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 (?).