and hundreds of the poor Indians who carried the burdens dropped
dead from exhaustion.

At length, after long months of labor, four ships were thus carried
across the mountains and rebuilt on the Pacific coast. These were the
first European vessels ever launched on the great South Sea. Three
hundred men were in readiness to go with Balboa on his voyage in search
of the rich country of the South.

A little iron and a little pitch were still needed for the ships, and
Balboa delayed his departure in order to get these articles.

The delay gave his enemies, who were jealous because of his success,
time to carry out a plot against him. They accused him of plotting
to set up an independent government of his own, and caused him to be
arrested for treason. In less than twenty-four hours this brave and
high-spirited leader was tried, found guilty, and beheaded. So ended
all his ambitious plans.

MAGELLAN.

One of the boldest and most determined of all the early explorers was
Ferdinand Magellan, a young Portuguese nobleman. He felt sure that
somewhere on that long coast which so many explorers had reached he
would find a strait through which he would be able to pass, and which
would lead into the Indian Ocean; and so Magellan formed the idea of
circumnavigating the globe.

[Illustration: Ferdinand Magellan.]

He applied to the King of Portugal for aid; but as the Portuguese king
was not willing to help him, he went to Spain, where his plan found
favor.

The Spanish king gave him a fleet of five vessels, and on September
20, 1519, he set sail for the Canary Islands. Continuing the voyage
toward Sierra Leone, the vessels were becalmed, and for a period of
three weeks they advanced only nine miles. Then a terrific storm arose,
and the sailors, who had grumbled and found fault with everything
during the entire voyage, broke into open mutiny. This mutiny Magellan
quickly quelled by causing the principal offender to be arrested and
put in irons.

The voyage was then continued, and land was at last sighted on the
Brazilian coast, near Pernambuco.

The fleet then proceeded down the coast as far as Patagonia, where
the weather grew so very cold that it was decided to seek winter
quarters and postpone the remainder of the journey until spring. This
was done, Magellan finding a sheltered spot at Port St. Julian, where
plenty of fish could be obtained and where the natives were friendly.

These native Patagonians Magel