It consisted of two ships commanded by Grijalva and Alvarado.

The account of this voyage of discovery is very vague, and the various writers on the subject do not entirely agree.  This is due, perhaps, to the fact that Alvarado abandoned the enterprise from the start, and went to the conquest of Quito, in Peru, leaving the sole command to Grijalva.

It appears certain, however, that Grijalva visited many islands on the north coast of New Guinea, and one, in particular, called Isla de los Crespos, Island of the Frizzly Heads, at the entrance of Geelvinck Bay, near which a mutiny occurred, and Grijalva was murdered by his revolted crew.

His ship was wrecked, and the expedition came to an end, a few of the survivors reaching the Spice Islands in 1539.

Most of the names given during the course of the exploration are difficult to locate.

Besides the various place-names mentioned by Galvano, Ostrich Point, the Struis Hoek of later Dutch charts, is, perhaps, a reminiscence of this untimely voyage.

A casoar, or cassowary, would, of course, be called an ostrich, and here we have for the first time in history a picturesque description of that Australasian bird.

Galvano’s translator says:  “There is heere a bird as bigge as a crane, and bigger; he flieth not, nor hath any wings wherewith to flee; he runneth on the ground like a deere.  Of their small feathers they do make haire for their idols.”

CHAPTER III.

THE SPICE ISLANDS, IN RIBERO’S MAP.

I must now say a few words about the official map of the world, alluded to on page 16.  It is by Ribero, and will be found on pages 28 and 29.  The date of this map is 1529.

The portion reproduced shows the Spice Islands, and a glance at this part of the world brings vividly to our minds the intense desire of each contending party to possess a region that yielded the wealth that is here described.

The map is Spanish, and Spain has allotted to herself the lion’s share, planting her flag in the midst of “Spice and everything nice” (see Spanish hemisphere), and relegating the Portuguese flag to the Straits of Sunda (see Portuguese hemisphere).  For thousands of miles around, ships—­the seas are dotted with specimens similar to the two included within our small area—­fleets of them, converge towards, or sail away from these spice-bearing islands.  Every quaint old craft, whether light caravel or crazy galleon, is underwritten with the legend, Vengo de Maluco, I come from the Moluccas, or, Vay a Maluco, I go to the Moluccas, as though that region were the only one on the face of the globe worthy of consideration.  And all that “Province of Maluco” bears inscriptions denoting the particular product for which each island is celebrated.

These are:—­
Timor, for Sandal-wood; Java, for Benzoin;* Borneo and Celebes, for
Camphor; Amboyna, for Mace and Nutmegs; and last, not least, Gilolo, for
Cloves.