of his project: "They both showed Caesar that though it was not yet
quite sure whether Malacca was within the confines of the Spaniards
or the Portuguese, because, as yet, nothing of the longitude had been
clearly proved, yet, it was quite plain that the Great Gulf and the
people of Sinae lay within the Spanish boundary. This too was held
to be most certain, that the islands which they call the Moluccas,
in which all spices are produced, and are thence exported to Malacca,
lay within the Spanish western division, and that it was possible to
sail there; and that spices could be brought thence to Spain more
easily, and at less expense and cheaper, as they come direct from
their native place." [10]

Equally explicit was the contract which Magellan entered into with King
Charles: "Inasmuch as you bind yourself to discover in the dominions
which belong to us and are ours in the Ocean Sea within the limits of
our demarcation, islands and mainlands and rich spiceries, etc." This
is followed by an injunction "not to discover or do anything within
the demarcation and limits of the most serene King of Portugal." [11]

Las Casas, the historian of the Indies, was present in Valladolid when
Magellan came thither to present his plan to the King. "Magellan,"
he writes, "had a well painted globe in which the whole world was
depicted, and on it he indicated the route he proposed to take,
saving that the strait was left purposely blank so that no one should
anticipate him. And on that day and at that hour I was in the office
of the High Chancellor when the Bishop [of Burgos, Fonseca] brought it
[_i.e._ the globe] and showed the High Chancellor the voyage which
was proposed; and, speaking with Magellan, I asked him what way he
planned to take, and he answered that he intended to go by Cape Saint
Mary, which we call the Rio de la Plata and from thence to follow the