The Story of Magellan and The Discovery of the Philippines - Hezekiah Butterworth

"Fired by thy fame,[A] and with his King in ire
To match thy deed, shall Magalhaes aspire.
"Along the regions of the burning zone,
To deepest South he dares the course unknown.
"A land of giants shall his eyes behold,
Of camel strength, surpassing human mould.
"Beneath the Southern star's gold gleam he braves
And stems the whirl of land-surrounded waves.
"Forever movèd to the hero's fame,
Those foaming straits shall bear his deathless name."

Camoëns.

PREFACE.

I have been asked to write a story of Ferdinand Magellan, the value of whose discoveries has received a new interpretation in the development of the South Temperate Zone of America, and in the ceding of the Philippine Islands to the United States. The works of Lord Stanley and of Guillemard furnish comprehensive histories of the intrepid discoverer of the South Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Islands; but there would seem to be room for a short, picturesque story of Magellan's adventures, such as might be read by family lamps and in schools.