our courfe, came to a river which we called Sardine river*, onaccount of the vaffc number of the fifh of this denomination we found in it. Weanchored here to wait for the two other fhips, and remained in the river four days;but in the interim we difpatched a boat, well manned, to reconnoitre the cape of thischannel, which promifed to terminate in another fea. On the third day the failorsfent on this expedition returned, and announced their having feen the cape where theftrait ended, and with it a great fea, that is to fay, the ocean. We wept for joy :this cape was denominated II Capo Defeado (Wilhed for Cape) for in truth we hadlong wilhed to fee it f.
We returned to join the two other veffels of the fquadron, and found the Con-ception alone. On enquiring of the pilot, Johan Serano, what had become of theother veffel, we learnt that he conceived it to be loll, as he had not once feen it fincehe entered the channel. The captain-general then ordered it to be fought for every-where, but efpecially in the channel into which it had penetrated. He fent back theVittoria to the mouth of the ftrait, with dire&ions, if they Ihould not find it, to hoift aftandard on fome eminent fpot J at the foot of which, in a fmall pot, Ihould be placeda letter, pointing out the courfe the captain-general would take, in order to enable themilling fhip to follow the fquadron. This mode of communication, in cafe of adivifion, was concerted at the inftant of our departure. Two other fignals werehoifted in the fame manner on eminent fites in the firft bay, and on a fmall illand of
* Later navigators make no mention of the river of Sardines, which probably defcends from themountains of Terra del Fuego. They do not either notice the great abundance of Sardines alluded to byour author, but this is not aftonifhing, for thefe fifh on their migrations remain but a fhort time at oneplace.
f II Capo Defeado forms the weflern extremity of the fouthern coaft, along which the boat fleered;but the fhip* coafted clofe to the northern fhore, and left America at Cape Vittoria, fo called from theihip which firft doubled it, and which was the only one that returned to Europe .
% The mountain called by M. de Bougainville Pere Aymon.
the