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diately fell upon him. Thus perifhed our guide, our light, and our fupport. On fall-ing, and feeing himfelf furrounded by the enemy, he turned towards us feveral times,as if to know whether we had been able to fave ourfelves. As there was not one ofthofe who remained with him but was wounded, and as we were confequently in nocondition either to afford him fuccour or revenge his death, we inftantly made for ourboats, which were on the point of putting off. To our captain indeed did we owe ourdeliverance, as the inftant he fell, all the iflanders rulhed towards the fpot where helaid.
The Chriftian King had it in his power to render us alfiftance, and this he would nodoubt have done; but the captain general, far from forefeeing what was about to hap-pen when he landed with his people, had ordered him not to leave his balanghay, butmerely to remain a fpectator of our manner of fighting. His Majefty bitterly bewailedhis fate on feeing him fall.
But the glory of Magellan will furvive him. He was adorned withtfvery virtue ; inmidft of the greateft adverfity he conftantly poffeffed an immoveable firmnefs. At feahe fubjefted himfelf to the fame privations as his men. Better {killed than any one inthe knowledge of nautical charts, he was a perfeft mailer of navigation, as he proved inmaking the tour of the world, an attempt on which none before him had ventured *.
This unfortunate battle took place on the 27th April 1521, which fell on a Satur-day, a day chofen by the captain himfelf, being that which he held moll propitious tohis enterprize. Eight of our men, and four of the Indians, who had received bap-tifm, perifhed with him ; and few of thofe who remained regained the Ihips withoutbeing wounded. The men who were in the boats attempted, when they faw us pulh-ed, to aflift us by firing the bombards, but the diltance was fo great from which theyfired, that they did us more harm than to the enemy, who neverthelefs loft fifteenmen.
In the afternoon the Chriftian king, with our confent, caufed to be intimated to thepeople of Matan, that if they would reftore the bodies of our dead foldiers, and efpe-cially of our captain-general, we would give them whatever merchandize they re-quired ; but they anfwered, that they could not be induced by any confideration, topart with the body of a man like our chief, which they would preferve as a monumentof their victory over us.
On learning the death of our captain, thofe who were left in the town to carry ontrade, caufed all their merchandize immediately to be tranfported on board. We thenelected in his Head two governors, that is to fay, Odoard Barbofa t, a Portuguefe, andJuan Serano, a Spaniard.
Our interpreter, called Henry, the Have of Magellan, having been llightly woundedin the battle, made this a pretence for going no more on Ihore, where his prefence wasneceffary for our fervice, and paffed the whole day in idlenefs extended on his mat.Odoard Barbofa, commander of Magellan ’s Ihip, reprimanded him feverely on theoccafion, and told him, that though his mailer was dead he was Hill a Have, and thaton our return to Spain , he would deliver him up to Donna Beatrix, the wife
* Magellan only made the circuit of half the globe on this occafion ; but Pigafetta fays with fome reS*fon, though not quite correctly, that he made the tour of the world, for the Pottuguefc were well a c *quainted with the remainder of the route from the Molucca iflands to Europe by the Cape of Good Hop e >and Magellan had already been at Malacca .
f Odoard Barbofa had already been to the Moluccas by the way of the Cape : he has given a ver yinterefting account of the Indies. Ramufio, tom. i. p. 2b8. One of his companions alfo wrote a lh° rtaccount of this voyage. See the Introdu&ion to this Work, par. xxiv.