PREFACE.

Perhaps there never was brought together, in so small a compass, in any

language, a more copious collection of rational entertainment, than will

be met with in the following sheets. To trace the progress of the

discoveries that have successively been made, in passing round the

globe, must fill the reader’s mind with such a variety of new objects,

as cannot fail to raise his wonder, and entertain him with infinite

delight.

He will, in this work, be safely conducted through regions that were

once thought inaccessible, and be made acquainted with countries

altogether different from that in which he dwells. Every page he reads

will furnish him with novelties, and every Voyage will bring him nearer

to that unknown country, in search of which so many able commanders have

been sent in vain.

The discovery of the western continent by Columbus, gave geographers

reason to believe, that a like continent existed somewhere in the south.

Without such an equipoise they could not conceive how the globe could

preserve its balance.

Magellhaens, a Portuguese mariner, was the first who attempted to

immortalize his name by the discovery. He passed the Streights, that to

this day bear his name, and entered the Pacific Ocean, where no European

vessel had ever sailed before. He discovered the Ladrone and Phillippine

Isles, and returned by the Cape of Good Hope, having surrounded the

whole earth, and proved, to demonstration, the spherical figure of the

globe.

He was followed by navigators of different nations, who, emulous of his

glory, sought to pursue the track, which he had pointed out, with better

success; but the dangers they encountered, and the disasters they met

with, rendered the difficulties that attended the prosecution

insurmountable; many perished, and those who survived were glad to

return home after a fruitless search.

The ill success which attended these first attempts threw a damp upon

the enterprize, and it remained long unnoticed, except in the writings

of the learned. Some French geographers, fully persuaded of the reality

of such a continent, endeavoured, a few years ago, to revive in their

countrymen the spirit of enterprize, with a view to derive honour to

their country, by compleating the discovery; but the taste for great

navigations among the French seemed entirely extinct, and it was not

till the Dolphin and Tamar had sailed from England that they thought of

renewing it.

We have been told that his Majesty, our most gracious Sovereign, very

early in life, formed the design of distinguishing himself by

patronizing the prosecution of new discoveries in the unknown regions of

the southern hemisphere; and that he declared his intention, soon after

he came to the crown, of appropriating a part of his revenue for that

particular purpose. Nothing can more endear a British monarch to his

maritime people, than a steady perseverance in this laudable resolution.

The love of glory is a passion natural to Kings; the conquerors of the

world are placed before them as patterns, and they are encouraged by

example to seek occasions for war to acquire a name. But how much more

glorious is it to enlarge the earth with a new region, than to triumph

in the conquest of some rival state!--to extend protection to a remote,

and it may be, a defenceless people, than to boast of levelling

fortresses, and, by a general carnage of friends and foes, become master

of a few desolated towns, purchased at an expence, a thousand times

greater than what is necessary to insure the success of new discoveries.

Can there be any comparison between the glory of a successful

enterprize, founded on the laudable motives of diffusing happiness

through regions, whose inhabitants, for ought we know, are yet immersed

in savage darkness; and that of engaging in a hazardous war, by which

millions of treasure must be expended, and thousands of lives

sacrificed? Is not the chance of succeeding in the first case much more

probable than that of conquering in the other? And does not success in

the discovery of the long sought region of the south, promise much

greater advantages to a trading nation, than the conquest of any part of

the earth on this side the globe? Did not the little Phœnician state

reap a more glorious harvest from the discoveries of its merchants, than

Alexander could boast from all his conquests? Was it not the

perseverance of the Princes Henry, John, and Emanuel, in supporting the

charges of prosecuting new discoveries in the fifteenth century, that

laid the foundation of the Portuguese greatness, whose territories in

Europe are of no considerable extent?

If the glory of aggrandizing a state, and perpetuating a name to

posterity be the first object of human ambition, where, among all the

tyrants who have depopulated the earth, can be produced a conqueror,

whose name will be remembered, when that of Christopher Columbus is

forgotten? Or where shall we look for a monarch, who, after having

spread murder and desolation throughout the world, descended to the

grave with that heart-felt satisfaction that attended the Florentine

merchant Americus Vespucius, when he saw all Europe agreeing, with one

consent, to transfer his name to more than a third part of the

terrestrial globe?

The success which has attended our gracious Monarch’s first essays in

the Voyages we are now about to relate, though it has yet produced no

solid advantages to compensate the sums expended in the prosecution of

them, yet it has been such as to open the way to new islands, from whose

inhabitants new arts may be learnt, and from whose productions new

acquisitions may be made, both to the vegetable and fossil kingdoms, by

which the regions of science may be enlarged, and the gardens of the

curious enriched and beautified.

It is no small satisfaction to an inquisitive mind (were there no other

advantage to be gained from these Voyages) to be made acquainted with

the genius, the arts, the various pursuits, the customs, the manners,

the religious notions, the distinctions of rank, and the subordination

that is to be met with among the people of various islands and

countries, distinct from each other, and from us, in language, habits,

learning, and ways of living. Who is it that can read of the poverty and

misery of the wretched inhabitants of _Terra del Fuego_, who have

nothing but the skins of beasts loosely thrown over them, to defend them

from the severity of the cold, in a climate so dreadful, that two out of

twelve of the attendants of Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, being overtaken

in a storm, in a clear evening, in the middle of summer, perished at the

foot of a mountain, though they had but two miles to go to receive

succour? Nor are they, in any respect, better provided with food than

with raiment. The woods that are three parts in four of the year

impenetrable on account of the snow, and the sea-coast and rivers that

are equally inaccessible, are their only resources. Who then, I say, can

read the story of these forlorn creatures, without lamenting the

condition of human beings, destitute, as these appear to be, of every

comfort and convenience, and exposed every moment to the piercing rigour

of the climate, and the still severer cravings of unsatisfied hunger!

On the contrary, who can think of these, while, at the same time, he is

told of the pleasurable lives of the happy islanders in the

new-discovered countries, who abound in flesh, fish, and fruits, even to

profusion! without admiring the ways of Providence, that, for purposes

unknown to us, has so unequally bestowed its dispensations.

When we read in these Voyages of men that eat men, not for hunger, but

from savage ferocity, we shudder to think of the depravity of our

nature, and are convinced of the necessity of bounding our passions by

wholesome laws, and of correcting the irregularities of our appetites by

the restraints of religion.

But what can we think of those civilized Barbarians, of those polished

monsters, who, with all the advantages of religion and enlightened

education, could yet be so wantonly cruel, as to introduce a disease

among a happy people, odious in its nature, and, to them, more

pernicious than a pestilence in its effects; who could carry the

venereal taint between the tropics, and entail it as a curse upon those

by whom they were most highly favoured?

Who but must regret the friendly hospitality of these honest,

unsuspecting islanders to strangers, the very best of whom but

ill-deserved their favours? But who can with-hold his indignation at the

ingratitude of the meaner sort, with which their benefactors were

requited?

The variety of incidents that happened in the course of these Voyages,

when they come to be historically recited, unencumbered with the jargon

of sea-phrases, will afford a fund of entertainment, seldom to be met

with in the productions of the press. The many singular adventures,

unforeseen dangers, and providential escapes, that every ship

experienced in passing round the globe, can only be conceived by those

who read, and believed by those who have seen the wonders of the deep.

Nothing can excite or gratify curiosity more than relations of

marvellous events that happen in succession, and in circumstances

equally critical and important. The moment a ship launches into the

ocean to proceed on new discoveries, every man on board demands his

share of attention as well as the commanding officer. The story of the

black, who, with his two companions, perished on the mountains of _Terra

del Fuego_, is no less affecting than that of the murder of the poor

Indians, who set the Endeavour at defiance, and bravely opposed the

landing of the crew.

There is not an object that presents itself either by sea or land, but

affords some degree of use or speculation. The fish that swarm about the

ship, and the fowls that present themselves in the ocean, are

indications by which the skilful mariner avails himself, either to guard

against the storm, or to prepare for land; and the reader, as

circumstances arise, either shares his danger, or partakes of his

refreshment.

When the Endeavour is encircled in the wide ocean with rocks of coral,

her sheathing beaten off, and her false keel floating by her side, a

hole in her bottom, and the men alternately fainting at the pumps, what

heart is so callous, as not to sympathize with the despairing crew, and,

anxious for their safety, drop a tear for their deliverance?

And what must be the joy of every feeling heart, when, after sailing

many hundred leagues, and arriving safe at Batavia, it was found that

two of her planks next the keel, and part of a third in the ship’s

bottom, were, for six feet together, rubbed thinner, by her friction

against the rocks, than the ordinary sole of a man’s shoe!

Who that shall interest himself in the fate of Toobaiah, an Indian

priest, who voluntarily offered himself as a guide against the attacks

of the neighbouring islanders, and of the Indian youth Tayota, who

accompanied him, but must regret the death of the last, and admire the

more than Christian friendship of the former, who could not long survive

the loss of his companion?

It is to bring together a vast variety of interesting events, and to

relate them in a narrow compass, that the present work is undertaken.

The Writers of Voyages, having a more important object in view than mere

amusement, are under the necessity of interrupting the thread of their

narrations by the workings of the ship, the bearings and distances of

the capes and bays, the latitudes and longitudes of the various stations

in which their ships cast anchor, the variations of the needle, and the

soundings of the shores; matters, though of infinite concern to future

navigators, and without which the Voyages themselves would be useless,

yet are of no moment to the generality of readers, who are curious only

to know what dangers were encountered, what adventures were met with,

what lands discovered, what people possessed them, what novelties were

seen, what new arts were practised, what wars were carried on, what

weapons and utensils were in use, and, above all, by what laws,

religion, and forms of government, the various nations were

distinguished that lie scattered round the globe.

These subjects of entertainment the reader will find amply reported in

the course of the Volumes now presented to his view. And as the

relations are authenticated by gentlemen of known veracity, who were

eye-witnesses, and bear testimony to the truth of the facts, the reader

will find uncommon pleasure in the perusal.

THE

INTRODUCTION.

Previous to our entering upon the detail of the discoveries and

adventures of the English navigators who have surrounded the globe, it

may, perhaps, afford some entertainment to the curious reader, to be

made acquainted with the first steps that led to so bold an undertaking,

and with the characters of those happy geniuses, who not only conceived

the plan, but contributed not a little by their example to facilitate

the execution.

We are told that the shadow seen in the moon in the time of her eclipse,

first pointed out to the early navigators the true figure of the earth;

and that, from this simple observation, Columbus, by revolving it in his

mind, deduced the possibility of passing round its surface, or, to speak

with more precision, of sailing from one side of the continent to the

other; for as yet one great continent, and one great ocean, with their

appendages, were thought to compose the whole material world.

Full of this idea, he was naturally led to conclude, that, by sailing in

a direct course from any given point of land on one side, he must of

necessity arrive at another point of land in the same parallel on the

opposite side, provided his provisions were proportioned to the voyage,

and no accident from tempests or shipwreck intervened to interrupt his

progress. It was on this obvious principle that Columbus founded the

certainty of his discovery, the infallibility of which served to support

his hopes, when absolute despair had seized the greatest part of his

followers.

It is true, that, though the figure of the earth was in effect

conceived, yet its dimensions were wholly unknown: but as the road

over-land to the eastern coasts of the continent was no secret, Columbus

was persuaded that a passage by sea by a western course, if no

intermediate lands prevented, would assuredly bring him to the same

coasts. From his knowledge, therefore, of the position of those

countries, from whence the rich productions of the East were circulated

thro’ all the kingdoms of the West, he was led to steer, first, a

south-west, and then a direct west course, which brought him among those

broken fragments of the western continent, which he at first mistook for

the islands of the Indian Ocean, and to the richest of which he imagined

another voyage would certainly open a passage.

The discovery being once made, the principle upon which it was grounded

could no longer be concealed. Those belonging to the naval department

about the Court of Spain, who had been most violent in opposing the

undertaking, as appearing to them in no better light than as the

visionary conceit of some crack-brained projector, now assumed another

tone, and affected to speak of it as a discovery that required no

extraordinary talents to accomplish; that it was not the result of

science, but a thing that must follow of course to the first adventurer;

and that it was fortunate for Columbus that he could prevail upon their

Majesties to furnish the means to undertake it, as with such

encouragement there were not wanting officers in the royal navy much

better qualified to have conducted the enterprize, tho’ by his

unparallelled assurance he had obtained the preference. In this slight

and contemptuous manner it was the humour at Court to speak of the new

discovery; and though Columbus, after his return, was for a while

caressed by the Royal Family, yet the frequent repetition of these

indignities could not fail in time to lessen the idea of the merit of a

man who had no advocate to support his credit but the evidence of his

own superior abilities. At a court-entertainment, however, to which he

was invited, an incident happened that contributed not a little to

heighten his character, and mortify his enemies. The conversation at

table turned, as was usual, upon the importance of the new discoveries;

and though all seemed to agree that the advantages would be immense that

must inevitably result to Spain, yet little they thought was due to the

first discoverer, because any ordinary seaman, by keeping his ship’s

head to the westward, must have fallen in with the same countries.

Columbus, without seeming to regard their discourse, when dinner was

over, and the table uncovered, called for an egg, and twirling it about

with his hand, as if by way of amusement, asked if any of the company

could make that egg stand upon its little end without additional

support. The company, after trying their skill, pronounced _the thing

impossible_; when Columbus, taking it again in his hand, and bruising

the shell a little at bottom with his nail, produced it upon the table

standing upright. The company all fell a-laughing, and one cried out,

that any fool could do as much as that. I doubt not, replied Columbus,

but any of you may do it, now you have seen it done; and so may any

miserable pilot in the navy sail to the Indies, now that I have pointed

out the track; but till the issue had shewn it practicable, addressing

himself to the naval gentlemen, that, too, you pronounced an _impossible

thing_. The King and his Royal Consort, particularly the latter, were

highly pleased when they were told this story, admiring the promptness

of a mind which, ever collected, neither malice nor envy could

disconcert.

Other navigators, equally enterprizing, tho’ less sagacious, were now

inflamed with the desire of immortalizing their names by new

undertakings; so that it is no wonder that the business of discovery

went rapidly on for a succeeding century.

It was in 1492 that Columbus made his first expedition to the Bahama

Islands; and in 1496, John Cabbot, in the service of England, discovered

the continent of North America.

Columbus, in his first voyage, had not yet conceived the idea of a

double continent, but believed, as we have already noted, that he had

discovered a passage by sea to those islands in the East that were

already known by the name of the East Indies; in conformity to which he

gave to the islands that he discovered the appellation of the _West

Indies_, which they retain to this day.

In 1493, having made a second voyage, and carried his discoveries

considerably farther to the South, it is said, he received some faint

notions of a sea beyond a great land, by which the islands he had first

discovered were bounded; but it was not till after his third voyage in

1497, that he attained a sight of that continent which Cabbot had

discovered the year before.

It may seem, from what has just been said, that the eastern passage to

the Indian Ocean had been discovered by the Portuguese; and that the

East Indies were known to that people before this western discovery by

Columbus: but, though several journies by land had been made, with a

view to the opening an advantageous commerce with the eastern countries,

by Portuguese Ambassadors well instructed in the Arabian language, by

whose address some progress had been made in that business, yet it was

not till 1495 that Bartholomew Diaz doubled the Cape of Good Hope, nor

till the year 1497 (the same year that the American continent was

discovered by Cabbot), that Don Vasquez de Gama, by steering the nearest

course, passed the Cape which Diaz had discovered, and sailed into the

Indian Ocean, where he afterwards made considerable conquests, and by

his prudent management very suddenly diverted the current of Indian

commerce into an entire new channel. The notion, therefore, that

Columbus borrowed his idea of a western passage from the discoveries

made by the Portuguese towards the East, is ill founded. These last had,

indeed, made a considerable progress in their discoveries by land; but

the passages to the Eastern and Western Indies by sea were discovered

about the same time, without the least connection or intelligence

between the respective discoverers. And here we cannot help entering our

protest against the honour ascribed to Columbus by Mr. Campbell, and

other judicious naval historians, as being the first circumnavigator,

because, as Mr. Campbell observes, “it was his [Columbus’s] opinion,

that there was a passage from the North Sea into the South, and from

thence it might be very possible to sail to the East Indies.”----That it

was the opinion of Columbus, that there was a western passage to the

East Indies is readily granted; it was his original idea: but that there

was a passage from the East Indies to Europe, without returning the same

way he went, he could have no conception of, till after the passage by

the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by the Portuguese. Had he dreamt of

an eastern passage _by sea_ to the East Indies, he would most certainly

have preferred it to a western passage, because it might have been

performed without losing sight of land; and therefore, with much less

risque than by launching into an immense unknown ocean, of which no one

could tell the extent. But his notion was, that the earth, like a bowl,

inclosed the sea, and that it could only be traversed from side to side

by water, and then from shore to shore by land. Many irrefragable proofs

of his having no conception of _sailing_ round the globe might be

adduced; but that of his returning the same way back a second time,

without his _knowing_ for certainty, or _believing_ there was any other

sea to sail upon, or having even determined the extent of that sea on

which he had already ventured so far, may serve without farther proof to

convince the intelligent reader, that Columbus had never thought of but

one sea when he undertook his discovery, and that that sea was only to

be crossed from West to East, and _vice versâ_.

But to proceed:--Soon after the eastern passage to the Indies was laid

open, the coast of Brazil, opposite to the Cape of Good Hope, was

discovered by Cabral, a Portuguese pilot, who was driven out of his

course by stress of weather. The same coast was likewise discovered the

same year by Yannez Pinçon, who commanded a carvel that accompanied

Columbus in his first expedition to the West Indies. This man contested

the honour of the first discovery with Columbus, and insisted that it

was through his perseverance alone that land was descried, the crew of

Columbus having absolutely determined to steer back before the discovery

took place. Be that as it may, this able mariner afterwards examined the

coast from the Bay of Mexico to the Equinoctial Line, and, in the year

1500, discovered the great river of Amazons, which it was thought would

have opened a passage to the South Sea.

In 1502, Columbus made his fourth and last expedition, when he fully

satisfied himself that the islands he had discovered were totally

disconnected from those he went in quest of, and that another continent

existed besides that which was known to Europeans. He was still,

however, of opinion, that a western passage to the old continent from

the new would be practicable, whenever a way was found to the Great Sea

by which it was surrounded: and now it is not at all improbable but that

he might foretel what afterwards came to pass, that one day or other the

whole globe might be circumnavigated, though he did not live to see it

executed.

In 1509, the Portuguese first found the way to Sumatra, and from thence

extended their discoveries to the Moluccas.

About this time a contest arose between the Spaniards and Portuguese,

concerning the right of possessing countries, to which neither of them

had any other claim than that of being the first Europeans who happened

to land upon their coasts: a claim of the same kind his Otaheitean

Majesty may pretend to the western part of Europe, his subject Aotourou

being incontestibly the first Tropical inhabitant that ever set foot on

that continent. This contest, however, the Pope took upon him to decide;

and, to prevent the bloody consequences that might ensue between two

such powerful competitors, he published a bull, which, at that time of

blind obedience, was held decisive, decreeing, that whatever discoveries

were made to the westward should belong to Spain, and such as were made

to the eastward, to Portugal. This seemed for a while to content both

parties; but, in 1520, Ferdinand Magellan, or Magellhanes, as Mr.

Dalrymple affects to call him, having made his famous discovery to the

Molucca Islands by a new passage, the contest was again revived, and the

competitors claimed a second time the Pope’s interposition to settle the

limits of their respective claims by more precise and determinate

boundaries. The claims of the Spaniards were now extended to near three

parts of the globe; and those of the Portuguese, which by a false

representation had been much diminished, were now to be restored, or

rather regulated by a more exact standard. The two contending powers

were to divide the globe between them, by what was then stiled a line of

demarkacion. This _line_ was to cut the globe into two hemispheres, and

was to be acknowledged a _first_ meridian: all the discoveries in the

western hemisphere were to belong to Spain; and all in the eastern to

Portugal. But still there arose a dispute about the precise spot where

this meridian line should be fixed. By the Pope’s bull it had been

placed 100 leagues to the westward of St. Antonio, one of the islands of

Cape Verde; but, by this new regulation, it was removed 270 leagues

farther to the west. This alteration was intended to deprive Portugal of

the possession of the Moluccas; but the Portuguese pilots were not to be

thus deceived: they suffered the line of demarkacion to be fixed; but,

when it was finally determined, they insisted on their right to the

Moluccas, as still within their limits, and future observations have

since confirmed their claims. But, notwithstanding the justice of their

claims (if justice can at all be admitted to exist in cases of

usurpation), the Spaniards held the Moluccas till 1529, when the

Portuguese purchased an exclusive right of trading to them by a loan of

350,000 ducats.----But to return from this digression:

We have already observed, that the coast of Brazil, and the river of

Amazons, was first discovered by Yannez Pinçon, in 1500; but it was not

till twelve years afterwards that John de Solis discovered the river

Plate.

In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Bilboa got sight of the Great South Sea, from

the mountains of Pancas in the province of Panama and from that time

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese officer, conceived the design of

surrounding the globe, by finding a passage by which he might enter that

sea. He now began to consider the earth as divided into two continents,

with their concomitant seas; and, as a promontory was found, by the

doubling of which one continent might be visited on both sides, he made

no doubt but that another promontory existed, by which the other might

be visited in like manner. Perhaps the idea of a strait might not at

first strike his mind, till the opening at Cape Virgin suggested it. His

original thought was to coast along to the southward, as the land

trended; and by perseverance, he persuaded himself, that a boundary

would be found, by which the land of the new continent would be

terminated, though he did not, nor could not then ascertain to what

height it might reach. He had in view a nearer way to the Moluccas than

that by the Cape of Good Hope; and he at first imparted his views to the

Ministers of his Court, who, probably suspecting that by such a passage

the right to the Moluccas might be brought in question by Spain, treated

his project with a contemptuous neglect. To a man full of the importance

of such a discovery, nothing could be more mortifying. He determined,

since he was so coolly received at home, to try his fortune abroad. For

this purpose he repaired to the Court of Spain, where, after making

himself known to the leading Minister, he undertook to prove the

Moluccas, and other rich islands then reputed in the East, to be within

the Spanish line of demarkacion to the West, and by a new passage to

them he engaged to confirm the truth of what he advanced incontestibly.

These propositions, after being properly examined, and approved by the

ablest astronomers and geographers at that time in Spain, was eagerly

embraced by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, an enterprizing Prince, who

then held the kingdom, and who gave him audience in the council-chamber

at Saragossa, and conferred upon him, and his companion Ruy Falero, the

order of St. Jago, both of whom, his Imperial Majesty honoured with the

title of _his Captains_.

This encouragement, and these honours, could not fail to alarm the Court

of Portugal; but all the interest and opposition which Alvaro de Acasio,

the Portuguese Ambassador, could make, had no effect; the preparations

for the voyage were prosecuted with more than ordinary diligence, and

five ships were soon got in readiness to put to sea.

But, previous to their setting sail, a difference arose concerning the

necessary forms of command, which had well nigh ruined the voyage before

it was undertaken; the honour of carrying the royal standard was

contested by Ruy Falero, and some other indignities were offered to

Magellan on account of his country. These, however, were redressed by

the interposition of the imperial authority; Ruy Falero was persuaded to

suspend his departure on account of his health, and Magellan was

declared General of the squadron, which was now committed to his sole

direction.

On the 10th of August, 1519, this little fleet, consisting of the

Admiral’s ship; the St. Antonio, Capt. Juan de Cartagena, Vice-Admiral;

the Victoria, Capt. Luys de Mendoça, Rear-Admiral; the St. Jago, Capt.

Juan Rodriguez Serrano; and the Conception, of which Gasper de Quezada

was Master; left Cadiz, and proceeded to Teneriff, from whence they took

their departure, on the 2d of September, and on the 13th of December

arrived at Rio de Janeiro, on the coast of Brazil, where they staid till

the 27th; and, after being plentifully supplied with all necessary

refreshments at a very moderate price, they weighed anchor, and

continued their voyage, in the course of which much discontent arose

concerning the track they were to steer; but on Easter evening they

entered St. Julian river, and were next day ordered on shore by the

General to hear mass. Three of the Captains refused to obey; namely,

Luys de Mendoça, Gasper de Quezado, and Juan de Cartagena, this last

being already in arrest for disrespect to his General.

Their disobedience put Magellan on his guard. He perceived that the

majority both of officers and men were averse to the undertaking, and

that a general murmuring prevailed throughout the whole squadron. Only a

few trusty friends were ready to support their General, and willing to

follow wherever he should lead. The weather was now set in very severe,

and the Spaniards, unused to the rigour of such a climate, were hardly

to be restrained. They represented the inutility of proceeding, as they

were already in a climate too boisterous and inclement to be navigated

by Spaniards; that it could never be the Emperor’s intention to

sacrifice the lives of his subjects, without the least prospect of

advantage to the State; and that now it was manifest, though the

discovery were certain, the navigation would be impracticable, and

therefore useless. To these representations, and others more full of

asperity, Magellan coolly made answer, “that he was determined to die

rather than return back; that he should pass the winter where he then

was; and that neither provisions nor wine should be wanting to those who

would be contented with a moderate allowance; but that if any persisted

in spreading discontents, and encouraging disobedience, he knew how to

punish as well as to reward.”

Barros says, that the three Captains _Cartagena_, _Quezada_, and

_Mendoça_, conspired together to kill Magellan, and to return and make

their report of the usage they had met with, and the hardships they had

endured in the voyage; but Magellan, considering the danger, and that in

certain circumstances _temerity_ is better than _caution_, ordered the

people of his own ship to arms; and, manning his boat with thirty trusty

friends, he clapt the Victoria aboard; and while Mendoça was reading a

letter directed to him from the General, the messenger that delivered it

stabbed him to the heart.--The moment the order was executed, the thirty

men entered to the assistance of the assassin, and quietly took

possession of the ship. This done a council of war was called, and a

conspiracy was detected, in which more than forty of the principal

people on board the several ships were found to be deeply concerned; but

Magellan, that he might not appear too sanguinary or vindictive,

sentenced _Quezada_ only to be executed, and _Cartagena_ to be left on

shore, accompanied by a French Priest; a punishment that probably was

worse than immediate death, as it subjected the criminals to hardships

which instant execution would have prevented. Mendoça and Quezada, he

ordered to be quartered as traitors, to strike the disaffected with the

greater terror. This put an end to all opposition for the present.

When the winter months drew towards a conclusion, Magellan was vigilant

to hasten the departure of his fleet; and, as soon as the cold abated,

he dispatched Serrano to coast along the shore to make observations.

Serrano, at about twenty leagues distance, found a river a league broad

at the entrance, which he named St. Cruz, because he fell in with it on

that Saint’s day. In examining this river, and in fishing for seals, he

spent six days, at the end of which a furious storm arose, which split

his sails, and drove his ship on shore, where she bulged, and was beaten

to pieces. The crew, however, were saved, but reduced to the last

extremity for want of food. Two of the company undertook to travel over

land, to give the General notice of the miserable situation of their

fellow-sufferers; and, after 11 days fatigue, they at length surmounted

every difficulty, and accomplished their purpose. Magellan, pitying

their distresses, sent a vessel with provisions, which came seasonably

to their relief.

The time for sailing being now come, and the ships in readiness, they

left the bay of St. Julian on the 24th of August, 1520, after setting

Juan de Cartagena, and Pedro Sanchez de Revora, the Priest, who was also

found deep in the plot, ashore on that desolate coast. They supplied

them plentifully with bread and wine; but as they were never afterwards

heard of, there can be no doubt of their perishing miserably.

The squadron, consisting now of four ships, kept coasting along to the

southward, with imminent danger of shipwreck, till towards the latter

end of October, when they fell in with a promontory, which the General

named Cape Virgin, because it was discovered on St. Ursula’s-day. This

Cape opened an inlet, which Magellan judged favourable to his design. He

cast anchor at the entrance of the inlet, and ordered two ships to

examine its course. In five days these ships returned, and one of them

affirmed it was a strait, because the flood was greater than the ebb;

the other reported that they saw nothing but inlets and breakers. The

General, on these different relations, determined to sail into the

opening, in order to be more precisely informed. He accordingly weighed,

and came to an anchor in a commodious bay, where he first sent his skiff

with 10 men to reconnoitre the shore, and then the St. Antonio to trace

out the inlet to a certain distance. When the men returned from the

shore, they said, they had found a burying-place with more than 200

graves, and had seen the skeleton of a whale in a cove upon the beach,

but had seen neither house nor inhabitant. The Captain of the St.

Antonio on his return gave a more flattering account. He said, he had

followed the inlet for more than 50 leagues; that its course was due

east and west; and that he made not the least doubt but that it was the

passage so much desired. This news was received with repeated

acclamations. A council was called of the chief officers and pilots, in

which a very warm debate arose, whether, in the circumstances the ships

were then in, it were better to return to Spain, having obtained the

main object of the voyage, or to proceed to complete what the General

had undertaken to perform, namely, to trace out a western passage to the

Molucca Islands. Estevan Gomez, the pilot of the St. Antonio, a man of

excellent parts and sound judgment, insisted on returning back, and

bringing another squadron to complete the discovery, alledging, that

they had still a great and unknown sea to pass, and that, if either

tempests or calms intervened to retard their passage over it, the whole

fleet must inevitably perish. His opinion was supported by the whole

council, Magellan only excepted, who declared, that, if he were sure to

be reduced to the necessity of eating the hides that covered the yards,

he would persevere in the discovery. He accordingly gave orders for

weighing anchor immediately; and, proceeding down the strait, sent the

Antonio to examine some inlets that promised a nearer passage to the

main ocean than that they were pursuing; but the pilot Gomez, and the

purser Guerra, seized and stabbed Alvara de Mesquita, the Commander, and

carried home the ship. In the mean time, Magellan supposing some

disaster had befallen her, went himself in pursuit of her; but after six

days fruitless search, he determined to continue his voyage; “and it

pleased God, says my author, that, at the end of twenty days, he entered

into the Great South Sea, and was the first who had found the passage so

much sought after, whereby the memory of this excellent Captain shall be

eternally celebrated.”

Finding that the land trended northwards, Magellan directed his course

accordingly, that he might as soon as possible clear those cold and

dreary coasts that had caused so much murmuring among the mariners, and

so much caballing among the officers; but before he reached the Tropic

he met with most tempestuous weather, by which the three remaining ships

were very much shattered in their sails and rigging. In this passage

they discovered two uninhabited islands, St. Pedro and Tiburon, about

the situation of which mariners are still divided; and it has been

questioned, whether either of them have since been seen.

As they approached the Line, they found the wind to stand fair. Magellan

then ordered the ships to change their course, and steer N. W. and

W. N. W. till he reached the Line.

Harris takes notice that it was on the 28th of December when Magellan

entered the Great South Sea, and that in this wide ocean the ships that

accompanied him sailed three months and twenty days without seeing any

other land than the two islands just mentioned, which afforded them no

refreshment. At length, when they had undergone all the miseries that

human nature is capable of sustaining, from hunger, thirst, and

sickness, they fell in with the Ladrone islands, where they landed; but

where the inhabitants were such thieves that they were in fear lest

their ships should be pulled to pieces and carried away before their

faces, the crews not having strength enough left to defend either their

lives or their properties. They therefore shortened their stay among

these plunderers; and were more fortunate in their next attempt.

On the 10th of March, landing on the island of Zamal, they found springs

of delicate water, which to them were more precious than fountains of

the choicest wines; fruit in abundance, that surpassed any they had till

then tasted; and inhabitants humane and civil, who, pitying their

distresses, brought their richest productions to relieve them. From this

island they continued to steer between the west and south-west, till

they arrived at Buthuan, or, as it has since been called, Buton, the

King of which gave them honourable entertainment. They visited several

other isles, and in all of them were well received; till at length

coming to the Isle of Mathan, they were attacked by an army of Indians,

against whom the General himself being engaged was shot with a poisoned

arrow, and afterwards pierced in the head with a lance; and thus ended

the life and actions of this gallant Commander, whose name will be

perpetuated with honour to latest posterity. After his death, a company

of his followers being invited to an entertainment on shore, were

treacherously murdered by a pretended friendly King, and only Don Juan

Serrano, of all who landed, was reserved alive, in order to procure a

large supply of fire-arms and ammunition by way of ransom; but those who

remained on board, fearful of being trepanned, would have no farther

intercourse with the perfidious infidels so that poor Serrano was left

to their mercy. Those on board the ships, 80 in number, directed their

course towards the Moluccas, and arrived at Teridore, one of the

principal of those islands, on the 8th of November, 1521. Here they were

hospitably received, and here they staid till the middle of January,

1522; and, being now come into well known seas, we shall accompany them

no farther; only remarking, that, of the whole squadron only one ship,

namely the Victoria, had the good fortune to return to Spain; and of 234

officers and seamen, the complement at first setting out, if we except

those who returned in the St. Antonio, of whom we have no account, only

13 Spaniards survived to return to Seville. Their Commander John

Sebastian Cano was received with extraordinary marks of favour by the

Emperor, who gave him for arms the Terrestrial Globe, with this motto,

_Primus me circumdedistis_, and otherwise liberally rewarded him. The

voyage he lived to make took up three years and thirty-seven days, and

is, perhaps, the most remarkable that ever was performed.

This voyage opened a new field for discovery; the Spaniards, who were

already settled on the western coasts of America, were very curious to

examine what countries might be situated along that vast space which

divided the new continent from the old; and accordingly Cortez, the

celebrated conqueror of Peru, fitted out two ships for the purpose, the

command of one of which he gave to Ferdinand Grijalva, the other to Don

Alvarado.

Grijalva departed from Pageta, in 6 deg. N. lat. about the beginning of

April, 1537, and steered W. and S. W. into 29 deg. S. lat. where his

ship springing her mast, he stood again to the Line, in which tract a

mutiny happening among the crew, Grijalva and his nephew were both

assassinated; and the ship, after a passage of four months, was carried

to Papua, where falling to pieces, the crew, reduced by famine and

fatigue to seven men, took to their boat and coasted along the shore,

till being boarded by a number of Indians, it was sunk. The Spaniards,

however, were saved by the humanity of the captors, and sold for slaves.

This ship, it is affirmed, sailed 1000 leagues on both sides the Line

without seeing land. Among the islands, however, which they afterwards

fell in with before they came to Papua, was that called Isla de los

Pescadores, called in the late voyages BYRON’S ISLAND, and supposed to

be a new discovery.

Alvarado was instructed to pursue his discoveries along the Line,

without deviating either to the right or left, farther than the most

advantageous method of navigating his ship required; and in that

direction he discovered the islands of Papua. He also discovered other

islands, named the Guelles, in 1 deg. N. lat. east and west from

Teronate, and 125 leagues from that of Moro, with Hamei, 170 leagues

from Tidore, and many others that have since been thought new

discoveries. After his return, he was again employed upon services of

the like kind, and was instrumental in establishing the trade of

Manilla.

But of all the Spanish discoveries that have been made, or pretended to

have been made, in the South Seas, that of Juan Fernandez, who first

pointed out the way from Lima to Chili by sailing to the westward, _if

real_, is by far the most important. This pilot, (the same who

discovered the island which still bears his name) in the latitude of 40

deg. S. was brought, as it is said, in courses between west and

south-west, upon the coast of a continent, from what he could judge,

very fertile and delightful, inhabited by white people, hospitable, and

well-disposed, of a middle stature, dressed in very fine cloaths, and so

peaceable and civil, that, in every way they could express, they

endeavoured to gratify the strangers, and to accommodate them with the

best things their country afforded, the fruits whereof were excellent

and abounding in the greatest profusion. It is added, that, being

over-joyed with having discovered the coast of that great continent so

much talked of, and so ardently sought after, he returned to Chili

intending to make a second voyage properly fitted out to improve this

fortunate discovery to his own and his country’s enrichment; but before

he could persuade his friends to give entire credit to his report, he

died, and the secret of the precise situation of his new continent

perished with him, for it has never since been found; though Mr.

Alexander Dalrymple, author of an Historical Collection of Voyages to

the South Pacific Ocean, whose opinion is of no small weight, is

persuaded that Fernandez did discover the SOUTHERN CONTINENT, and that,

whenever it is again visited, it will be no new discovery, but a

confirmation of the existence of that land which has already been found.

But, besides this dubious discovery, there is still another, which has

not yet been clearly ascertained, and about which geographers are much

divided. This discovery is attributed to Alvaro Mendana, who, in 1567,

is said to have fallen in with a cluster of islands abounding with gold

and pearl, which were named by him the Isles of Salomon; and for the

settling of which an unsuccessful attempt was made by Mendana himself;

and a second strongly solicited by Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, the chief

pilot who accompanied that General, and who afterwards made a voyage

thither on his own account, in which he made many discoveries.

It was in April, 1595, that Mendana left Callao, in Peru, to settle the

Salomon Isles. He had with him two large ships, a galleasta, and a

frigate, on board of which were embarked from Lima 400 followers,

including women and children. Of this embarkation Lope de la Vega, his

brother-in-law, was Admiral; Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, chief pilot; and

Pedro Merino Manriquez, Maitre de Campo. According to Figueroa, who

wrote an account of this voyage, the Admiral’s ship was named the St.

Isabella; Mendana’s ship, the St. Jerome; the galleasta, St. Philippe;

and the frigate, St. Catalina: of the two last the Commanders were Capt.

Philip Corço, and Lieut. Alonzo de Leyla. In this expedition Mendana was

accompanied by his Lady Donna Isabella Barretos, with her three

brothers; and, after parting company with the Admiral’s ship the very

night they came in sight of the island on which they settled, Mendana

cast anchor in a bay which he called _la Graciosa_, and the island he

named Santa Cruz. Here on the 8th of October, the Maitre de Campo, and

Thomas de Ampuero, were hanged, and Ensign Jean de Buy beheaded, for

mutinous behaviour; and here Mendana himself died the 18th of the same

month. Don Lorenzo, brother to Donna Isabella, who, by the loss of the

Admiral, had succeeded as Captain-General, died also on the 2d of

November; and, in less than seven days after, Father Antonio de Serra,

Chief Priest, and Juan de Espinosa, his Vicar. In short, from change of

climate, food, and customs; from labour, going in the sun, being wet

without having wherewithal to shift themselves, sleeping on the ground,

and from other disorders and sufferings, dangerous diseases attacked the

whole company; they began to die a-pace, it being lamentable to see them

in their distress creeping into huts, some delirious, and others at the

last gasp; some going to the ships to seek health; others shifting from

the ships to the shore; but no remedy, nor any physician to apply to for

relief. In this calamitous state things were, when Donna Isabella, on

the 18th of October, broke up the settlement; and embarking the few

people that remained alive, on board the St. Jerome, the frigate, and

the galleasta, they set sail, intending to pursue their course to

Manilla: but the frigate soon lost company, and, it is said, was

afterwards found on a desart coast with all her sails set, and the

people on board dead and rotten and the galleasta put into an island

near the coast of Mindanao. The St. Jerome, however, after suffering

unspeakable hardships, got to Manilla, where Donna Isabella married Don

Ferdinando de Castro, and returned in his ship to New Spain the very

next year. The Admiral’s ship was never heard of.--Thus ended this

unfortunate expedition.

The island of Santa Cruz, in which this settlement was attempted, is

said to be 100 leagues in circumference, and to lie E. S. E. and

W. N. W. in lat. 10 deg. 20 min. S. distant from Lima 1800 leagues. They

cast anchor on the north side of it, in a harbour, to the north of which

is a volcano, or burning mountain, that from its top frequently casts

forth fire, and from the inside of which proceeds a noise sometimes

louder than thunder. To the west of it the harbour is a small island

about four leagues in compass, separated from the great island by sunken

rocks and banks of sand. The port is formed at the bottom of the bay by

a great river, and the country round it is fine and plentiful. A more

exact description than this, one would think, could not have been given.

Quiros, who navigated Donna Isabella, first to Manilla, and afterwards

accompanied her to New Spain, was so charmed with the beautiful

appearance of these enchanting islands, that he continued for the space

of ten years incessantly to weary the Court of Spain with memorial after

memorial to renew the settlement of them; and at length he

prevailed.----Previous to his voyage, he spent several months in

building two ships and a zebra, the stoutest and best equipped with men,

provisions, and warlike stores, of any that had ever been fitted out in

New Spain. He was accompanied by six Franciscan Fathers, with whom he

took his departure on the 21st of December, 1605; and sailing without

any material incident till the 26th of January 1606, he on that day fell

in with an island to the south-west, just 1000 leagues from the coast of

Peru, in lat. 25 deg. S. which island he unluckily found uninhabited.

From this island he sailed on different courses, passing several

inaccessible islands, till the 10th of February, on which day a sailor

joyfully cried out, _Land a-head!_ Here, on their landing, they

surprized a woman, but so old in appearance, that it was matter of

astonishment that she could stand upright. In her youthful days it was

easy to perceive that she had been of a graceful mien, and she still

retained a dignity about her that shewed she was of quality. Being asked

by signs to go on board, she complied without hesitation; and when

there, she eat of whatever was given her, and received presents with a

becoming ease. After cloathing this lady very fine, they set her on

shore; and, on her landing, the people flocked about her, and among them

a tall, stout, well-made man, who had on his head a plume of feathers,

and by his deportment appeared to be a Chief. Him they endeavoured to

entice on board; but, when he came to the ship’s side, fearing

treachery, he refused to enter. Quiros directed that no force might be

used, made him some presents, and dismissed him. This island by

observation was in 17 deg. 40 min S. and was named by Quiros Sagitaria.

They left it on the 12th, after some skirmishes with the inhabitants,

and, passing by several other islands, in which they could procure no

refreshment, on the 2d of March they fell in with an island which

promised fair to supply their wants. Here on their attempting to land

they were accosted by about 100 Indians, the tallest, genteelest,

whitest, and strongest-made people they had ever yet seen; but, though

they shewed fair in countenance, they were in fact the cruelest enemies

they had to encounter in the whole voyage. One of them in a swift canoe

approached the ship singly, and, brandishing his lance, made those kind

of contortions with his face, arms, and legs, by which Parkinson has

remarked the South-Sea Indians provoke their enemies to battle; he even

mounted the balcony of the Admiral’s ship, and with his lance made a

thrust at one of the officers on the quarter-deck, with an intent to

kill him, and instantly leaping into his canoe rowed off at a great

rate. He repeated his visits and his insolence; but it was not long

before they shot him dead. While this was passing on board the Admiral,

the zebra, that had cast anchor near the shore, was still in a worse

situation, surrounded by a multitude of fierce barbarians, who, having

fastened a rope to her head, were endeavouring to drag her on shore; but

perceiving that the people on board were preparing to cut the rope, they

pushed a little off, and were fastening it to the cable, when a volley

of small arms was discharged among them, by which some were killed, some

wounded, and all terribly frightened: this, however, failed of the

desired effect; for neither kindness nor chastisement could prevail upon

them to furnish the ships with water or provisions; so that they were

obliged to set sail without a supply of either. This island lies north

and south, and was called by Quiros the Island of Handsome People.

They now pursued their course for the island of Santa Cruz without

interruption till the 7th of April, when they discovered land bearing

W. N. W. high, and black like a volcano; but night coming on, they stood

off till next morning, and then sent the zebra to look out for a safe

harbour for the ships to cast anchor. On the 9th she returned, having

succeeded; and about noon the same day the ships were moored in 25

fathom water, to the great joy of the desponding crew. The boats were

instantly dispatched to make peace with the natives; and before night,

they returned with water, plantains, cocoa-nuts, potatoes, palmetos, and

sugar-canes, than which the riches of Potosi could not have been more

welcome. They next day discovered a fort, constructed by art, the

materials of coral stone, in which were about 70 houses surrounded by

the sea, and designed as a refuge from enemies, whenever an invasion was

threatened by the warlike inhabitants of the adjoining country. To this

fort they made their next approach, and, lest they should meet with

opposition, they took care to be properly armed; but the inhabitants

were desirous of nothing so much as peace, and received them hospitably:

so different are the dispositions of people inhabiting the same climate,

and separated only by a portion of the sea. Here they were supplied at

an easy rate with wood and water, in the shipping of which they were

assisted by the friendly natives; and here they had plenty of the fruits

and provisions which the country produced; in return for which, the

grateful Spaniards seized four of the natives, with a view to carry them

off; but in spite of their vigilance three made their escape, and only

one continued with them, who, being a slave where he was, cared but

little what master he served in that capacity.

At the end of seven days, the people being pretty well refreshed, Quiros

again set sail, and on the 21st of April passed an island in lat. 12

degrees S. which the Indians called Tucopia. They now approached the

islands of which they were in quest; and on the 25th a consultation was

held on board the Admiral, to consider which of the lands in sight they

would chuse to settle, when it was concluded not to return to Santa

Cruz, but to stand to the southward in search of that great land, of

which they had heard so much. This they did, passing many islands, some

of considerable extent, some small but very populous, and all of them

exhibiting a most delightful prospect of woods, lawns, inclosures, and

water-falls, till at length in lat. 14 deg. 50 min. S. they came to a

land stretching from east to west, to the extent of which they could see

no end. On the zebra’s approaching this land, the people on board were

not a little surprized to see an Indian come down from the mountains,

and without invitation throw himself into the sea, and make towards the

ship. A boat was immediately hoisted out, in order to take him up; but

as he appeared spirited and strong, and made the usual contortions by

way of defiance, it was judged proper to confine him, by clapping a

chain upon his legs to prevent mischief. In this manner they purposed to

have carried him on board the Admiral, who wanted to get some native in

his power to use with kindness, in order to facilitate a peace; but,

perceiving their intent, and concluding that his imprisonment was a

prelude to his death, he seized in his passage a favourable opportunity,

and snapping his chains with his hands, leapt suddenly into the sea.

Night coming on, it was in vain to pursue him, and accordingly they

continued their course to acquaint the Admiral with what had happened.

They had scarce been an hour on board, when the watch on the forecastle

called out, _A voice!_ and knowing it to be that of a native, they

instantly handed him up, when, to the great surprize of the boat’s crew,

who had just come on board, they perceived, by the remains of the chain

about his leg, that it was the man who had made his escape. He was quite

exhausted with swimming, and chose rather to surrender to the strangers

than perish in the sea. He was kindly received, had wine and sweet-meats

given him, put to bed, and in the morning was richly cloathed in

taffety, and sent on shore: in return for which civilities, he caused a

number of hogs to be sent on board, with plantains and other fruits; but

at the same time he gave his benefactors to understand, that he was not

to be diverted from the defence of his country by the dissembled

kindness of pretended friends. When, therefore, the Spaniards attempted

to land, a few Indians, headed by this gallant Chief, appeared upon the

shore, and, feigning to conduct them to an open beach, led them along

the skirts of a wood, where a numerous body of natives lay concealed,

who watching their opportunity, let fly a volley of poisoned arrows, by

which, however, one Spaniard only was wounded in the face. The Spaniards

returned the compliment, by a discharge of musquetry; but the opposition

they expected from these _uncivilized barbarians_ (for so they are

called for defending their country) deterred them from prosecuting their

design. They returned to their ships without setting foot on shore; and

on their return, finding themselves mistaken, it was thought proper

again to put to sea, in search of that great country and that friendly

people, of whole happy situation they had heard so much.

On the 30th of April, about three in the afternoon, steering south-west,

they discovered land right a-head, and before night came up with it. In

the morning the zebra was sent along shore to examine the soundings, and

after twelve hours absence returned, and made report, that they had

found a spacious bay, and had exchanged some trifles with a people of an

enormous size, who, nevertheless, appeared to be good natured, and

desirous of peace. This news gave universal satisfaction. The ships

followed their pilot; and it being the day of St. Philip and St. James

when they arrived, they called the bay by that name. Here they found a

most delightful port, situated between two noble rivers (the one they

named the Jordan, and the other Salvador); the people numerous and

friendly; the climate mild and serene; and the air so wholesome that in

a few days all the sick recovered. The soil they afterwards found

fruitful to a degree of luxuriance; the woods and plains abounding with

herds and beasts of various kinds, and the seas well stored with fish.

In short, nothing was wanting to complete their wishes, but a more

numerous company to secure possession. On their first landing the

Spaniards were hospitably received; but when it was perceived, by their

overtures for peace, that they intended to prolong their stay, a

jealousy arose that they came with no good design; and they were treated

afterwards as enemies and invaders. All friendly intercourse very soon

ceased; the market for provisions was stopt; and nothing was to be

obtained to subsist upon but by force or stratagem. While they were on

these terms, an incident happened that it was thought would at once have

put an end to their fears and their hopes. Among the vegetables which

grew wild, and on which they were obliged chiefly to live, they had

gathered some poisonous plants, of which the people in general had

eaten, and all who had eaten soon began to feel the direful effects. The

symptoms were the more alarming, as all parts of the flesh seemed to

partake of the noxious quality of the plants. The ships were like the

hospitals of a city infested with the plague, where the numbers of the

healthy were not sufficient to administer to the infirmities of the

sick. Nothing, in short, was to be heard but lamentations and

supplications; all expected to die without remedy. But their fears, as

it fell out, were greater than their danger; for, after a certain time,

the violence of the poison abated, and the sick were restored to a more

vigorous state of health than they enjoyed before. But they were scarce

relieved from this misfortune, when another succeeded. Despairing of

ever being able to reconcile themselves to the natives at this port,

they set sail, after having founded a city between the _Jordan_ and the

_Salvador_, to which they had given the name of _New Jerusalem_.

Coasting towards the south with a view to find a more fortunate

settlement, they were overtaken by a most dreadful storm, in which the

ships were separated. The Admiral was driven off the coast, and never

again returned; but the other ship, and the zebra, with difficulty

returned to port. What afterwards became of them we are not told.

Quiros, after attempting in vain to rejoin them, made the best of his

way to New Spain and on his arrival undertook a voyage to Old Spain,

where he continued to solicit the Court for a new embarkation; but he

died before he could obtain it.

From this time the Spaniards seem to have given over all thoughts of a

settlement in those islands, to the true situation of which they appear

at this day to be strangers. Neither have other nations been more

successful in their attempts to discover them; for unless (as Mr.

Alexander Dalrymple has endeavoured to prove in his Historical

Collection of Voyages to the South Pacific Ocean) they are the same with

those which Dampier has dignified with the name of New Britain, no

others have yet been found that answer to their description. To Mr.

Dalrymple’s data there can be only one objection, and that is this:

Quiros, in his memorial to the Court of Spain, reporting the voyage of

Mendana, says, that, in prosecuting his discoveries, he fell in with

four islands [the Marquessas], inhabited by so good a people, that there

is no account of any other having ever been found equal to them; and

that these islands were 1000 leagues from Lima, 650 from the nearest

coast of New Spain, and 1000 leagues from New Guinea. Here the distance

from Lima to New Guinea is precisely fixed by Quiros; but at the same

time it is to be noted, that the distance from Lima to the isles in

question are as precisely fixed; and in the same memorial they are said

to be between the 7th and 12th degrees of south latitude, 1500 leagues

from the city of Lima. Thus they are placed by Quiros, precisely in the

midway between the Marquessas and New Guinea; whereas the isles called

New Britain are divided by Dampier from New Guinea to the eastward only

by a strait.

But this by the bye.--We shall now proceed to relate what other material

discoveries have been made by other nations in the southern hemisphere,

particularly by the Dutch:--Le Maire and Schouten left the Texel on June

the 14th, 1615; and passing Strait Le Maire January 25, 1616, on the

10th of April the same year fell in with an island in latitude 15 deg.

12 min. S. 3700 miles from the coast of Peru, to which they gave the

name of DOG ISLAND. Pursuing their course to the isles of Salomon, on

the 16th they came to another island, in lat. 14 deg. 46 min. S. to

which they gave the name of WATERLAND, because in this island, tho’

uninhabited, they found a supply of fresh water, and some herbs, of

which they gathered sackfuls to make pottage to refresh the men, who

were now much afflicted with the scurvy.

On the 3d of May they saw many dolphins, the first they had seen in the

South Seas.

On the 11th, after passing several uninhabited islots, they discovered

an island in lat. 16 deg. 10 min. S. where they had an engagement with

the natives, whom they found to be great thieves; they were, however,

very handsome; their limbs well-proportioned, of large stature, quite

naked, excellent swimmers, and very active. This island they called

Cocos Island, because they were here plentifully supplied with that

fruit. A league from it lay another, which they named Traitors Island,

because the inhabitants had formed a design to cut them off.

On the 18th, having sailed near 5000 miles from the coast of Peru,

without discovering the least appearance of a southern land, or falling

in with the so much celebrated isles of Salomon, and being in lat. 16

deg. 5 min. S. it was there considered in full council what course to

steer next; when it was determined to return home by the well known

track to the northward of New Guinea.

In pursuit of this resolution they changed their course to the N. N. W.

and on the 22d, being in lat. 14 deg. 56 min. S. they fell in with an

island which, by its beautiful appearance, promised fair to afford

refreshment. Sending the shallop to sound, they found 50 fathom, sand

and shells, in a kind of bason over-against a small river issuing from a

valley edged with trees. This gave unspeakable pleasure to the whole

company.

[Illustration: _Horn-Island._]

On the 23d they moored the ship; and, while they were yet busy, they

were visited by whole troops of the natives, who expressed their

admiration a thousand different ways. At length, a venerable old man

approached the ship, and with great gravity made an oration, at the

conclusion of which, the people who surrounded him expressed their

approbation by general acclamations. A traffic for provisions now

commenced; and, after a pretty sharp skirmish, in which half a dozen

natives were killed by the musquetry, the same was continued till their

departure with great civility and honesty. The Chiefs of the island,

after an exchange of hostages, came on board, and were magnificently

entertained. They were given to understand, that the ships were in want

of water, and they made their people assist in supplying their wants.

They caused hogs, dogs, fowls, and fruits, to be sent in plenty, which

were exchanged for nails, beads, dolls, and looking-glasses. As a

present, when the Chiefs returned to shore, they sent to the Commander

two hogs ready drest; they had taken out the entrails, and put in the

place of them burning stones, to roast them in the inside, and sweet

herbs to make them savoury. In short, their manners, their desires,

their behaviour, their customs, their habitations, and their arts, so

exactly correspond with what has lately been reported of the inhabitants

of the supposed newly discovered islands in the South Seas, that there

does not remain a doubt, but that this island which the Dutch named

Hoorne Island, together with the adjoining island which they called the

Island of Good Hope, are two of those that lie between the 10th and 17th

degrees of south latitude, of which our late voyagers have given so

flattering an account. One particular reported by the Dutch is

strikingly characteristic: The men, say they, were valiant, and large in

stature, the tallest among them surpassing very much in height the

tallest of ours; _their women were not handsome, but so totally

destitute of shame, that what modesty requires to be done in privacy,

they performed with their men in public, by way of entertainment, before

their Kings_. In the new map accompanying Hawkesworth’s Voyages, King

George’s Island is placed in the latitude of 14 deg. 29 min. S. long.

148 deg. 50 min. W. In the Dutch maps Hoorne Island is placed in lat. 14

deg. 56 min. S. long. 83 deg. 30 min. W. from Arica, on the coast of

Peru, which answers to long. 153 deg. 30 min. W. from London, being only

2 deg. 40 min. more to the west, and 27 min. more to the south than King

George’s Island; a difference very inconsiderable indeed! allowing for

the difference of time from 1616 to 1765, and for the improvement that

has been made in the instruments of navigation during that period,

particularly in those for ascertaining longitude.

On the 1st of June, as has been already observed, they took their

departure from Hoorne Island, highly pleased with their kind reception,

and on the 25th came in sight of the coast of New Guinea.

We should have mentioned, that Schouten was of opinion, that Hoorne

Island was one of the Salomon Isles, mentioned by Quiros, none other

they had met with having answered so well to the Spanish description of

them.

The next remarkable voyage, undertaken professedly with a view to

discovery in the southern hemisphere, is that of Abel Jansan Tasman,

who, in 1642, sailed from Batavia in the East Indies, and touched at the

Isles of Mauritius, in latitude 20 deg. 20 min. South; long. 78 deg. 47

min. East. On the 8th of October, the same year, he left the Mauritius,

and, keeping a southerly course, on the 24th of September fell in with

the land, to which he gave the name of Anthony Van Diemen’s land, in 42

deg. 25 min. S. long. 163 deg. 50 min. E. Here they met with much bad

weather, which obliged them to steer eastward; and on the 1st of

December they anchored in lat. 43 deg. 10 min. S. long. 167 deg. 55 min.

E. in a bay to which they gave the name of Frederic Henry’s bay. Their

whole force consisted only of a small ship about 300 tons, named the

Hemskirk, and the Zee Haan pink for examining the coast. Here they

landed, but could discover no human being, though they had reason to

believe the country was inhabited. They gathered plenty of good

pot-herbs that grew wild, and saw trees full two fathom and an half in

the girt, and from 60 to 75 feet high, in which steps had been cut for

the purpose of climbing them, five feet distant from each other, and

from this circumstance they concluded that the inhabitants must be men

of gigantic stature.

On the 5th of December, Tasman pursued his course in search of the

Salomon Isles, and on the 13th had sight of a very high and mountainous

country, now well known by the name of New Zealand. By its lofty

appearance, he judged it to be the southern continent and coasted it

along to the north eastward, till on the 18th of December, he came to a

spacious bay, three or four miles in breadth, in lat. 40 deg. 49 min. S.

long. 191 deg. 41 min. from whence he could discern on the shore men of

a strong robust make, partly clothed, and partly naked, to whom he made

signals, inviting them on board, but none of them would venture to

approach within the reach of a peteraro. It was therefore resolved to go

to them; but before that resolution could be carried into execution, the

barbarians made an attack upon the Zee Haan’s boat, and murdered most of

the crew, in the manner related in the course of the work.

Not caring to sacrifice any more of his people against a barbarous race

of manslayers, he weighed anchor, and pursued his voyage along the coast

till he came to an island in latitude 34 deg. 25 min. S. which he named

THREE KINGS ISLAND, where some of his people landed, and where they saw

at a distance about 40 men of an uncommon stature, who called to them in

a very gruff tone of voice, and approached them hastily with prodigious

strides. The Dutchmen, being few in number, thought fit to retreat.

Their business being that of discovery, not of war, the Captain thought

fit to quit that inhospitable coast, and direct his course to the

islands of Cocos or Hoorne, where he was sure of refreshing his men, and

supplying their wants without danger of bloodshed, happy that he could

find a passage into an open sea. On this coast, however, he observed

many fair plantations, handsomely laid out, and to all appearance well

cultivated.

On the 19th of January, 1643, he discovered three islands, to which he

gave names. The southernmost he called Pylstaart’s Island, the

middlemost Amsterdam, and the most northerly Middleburgh. This last lay

in lat. 21 deg. 20 min. S. long. 205 deg. 20 minutes. At these islands,

which seemed remote from any other land, they trafficked for provisions;

and the inhabitants, who were of a tawney complexion, and somewhat above

the common size, behaved very civilly, and shewed no signs of a hostile

disposition. Among the natives of these islands came a lusty man with a

St. Thomas’s arm, and a woman with a natural beard. A venerable old man

came also among the rest, and made an oration; after which a croud of

men and women, young and old, came on board with all kinds of

provisions. It is remarkable, that, among all the islands in the South

Seas, the only tame four-footed animals are hogs and dogs, and of these

the inhabitants here had plenty. They found another island at no great

distance, equally abounding in the usual productions, besides being

plentifully supplied with water. It appears strange to us, that the

people in those hot climates can subsist without fresh water; yet nature

seems in part to have supplied that defect by furnishing a fruit that

both allays thirst and assuages hunger, and that too without either art

or labour. By vegetables suited to their subsistence, it should seem

that the animals, indigenous to the climate, are nourished and made fat.

Indeed, where springs, brooks, and lakes are wanting, the forests have

few, if any, inhabitants; but if we may credit the relations of

voyagers, the people have hogs and dogs, where they have neither river,

well, or lake; for though in Amsterdam Island, the strangers might have

purchased 100 hogs a day for a few baubles, yet a can of fresh water was

not to be procured at any rate. In an island, called by the natives

Annamokka, but by the Dutch Rotterdam, water was found in plenty, yet it

was no better inhabited than the islands before mentioned, which seemed

to be wholly without. Rotterdam Island is placed in lat. 20 deg. 15 min.

S. long. 206 deg. 19 min. To this island they repaired to take in water,

and there they compleated their stock of fresh provisions, finding the

people courteous and civil, though somewhat inclined to be thievish.

Being now fully refreshed and provided, without making any further

discoveries worth relating, they returned to Java, by the way of New

Guinea.

Jacob Roggewein was the next Dutchman who sailed professedly on the

business of discovery. He was furnished by their East-India Company with

three ships, namely, the Eagle, the Tienhoven, and the African Galley:

with these he set sail from Amsterdam, July the 16th, 1721, and towards

the latter end of November came in sight of the coast of Brazil. After a

few days stay in the neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, he weighed, and

went in quest of Hawkins’s Maidenland, which is said to lie in 30 deg.

S. but not being able to find it, he pursued his course towards the

straits, till on the 21st of December, in lat. 40 deg S. the ships met

with a violent storm, in which the Tienhoven lost company. About the

beginning of January, Roggewein discovered a large island 200 leagues in

circuit, in lat. 52 deg. S. long. 95 deg. W. about 80 leagues from the

coast of America. He named this island BELGIA AUSTRALIS, and it is the

same now known by the name of Falkland’s Island. Leaving this island to

windward, he passed the strait of Le Maire, and on the 24th of February

came in sight of Juan Fernandez, where he fortunately found the

Tienhoven, that island having been the place appointed to rendezvous in

case of separation.

There the ship continued three weeks, and sailed from thence about the

middle of March, steering W. N. W. in search of Davis’s Land, which,

however, they could not find. Neither has that or Hawkins’s Maiden Land

ever been seen by any other navigator, except the first discoverers.

Being in lat. 28 deg. S. long. 268 deg. they saw many birds and other

tokens of high land, but to the astonishment of the Admiral came in

sight of none till they had sailed 12 leagues farther west. They then

discovered an island, which they called EASTER-ISLAND, because they came

in sight of it on Easter-day. They found this island well inhabited. The

first man that came on board was painted with various kinds of figures,

was of a brown complexion, with large ears, so long that they hung down

to his shoulders. He was tall, robust, active, of an agreeable

countenance, and lively disposition. They offered him wine, but he threw

it in his eyes. They gave him meat, cloathed him, and sent him on shore,

but afterwards killed him in a skirmish with his countrymen. On this

island they observed many idols, and saw one man quite white, whom they

took to be a priest. He had pendents in his ears a pound weight each. On

landing 150 in number, the natives crouded so close upon them, that they

were forced to fire upon them to keep them off. By this discharge

several were killed, and many wounded. These poor people, seeing their

friends bleed, and fall dead, filled the air with doleful cries and

lamentations; and brought offerings of fruits, roots, and fowls, to

appease the wrath of the invaders. To implore the bodies of their

murdered friends, they cast themselves on the earth, and made other

signs of supplication. They were indulged in their timidity, and it was

held a crime to approach a Dutchman without reverence; when they brought

them presents, they laid them at their feet.

This country was full of inclosures, and seemed neatly cultivated. The

people had coverings of a manufacture that felt soft like silk. The

women in general were painted with a rouge far surpassing in brightness

any thing of that colour known in Europe; they were very obliging, and

enticed the strangers to every kind of familiarity both by their looks

and gestures. Their idols were chiefly of stone, well-proportioned, and

wrought with exquisite workmanship. While they lay at anchor at this

delightful island, a storm arose, which prevented the Admiral’s design

of extending his researches to the remoter parts of it, as it appeared

diversified with woods, forests, lawns, gardens, and cultivated fields;

and in every respect well supplied with necessaries for the refreshment

of ships bound to the southern lands; but the fury of the storm

increased so fast, that those on shore were glad to recover their ships.

They were scarce embarked when the billows rose to such a height as to

make it dangerous to hazzard their security to the anchors with which

they were moored; they, therefore, instantly weighed and put to sea,

and, as the wind blew fair, they proceeded at a great rate towards the

bad sea of Schouten, to which they were bound. After a run of 800

leagues from _Easter-Island_, they got sight of an island in latitude 15

deg. 45 min. S. which they took to be _Dog-Island_, discovered by

Schouten, and therefore did not stay to examine it.

The trade-wind began now to shift, and to veer about to the south-west,

by which the ships in the night were driven among a cluster of islands,

and the African galley being a-head was jammed between the rocks, of

which a more particular account will be found in the course of the Work.

These islands were situated between the 15th and 16th degrees of south

latitude; and Roggewein’s _Pernicious Island_ is no doubt the same with

that where Commodore Byron found the carved head of a rudder that had

belonged to a Dutch long-boat, and where he also found a piece of

hammered iron, a piece of brass, and some small iron tools, which the

ancestors of the present race of inhabitants had obtained from this ship

after her shipwreck.

Here the crews of the remaining ships grew troublesome and unruly. They

had already been out ten months, and had experienced nothing but

hardships, without the least prospect of advantage, either to themselves

or country. A council was therefore called, and it was determined to

return home by way of the East Indies. On quitting Pernicious Island

they fell in with a small island, which they called Aurora, because it

was discovered at break of day and soon after with another small island,

which they called Vesper, because they came in sight of it in the

evening. About twenty-five leagues to the westward of Pernicious Island,

they found themselves entangled among a cluster of islands, which they

called the Labyrinth, because it was some time before they could

disengage the ships from the rocks and shoals with which they were

surrounded. Having providentially escaped this imminent danger, they

continued their course to the westward; and, after some days sail, fell

in with an island, which by its beautiful appearance promised some

refreshment. They saw many natives with lances and long pikes passing

and repassing along the shore, and they sent two boats well manned to

speak with them, and to encourage them to trade. Their endeavours,

however, were ineffectual, till, by killing some and dispersing the

rest, they made good their landing. When they had gained the shore, the

savages seemed more tractable; they even assisted them in gathering

herbs, and bringing them water; the women, in particular, appeared

enamoured with them, and by many alluring ways endeavoured to gain their

confidence; but they were to the last degree deceitful. Being decoyed

into an ambuscade the savages surrounded them on all sides and,

notwithstanding a brisk fire was kept up, which killed many, and wounded

more, not a Dutchman that fell into the snare escaped unwounded. After

this misfortune it was with reluctance that any one ventured ashore to

look for refreshments. This island they called Recreation, on account of

its salutary herbs, and it is placed in lat. 16 deg. S. and in long. 285

deg. The natives were of the middle size, but strong and well-made,

lively, and of a bold undaunted spirit. Their bodies were painted, and

covered with a kind of net, which they wrapt about them decently enough;

The women were covered from head to foot with a very pretty stuff that

felt soft like silk; their complexion was dark, with shining black hair,

very white teeth, and brilliant eyes; and to sailors who had long been

at sea they were not a little inviting. The third day after they left

this island, they fell in with several islands at once, to which they

gave the name of Bauman’s Islands, where the inhabitants were altogether

as courteous and civil as those they had left had been treacherous and

cruel. They came and trafficked with great good-nature and honesty, and

were to appearance as fair and beautiful as those in the most celebrated

parts of Europe. They now thought themselves near the islands which

Dampier has named New Britain; but it was many days sail before they

came in sight of them, in which interval the scurvy made dreadful

havock. The sailors were very desirous of staying in these islands to

refresh, and to recover their strength; but the Commander, who had other

views, pursued his course to the East Indies with all imaginable

dispatch.

Thus, all this grand expedition, by which the expectations of the

Commander in Chief and his employers had been raised to a very high

pitch, came to nothing. The men were dissatisfied with their officers

for going so far, and the officers with their Commander for not going

farther. The existence of a southern continent still remained as

doubtful as ever; and so it continues at this period, June 22, 1774.

Since the above was written, the Adventure, who accompanied Capt. Cook

in the Resolution on a new voyage, is arrived, and reports, that they

had sailed between the 55th and 67th degrees of south latitude, but had

found no land; so that if any land lies farther to the southward, it

must be uninhabitable.

[Illustration: Decorative Image.]

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