However, no land being sighted after many days, Mendana became alarmed and requested Sarmiento to resume charge of the navigation.

He did so, and ordered the course to be shaped W.S.W., announcing at the same time that land would be sighted on the next day, and this proved correct.

An island was discovered which received the name of Nombre-de-Jesus.  It has been identified with Nukufetau, in the Ellice group.

They had been sixty-two days at sea and were sadly in want of a change of diet.  Seventeen days later, they sighted the small islands and rocks which they called Baixos de la Candelaria, Candlemas Reefs; these have been identified with Lord Howe Islands, lately ceded to England by Germany.

On the 7th of February, they reached at last a large island called Atoglu by the natives.  The Spaniards gave to it the name of the patroness saint of the voyage, Santa Ysabel.

Natives came off in crescent-shaped canoes to meet them.

They found a bay on the northern coast, and having noticed the planet Venus at 10 o’clock in the morning, they called this bay the Baya de la Estrella, the Bay of the Star, a name which has been restored to it in recent years.

They began at once to build a brigantine which had been taken out in pieces; in fifty-four days it was put together with the help of fresh timber obtained on the island.

Sarmiento then conducted a reconnoitering expedition inland, but met with hostility from the natives.

In the meanwhile, Gallego and Ortega, the camp-master, examined the coast on board the brigantine and discovered several other islands.*

[* Very little gold, if any, was found in the Solomon group.]

An expedition in search of the Great Southern Continent, or Java Maior, was also projected with the brigantine, but soon abandoned, as they found the little ship unsuitable for open sea work.

All the islands discovered were supposed to belong to the outlying islands situated to the east of New Guinea, and the inference, as we know, was not, far from the truth; it led, however, to a curious mistake, which I shall explain when describing the earliest map of the Solomon Islands, towards the end of next chapter.

In May, the expedition left Santa Ysabel, and after sighting many more islands of the group, they cast anchor off the coast of a large island which Gallego named Guadalcanal, after his own native place near Seville.

On the 19th and 22nd, Sarmiento and Mendana, accompanied by Ortega, made excursions into the interior, ascending a high mountain and enjoying a magnificent panorama.  Afterwards a boat’s crew was massacred by the natives, and Sarmiento was obliged to make severe reprisals.

In August, the expedition removed to another island which was named San Christobal, where they remained for forty days, refitting and taking in supplies, and here the brigantine, which had done such good service in exploring the shallow coasts, was abandoned.