The Voyages Of Pedro Fernandez De Quiros Part 14

This joyful day pa.s.sed, and the night came, in which there were not wanting some new, but not unusual, annoyances with the Magistrate of the coast, to whom Dona Isabel had made complaints in private. He showed himself to be a judge who sided with the first comer without hearing the other side; for if he would have heard, he would have known how much that lady owed to him who brought her where she was, and how little, from any point of view, he owed her. But it is very unusual for poor men to work without pay or thanks, and for others to do evil to him to whom good is due. He took one sailor, and to another he gave sharp words and threatened, saying that it was an old custom for the people of Peru to be mettlesome, and that if they came in that spirit they must not think that they were there in their island, where they could do as they pleased; that those who failed to pay would be punished, or would have to pay double, or with their lives. He made other remarks, and was answered that all who came had been and were good va.s.sals of the King; and as for the rest, they were as good as others. These altercations ended at last, but the long desired night was pa.s.sed with less content than had been antic.i.p.ated. For the satisfactions of this life come tardily, and endure little longer than a sigh.

Next morning the Master of the Camp came to the s.h.i.+p by order of the Governor, with an alderman sent by the Munic.i.p.ality, and a clergyman by the officials of the Church, all to receive the Governess, and to arrange for the sick to go to Manilla. The Governess was taken to the royal residence at the port, and again there was a salute when she disembarked. Having partaken of refreshments, she was received in a boat, and conducted to the city. She entered at night, was received with an illumination, and well lodged.

The sick were carried out of the s.h.i.+p in men's arms, and taken to the hospital. The widows were received in the houses of the princ.i.p.al residents, and afterwards they were all married to their satisfaction. The convalescents and the rest of the soldiers were lodged by rich inhabitants. The married were put in houses where they were received, lodged, and tended, with much love and pleasure, by respected citizens of Manilla. In a few days ten died, and four entered monastic orders.

The frigate was never more seen. There was a report that she had been found with all her sails set, and the crew dead and decomposed, run upon a certain part of the coast. The galeot reached port at an island called Mindanao, in 10, having been lost among all those islands. The people on board were reduced to such necessity that they landed on a small islet called Camaniguin, to kill and eat a dog they had seen on sh.o.r.e. Some natives, who met them by chance, guided them to a port where there were some fathers of the Company of Jesus. The fathers took them to a Governor in that district, who sent five of them prisoners to Manilla, because their Captain quarrelled with them, saying they wanted to mutiny. They were sent with a letter to Dr Antonio de Morga, Lieutenant-General of that Government, which he showed to the Chief Pilot. It was as follows:--

"Here came into port a galeot with a Captain who was as impertinent as the things he said. He was asked whence he came, and he replied that he belonged to the expedition of the Adelantado Alvaro de Mendana, which was undertaken to make a voyage from Peru to the Solomon Islands, consisting of four vessels. This galeot put in here, and, as she carried a royal flag, I received her as was proper. If the others were here, this would be better known. Against the soldiers there is no process. They said that, because the Captain wished it, he parted company from the s.h.i.+p with his galeot."

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

Which contains a discourse by the Chief Pilot, explaining why they did not find the Solomon Islands. [67]

The reason why the Solomon Islands, of which the Chief Pilot, Hernan Gallego, who discovered them, makes mention in his narrative, and of which the Adelantado, Alvaro de Mendana, went in search, are not the Islands of the Marquesas de Mendoza, nor those of Santa Cruz which we discovered in this voyage: and why we pressed so far in advance of the position where he said they were in conformity with his instructions, may, as it seems to me, be conveniently explained here, to satisfy the doubts which may be raised respecting the cause of our not reaching them.

I find three reasons which might form impediments to our reaching the Solomon Islands in the positions where we were.

The first is the belief that they had less longitude than was really the case, for they would not seem so far to the people who had to go for their settlement.

The second is some motive of private interest, leading to a concealment of the true lat.i.tude, giving to it somewhat less or more.

The third is ignorance, or the want of the instruments to calculate certain distances, or an error in judgment while navigating: what appears to be one thing being another; or a mistake in writing.

As for the first, if it was so that we were not given the true longitude of the Solomon Islands, I say that we really did not reach them, and that they are further to the west than the islands we discovered. The reason is that, if what the Adelantado told me was true, by whose order I prepared the navigating charts, and if what appears in his instructions and in the narrative of Hernan Gallego is true, the Solomon Islands are in lat.i.tude 7 to 12 S., 1,450 leagues from Lima. There cannot be an error, as we always continued to navigate without reaching the position, and could not have pa.s.sed them when they were 400 leagues further to the west. It must, therefore, be believed that they were not behind but in front of us.

As to the second reason, if it was interest, as many people said, that induced Hernan Gallego, when the Adelantado asked him for the route to these islands, not to give him the true position as regards lat.i.tude, this may explain it. For when he was at Court to report to his Majesty he had not negotiated for himself; and as the Adelantado, when he undertook the discovery, did not understand the art of navigation, he could be deceived. On the other hand, his observations could not be kept so secret when they were taken by four pilots, who must have known as well as the people who were with them; nor did Hernan Gallego then know that he would have a disagreement with the Adelantado. Nor do I believe that a man of such high character would do such a thing. Moreover, if in this there was deceit, I say that if the islands were in 7 at the least, or in 12 at the most, and we seek them between 7 and 12, they might well remain behind us, on one of the two sides.

As for the third reason, if it was ignorance there is nothing more to be said. It is very certain that navigating so much as they navigated from east to west, they were on a course on which alt.i.tude is not altered, nor is longitude fixed except by such estimation as each one may make. In this there may be very great error, as well in him who makes the estimate as in the s.h.i.+p which, in such a case, may have been understood to have gone over less ground than she is supposed to have made good.

In proof of the greater distance between Peru and the Solomon Islands, I may mention that Hernan Gallego says in his narrative--and the Adelantado also told me the same--that being among the Isles of St. Bartholome, [68] in 8 40' N., in the position of the Barbudos, they saw a vessel flying from them under a head sail. They sent the boat on sh.o.r.e; all the natives fled to one of their villages, which our people entered, and brought thence to the s.h.i.+ps a chisel made of a nail, from which they understood that Spaniards had been or were there.

What they suspected, respecting this circ.u.mstance, was that when the Adelantado, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, discovered the Philippine Islands, a pilot named Lope Martin, returned to New Spain without orders, to bring the news to the Viceroy, Luis de Velasco, who had sent that expedition of discovery, by whom he was very well received and dispatched with succour. He, or one of the people who went with him, also took a letter which a certain friend of the Adelantado Legazpi wrote from Mexico, in which it was said that as soon as it was received Lope Martin should be hanged for having taken the leave which was not given to him. This letter, I know not by what order, got into the hands of Lope Martin. Besides this, between him and the others there were encounters and some deaths, including that of the Captain. Arrived at the Barbudos, Lope Martin went on sh.o.r.e with some of his friends. Meanwhile the Boatswain, with the men of his party, conspired and made sail, leaving them on the island. As the Adelantado, Alvaro de Mendana, arrived at the islands a little time after this event, it was suspected that those who had been left there thought that Mendana came in search with the object of punis.h.i.+ng them; and for that reason they fled in that vessel which they had probably built, and went to New Guinea.

I say that if this is true, as the islands of the Barbudos are in 8, 9, or 10, more or less, and 2,000 leagues or more from Peru, and as Hernan Gallego, coming from the Solomon Islands, which he says are 1,450 leagues from Lima, to seek the coast of New Spain, navigating from N.E. to N., for so bear the islands from that coast, he could not fall in with the Barbudos, being from the Solomon Islands at least N.E., having come from a much greater longitude than they really thought, or did not wish to say. Moreover, inhabited islands are no small indication that New Guinea is near.

Hernan Gallego says, in these formal words, that "in 2 or 3 to the S.W. we found very clear signs of land, but never saw any land whatever. Finally, we concluded that we had land to the west of us, and that it was New Guinea; not in a higher lat.i.tude than 4 S., for it was discovered by Inigo Ortiz de Retes, and by no one else. Bernardo de la Torre neither discovered nor saw it, nor is there such a place as the Cape of the Cross." [69]

I say, touching such signs as the palms seen in the sea, which Hernan Gallego mentions, that I also saw many, which might make me believe that New Guinea was near, being in the same lat.i.tude, and for other reasons that I will give further on. Also, in a northerly direction, I came upon the Barbudos in 6, an island peopled by good natives. Moreover, I came from the island of Santa Cruz, 1,850 leagues from Lima, and afterwards navigated another 40 leagues more to the west, making 440 further than Hernan Gallego, according to his own account. And as I navigated to the Philippines, which is more to the west, I was more in the way of seeing the signs of the island I found than was Hernan Gallego. For he confesses that he went 1,450 leagues from Lima, and took his way to New Spain, which is N. to N.E. This proves that he could not have seen those signs, nor the islands he sighted, without having gone over much more longitude than he stated.

Hernan Gallego says further, in his report to the Licentiate Castro, who was at that time President of the Audience in the city of the Kings, who despatched the expedition:--"Being in 7 S., 30 leagues from the island of Jesus, [70] which was the first we discovered as we saw the archipelago of islands, it was never intended to prosecute discoveries further, but that we should return to Peru, as is public and notorious. If we had gone on another c.o.c.k would have crowed, for we should have discovered another land, different from this, and very near where we were. The goodness of the land I do not wish to dilate upon, because your Lords.h.i.+p will hear that from others."

I quote this to show that Hernan Gallego was certain that he was near New Guinea as he says. He could not have come to this conclusion if he had not known that it was 2,000 and more leagues from Lima; for in his position he could not have been deceived, because it was discovered at a very short distance, as the Maluco Isles are from it. Miguel Rojo de Brito, a native of Lisbon, went from Maluco to New Guinea, and said that they were close to each other, as may be seen in a chapter of his narrative which will be attached to this discourse. Although I do not know the original intention of that expedition, I suspect that they went in search of New Guinea, because it is explained that Inigo Ortiz de Retes was its discoverer, and not Bernardo de la Torres. So that it may be looked upon as certain that it was from a report of one of these, or both, that they were deriving the information respecting the object they sought. For Gallego says that the Cape of the Cross has no existence, and that New Guinea is in not more than 4 S., implying that one said it was in 4, which seemed most likely to be correct, and the other in more. He went in search, but did not find it; coming by chance on the island of Jesus in 6 45', and presently came to the reefs of Candelaria, and the Island of Santa Isabel, and always discovering by a higher lat.i.tude and decreasing longitude. The reason for not sighting New Guinea was the same as prevented us from reaching the Solomon Islands, namely, the island of Santa Cruz. My conclusion is that New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Islands of Santa Cruz are all near each other, for a reason I shall give presently.

Hernan Gallego says, further, that the Adelantado asked his opinion respecting the return from those islands to Peru, across 1,700 leagues of sea; that the port on this island of Cristobal was three leagues by land from the most eastern point; that with a fresh breeze from S.E. they navigated 20 leagues N.E. 1/4 E., and 15 leagues N.E. 1/4 N., and N.E. 25, and 18 N.N.E., and when there the lat.i.tude was 7, and 30 leagues from the island of Jesus to E.

He says that this island of Jesus was the first they discovered in 6 45' S., and that its distance from the city of Lima was 450 leagues. If this is as he says, that from this island of Jesus to the port whence he had come the course runs N.-S., it follows that the same number of leagues intervening between the island of Jesus and Lima, also intervene between San Cristobal and Lima, both being almost on the same meridian. It is clearly to be seen that there is carelessness here, or that there was an error in his calculation, and there no doubt was one throughout in trying to determine the true longitude. For in so short a distance as there is from one point to the other, there cannot have been a mistake of 250 leagues. Whence I infer that, in such a long route as that from Lima to the Solomon Islands, the error would be much greater, the course being east and west.

If his narrative is considered, other obscure and contradictory points will be found. In one place he says that the natives told him that those islands to the S.E. were extensive, and that he saw them. Presently he says that a sailor climbed up a palm tree, and could not see them. He says that at the Island of Guadalca.n.a.l he could not see the end, and that the coast ran westward. Further on, he says that it would take six months to go round it; and that the land he did not see was reported to be very good, but that he certainly did not see it. He reports that it was better to take a northern route in returning to Peru, because it was difficult to find favourable winds further south. Few pilots would give this reason, because the usual winds outside the tropics, in the same lat.i.tude, are much the same on the north as on the south side. And how much easier was it, being (as he says) certain that there was no land to the S.E., to go to 11 S., where he would have found the route to 30 or 40 on that side, than to run down 11 and go up 30 or more on the other side, and yet be further from Peru.

It may seem strange that the Adelantado did not meet with the islands that we have now discovered on his first voyage. I reply that, when he began the voyage from Peru, he made a large curve W.S.W. to 18, and another to W.N.W. to 6, more or less, and followed that parallel, as I have been told by one who was on board. This was the reason that he did not come upon the islands in question, which are in a higher lat.i.tude, leaving them to the south and pa.s.sing to the north of them.

There is further proof that the islands of Santa Cruz are near the Solomon Islands. The natives are the same colour, they dye their hair in the same way, called their chief "Jauriqui," have the same arms, pigs and fowls, and many other things in common. It may really be concluded that all the people of Santa Cruz and the Solomon Islands came from the archipelago of the Philippines. The Santa Cruz people dye their teeth red and black, and use the buyo, as in the Philippines. In the Island of Luzon there are black men, who are said to be the aborigines of the land. They are called Pogotes, and are retired on the island of Maragondon and other islands. For the Moors and other Indians occupy their lands, drive them away, and force those that remain into corners of the land where they now are. It may well be that, by reason of the invaders, the persecuted people have gone away to seek other settlements, until they came to New Guinea as the nearest place, and thence to the Solomon Islands and Santa Cruz. The half-breeds, and differences of colour among them, proceed from intercourse between them.

In conclusion, I may say that the Adelantado told me, as well as certain pilots of that time, that Hernan Gallego, navigating on the coast of Mexico, made the land one day, and that afterwards he sailed over 700 leagues to reach the same place again. These, added to the 1,450 leagues which, he says, intervene between the Solomon Islands and Lima, make more than the 2,000 leagues which I say intervene between Lima and New Guinea, from which point the distance really ought to be drawn. This being so, my suspicion is confirmed; and there may be seen, as he says, the signs of the land of New Guinea, when he met with the Barbudos, and he did not see the land when he said he did. For if he had gone over the 1,450 leagues, as he said, it would take much more than four months of navigation. There are a little over 700 leagues from there to the coast of New Spain, navigating by the best-known route, which is that by the north. So that there cannot have been so great a mistake, if it was not from having intended to go by that point, and have taken the said 700 leagues more to the west. This appears to explain what has been said until the contrary is shown.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

Of various things that happened to the Chief Pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros.

We were some time in the city of Manilla, which is the capital of the government of the Philippine Islands. It is built on a clear point running out into the sea, and by the mouth of a river. It has a good fortress, and other houses well worthy of special note, on which a long chapter might be written. But I must be excused, referring the reader to a special book on the city, the Philippine Islands, and the history of their conquest, which was written by Dr Antonio de Morga. [71]

While I was in the city there arrived the new Governor, Don Francisco Tello, who had been Treasurer of the Board of Trade at Seville. There were great festivals for his reception, got up both by the Spaniards and natives. It was a special sight to behold three elephants which were brought into the square, of which the largest, named Don Fernando, had been sent as a present from the King of Cambodia to the late Governor when he asked for help. On each one there was an Indian driver, dexterous in the method of governing the elephant, both by words and by the use of an iron hooked instrument. Placed in front with his goad, the driver made him run, march, go down on his knees, raise himself, and other things well worth seeing. This hook serves the same use as a bridle for a horse. They were performing in front of the Governor, who was sitting at a window, to whom they put their knees on the ground three times, the feet stretched out behind, as they are unable to double up. The performances of the elephants were numerous, and, as a conclusion, they took Don Fernando apart, and his Indians placed him facing the beams on which had been fastened the castle of fire on the night before. Saying a word, and touching his forehead with the goad, the elephant gave a blow, and took the beam on his two tusks with great ease; and so he upset the whole: a thing worth seeing.

A few days afterwards (according to what was said), when this elephant was drinking at the river, there came to him a great and well-fed crocodile, which had taken many natives in that river. He seized the elephant by the trunk, and when the elephant felt it, he raised up the crocodile just as easily as a fis.h.i.+ng rod raises a light fish, and let him fall on the ground without more ado. A crocodile, such as this one, weighs as much as a fat bullock.

They say also that this elephant had a boil on his gum, of which the native driver cured him, but the pain made him throw about his trunk so as to hurt his driver. When the elephant was to be healed, the driver said to him: "I am very angry, Don Fernando, for in return for the good I did you, you tried to kill me. What do you think the King, my Lord and yours, who sent you here, and gave me for your companion to look after you, if he knew of it, would say. See how you can no longer eat, and are getting thin, and you will soon die without any fault of mine. Open your mouth, if you please, and presently I will cure you like a friend, forgetting the harm you did me." The elephant, having taken two turns with his trunk round a shelf that was there, opened his mouth, and was operated upon without moving, his groans showing what pain he endured. And so he was cured.

Of another elephant they told me that, to avenge himself on a native who had charge of him, he crushed him when he pa.s.sed through a doorway, and killed him. The man's wife said to the elephant: "Don Pedro, you have killed my husband. Who is now going to maintain me?" On which the elephant went to the market place, and took a basket of rice which it gave to her, and when it saw that she had eaten it all, it fetched another, and then another. Things are said of these animals which seem incredible, and the wonderful thing is that they understand everything, in whatever language it is spoken, as I have myself seen. An elephant was surrounded by Spanish soldiers, and one told him, without making any sign, to take a plantain out of his pocket and eat it. The elephant promptly put his trunk into the pocket, and when he found that no plantain was there, he took up a little earth in his trunk, and threw it in the face of the soldier who had deceived him.

When the festivities were over, our Governess married a young cavalier named Don Fernando de Castro, a cousin of the Governor Marinas, who, as was just, took possession of the property of his wife as his own, and he was able to secure much in the city. With this help the s.h.i.+p was victualled and furnished with all that was necessary. On the day of St. Lawrence, we made sail to undertake the voyage to New Spain. But, having started so late, we had to go through incredible hards.h.i.+ps and troubles. At last we arrived in the port of Acapulco on the 11th of December of the year 1597, where the s.h.i.+p was visited, and all received free leave to land. There I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, took leave of the Governess, and of my other companions, and embarked on board a pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p for Peru.

NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE OF THE ADELANTADO ALVARO DE MENDAnA DE NEIRA FOR THE Discovery of the Islands of Solomon. [72]

WRITTEN BY THE CHIEF PILOT, PEDRO FERNANDEZ DE QUIROS, FOR DR. ANTONIO DE MORGA, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL OF THE PHILIPPINES.