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 Guadalcanal 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 “spacious, 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 ship, 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 ships 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 passed 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 passed on.