signal disappointment or astounding calamity. However, he steadily pursued the object, waited the day of embarkation with patience, and, in the interval, married a Portuguese lady in Seville. On the 27th day of September, 1519, the five ships, two of one hundred and thirty tons, two of ninety, and one of sixty, (even the largest being but small,) carrying, in all, two hundred and thirty-seven persons, weighed anchor off St. Lucar, dropped down the river, and soon rode on the billows of the Atlantic. The little fleet completed their stock of provisions at the island of Teneriffe, at the foot of that sublime peak that soars above the winds: thence the Admiral laid down their course for Cape Verde, and made it on October 3d; and after lingering on the coast of Guinea for many days, admiring strange birds and strange fish, left that headland astern, steered westward, and, on the 9th of December, dropped anchor in the Bay of Sta. Lucia; whence, after making acquaintance with the natives for nearly three weeks, they sailed along the coast southward, visiting bays and rivers, in hope of finding the desired passage. Leaving two of the vessels to cruise off the coast, Magalhaens proceeded on the voyage, and on the 2d of March reached the Bay of St. Julian, in latitude S. 49° 10′, and first saw the Patagonians, a few of whom they took on board, but they soon died. There, during the winter, the Captains of the three ships formed a conspiracy against the Admiral, with whom they had quarreled; but he detected the plot, put them to death, and quelled a mutiny. The severity of winter being over, they put out to sea again, on the 24th of August, the two other ships having joined company; but the smallest of them, the St. James, was driven ashore in a heavy gale from the east, and utterly wrecked, the cargo and crew being saved, and distributed in the remaining four. After this disaster, the expedition waited at Sta. Cruz until October 18th, and then resumed its course; and on the day of "the eleven thousand virgins" discovered a cape, to which they gave a name accordingly. Soon afterwards the ship " Victory" discovered an opening in the land; and, by orders of Magalhaens, they all proceeded to explore, but encountered a strong current, which so much alarmed one of the crews, that they put their Captain in irons, and steered

away for Spain. One of the other vessels returned to Magalhaens, with the report that they had only found a bay, full of shoals and rocks; but the Captain of another brought intelligence that he had sailed a long way in deep water, between land on either side, with high mountains, and believed that they must have found a strait communicating with both oceans. After much consultation, and some delay, Magalhaens entered, on the 6th of November, 1520, the Strait that bears his name; (or, as we say, the Strait of Magellan;) the three ships navigated its length, with great caution, in twenty-two days, but no natives were visible. A few fires, (fuegos,) however, were seen at night; and therefore the land on the southern side received the name of Tierra del Fuego. And when the broad sea opened before the Spanish mariners under a serene sky, it looked so beautiful, that they called it el Mar Pacifico; and we still know it as the Pacific Ocean. We will not trace their course as they proceeded northward, giving names to lands hitherto unseen by the eye of European, but merely note that the natives of a group of islands were so addicted to thieving, that Magalhaens and his companions called the islands, Isles of Thieves, Ladrones; and the Spanish name, as well as the original character of the natives, yet remains.

Among the Philippine Islands they navigated for about seven weeks, obtained canoes, manned them with Indians, entered into a sort of alliance with Chiefs, of whom some were said to embrace the Christian religion, and render obedience to the Emperor. The conversion and the homage were equally unreal in the islands that the Spaniards fancied themselves to have attached to the empire and to the Church; but others openly resisted. The inhabitants of the isle of Matan had refused to pay homage to the foreigners; and Magalhaens took a party of forty men, in order to reduce them to submission. But his forty were met by three thousand, who killed several of them: Magalhaens himself fell beneath their missiles, and thus sacrificed his life to the prevailing folly of compelling the Heathen to profess Christianity without any knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of exacting submission, at the same time, to the Sovereign of

Spain, under the notion that he had received from the Pope a title to the western hemisphere, and that every subject of the Spanish Crown must, necessarily, be a vassal of the Roman See. The discovery of the passage to the Pacific,—afterwards improved by the circumnavigation of Cape Horn,of the western coast of the American continent, and of the new way to China, was thus marked by the ignominious death of the discoverer, and finds its place in history associated with deeds of a ferocious bigotry, that cover the Church, for whose exaltation they were perpetrated, with everlasting infamy. The memory of Magalhaens, that should not have been tarnished, but might have served to encourage perseverance in the highest enterprises, now dwindles into comparative insignificance under a charge of temerity and cruelty, from which he cannot possibly be exonerated, unless it be by the admission that the best men, enthralled by a prevailing despotism, miscalled religion, ceased to be masters of their own actions. Yet this is a concession it would be scarcely just to make.

BISCAY AND THE BISCAYANS.

SECOND PAPER.

THE ancient Iberian race, to which we are led to refer the modern Biscayans, appears to have suffered its first loss of territory when the Ligurians, who had set out from the borders of the river Ligys, which is believed to be the Loire, took possession of the district contained between the Rhone and Italy. At a later period, the great invasion of the Celtic tribes took place, whose descendants occupy almost the whole of western Europe. The Celts, stronger and more martial, everywhere drove forth the Euskarians, who found no asylum but in the savage gorges of the Pyrenees. There, favoured by the nature of the retreat, and hardened by necessity, the remains of these nations formed several small republics, and

With omission of some passages less interesting to the readers of the "Youth's Instructer."

the coasts certain colonies, which, in the midst of populations of a very different origin, bear incontestable marks of the Euskarian type. The Basques pushed their fishing expeditions into distant seas. They very early visited Greenland, and, according to some writers, they discovered the banks of Newfoundland and Canada about a hundred years before Christopher Columbus approached the American shores.

The Euskarian race is extremely noticeable for the beauty of its type, of which the chief ethnographic characters are, a rounded skull, a large and prominent brow, a straight nose, a mouth and chin finely marked, an oval visage, flattened at the bottom, great black eyes, black hair and eyebrows, a brownish tint, a person of the middle size, but perfectly proportioned, and hands and feet small, and well-formed. Owing to the rarity of mixture, this type, especially in the mountains of Guipuzcoa and Biscay, has preserved a surprising purity. Oftentimes, when at St. Sebastian, and present at large reunions of the people, I have been struck with admiration of the fact, that for one unattractive figure, I could count twenty or thirty truly magnificent. The women possess in the highest degree the characteristic traits of the race, a fact observable in other cases. Their face, so regular, and yet animated, their large eyes full of expression, their mouth almost always half open with a smile somewhat mockish, their long hair falling in tresses even down to the limbs, or rolled round their heads like a natural diadem, strike all at once the most inattentive observer. Almost all have the neck and shoulders remarkable for the purity of the outline; and this element of beauty, so rare in general, gives to the humblest peasant an air of grace and nobility which more than one Duchess would envy. Without exaggeration, even in the gait of the aguadoras, who bear heavy pails of water on their heads, there is the ease and even the majesty of Diana. The men have perhaps less distinction than the women in the style of their visage, but they yield in nothing as respects elegance of form and harmony of movement. With the red cincture round their loins, the vest thrown lightly back on the left shoulder, and the stick in hand, the Guipuzcoans seem always ready to take a bound; and when they make a bow, as they do with the

was

very loftiest titles which the Kings of Spain could bestow on certain families, established no real distinction among their fellow-citizens. In Guipuzcoa, Biscay, and Alava, the constitution acknowledged neither nobles, Marquises, nor Dukes. In order to become a member of the Deliberative Assembly, or take a share in the administration, nothing more necessary than to be etcheco-yauna; that is to say, housemaster; and this quality, attached to the soil, was transmitted along with it. A stranger, however base might be his birth, acquired this title by purchasing land; and he could add those of noble, gentleman, or hidalgo, as he pleased, without, however, deriving any distinction not implied in the former designation. The etcheco-yauna, besides, enjoyed no privilege. All professions were esteemed equally honourable, nor was any of them supposed to deduct from a man's dignity. One may easily imagine what a wide platitude of equality must have resulted from such principles. Moreover, at St. Sebastian even, when the Ayuntamiento gave a ball, they issued no special invitation, contenting themselves with affixing on the walls, "There will be a ball this evening ;" and those went who pleased. At the present day, there still remain numerous traces of these patriarchal manners. Without doubt, they disappear in proportion as the Biscayans mix more with neighbouring populations; while, here as elsewhere, the vanity of some, and the jealousy of others, tend to establish social distinctions more and more conspicuous.

This race has never been the oppressed or the oppressor. It has not been conquered, nor has it ever made a conquest. One does not find among them the melancholy contrast between extreme misery and extreme abundance. A general comfort, based on the culture of the soil, seems to have always reigned in this country, which also owes its prosperity to maritime commerce. Admirably suited for every profession which exacts courage, address, and agility, the Basques have long been the most hardy mariners of the world, and yet sustain their ancient reputation. In the middle ages, they alone were able to attack and overcome whales, then very numerous in the seas of western Europe. It was without doubt in the pursuit of these monsters that they left along