At that time little was known of geography. Most people believed that the world was flat, and that if a man were to reach the edge he could jump off into space. Some people thought, too, that this great, flat earth rested on the backs of four huge tortoises, and that the movements of these creatures caused earthquakes. Sailors believed that somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean Satan lived. When a ship was wrecked they thought that Satan had reached out an awful hand and dragged the ship down into the sea. Even learned captains believed this, and declared that they had seen ships drawn under in this manner. To them the great, dashing waves in a storm must have looked like huge hands, and so they made this mistake. The sea was full of terror to those sailors of long ago; yet they braved it. They went forth in frail little ships, such as a modern sailor would hardly risk a voyage in. Until a short time before Columbus’s day they even had no compass, but were guided by the winds and the stars. They made long voyages in their tiny ships, and little by little they began to see that those who said that the world is round, and not flat, must be right. In the year 1513, a little over twenty years after Columbus’s discovery, a Spanish captain named Balboa (bäl bō´ä) reached Central America. With his soldiers he crossed the Isthmus of Darien (dā rē ȧn´), and discovered the great ocean which washes the western coast of America. This ocean he named the “Southern Sea.” Men were in those days slowly groping their way across seas to the new lands. Of course, as soon as they knew of this ocean, they wanted to find a way to sail into it from the Atlantic Ocean. They knew that if they could do this they would have a shorter route from Europe to the famed “spice islands” which were believed to be in the South Seas. About this time there came to Spain a great soldier and sea-captain named Ferdinand Magellan (fêrd´ī nänd m̤a jel´̤an). He was a Portuguese noble, a clever man of much learning. While yet a very young man he became an officer in the Portuguese navy, and fought for his king in many far countries. During a war which Portugal waged in Africa, Magellan was badly wounded in one knee, so that he was ever after lame. On his return to Portugal from Africa, other captains of the king became jealous of his fame and tried to belittle all that he had done. [Illustration: KING CHARLES I. ] They told the king untrue tales about him, and made the sovereign believe evil against him. Among other things, they said that he was pretending to suffer from a malady of which he had once been a victim, but of which he was really cured. They said that he did this because he did not wish to serve the king any longer. So they stirred up the king’s mind against the brave captain, and Magellan was very badly treated. At last, deeply hurt by the king’s unfairness, he left the country. He went to Spain, and became a subject of King Charles I.