Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/216

Rh 198 MAG M A G Ruy Faleiro the astronomer, he formally renounced his nationality, and went to offer his services to the court of Spain, Word was no sooner brought to Manuel of the schemes proposed to the Spaniards than he felt the mistake he had committed ; but all the efforts put forth by special agents to allure his alienated subjects back to their allegiance, or to thwart their negotiations, proved of no avail. The bishop of Burgos, Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, had taken the matter up, and things had gone too far for Magellan to retrace his steps. On August 10, 1519, the expedition set sail ; to find his way by a western route to the Spice Islands of the East was the task which its com mander had undertaken. When more than three years afterwards, on September 6, 1522, the &quot;Victoria&quot; cast anchor in a Spanish port, the captain, Sebastian del Cano, had a strange tale to tell of mingled triumph arid tragedy. While the squadron lay in Port St Julian, on the Pata- gonian coast, three of Magellan s Spanish captains had defied him and conspired against him, a,nd it was only by a rapid execution of summary vengeance that he had main tained his authority. At a later date the &quot; Antonio,&quot; at the instigation of Gomez, the Portuguese pilot, his personal enemy, sailed home to Spain with evil reports, at the very moment of success, when the Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, or of the Patagonians, now known as the Strait of Magellan, had been explored almost to the Pacific. The strait was passed on November 28, 1520; and, though Magellan had not quite reached the Spice Islands when he fell in conflict with the people of Zebu, 27th April 1521, his task was virtually accomplished. The name Magellan s Land long given to Patagonia and that hypothetical continent of which Tierra del Fuego was considered only a portion had disappeared from our maps, but has again been bestowed by Chili on the terri tory she claims in the extreme south. No record of his exploits has been left by Magellan himself ; and contemporary accounts are less detailed and consistent than could be wished. The best is that of Antonio Pigafetta, a volunteer in the fleet. It is printed in Ramusio, and exists in four early MS. copies, three in French and one in Italian. The Italian was printed in 1801 by Amoretti. Along with five minor narratives an English version appears in Lord Stanley of Alderley s First Voyage round the World by Magellan, 1874 (Hakluyt Society s Publications, vol. lii. ). See also J. G. Kohl, Qesch. der Entdeckungsreise. . . zur Magellan s Strasse (Berlin,. 1877), and Ramon Guerrero Vergara, Los dcscubridorcs del Estrecho de Magellanes, Santiago de Chile, 1880. MAGGIORE, LAGO (French, Lac Majeur; in Italian also frequently Lago Verbano ; Latin, Verbanus), is the westmost of the great lakes of northern Italy. In accord ance with its popular name it has long been reputed the largest of them all ; but though in length it somewhat surpasses Lago di Garda, it does not cover so extensive an area. Of the total surface of 82 square miles, 65 belong to Italy, and the remaining 17 to the Swiss canton of Tessin or Ticino. The length from north to south, between 45 43 and 46 10 N. lat,, is 38 miles; the breadth, generally between 2 and 4 miles, is increased to 6 or 7 at the junction of the Toce valley on the west. The Ticino, the leading tributary of the Po, enters at the one end of the lake and escapes at the other. The very interesting geo logical problems which Lago Maggiore suggests are not yet fully cleared up. (See Taramelli, II cantone Ticino meridi- onale ed i paesi finitimi, Bern, 1880, forming vol. xvii. of the materials for the geological map of Switzerland.) The whole of the west side and the east side as far south as Val Travaglia are shut in by a region of gneiss and schists, while the remaining portion presents dolomites, calcareous rocks, and conglomerates, mingled with strongly developed moraines. On Dufour s great map of Switzerland the greatest depth is given as 2801 feet, opposite Pino ; but this is probably much in excess, as in G. B. Maggi s topographical map of the lake (Turin, 1857) the highest figure registered along the medial line is only 1233 feet between Barbe and Lavello, and at the laying of a telegraph line in 1860 Salis found no more than 337 between Vira and Locarno. The ordinary height of the surface above the sea is about 640 feet. Between the lowest and highest water-mark, however, there is a dif ference in ordinary years of nearly 12 feet, and in very exceptional cases of twice as much. For not only is the Ticino subject to floods, but the lake receives a number of considerable streams (the Toce, the Maggia, the Verzasca, the Tresa,. &c.), and some of these bring down the surplus waters of other lakes Lugano, Varese, and Orta. The flood of 1868, which exceeded by about 6 feet the greatest that had been known for centuries, so La S Ma SS iore - deepened and enlarged the outlet of the river that the level of the lake was permanently reduced by about a foot and a half, and alterations had to be made at the various ports to suit the new condition of things. (See Paolo Gallizia in Atti del Coll. degli Ingegn, ed Archit. in Milano, 1879.) At least twenty-three species of fish are caught in Lago Maggiore; and the fisheries are of value enough to be closely preserved by the proprietors. The principal towns and villages round the lake are the following, the first being in Switzerland, and the others in Italy: Locarno (population in 1880, 2645), at the mouth of the Maggia, one of the alternate capitals of the canton of Ticino ; Cannobio (2000), famous from the 15th century for its tanneries, and with paper-mills and silk- works ; Luino (2000), the original home of the Luini family, and the scene of one of Garibaldi s exploits in 1867, commemorated on the spot by a statue of the victor; Laveno (1500), formerly an Austrian naval harbour; Intra (4500), a busy manufacturing town cotton, glass, silk, &c.; and Pallanza (4200), a flourishing little city with a large cathedral, a penitentiary, &c., and altogether- the most important place on the lake. The celebrated BOR- ROMEAN ISLANDS, lying off Pallanza, have been already described, vol. iv. p, 64; compare Medone, Le isole Borro- mee, with views by Falkenstein (Novara, 1840). As the St Gotthard and St Bernardino routes meet at Bellinzona, much of the trade between Italy and the north used to pass by way of the lake and the high roads that skirt its banks ; and the opening of the St Gotthard railway, which joins the Italian system at Pino on the east side, and goes as far as Locarno on the west side, will bring back some of the traffic which the earlier railways diverted into other channels. The first steamboat was launched on the lake in 1826. See P. Momggia,Zs&amp;lt;. della NoUUddcl Lago Maggiore ; Amoretti, Viaggio ai trc laghi ; Vagliano, Rive del J r crbano. MAGHIANA, the chief town and headquarters of Jhang district, Punjab, India, is situated in 31 17 N. lat. and 72 21 E. .long., and had a population in 1868 of 10,525 (Hindus, 5192; Mohammedans, 4698; Sikhs, 306; and &quot;.others,&quot; 329). It has a considerable trade with Kandahar, large exports of country cloth, and a fluctuating