divine foundation of the earth, says also in another place: “Who hath
founded the earth upon its own stability, that it shall not be moved for
ever;” which was as much as to say, that the earth has no other
stability or foundation for its remaining in the position in which it is
but its own stability, which consists in the equal tendencies of its
opposite parts towards the centre of gravity, a law to which the water
also is subjected, and, as it rests upon the earth, it keeps the same
relation to the centre of gravity; from all which results the aforesaid
equalization of the whole mass of earth and water to that centre, and in
this consists its stability. Hence it follows that the Psalmist, in the
passage first quoted, spoke generally of the two hemispheres; since the
inhabitants of each one might imagine to themselves that all the earth
of that hemisphere was kept in its place by the water contained in the
hollows of the other. The expression that the earth never shall move at
any time, implies that it is naturally impossible that its centre of
gravity should be moved from the centre of the entire elementary and
celestial system, for that would be that gravitation should ascend or
move upwards. Hence the statement of the Psalmist in no way opposes what
has been demonstrated, that there is as much surface of land uncovered
and free from water in the southern hemisphere as there is in the
northern.
Also, if we recur to the celestial influences which, in regard to
temperature, affect the earth and water with dryness and cold, heat and
moisture, cold and moisture, and heat and dryness, and cause some parts
of the earth to be uncovered by water and to be kept dry, while others
remain under water; these are the influences of the fixed stars, which
are vertical to the southern hemisphere, and as efficacious as those of
the northern hemisphere for keeping the parts of the said southern
hemisphere dry, uncovered, and habitable, as may be proved by observing
the celestial objects which correspond to each hemisphere; when it will
be seen that, of the forty-eight fixed stars, four-and-twenty correspond
to each hemisphere, and also of the twelve signs of the zodiac, six
belong to each; so that it cannot be doubted that there is in the
southern hemisphere at least as great a part of the earth’s surface
uncovered as in the north. Now it is consequently manifest that this
part of the earth is as fertile and habitable as the northern
hemisphere, for the south has of necessity the same distribution of
zones as the north; that is to say, half of the torrid zone from the
equinoctial line to the tropic of Capricorn, then the temperate zone
from that to the Antarctic circle, and then that which lies between the
Antarctic circle and the Antarctic pole; and those zones in the two
hemispheres which correspond to each other, have (allowance being made
for the natural motion of the sun through the ecliptic) the same, or
nearly the same temperature, excepting such differences as are caused by
certain vertical stars and the various form, arrangement, and
temperament of the land, from which it occurs that in the hottest part
of a zone there are some spots very temperate and cool. And thus in
those zones which are generally cold, there are some parts which are
milder and very free from the severity of the cold. And if particular
consideration be given to the influences produced on temperature by the
constellations belonging to the southern hemisphere, it will be found
that there are lands in it, not only as habitable, but much more so than
in the other hemisphere; and it has been seen by experience, from the
discoveries which have been made in that half of the torrid zone which
is south of the equator, that whereas the ancients considered its heat
to be so excessive that it was utterly uninhabitable, there have been
found in it parts as habitable and of as mild a temperature as in the
most temperate and habitable parts of Spain. This has been shown in the
country of the Baia de Sanfelipe y Santiago, discovered by captain Pedro
Fernandez de Quiros, which is very near to the middle of the southern
half of the torrid zone, where, in the month of May, was found the same
mildness of temperature, the same songs of birds in the twilight, the
same agreeableness and delight in the softness of the air, as is found
in Spain in the mildest and most refreshing season of spring. And
although, in the middle of the time that they were in the bay, the sun
went down about twenty degrees to the north, which, together with the
fifteen or twenty minutes of the latitude of the bay, made their
distance from the sun, which was in the south of the zenith, little more
than twenty-five degrees, and thus fifty-five of southern altitude; yet
was the temperature extremely mild for a situation so near to the middle
of the southern half of the torrid zone. But in other islands which they
discovered in the same southern half of the torrid zone, when the sun
stood in southern signs for January, February, and March, being vertical
or very near the vertex or zenith of those islands, there was not felt
greater heat there than in our summer, nor, indeed, did there appear to
have been so much on those occasions when they went on shore for the
purpose of taking in water.
By the same reasoning it is shown, that the land of the southern
hemisphere is greatly stored with metals and rich in precious stones and
pearls, fruits and animals; and from the discoveries and investigations
which have been already made in this southern hemisphere, there has been
found such fertility, so great plenty and abundance of animals, swine,
oxen, and other beasts of different kinds fit for the sustenance of man
as has never been seen in our Europe; also of birds and fishes of
different species, and, amongst them all, those which we most value as
wholesome and delicate on the shores of our own ocean; and fruits, some
of which we already know, and others of different kinds, all which may
well excite the greatest admiration, as has been related in detail in
the treatise referred to at the beginning of this memorial.
It must be observed that, although the arguments we have hitherto
advanced refer to the entire southern hemisphere, yet that which we now
propose to have explored, discovered, and evangelically subdued, is that
part of the said hemisphere which lies in the Pacific Ocean, between the
longitude of the coast of Peru, as far as the Baia de San Felipe y
Santiago and the longitude which remains up to Bachan and Ternate, in
which longitude the following most remarkable discoveries have already
been made. The adelantado Alvaro Mendaña de Meyra first discovered New
Guadalcanal, which is a very large island very near New Guinea; and some
have imagined that what Mendaña called New Guadalcanal was part of New
Guinea, but this is of no consequence whatever. New Guinea belongs also
to the southern hemisphere, and was discovered some time before; and
almost all of it has been since discovered on the outside [the northern
side]. It is a country encompassed with water,[9] and, according to the
greater number of those who have seen it, it is seven hundred leagues in
circuit: others make it much more: we do not give a close calculation
here, because what has been said is sufficient for the intention of this
discourse. The rest will be said in its proper place. The middle of
those great islands are in from thirteen to fourteen degrees of south
latitude. The adelantado Mendaña afterwards discovered the archipelago
of islands which he called the Islands of Solomon, whereof, great and
small, he saw thirty-three of very fine appearance, the middle of which
was, according to his account, in eleven degrees south latitude. After
this he discovered, in the year 1565, the island of San Christobal, not
far from the said archipelago, the middle of which was in from seven to
eight degrees of south latitude. The island was one hundred and ten
leagues in circuit. Subsequently, in the year ’95, the said adelantado
sailed for the last time from Peru, taking with him for his chief pilot
the Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, with the purpose of colonizing the island
of San Christobal, and from thence attempting the discovery of the
southern terra firma. He shortly after discovered, to the east of the
said island of San Christobal, the island of Santa Cruz, in ten degrees
south latitude. The island was more than one hundred leagues in circuit,
very fertile and populous, as, indeed, appeared all those islands which
we have mentioned, and most of them of very beautiful aspect. In this
island of Santa Cruz the adelantado had such great contentions with his
soldiers, that he had some of the chief of them killed, because he
understood that they intended to mutiny, and in a few days after he
died. Whereupon, as the admiral of the fleet had parted company a short
time before they had reached the said island, the whole project was
frustrated, and Pedro Fernandez de Quiros took Doña Isabel Garreto, the
wife of the adelantado, and the remainder of the fleet to Manilla.
Some time afterwards Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, being at Valladolid,
came to this court to petition for the same discovery, and was
dispatched to the viceroy of Peru, who was to supply him with all that
was requisite. He sailed from Lima in January of the year 1605, with
three vessels, the Capitana, the Almiranta, and one Zabra, with Luis
Vaez de Torres for his admiral, in order to colonize the island of Santa
Cruz, and to follow out the intentions of the adelantado Mendaña. After
discovering in this voyage many islands and islets, he put in at the
island of Taumaco, which is from eight to nine leagues in circuit, in
ten degrees south latitude, and about one thousand seven hundred leagues
distant from Lima, which is about eighty leagues to the eastward of the
island of Santa Cruz. The cacique or chief of Taumaco informed him, as
well as he could make himself understood, that if he sought the coast of
the great Terra Firma, he would light upon it sooner by going to the
south than to the island of Santa Cruz; for in the south there were
lands very fertile and populous, and running down to a great depth
towards the said south. In consequence of which Pedro Fernandez de
Quiros abandoned his idea of going to colonize the island of Santa Cruz,
and sailed southward with a slight variation to the south-west,
discovering many islands and islets, which were very populous and of
pleasing appearance, until, in fifteen degrees and twenty minutes south,
he discovered the land of the Baia de San Felipe y Santiago, which, on
the side that he first came upon, ran from east to west. It appeared to
be more than one hundred leagues long; the country was very populous,
and, although the people were dark, they were very well favoured; there
were also many plantations of trees, and the temperature was so mild
that they seemed to be in Paradise; the air, also, was so healthy, that
in a few days after they arrived all the men who were sick recovered.
The land produced most abundantly many kinds of very delicious fruits,
as well as animals and birds in great variety. The bay, also, was no
less abundant in fish of excellent flavour, and of all the kinds which
are found on the coast of the sea in Spain. The Indians ate for bread
certain roots like the batata, either roasted or boiled, which when the
Spaniards tasted they found them better eating and more sustaining than
biscuit.
For certain reasons (they ought to have been very weighty) which
hitherto have not been ascertained with entire certainty, Pedro
Fernandez de Quiros left the Almiranta and the Zabra in the said bay,
and himself sailed with his ship, the Capitana, for Mexico, from whence
he again came to this court to advocate anew the colonization of that
land, and was again sent back to the viceroy of Peru, and died at Panamá
on his return voyage to Lima. The admiral Luis Vaez de Torres being left
in the bay and most disconsolate for the loss of the Capitana, resolved,
with the consent of his companions, to continue the discovery. Being
prevented by stress of weather from making the circuit of the land of
the Baia, to see whether it were an island or mainland as they had
imagined, and finding himself in great straits in twenty-one degrees
south, to which high latitude he had persevered in sailing in about a
south-westerly direction from the fifteen or twenty minutes south in
which lay the aforesaid Baia, he put back to the north-west and
north-east up to fourteen degrees, in which he sighted a very extensive
coast, which he took for that of New Guadalcanal; _from thence he sailed
westwards, having constantly on the right hand the coast of another very
great land, which he continued coasting, according to his own reckoning,
more than six hundred leagues, having it still to the right hand_[10]
(in which course may be understood to be comprehended New Guadalcanal
and New Guinea). Along the same coast he discovered a great diversity of
islands. The whole country was very fertile and populous; he continued
his voyage on to Bachan and Ternate, and from thence to Manilla, which
was the end of this discovery.
There was also a pilot named Juan Fernandez, who discovered the track
from Lima to Chili by going to the westward (which till then had been
made with much difficulty, as they kept along shore, where the southerly
winds almost constantly prevail): he sailing from the coast of Chili
about the latitude of forty degrees, little more or less, in a small
ship, with some of his companions, in courses between west and
south-west, was brought in a month’s time to what was, to the best of
their judgment, a very fertile and agreeable continent, inhabited by a
white and well-proportioned people, of our own height, well clad, and of
so peaceable and gentle a disposition that, in every way they could
express, they showed the greatest hospitality, both with respect to the
fruits and productions of their country, which appeared in every respect
very rich and plentiful. But (being overjoyed to have discovered the
coast of that great and so much desired continent) he returned to Chili,
intending to go back properly fitted, and to keep it a secret till they
and their friends could return on the discovery. It was delayed from day
to day till Juan Fernandez died, when, with his death, this important
matter fell to the ground.
In regard to this subject it must be observed, that many have related
this discovery of Juan Fernandez in the following manner, affirming that
they had it thus from himself, viz.: That going to the westward from
Lima, to discover the track to Chili, waiting their opportunity and
getting off shore (where the winds almost always are southerly), a
certain space of longitude (which he would, at a proper time, declare);
and then standing south, with little deviation to the adjoining points,
he discovered the said coast of the southern continent in the latitude
(which he would also tell when expedient), from whence he made his
voyage to Chili.
Other relations, very worthy of credit, give this discovery as before
described; but whether it happened in this or the other manner, or
whether there were two different discourses, it is a very certain fact
that he did discover the coast of the southern land; for it has been
thus certified by persons of great credit and authority, to whom the
said Juan Fernandez communicated the account, with the above-mentioned
proofs and details of the country and the people thus discovered: and
one of these witnesses, who made a statement thereof here to Your
Majesty, as having heard it from the said pilot, and seen the
description he brought of the said coast, was the Maestre del Campo
Cortes, a man as worthy of credit as any that is known, and who has been
employed in Chili nearly sixty years.
When Pedro Fernandez de Quiros sailed from the coast of Peru, he
followed nearly the same track until he reached the latitude of
twenty-six degrees, when his companions, and especially his admiral,
earnestly advised him to continue on until he reached forty degrees, as
the most reasonable means of finding the continent which they had come
in search of. This, for certain considerations he refused, being
apprehensive of unfavourable weather, as he saw that the sun already
began to decline towards the equinoctial; but in this refusal he made a
great mistake.
That which we have above related, is the most noticeable thing which has
hitherto been effected in the shape of discovery in the southern
hemisphere in the said longitude in the Pacific; and although, with the
exception of the discovery made by the pilot Juan Fernandez, no
satisfactory examination of the coast of the much-sought-for great
southern continent has been effected, yet, doubtless, the aforesaid
voyage failed but little of finding it, and it is either by negligence
or by carelessness, and, it may be said, by the acknowledged blunders of
some of the adventurers that it has not yet been discovered, for in
their explorations they saw very great and manifest signs of a most
extensive continent; and when Pedro Fernandez de Quiros reached the
aforesaid twenty-six degrees they saw to the south very extensive and
thick banks of clouds in the horizon, and other well known signs of
mainland, and also a little islet, in which were various kinds of birds
of very sweet song, which never sing nor are found at any great distance
from the coast of the mainland. They discovered afterwards some islands,
still very remote from the coast of Peru and Mexico, inhabited by races
very different in feature, form, stature, colour, and language from the
Indians of Peru and Mexico, which, apparently, could not have been
peopled but from the coast of the southern continent. And in other
islands which Pedro Fernandez de Quiros discovered in the same voyage,
long before he discovered that of Taumaco, he stated that he saw some
boys as fair and ruddy as Flemings, amongst the natives of the islands
who were almost swarthy, and they said by signs that they brought those
whites from a more southern latitude. Nearly the same thing was met with
by the adelantado Alvaro de Mendaña, in some island which he discovered
before he reached San Christobal and Santa Cruz, as in those which he
called the four Marquesas de Mendoza and others, in which there were the
same reasons for presuming that they could not have been peopled from
the coasts of Peru and Mexico, but from the southern land; not only from
the distance from those countries, but from the great difference of the
natives from the Indians of Peru and Mexico, and because when questioned
by signs they had no knowledge of any land towards Mexico or Peru, and
all seemed to point towards the south.
It is of great importance towards the same argument, to take into
consideration the often confirmed indications given by the Indians of
Taumaco of there being a deep and spacious, populous and fertile
continent towards the south. The land also of the Baia de San Felipe y
Santiago showed very great signs of its being the coast of the southern
continent, as much by its great extent as by there being visible from
it, looming at a great distance, cordilleras of very lofty mountains of
very agreeable aspect; and by the fact of two rivers falling into the
bay, one as large as the Guadalquiver, and the other not quite so broad,
all signs of a continent, or at least of a very spacious and deep
country approaching to a continent.
Many spacious rivers were also seen to discharge themselves along the
coast which the pilot Juan Fernandez discovered, from which and from the
signs of the natives, and from the people being so white, so well clad,
and in all other respects so different from those of Chili and Peru, it
was taken for certain that it was the coast of the southern continent,
and seemed to be far better and richer than that of Peru. Besides all
this, the great number of large islands which, as has been stated, have
been discovered on voyages from the coast of Peru, made with the object
of discovering the southern land, are necessarily the evidences of the
proximity of a very large and not very distant continent, as we see in
the islands of the archipelago of San Lazaro, near which are the
Phillippines, the Moluccas, Amboina, those of Banda,[11] the Javas, and
many others in their neighbourhood, which are the evidences of the
proximity of the great coast of the continent of Asia; I now allude to
India beyond the Ganges, the kingdoms of Siam and Cambodia, that of the
Great Mogul and China, leaving out what lies more to the westward.
From all which it follows how infallibly certain is the greatness,
populousness, fertility, and riches of the southern continent, and how
readily, according to what has been above demonstrated, it may be
discovered and subjected to an evangelical and spiritual conquest, by
which may be attracted to our Mother, the Catholic Church, millions upon
millions of most faithful and sincere sons as the result of this mighty
evangelical conquest. And if the vast extent of the southern continent
of which we have been writing, were not such as it has thus evidently
been shown to be, for planting therein the purity of our holy and
Catholic religion, nevertheless we have in that portion of the southern
hemisphere which we have already seen and visited, if we take into
consideration all the above-mentioned islands, more land than half of
Europe, and as rich, populous, and fertile, in which there is the full
harvest of which Christ our Lord and treasure spoke, to be cultivated by
the holy labourers and preachers of His gospel.
Your Majesty ought to give much consideration to the fact that Christ
our Redeemer and supreme good, when He finished the period of His first
coming, recommended to His Apostles with the greatest strictness the
preaching of His gospel, as the principal means by which the redemption
of the human race, which had cost him so much, was to receive its
consummation. For this cause it was the last charge He gave to them,
that they might understand that it was the principal service they had to
render Him, and for which He had chosen them. Immediately after so doing
He ascended up to heaven, to give to His most holy humanity the seat of
ineffable glory at the right hand of His Father, and receive the crown
of the sovereign and universal empire over heaven and earth, as is shown
by the evangelist St. Mark in the passage quoted above: “And He said
unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.” And after
He “had spoken unto them He was received up into heaven, and sat on the
right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them.” Thus also should Your Majesty set the eyes of
your heart upon the consummation of the preaching of the gospel in the
southern hemisphere, which this same Lord is now recounting to you, with
the crown of the universal empire of the globe in His hand, ready to
place it upon your head, if you value, as it should be valued, this
Divine commission, and execute it with that zeal and devotion which the
charge enjoins. But if, which God forbid, Your Majesty should not accept
this commission, or withhold the said zeal from the undertaking, it
would doubtless be the greatest disaster that could happen to this
kingdom, and the most certain sign that God is withdrawing his Hand from
us; and even already it seems that this withdrawal has fallen upon us,
in that we are not attempting a task which applies to us so well, and
which so much concerns these kingdoms and all Your Majesty’s
possessions. And we do not seem to bethink ourselves that, in neglecting
and crushing so great an enterprise, our most culpable and persevering
remissness brings upon us this grievous and abiding calamity, which we
shall realize with greater certainty when we have to repair such great
losses, for we shall have to effect all our conversions amidst great
blindness and error.