Chapter XLII

Of what the Captain did after having received the above Order.

Seeing the weakness of the new Royal Order, and that there was wanting in it many things for which I had stipulated and which I held to be important for my enterprise, I again renewed my representations to the Council of State that they might be conceded to me, and sent in several memorials with this object, and others to represent the harm done to the enterprise by the delay; that now the English and Dutch would hear of it, and that if we did not occupy first, they might get those lands and seas into their power. The result was that I was detained longer, with an Order that a certain quantity of money was to be allowed to me each month for my sustenance, and 300 ducats to pay my debts, which was insufficient. Other help was given me by the good secretary, Antonio de Aroztegui.

I also submitted a memorial in which I proposed the way that, in my opinion, the discovery, settlement, and government of those nations should be conducted; avoiding the evils which, by adopting other ways, had accompanied former discoveries. All this was heard and received well, but unluckily my despatch was delayed, and at the end of many years [122] the Secretary, Juan de Eiriza, read to me and gave me a letter to this effect: "Resolved by His Majesty in the business of Captain Quiros, that in an affair of such magnitude it is necessary to proceed circumspectly, and to be sure of the consequences of each step. His Majesty will rejoice that half should be given for the discovery desired by Quiros. For this he is to return to Peru, and follow the instructions given to him by the Viceroy, with the assurance that they will be such as if he alone had the conduct of the discovery." To this decree I answered what appeared convenient, referring to my honour and that of the cause; and declaring that I could not go except with sufficient papers and securities very clearly and positively drawn up.

But the more time slipped away the more my claims went back, owing to those who were against me, and the little confidence they had in myself and in my promises. As the Council of State would not decide anything without first referring it to the Council of the Indies, my prospects became worse. Don Luis de Velasco, who had come as President of that Council, instead of helping me, owing to having been the person who first received my project in Peru, and to having received such full notice of it, was the least favourable. Finally, Don Francisco de Borja, Prince of Esquilache, having been appointed Viceroy of Peru, both Councils concurred in giving me an order to go out with him, assuring me that he had an urgent order from His Majesty to despatch me as soon as I should arrive at Callao, and to arrange for everything that was necessary for my voyage. On this subject there was a meeting in the house of the President of the Council of the Indies, at which the new Viceroy was present. He assured me that what I wanted would certainly be done: that he was able to promise; and that if there was any wrong in the business of my despatch, it was not to be charged to him for the value of the whole world, because he was jealous of his reputation.

With this, and seeing that in so many years I could not negotiate anything else, and that my life and patience were worn out, I determined to put into his hands my life and work. He said: "Trust me, and see what I shall do." Afterwards I spoke with him several times, and made him thoroughly acquainted with my affairs, and with what was necessary for them. I had been anxious to send to Rome to ask for certain grants from His Holiness. I petitioned, and the Prince gave me the following certificate:

Don Francisco de Borja, Prince of Esquilache, Count of Mayalda, Gentleman of the Chamber of the King our Lord, and his Viceroy and Captain-General of his kingdoms of Peru: I certify that His Majesty has ordered me to take in my company the Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, that I may despatch him from the Port of Callao to the settlement of the southern region; and that this will be when I may judge it to be convenient, and the state of affairs in Peru makes it proper to carry it out.--Given in Madrid on the 21st of October, 1614.

NOTES

[1] Historia del descubrimiento de las regiones Austriales hecho por el General Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, publicada por Don Justo Zaragoza (3 vols. Madrid, 1876.)

[2] One in the early part of the second voyage of Mendaña, where he compares the importance and influence of small things to stars of unequal sizes (see p. 5); and other passages, though written in prose are really in verse, in the Spanish. Such is the passage describing the reappearance of the Almiranta after being out of sight (p. 192); the description of a visit made by natives to the Spanish ships (p. 210); and, again, when the Almiranta stood out to sea (p. 212). The description of Quiros on a bed of sickness at the mercy of his Pilots is really in verse in the Spanish (p. 280); and the reasons given by Quiros for not punishing mutineers may be those of the leader of the expedition, but the words are certainly those of his poetical Secretary.

[3] See p. 262.

[4] See pp. 200 and 418.

[5] See pp. 254 and 383.

[6] I have given an account of Suarez de Figueroa and of his works in a footnote to my translation of the Spanish account of the capture of Sir Richard Hawkins, also taken from the Hechos del Marques de Cañete.

[7] Quiros was devoted to the Franciscans, and had several in his fleet. Torquemada was Provincial of the Order in Mexico. At a later date, two historians of the Order of St. Francis in Peru gave accounts of the voyage, quoting from Torquemada, and without any other original sources of information. One was Fray Antonio Daza, who wrote Cronica General de la Orden de San Francisco. The other is a folio with double columns: Cronica de la religiosissima provincia de la Orden de San Francisco de la regular observancia compuesta por el R.P. Fray Diego de Cordova, Salinas (1651). This work is very rare. There is no copy in the British Museum. There was one in the Library at Lima. Cordova gives a brief account of the voyage of Quiros, copying from Torquemada. Neither of these Franciscan historians, writing in Peru many years afterwards, are of any authority on the voyage of Quiros beyond what they derive from Torquemada. Daza, however, gives the Act of Possession at Espiritu Santo, which is not quoted in full by Torquemada (see p. 444). Antonio de Ulloa, in his Resumen, quotes from Cordova respecting an island discovered in 28° S. by Quiros, but the quotation is not correct. It is referred to by Mr. Major in his Early Voyages to Australia, p. lxxii. Mr. Major had never seen the work of Cordova.

[8] See Antonio (Nic.), Bibliotheca Hispana vetus et nova, sive Hispanicorum scriptorum.

[9] Diego de Prado y Tobar (see p. 513).

[10] These particulars are gathered from the information given and recorded, when Quiros and his family sailed for Peru in 1615. "Informaciones presentados por el Capitan Pedro Fernandez de Quiros para paser a las Indias con su mujer y hijos, en la casa de contratacion de Sevilla, 24 Marzo, 1615" (Archivo de Indias), referred to by Zaragoza, vol. iii, p. 79 (n). Marriage and ages of wife and children are given.

[11] Don Luis de Velasco, Viceroy of Peru from 1596 to 1604, was the son of a distinguished father of the same names, of the family of the Constables of Castille. The father was the second Viceroy of Mexico. He sent an expedition to Florida, and another to the Philippines under Miguel Lopez de Legaspé. The elder Don Luis died at Mexico, where his son was born in 1555. The younger Don Luis de Velasco was Governor of Cempoala, and proceeding to Spain, was appointed by Philip II Ambassador at Florence. In 1590 he became Viceroy of Mexico, and in 1595 Viceroy of Peru. In January, 1604, he returned to Mexico, and lived there privately for three years. He was appointed Viceroy of Mexico a second time in 1607, and was created Marquis of Salinas. In 1611 he became President of the Council of the Indies, serving in that post until his death in 1616.

[12] Arca de Noe, por El Capitan de navio Cesario Fernandez Duro (Madrid, 1881), p. 560. Lucas de Quiros drew a map of the western side of South America, from Cartagena to Magellan's Strait, under the auspices of the Prince of Esquilache, Viceroy of Peru. Lucas is called on it "Cosmógrafo del Peru." The map is drawn on parchment. See also J. de la Espada, Relacion Geografica, p. cxl.

[13] Don Gaspar de Zuñiga y Azevedo, Count of Monterey, had been Viceroy of Mexico from 1595 to 1603, and was transferred to Peru to succeed Don Luis de Velasco. He arrived at Lima in very bad health.

[14] He had been Pilot of the ship which brought the Count of Monterey from Acapulco to Callao.

[15] Juan de Iturbe says 40°, for which there is no other authority. But Arias, in his Memorial (see p. 528), says that Quiros was advised by Torres and his other companions to go as far as 40° S. Quiros and Torres give 30° as the limit. It was the proposal of Quiros himself, not in any instructions given to him. There were no such instructions.

[16] Royal Geographical Society's Journal, Aug. 1902, vol. xx, p. 207.

[17] La Encarnacion, p. 487 (Luna-puesta, p. 192; Anegada, p. 329), is one of the coral islands of the Dangerous or Low Archipelago, probably Ducie Island.

San Juan Bautista, pp. 193, 487 (Sin Puerto, p. 330; San Valerio, p. 456), is Henderson Island.

Santelmo, pp. 195, 487, Marutea, or Lord Hood Island.

Las Cuatro Coronadas, pp. 195, 487 (Las Virgenes, p. 456), Actæon group.

San Miguel, pp. 196,487, Aburaa Island.

La Conversion de San Pablo, pp. 204, 487, Anaa or Chain Island.

La Decena, pp. 204, 487 (Santa Polonia, p. 456), is Niau or Greig Island.

La Sagittaria, pp. 204, 487, Mahatea or Aurora Island.

La Fugitiva, pp. 205, 487, Matahiva or Lazareff Island.

San Bernardo, pp. 207, 425, 457 (Island of Fish, p. 342).

Peregrino, pp. 217, 487 (Gente Hermosa, p. 431; Matanza, p. 459), "Genta hermosa" on modern charts.

[18] This latitude is only given in the Memorial of Arias. See p. 525.

[19] See p. 469. There was also a general map of the discoveries of Torres, which is lost.

[20] See his extraordinary Will at p. 291.

[21] Zaragoza, vol. ii, p. 191 (23 pages).

[22] See p. 477.

[23] See p. 487.

[24] See p. 504.

[25] Zaragoza, vol. ii, p. 242.

[26] Ibid., vol. iii, p. 268.

[27] These letters were published by Zaragoza (vol. ii, p. 187), and also in the Boletin de la Sociedad Geografica de Madrid for 1878 (tom. iv, p. 62). Lord Stanley of Alderley gave a translation of one of them in his Philippine Islands, p. 412 (Hakluyt Soc., 1868).

[28] See p. 469.

[29] Tom. iv, Jan. 1878. The maps were reproduced, without colour, in Collingridge's Discovery of Australia (1895).

[30] In the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid (J. 2).

[31] Papeles tocantes à la Iglesia Española (British Museum, 4745, f. 11).

[32] See pp. 526 to 528 and footnotes.

[33] Zaragoza, vol. ii, p. 259.

[34] Dr. Don Bernardo de Sandoval y Roxas, a grandson of the second Count of Lerma, was then Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal and Inquisitor-General. He died in 1618.

[35] Don Juan Fernandez de Velasco, Duke of Frias, Marquis of Berlangas, and Count of Haro, was hereditary Constable of Castille. He died at Madrid in 1613.

[36] Don Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, Duke of Infantado and Marquis of Santillana. He died in 1624.

[37] Don Pedro Fernandez de Castro, seventh Count of Lemos, was Ambassador at Rome in 1600, President of the Council of the Indies, and afterwards Viceroy of Naples. He married his cousin, a daughter of the Duke of Lerma. He was the patron of Cervantes. His son was Viceroy of Peru 1667-72.

[38] He was a grandson of Francisco de Borja, Duke of Gandia, and the third General of the Jesuits who was canonized. He was Prince of Esquilache by right of his wife, and his age was thirty-two when he went out as Viceroy of Peru in 1615. He reached Lima in December.

[39] Luis de Belmonte Bermudez then went to Mexico, and he appears to have returned to Seville in 1616. There he wrote El Cisma de Jordan. In 1618 he settled at Madrid. Then appeared his Aurora de Cristo and Hispalica. In the Comedias Escojidas (4to, Madrid, 1682-1704) there are eleven plays of Belmonte, including the Renegade of Valladolid, and God the Best Guardian. Ticknor mentions them as a singular mixture of what is sacred and what is profane (Ticknor's Spanish Literature, vol. ii, p. 300).

[40] Historia del descubrimiento de las Regiones Austriales.

[41] An office corresponding to the President or Governor of a province. Præfectus. "Adelante," in front; more advanced than others.

[42] Here Suarez de Figueroa inserts the following speech, made by the Marquis of Cañete to Mendaña.

On one of the many occasions when Alvaro de Mendaña (then fitting out) had interviews with the Viceroy to communicate some particulars and to kiss his hand for the many kindnesses and favours he had received from him, his Excellency said: "My Lord the Adelantado, I may well wish you God speed on commencing this business with as vigorous a set of men as can be found in the world. Prodigious are the deeds of the Spaniards at various times and in various places, and especially when led by valorous generals who know how to overcome difficulties; who have met dangers with prudence; who under adverse circumstances have maintained a cheerful countenance and kept up the spirits of their followers with encouraging words and promises; who rewarded them; who cherished them; who succoured them; and who, ruling by kindness, took advantage of every opportunity with wisdom. There are so many glorious leaders of our nation who have acted thus, that might be named, that I undoubtedly should tire my tongue in enumerating them and my memory in bringing them to mind. On the other side their valiant followers have always been, on these occasions, loyal and obedient, and full of courtesy and virtue both in word and deed. If in the present age these generalities suffer from some exceptions, it is not the fault of the men. Various times bring forth misfortunes. A few years soon pass in the harvest of valour, and few good things are known of the leaders. This is especially the case in maritime expeditions where the inconveniences and difficulties are innumerable, while the remedies that can be applied to them are few and of little efficacy. Certain ancient mariners make a notable clamour, in whose eyes our ancestors were so excellent that they hold them in great veneration. But they all made furrows in the eastern sea; very little was done by them on the western side, which scarcely puts limits to the imagination. On that side some navigators have been eminent. In the first rank is Columbus, who, being despised by various sovereigns, made his discovery finally for the Catholic ones, Isabella and Ferdinand, and showed America, the foundation on which has been built so many and such important edifices, alike spiritual as temporal. He was succeeded by the wonderful Cortes, with his extensions of empire and his marvellous deeds. In the part where we are now was the famous Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of so many provinces. Then came Magellan, who nearly went round the world, and came to an end which was less fortunate than his spirit deserved. Next Gama sought remote regions, and opened to the nation the commerce of the east. Valiant (it need not be denied) were the audacious enterprises of Drake, Cavendish, and Hawkins, emulous of the fame of Magellan. Traversing the strait which bears Magellan's name, they came to disturb the seas which for many previous years had been secure and peaceful. But this notwithstanding, it appears to me that I now behold in you a discoverer not less distinguished and famous than those. It has been so in all countries, in times past, that important affairs have been entrusted to him who, either by reason of his genius, or the dignity of his person, or the purity of his life, or his grace and authority, had acquired the universal fame of a true umpire of peace and war, justly committing to his prudence the preservation and prosperity of the state. It is certain that all these qualifications are combined in your person. Your actions prove it, and confirm the choice made by His Majesty for so great a service to God and to him. I hold that there can be no doubt that your established government will be glorious and triumphant, and that the people in your company will remain under it; so that, almost from this time thanks may be given to you for your great industry and valour."

[43] Equivalent to Colonel. He was an old soldier named Pedro Merino Manrique. The name is given by Suarez de Figueroa.

[44] 12° 3' 45'' S. Callao Castle; 12° 2' 34'' S. Lima.

[45] Magdalena is in 10° 25' S. and 138° 28' W.

[46] Suarez de Figueroa says it was a girl.

[47] Suarez de Figueroa quotes all this word for word, and here says that he is quoting from the papers of the Chief Pilot.

[48] Joints of bamboos in which they carry water.

[49] A palmo is 8 inches, being a quarter of a vara, which is 32.9 inches.

[50] The earliest description of the bread fruit.

[51] Piece of canvas laced to the foot of the mainsail and foresail.

[52] This is the island of Tinakula, an active volcano rising 3,000 feet above the sea in a most perfectly shaped cone, to the north of the island of Santa Cruz. The volcano is still in full activity. It is in lat. 10° 24´ S., long. 165° 45´ W.

[53] 8.346 inches.

[54] Nupani, Nukapu, and several other small reef islands north of Santa Cruz.

[55] In lat. 10° 40' S., long. 165° 45' 30'' W.

[56] Not a Spanish word.

[57] Felipe Corzo. He was an enemy of Quiros.

[58] Outpost guard, whence sentries were selected. A picket. Usually consisting of twenty or thirty men.

[59] Caracha is a cutaneous disease in Peruvian parlance; caaranta, a person who has no eyebrows, also a Peruvianism.

[60] Tauriqui of Mendaña's first voyage.

[61] Namely, the Devil.

[62] A quarter of an azumbre, which is about half a gallon.

[63] No such word in Spanish, nor is it a Peruvianism.

[64] The brothers Ulloa, in their Noticias Secretas, spoke very highly of the "guatchapeli" wood of Guayaquil (p. 58) for ship-building, especially extolling its durability.

[65] The "honest man" is evidently the Chief Pilot himself.

[66] Here Suarez de Figueroa introduces a fuller account of the Ladrone Islanders, especially of their customs connected with the burial of the dead, with an anecdote about an adventure between a Spanish soldier and a native of Guan.

[67] The object of the voyage had been to reach the Solomon Islands, which Alvaro de Mendaña had discovered in his first voyage. The arguments of Quiros consist of a criticism of the report of Gallego, the Chief Pilot of Mendaña's first voyage.

[68] Solomon Islands, vol. i, pp. 67, 68 (Hakluyt Society, 1901).

[69] Solomon Islands, vol. i, p. 66.

[70] Identified by Mr. Woodford as Nukufetan in the Ellice Group, in 7° 50' S.--Solomon Islands, vol. i, p. 14 (n.), 1901.

[71] Edited for the Hakluyt Society by Lord Stanley of Alderley in 1868.

[72] Contained in the Sucesos de las Islas Philipinas of Antonio de Morga (1609); translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley for the Hakluyt Society, 1868.

[73] Don Antonio de Cardona y Cordova, sixth Duke of Sesa, was descended from the Great Captain. He was son of Don Fernando de Cordova y Requesens, second Duke of Soma, by Doña Beatriz de Figueroa. He became Duke of Sesa by renunciation of his aunt, Francesca de Cordova, and succeeded an elder brother as Duke of Soma. He was also Duke of Baena. The Duke of Sesa died at Valladolid on January 6th, 1606.

[74] Rimini.

[75] He forgets that Caraccas is on the main land.

[76] One of these nephews was no doubt the Lucas de Quiros who was appointed Royal Ensign by his uncle on May 13th, 1606, at the bay of St. Philip and St. James. Zaragoza mentions that, in 1616, Lucas de Quiros was acquiring a certain reputation at Lima as a cosmographer (IV, Apuntes Biograficas, p. 139). He constructed a map of the western side of South America, from Carthagena to Magellan's Strait, by order of the Viceroy, Prince of Esquilache, on parchment (see Duro Arca de Noc, p. 560).

[77] His name was Juan Ochoa de Bilboa.

[78] Leza calls it "Anegada." In the Memorial of 1609 the name "La Encarnaçion" was given to the first island.

[79] Leza calls it "San Puerto." Torres gives the name of "San Valerio." The two islands are 75 leagues apart.

[80] Torres calls them "Las Virgenes."

[81] This is a very early notice of the use of a method of obtaining fresh water by condensing.

[82] This island is Anaa, or Chain Island, about 200 miles east of Tahiti, in the same latitude. It was named "Conversion de San Pablo" by Quiros. No name is given by Torres or in Torquemada. Burney confused "Sagittaria" a small atoll seen after leaving "Conversion de San Pablo" with that island. Whenever he mentions "Sagittaria" it should be "Conversion de San Pablo." Burney says that the "Sagittaria" of Quiros is generally believed to be Tahiti (vol. ii, p. 277 n.). It was Captain Wallis, the discoverer of Tahiti in 1767, who first thought that he had identified that beautiful island with the "Sagittaria" of Quiros: because the latitude is about the same, and because a low isthmus is described. But Tahiti has several good anchorages; the island of Quiros has none. Tahiti is very lofty; the island of Quiros is flat. Tahiti has abundant supplies of water; the island described by Quiros has none. Moreover, Quiros says that his first inhabited island has a large shallow lake in its centre. The Pilot Leza describes it as a ring of land encircling part of the sea. Sir William Wharton, who identifies the island with Anaa, or Chain Island, has pointed out that the passages describing the landing, especially the one in Torquemada, are excellent accounts of the difficulty of landing on the foreshore of a low reef island; but Tahiti, though there is a barrier reef round it, has a smooth lagoon within, with easy landing, and there are numerous openings in the reef. The description of the march across what has been supposed to be an isthmus, answers to the low land of an atoll, the water on the other side being the lagoon.

The only low island near Tahiti is Tetaroa, which is 20 miles from it. But another low island was not seen by Quiros, after leaving "Conversion de San Pablo," until the second day. Starting from Tahiti, there is no such island; but, sailing from Anaa and steering W.N.W. before the trade wind, there are such low islands as are mentioned.

These considerations make it quite certain that Quiros never sighted Tahiti, as Burney supposes.

[83] Luis de Belmonte Bermudez, the Secretary to Quiros and probable author of the narrative.

[84] It should be Sojo.

[85] Dr. Bolton G. Corney found at Seville the journal of the frigate Aquila, which was sent by the Viceroy of Peru on a voyage to Tahiti, under the command of Don Tomas Gayangos in 1774. In reconnoitring the island of Anaa, on November 2nd, 1774, a well-proportioned cross was seen, set up on a sandy beach, on the skirts of a wood. The Spaniards of 1774 named the island "Todos Santos."

[86] The S.E. end, 18° 30' S. (Torres); N.W. point, 17° 40' S. (Torquemada). Burney calculates the longitude 147° 7' W.

[87] Niau, or Greig Island, of the chart. Torres calls it "Santa Polonia."

[88] Makatea, or Aurora Island, of the chart.

[89] Matahiva, or Lazareff Island, of the chart. The present editor may be excused for referring to Lazareff as the first coral island he ever saw. He was a naval cadet on board H.M.S. Collingwood when, at seven bells in the forenoon of Friday, August 8th, 1845, she sighted the island. There was a border of white sand between the blue sea and the dense cocoa-nut grove. He went to the main-topmast head for a view of the interior lagoon over the cocoa-nut trees. At that very time he was reading Burney's account of the voyage of Quiros.

[90] The sloping sides of a roof.

[91] Torres called it "Matanza." In Torquemada the name "Gente Hermoso" is given. The Memorial (1609) gives "Peregrino."

[92] Probably wooden swords for teaching the drill.

[93] "Tafetan tornasol."

[94] See pp. 81 and 85.

[95] Torres and Torquemada give the native name. Leza calls the island "Nuestra Señora de Loreto." In the Memorial the name is "Monterey," after the Viceroy of Peru.

[96] Torres gives 1940 leagues (169° 45' E.). Latitude, 10° 10' S.

[97] Outriggers.

[98] Torres calls it "Chucupia." The Memorial has "Tucopia." Quiros gives the latitude 12° 15' S.; Torres, 12° 30' S. Undoubtedly, the Tucopia of modern charts, in 12° 15' S. and 169° 50' E.

[99] Torres calls it a very high volcano. Torquemada gives the name of "Nuestra Señora de la Luz." The Memorial has "San Marcos." It is the Pic de l'Etoile of Bougainville. The volcano is now extinct. Latitude, 14° 25' S. "Merlav," or "Star Peak," on modern charts.

[100] Torres has "Santa Maria." It is the "Gaua" of modern chart in the Banks Group.

[101] Martin Lope Cortal was Pilot of Lopez de Legazpi's ship on the voyage from Mexico to the Philippines, and he afterwards made a voyage to Mexico without licence. He and some companions landed at islands called Barbudos, and the ship left them there. That this native should have used these words is extraordinary.

[102] Egg-plant nightshade, Solanum melongena, L.

[103] The name of the Duke of Sesa was Don Antonio de Cardona y Cordova. See pp. 163 and 168.

[104] Cardona and La Clementina, looking like a range of mountains and main land, were the islands of Pentecost, Aurora, and Leper, overlapping each other.

[105] Not in Leza's list.

[106] "Araucana," por Don Alonso de Ercilla. Canto XXVII, octava 52.

[107] The "friend" is, of course, Belmonte Bermudez, the Secretary of Quiros.

[108] Captain Cook relates that his people caught two reddish fish with hook and line in Port Sandwich, Malicolo Island (one of the New Hebrides), on July 24th, 1774. The fish were about the size of a large bream. Most of the officers, and some of the petty officers, dined on them the next day. The following night, every one who had eaten of them was seized with violent pains in the head and bones, attended with a scorching heat all over the skin, and numbness in the joints. The pigs and dogs who had partaken of the fish were also taken ill, and two died. It was a week or ten days before all the officers recovered. In mentioning this, Cook refers to the similar experience of Quiros and his crew, as described by Dalrymple, vol. i, p. 140.--Cook's Second Voyage, vol. ii, p. 39.

[109] He means betel. See p. 51.

[110] Thistles; teazel.

[111] The space between the end of the thumb and the end of the forefinger, both stretched out.

[112] Coral cliffs.

[113] Captain Cook visited the Island of Espiritu Santo in August, 1774, and on the 25th entered the bay of San Felipe y Santiago, discovered by Quiros. The wind being S., Cook was obliged to beat to windward. Next morning he was 7 or 8 miles from the head of the bay, which is terminated by a low beach, and behind that an extensive flat covered with trees, and bounded on each side by a ridge of mountains. The latitude was 15° 5' S. Steering to within 2 miles of the head of the bay, he sent Mr. Cooper and Mr. Gilbert to sound and reconnoitre the coast. Mr. Cooper reported that he had landed on the beach near a fine river. They found 3 fathoms close to the beach, and 55 two cables' lengths off. At the ship there was no bottom with 170 fathoms. When the boat returned, Captain Cook steered down the bay; and during the night there were many fires on the W. side. In the morning of the 27th the ship was off the N.W. point of the bay, in latitude 14° 39' 30''. The bay has 20 leagues of sea-coast--6 on the E. side, 2 at the head, and 12 on the W. side. The two points which form the entrance bear S. 53° E., and N. 53° W., from each other distant 10 leagues. An uncommonly luxuriant vegetation was everywhere to be seen. Captain Cook named the E. point of the bay "Cape Quiros," which is in 14° 56' S., and longitude 167° 13' E. He named the N.W. point "Cape Cumberland." It is in 14° 38' 45'' S., and 166° 49' 30'' E.--Cook's Second Voyage, vol. ii, p. 89.

The Editor has to thank Dr. Bolton G. Corney for the following very interesting account of his visit to the bay of San Felipe y Santiago in 1876:--

"While on a voyage through the New Hebrides in the barque Prospector, of 260 tons, in August, 1876, I visited the bay of San Felipe y Santiago, now commonly known to shipmasters and other habitués of the Western Pacific as the 'Big Bay.'

"The island itself is, for short, spoken of as 'Santo,' not only by local white men, but also by many of the natives of it and the neighbouring ones, many of whom have been in Fiji or Queensland, and have picked up a little Fijian or English, as the case may be.

"The Prospector was chartered by the Government of Fiji to return 476 of these people to their homes, in completion of contracts made with them a few years before, after performing a term of labour on the cotton and maize or cocoa-nut plantations of that group of islands, which, in 1874, became a British Crown colony. I was in charge of these returning emigrants, both medically and as representing the Government.

"We passed from Malikolo to 'Santo', and worked up under the lee of its western side to Pusei and Tasimate, landing and recruiting emigrants as we went, and bartering for yams, and taro, and pigs by way of provisions. We rounded Cape Cumberland (the extreme N.W. point of the island), and worked into the bay of San Felipe y Santiago, making one long board to the E.N.E or N.E. by E. first, and then a long leg to the S.S.W., or thereabouts, which brought us close in with the land on the W. side of the bay. The land there was high and steep, and we had deep water until quite close into the beach. We then went about and made short tacks towards the fundus of the bay, where we had to lay the barque quite close in to the shore before getting anchorage. The water was blue and clear, and I do not recollect seeing any reefs or patches. The anchorage we made for was known to our recruiting agents, who called it the 'river Jordan.' I have a recollection of hearing that we got 9 fathoms with the lead just before letting go. The water was quite smooth, protected by the land at the head of the bay from the prevailing trade-wind; and the barque lay at a few boats' lengths from the beach--about 300 yards W. from the embouchure of the river.

"Our objects in calling there were (i) to land certain natives of the place whom we had on board, with their earnings; (ii) to recruit others if any suitable ones offered; and (iii) to obtain wood and fill water.

"The beach, if my memory does not mislead me, was of black sand, which is not an uncommon thing in islands of volcanic origin, such as the New Hebrides: the distance from low water-mark to the edge of the timber and undergrowth which fringed it just above high-water mark, was only a few yards--perhaps 18 or 25--except near the mouth of the river, where it was more shelving, and extended out into a sandy foreshore or bank corresponding to the bar, the dry land being flat and of alluvial formation.

"The river was about as large as the Thames at Isleworth, and flowed into the bay through a wide and far-reaching valley from S. to N. Its banks were low, and overgrown with reeds and scrub, and more than usually free from the customary mangrove trees and bushes. We did not explore it for far, because the friendly attitude of the natives could not be depended on to last, if they should get us into a 'corner;' but I pulled into the river in one of the recruiting boats for a short distance, and selected a place at which we filled our beakers and water-casks with water of good and fresh quality. This was perhaps less than half a mile from the mouth: the water was clear, and we could see the bottom in mid-stream; but the tide was at the last of the ebb, as we had chosen that time for the sake of getting the freshest water.

"The natives brought us some dead logs to the beach, and others on bamboos to the vessel's side, much of which the sailors and officers bartered for in the belief that it was sandal wood. It was in reality, I believe, the wood known in Fijian as Sevna or Cevna, a kind of Pittosporum, which grows near the sea and has a strong sandal-wood odour. We also obtained the natives' consent to our cutting some firewood, which was mostly wild dawa (Nephilium pinnatum), and mulomulo (Hiliuscus populnea), a littoral tree often used in Fiji to cut boats' knees from.

"We recruited four men to go with us to Fiji for three years. They were all adults of about 20 to 24 years, tall, black, and athletic young men, much above the average stature of New Hebrideans anywhere north of Eromango; and the other people of the locality appeared to me equally well-built, and some 5 ft. 10 in. or 5 ft. 11 in. in height. I cannot say whether they were the true inhabitants of the place, as we saw no village nor huts: they may have been mountaineers from the interior on an excursion to the coast, the mountaineers in these islands being as a rule blacker, and I think taller (with exceptions), than the coast people.

"They had no canoes--at least I saw none--except two small catamarans; and the timber they took alongside the ship was floated off by means of bamboos.

"It is doubtful whether mountaineers would have possession of catamarans on the coast, or trust themselves to bamboo rafts.

"The west shore of this bay rises steeply from the water throughout most of its extent: but there are narrow strips of low-lying flat land between the beach and the mountain side at intervals, continuous with the small valleys, where creeks or torrents, of which there are several, have deposited silt and boulders, and rocky débris from the higher slopes. But, in so far as I remember, they are all insignificant in extent, as the mountain ridge which forms this large promontory and ends abruptly in Cape Cumberland, rises, as already mentioned, steeply from the sea, which is deep all along and around it, with only here and there even a fringing shore reef. There is no barrier reef whatever, and consequently no lagoon.

"As to size of the 'Big Bay,' I should say that the distance from Cape Cumberland to the 'Jordan' is something like 30 miles. The head of the bay runs from the river mouth in an easterly direction for 3 or perhaps 4 miles, being mostly flat, low-lying alluvium, and then sweeps round towards the N.E. and N., being more elevated and undulating, and ends in Cape Quiros. This land, forming the eastern horn of the bay, does not project so far seaward as the western promontory, and is neither so high nor so steep, nor so heavily timbered as the latter, which is in fact a continuation of the backbone of the island, as far out as Cape Cumberland. The eastern horn extends northward perhaps 10 or 12 miles only.

"The depth or extent of the bay itself, from its chord formed by an imaginary E. and W. line drawn through Cape Quiros, seemed to me about a dozen miles, and it is of similar width. It may, therefore, contain nearly 150 square miles in area.

"The anchorage is well protected from the prevailing trade-wind, which blows from E.S.E., and is sheltered from that point round by S. to N.W. It is not exposed either from E.N.E. to E.S.E., but from N.W. to N. and N.E. it is unsafe."

[114] Probably Vanua Lava.

[115] Ureparopara, or islands to N.W.

[116] Vendavales.

[117] An arroba=25 lbs.

[118] Wooded islands, off the port of San Blas, on the west coast of Mexico.

[119] 6,000 quintals in the second Order.

[120] In the second Order:--"In this kingdom I have ordered 6,000 ducats in aid of expenses on the way out, and 3,000 quintals of iron to be bought at Seville, and sent out."

[121] Same as the former Order, except that 6,000 ducats are granted for expenses on the way out; and the quantity of sheet iron is specified and ordered to be bought at Seville.

[122] Months (?).