The Voyages Of Pedro Fernandez De Quiros Part 22

His Ensign Pedro de Castro.

His Sergeant Francisco Martin Toscano.

His Aide-de-Camp Francisco Davila.

Captain of the crew of the "Almiranta" Alonso Alvarez de Castro.

His Ensign Manuel Rodriguez Africano.

His Sergeant Domingo Andres.

Captain of the Launch Pedro Garcia da Lumbreras.

His Ensign Francisco Gallardo.

His Sergeant Antonio Gonzalez.

Captain of the Artillery Andres Perez Coronado.

Constables of the three Vessels Francisco Ponce.

Lazaro de Olivera.

Antonio Balalan.

Chief Pilot Gaspar Gonzalez de Leza.

a.s.sistant Pilot Francisco Fernandez.

These elections having been made, presently the Camp Master asked the Captain to leave him to sleep on sh.o.r.e with the people. The Captain never wished to consent, because they should not sleep on the ground, and because he did not wish for further licence with the natives, and to avoid danger, and for other reasons which they could understand.

The Master of the Camp, with the Sergeant-Major, officers, and sailors, who were serving as soldiers, made such good progress on sh.o.r.e that by Friday, the eve of Pentecost, they finished all that had been arranged, without injury to any of our people.

On the same afternoon the Captain a.s.sembled the people of all the vessels, and addressed them in the following manner:--

"His Majesty, the King, our Lord, was served by sending me, at the cost of his royal treasury, without giving me instructions or orders, nor other memoir whatever, of what I was to do in these parts, nor did he restrict my will as to what I was not to do; therefore, in the name of the royal grandeur, I undertake what is best for His Majesty's better service, and greater honour. In fine, all is left to my charge; and this mercy was so great, that it has made me his perpetual va.s.sal and slave, and put upon me new obligations and cares to find how I can better serve and please His Majesty so long as my life lasts. For this I am of a mind, and determined to make a beginning of my honourable thought, some time planned and desired to be put into execution; for the good work that it promises for G.o.d and for the King, for the strengthening of your resolves, for giving firmness and hope, which are the qualities needed to achieve great and famous deeds, the more when the honour and the reward are to be seen and palpable: which are two things so sought after and loved in this present life, and the want of which causes what happens to be evil.

"The present subject to be announced to you, gentlemen, is that of an Order, the t.i.tle of which is to be the 'Knights of the Holy Ghost,'

with the const.i.tutions and precepts to be kept and professed, guided by such lofty and Christian ends as will be seen in them when the Lord is served, as I shall be able to show. All is done in confidence that His Holiness and His Majesty, each of those two Lords as regards what concerns them, will be served in payment of my continual labours and good desires, by confirming this Order, with advantageous privileges, as long as the world endures: as well for the good that it secures as for the merits of va.s.sals so honourable and so loyal, as is shown by the numerous services they perform, and will continue to perform, in these parts.

"For all I have said and can say on this subject, I seek from all the consent of their free wills, in the names of the Most Holy Trinity, in the name of the Roman Pontiff, in the name of His Catholic Majesty the King, Don Philip, third of that name, King of Spain, and my Lord; and I, the Captain Don Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, give to each one of your mercies this cross, of a blue colour, which presently you are to place on your b.r.e.a.s.t.s, being the insignia by which the Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost are to be known; and for the persons in whose charge, if I should fail, is to be placed the discovery, pacification, and possession of all these parts that we are discovering and may discover in the time to come.

"I pray heartily that the Knights may know and esteem the value of this cross, gained with a determination to win much higher honours; and they must bear in mind that, though it has not cost much money, labour, sickness, nor time, that which it remains in their power to pay in this very high enterprise is very great, for it is now known that the enterprise holds a world for its heaven and its earth.

"Pray to G.o.d, gentlemen, that it may serve Him to show me greater lands and other things; for greater are my desires that the King our Lord may deign to grant to all still greater favours. Here I, in his royal name, offer to raise you to higher offices and dignities. I charge you all to be, as it were, members of one body; and I announce to you that from this day forward your obligations will be greater, and the rewards or punishments greater which are merited for good or for bad deeds."

All this was listened to with much pleasure and accepted with satisfaction. The Captain asked them all to confess on Sat.u.r.day, that on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, they might earn the Holy Jubilee which His Holiness had conceded to this expedition, and five other days in each year. Presently the Father Commissary persuaded all, and with his three priests he offered to confess, and all confessed.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Describes the celebration of the feast of the eve and the day of Pentecost, and the taking possession in the names of the Catholic Church, and of His Majesty.

On that night all three vessels displayed many lights, and they sent off many rockets and fire-wheels. All the artillery was fired off; and when the natives heard the noise and the echoes resounding over hills and valleys, they raised great shouts. We sounded drums, rang the bells, had music and dancing, and had other forms of rejoicing, in which the men showed great pleasure. The Captain said to all: "Gentlemen, this is the eve of my long-desired day, for which there should be no empty hand nor person for whom the appointed good things are not welcome, and as much more as the part he takes may deserve."

It was not quite dawn when the Camp Master and ministers, taking with them an armed party in the two boats, went on sh.o.r.e. They landed near the launch with four small pieces to be used in a fort. Presently, with joyous diligence a booth made of branches was set up on the beach, surrounded by stakes, to serve as a fort in case of necessity. Within, the monks arranged a clean and well-ordered altar under a canopy. This was the first church, and was named by the Captain "Our Lady of Loreto." Everything having been arranged as well as the time would allow, it was reported to the Captain, and presently he left the s.h.i.+p with the rest of the people. All the three companies were drawn up in good order on the beach. The officers and soldiers looked so active and honourable, with the crosses on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, that I believe, if His Majesty could see them, with such sharpened resolves to finish what they had commenced, and to begin much greater things, that he would estimate their value at what it was worth, and increase his bounties.

The Royal Ensign came forth with the standard in his hands. The banners, which were fluttering and brightening the whole scene, received their tribute from discharges of muskets and arquebuses. Presently the Captain came out and went down on his knees, saying: "To G.o.d alone be the honour and the glory." Then, putting his hand on the ground, he kissed it, and said: "O Land! sought for so long, intended to be found by many, and so desired by me!"

Then the Admiral came out with a cross made of the orange wood of the country, which the Captain had caused to be made. Our Father Commissary, with his five monks, all bare-footed, kneeling on the beach, received it in their arms, saying with great tenderness: "I adore thee, O Holy Cross, for the Author of our life, made flesh, died on thee for me, so great a sinner, and for the whole human race." Raising it and singing the "Lignum," with the people in procession, we arrived at the door of the church; and there, on a pedestal which had been placed for the purpose, the Captain planted our cross, and ordered that the people should come round, and that the secretary should read, as in a loud voice he did read, the following doc.u.ments:--

Raising of the Cross.

Be witnesses the heavens and the earth, and the sea with all its inhabitants, and those who are present, that I, the Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, in these parts which up to the present time have been unknown, raise and plant in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal Father, and of the Holy Virgin Mary, true G.o.d and man, this sign of the Holy Cross, on which His most holy body was crucified, and where He gave His life as a ransom for the whole human race.

In the same place, and at the same time, the six following possessions were read, which our people heard with joy and gladness, the eyes of many filling with tears.

Possession in the name of the most Holy Trinity.

In these parts of the South, until now unknown, where I am, and have come with authority from the Supreme Roman Pontiff, Clement VIII., and by order of the King, Don Philip III., King of Spain, despatched by his Council of State, I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, in the name of the most Holy Trinity, take possession of all the islands and lands that I have newly discovered, and desire to discover, as far as the South Pole.

Possession in the name of the Catholic Church.

I take possession of all these, the said lands, in the name of Jesus Christ, saviour of all men, how unknown soever they may be, and in the name of His mother the most Holy Virgin Mother of Loreto, and in the name of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of all the holy apostles and disciples, and in the name of the universal Vicar of Christ, the Roman Pontiff, and in the name of the whole Catholic Church, and of all those pious, just, and holy things that have a right in such possession; which I do with joy and to the end that to all the natives, in all the said lands, the holy and sacred evangel may be preached zealously and openly.

Possession in the name of St. Francis and his Order.

I take possession of all the said lands in the name of my father, St. Francis, and of all his religion and professors of it, and being present, in the name of the Father Commissary, Friar Martin de Monilla, Friar Mateo de Vascones, Friar Antonio Quintero, and Friar Juan de Marlo, all four priests; and in the names of Fray Juan de Santa Maria and Fray Francisco Lopez, both lay brethren, come here, all six, at my request by order of His Holiness and of His Majesty, and of their Commissary General and Provincial of the province of the Twelve Apostles of Peru; from whose order I desire that all the workers sent to tend this vineyard may come, and the labourers who have to show His holy word and doctrine, and to gather in the fruits.

Possession in the name of John of G.o.d and his Order.

I take possession of all the said lands in the name of John of G.o.d, and of all the professed brothers of his Order, and, being present, in the name of Lazaro de Santa Maria, who came here in compliance with a brief of His Holiness, given to me for that end, that the same Brotherhood might found, administer, and maintain by their professed charity all the hospitals there may be in those parts, so necessary that the natives may learn all our methods, and hold us in the love and veneration which the sight of our curing the native sick, and giving them other benefits, deserve.

Possession in the name of the Order of the Holy Ghost.

I take possession of all these lands, by the right that His Holiness and His Majesty granted, to make just divisions of the lands and of the people on them; for all the Knights that are in these parts of the Order of the Holy Ghost as discoverers, settlers, defenders, and preservers, and no other, obliged without pay to serve in all the royal and public employments, with every human and divine office as regards the natives as their defenders, and with profession of all the rest that is in their const.i.tution.

Possession in the name of His Majesty.

Finally, I take possession of this bay, named the Bay of St. Philip and St. James, and of its port named Santa Cruz, and of the site on which is to be founded the city of New Jerusalem, in lat.i.tude 15 10', and of all the lands which I sighted and am going to sight, and of all this region of the south as far as the Pole, which from this time shall be called Australia del Espiritu Santo, with all its dependencies and belongings; and this for ever, and so long as right exists, in the name of the King, Don Philip, third of that name King of Spain, and of the eastern and western Indies, my King and natural Lord, whose is the cost and expense of this fleet, and from whose will and power came its mission, with the government, spiritual and temporal, of these lands and people, in whose royal name are displayed there his three banners, and I hereby hoist his royal standard.

The reading being finished, all cried with loud voices: "Long live the King of Spain, Don Philip III., our Lord!" Then we entered the church to give due thanks to G.o.d.

They said three Ma.s.ses, and the fourth, which was sung, was by our Father Commissary. All the people took the sacrament very fervently. This done, the three Ensigns, who now held the banners in their hands, inclined them to the ground in front of the altar, the Royal Ensign holding the royal standard. The Commissary blessed them with great solemnity; and, at a certain signal that was given to the s.h.i.+ps, whose mast-head banners displayed the royal arms, and at the sides the two columns and the plus ultra, with the streamers fluttering, fired off all their guns with full charges; the soldiers discharged muskets and arquebuses, and the gunners sent off rockets and fire-wheels. In the middle of all this noise, all shouted with almost infinite joy, and many times: "Long live the Faith of Christ!" And with this the celebration of the festival came to an end.