Part 6 (1/2)

They thought that she might have pa.s.sed to the north, but the hopes of seeing her again were very faint.

Mendana continued near the north coast of Santa Cruz, searching for a port, and was rejoined there by the frigate, which returned without any tidings of Lope de Vega and his s.h.i.+p.

At last a port was discovered where the s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed in smooth water, close to the sh.o.r.e.

On the 21st of September, they found a better port, which Mendana named _La Graciosa_, for it was very beautiful, larger and more commodious than the one where they were first anch.o.r.ed. A river of moderate size and a copious stream of very clear water gus.h.i.+ng from beneath some rocks was found in proximity to the anchorage. Here an attempt at colonisation was made, but what with the hostility of the natives, sickness, and a mutinous spirit, the young colony did not progress favorably. To make matters worse, Mendana himself fell ill and died, and the grand scheme which, under favourable circ.u.mstances, might have resulted in the foundation of a Spanish Australian Empire, was, perforce, abandoned for the while. The remnant of this disastrous expedition, having repaired to the Philippine Islands, returned to New Spain in the year 1596.

AN EARLY MAP OF THE SOLOMONS ISLANDS.

The discovery of true Solomon Islands was soon forgotten and Mendana's vague notions about them led historians and geographers astray as to their position and size.*

[* In a map of the South Sea, _Mar del Zur_, published towards the year 1650, the Solomon Islands are represented as extending in a sweeping curve, resembling their natural trend it is true, but the position is from the locality of New Caledonia and New Zealand, right across the Pacific Ocean to the south of Cape Horn. In that distance 40 islands are represented, of an average size equal to the two large islands of New Zealand, truly a magnificent mistake!]

In the few old maps that exist, it is difficult to determine precisely in what measure the members of the expedition are responsible for the charting; some of it is certainly the guesswork of geographers, based, it must be acknowledged, on the best information then available, for we must bear in mind that the accounts of Mendana's expedition were only known from a few extracts, the actual narratives being lost at the time these charts were draughted.

Now that some of those narratives have been found, it is easy to identify the present day Solomon Islands with the group discovered by the Spaniards; most of the lat.i.tudes in the old chart that I give here, agree with those given by Herrera, the Spanish historian, which shows that if they have been thrown out of position, as they are on some old charts, it is through the fault of the map-makers.

The map given here is by Mazza, an Italian geographer of distinction; it is the earliest one that I have been able to procure, the earliest known to exist, the date being between 1583 and 1589.

I have marked on it the probable track of the s.h.i.+ps; the first bay where they anch.o.r.ed, and which was called _Baya de la Estrella_, is marked by No. 1. The second anchorage, on the coast of Guadalca.n.a.l, marked No. 2, was named _Puerto de la Cruz_; and the locality where the third sojourn was made, and where the brigantine was abandoned, is marked by the No. 3.

The island thus marked, bears no name on the map; it is the southernmost large island, however, and corresponds therefore with _San Christobal_, where the third and last sojourn was made, and where, at a later period, a colony was to have been founded.

The island bearing the name _Nombre de Jesus_, is misnamed, evidently as the result of interference on the part of the cartographer, for, according to the narrative, it lies at many days' sail from the first land sighted in the Solomon Group, and has been identified, as I have said before, with Nukufetau in the Ellice Group.

Other mistakes of the map-maker are, _Amacifre_ instead of _Arecifes_ reefs; and _Maiulata_ for _Malaita_. Malaita, however, is a mistake of the Spaniards, for the natives call their island Mala and ita means ”here”; as one might say, ”here is Mala.”

The curious mistake alluded to on page 63 is this:

In most of the old maps that were made prior to the identification of Sarmiento's and Mendana's discoveries, the Solomon Islands were placed much too close to New Guinea, occupying, in fact, the position of New Britain and New Ireland. This was owing to the belief on the part of the Spaniards, that they had reached the region where their predecessors, Saavedra, Retez and Gaspar Rico, had made their discoveries: so that, New Britain, New Ireland, and all the other islands, of the Bismark Archipelago were once believed to be the Solomon and Guadalca.n.a.l the extreme east end of New Guinea.

CHAPTER XI.

QUEIROZ'S VOYAGE.

We come now to the most important expedition that ever set out in search of Australia. We have reached the year 1605, in the month of December, of which Queiroz, this time the commander of another Spanish fleet, set sail from the coast of Peru with the object of renewing the attempt at settlement in the island of Santa Cruz, and from thence to search, for the ”continent towards the south,” which he believed to be ”s.p.a.cious, populous and fertile.”

The intentions of navigators and the instructions given to them are seldom thoroughly carried out. We shall see, in this case, that Queiroz failed to reach Santa Cruz in the same way as Mendana had failed to reach the Solomans; although they both sailed almost within sight of the islands they were looking for.

THE VOYAGE.

According to Gonzales de Leza, the pilot of the expedition, the name of the _Capitana_, or Queiroz's s.h.i.+p, was the _San Pedro y San Pablo_; the _Almiranta_, named the _San Pedro_ was commanded by Luis Vaes de Torres; the brigantine or Zabra, was named the _Tres Reyes_, and was commanded by Pedro Bernal Cermeno.

With variable winds, the three s.h.i.+ps that composed the fleet sailed towards the west till the 26th of January, 1606, when, in the afternoon, they sighted a small island. No anchorage could be found and it was thought that it could not be inhabited, so they pa.s.sed it. Continuing on a westerly course three days later, they came in sight of another island of larger dimensions; here, also, finding no convenient landing place, they pa.s.sed on.

The sky now became obscured, and, as they proceeded, rain set in, followed by thunder and lightning; then a fearful tempest threatened their destruction.

Presently, however, the storm abated, and through a rift in the clouds they perceived land and made for it.