and steadfast navigator should have met his death in a skirmish with
a few naked savages when in sight of his goal, is one of the most
pathetic tragedies in history. [16]

The difficulties, however, of approaching the Moluccas by the western
route through the straits of Magellan (that Cape Horn could be rounded
was not discovered till 1616), the stubborn and defiant attitude
of the King of Portugal in upholding his claims, the impossibility
of a scientific and exact determination of the Demarcation Line in
the absence of accurate means for measuring longitude,--all these,
reinforced by the pressure of financial stringency led King Charles in
1529 to relinquish all claims to or rights to trade with the Moluccas
for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. [17] In the antipodes a
Demarcation Line was to be drawn from pole to pole seventeen degrees
on the equator, or two hundred and ninety-seven leagues east of the
Moluccas, and it was agreed that the subjects of the King of Castile
should neither sail or trade beyond that line, or carry anything
to the islands or lands within it. [18] If a later scientific and
accurate determination should substantiate the original claims of
either party the money should be returned [19] and the contract be
dissolved. Although the archipelago of St. Lazarus was not mentioned
in this treaty it was a plain renunciation of any rights over the
Philippines for they lie somewhat to the west of the Moluccas.

The King of Spain, however, chose to ignore this fact and tacitly
assumed the right to conquer the Philippines. It was, however,
thirteen years before another attempt was made in this direction. By
this time the conquest and development of the kingdom of New Spain
made one of its ports on the Pacific the natural starting point. This
expedition commanded by Rui Lopez de Villalobos was despatched