On Friday, April 26, 1520, Zula, one of the great chiefs of the Island of Matan, sent to Magellan one of his sons and two goats as a present. He had promised his service to the King of Spain, but this surrender of royalty had been opposed by another chief named Silapalapa. This chief had declared with native spirit that Matan would never submit to the Spanish King.
"But I can overthrow Silapalapa," ran the Matan chief's message, "if I can have your help. Send me a boatload of men. Let them come to-morrow night."
Magellan received the message and the presents in a friendly feeling, and resolved to follow the chief's lead.
"I will not send another on this expedition so full of peril," he thought. "I will lead it myself."
So he set out from Zubu to Matan at midnight, with sixty men, in corselets and helmets. He took with him the Christian King, and the chief men of his new adherents.
The boats moved silently over the tropic waters under the moon and stars. Magellan had become a happy man. He could not doubt that he was on his way to new victories. Pigafetta, the Italian, always true to the Admiral, was with him.
The expedition arrived at Matan just before the dawn of the morning.
The mellow nature of Magellan came back to him on this short night journey. He had no wish to slaughter men.
"Go to the natives," he said, "and tell them if they will recognize a Christian King as their sovereign I will become their friend. If not, that they must feel our lances."
The Moorish ambassador was landed, and met the chiefs.
"Go tell your master," they said, "that if he has lances, so have we, and our lances are hardened by fire."
At the red dawn of the morning, the Admiral gave the order to disembark, and forty-nine men leaped into the water. They faced a fierce army, some fifteen hundred in number.
Magellan divided his followers into two bands. The musketeers and cross bowmen began the attack. But the firing was not effective. The black army moved down upon them like a cloud, throwing javelins and spears hardened with fire. Some of them singled out Magellan. They threw at him lances pointed with iron.
Magellan, seeing that the odds were against him in such a contest, sought to break their lines by firing their houses. Some thirty houses burst into flame.