CHAPTER XII.
TORRES' DISCOVERIES.
I shall give here Torres' account from that portion of it that has come to be intimately connected with Australian discovery.
As there was a misunderstanding, to say the least of it, between Queiroz, the Portuguese, and his lieutenant Torres, the proud Spaniard, the second in command during the voyage we have just read about, it will be just as well to hear both sides of the question, and thus be able to form a more correct opinion of what really happened on the occasion of the last of Spain's great navigators' memorable voyage towards the Great South Land.
Torres, in a letter to the king of Spain says:
About sixty leagues before reaching Santa Cruz, we found a small island of 6 leagues, very high, and all around it very good soundings; and other small islands near it, under shelter of which the ships anchored.*
[* The island mentioned here was TAUMACO, which has been identified as one of the large islands of the Duff group, not far from Santa Cruz.]
I went with the two boats and fifty men to reconnoitre the people of this island; and at a distance of a musket shot from the island, we found a town surrounded with a wall, and only one entrance without a gate.
Being near with the two boats, with an intention of investing them, as they did not by signs choose peace, at length their chief came into the water up to his neck, with a staff in his hand, and without fear came directly to the boats; where he was very well received, and by signs which we very well understood, he told me that his people were in great terror of the muskets,* and, therefore, he entreated us not to land, and said that they would bring water and wood if we gave them vessels. I told him that it was necessary to remain five days on shore to refresh. Seeing he could not do more with me he quieted his people, who were very uneasy and turbulent, and so it happened that no hostility was committed on either side.
[* Some of them had, no doubt, a lively remembrance of the effect of Spanish fire arms, having been at Santa Cruz, eleven years before, when Mendana's fleet anchored in Graciosa Bay.]
We went into the fort very safely; and, having halted, I made them give up their arms, and made them bring from their houses their effects, which were not of any value, and go with them to the island to other towns.
They thanked me very much; the chief always continued with me. They then told me that TAUMACO was the name of their island.
All came to me to make peace, and the chiefs assisted me, making their people get water and wood, and carry it on board the ship. In this we spent six days.
The people of this island are of agreeable conversation, understanding us very well, desirous of learning our language and to teach us theirs.
They are great cruisers; they have much beard; they are great archers and hurlers of darts; the vessels in which they sail are large, and can go a great way. They informed us of more than forty islands, great and small, all peopled, naming them, and telling us they were at war with many of them. They also gave us intelligence of Santa Cruz Island, and of what happened when Mendana was there.
The people of this island are of ordinary stature. They have amongst them people white and red, some in color like those of the Indies, others woolly-headed, blacks and mulattoes. Slavery is in use amongst them. Their food is yams, fish, cocoanuts, and they have pigs and fowls. The name of the chief is Tomai.
QUEIROZ AND TORRES LEAVE TAUMACO FOR THE SOUTH.
We departed from Taumaco with four natives of the place, whom we took, at which they were not much pleased; and as we here got wood and water, there was no necessity for us to go to Santa Cruz Island; which is, in this parallel* sixty leagues further on.
[* It is not exactly in the same parallel.]
So we sailed from hence, steering S.S.E. to 12° 30' S. latitude, where we found an island like that of Taumaco, and with the same kind of people, named Tucopia. There is only one small anchoring place; and passing in the offing, a small canoe with only two men came to me to make peace, and presented me with some bark of a tree, which appeared like a very fine handkerchief, four yards long and three palms wide; on this I parted from them.
From hence we steered south. We had a hard gale of wind from the north, which obliged us to lie to for two days: at the end of that time it was thought, as it was winter, that we could not exceed the latitude of 14° S., in which we were, though my opinion was always directly contrary, thinking we should search for the islands named by the chiefs of Taumaco.
Wherefore, sailing from this place we steered west, and in one day's sail we discovered a volcano, very high and large [Star, or Merlav Island], above three leagues in circuit, full of trees, and of black people with much beard.
To the westward, and in sight of this volcano, was an island not very high, and pleasant in appearance. There are few anchoring places, and those very close to the shore; it was very full of black people.
Here we caught two in some canoes, whom we clothed and gave presents to, and the next day we put them ashore. In return for this they shot a flight of arrows at a Spaniard, though in truth it was not in the same port, but about a musket shot further on. They are, however, a people that never miss an opportunity of doing mischief.
In sight of this island and around it are many islands, very high and large, and to the southward one so large* that we stood for it, naming the island where our man was wounded, Santa, Maria.
[* This "one so large." is Espiritu Santo; Torres, evidently, did not share Queiroz's belief, but took it for what it was, an island. See for corroboration what he says further on, 8 paragraphs below.]
Sailing thence to the southward towards the large island we discovered a very large bay, well peopled, and very fertile in yams and fruits, pigs and fowls.
They are all black people and naked. They fought with bows, darts and clubs. They did not choose to have peace with us, though we frequently spoke to them and made presents; and they never, with their good will, let us set foot on shore.
This bay is very refreshing, and in it fall many and large rivers. It is in 15° 45' S., latitude and in circuit it is twenty-five leagues. We named it the bay of San Felipe and Santiago, and the land del Espiritu Santo.
There we remained fifty days; we took possession in the Name of Your Majesty.
From within this bay, and from the most sheltered part of it, the Capitana departed at one hour past midnight, without any notice given to us, and without making any signal. This happened the 11th of June, and although the next morning we went out to seek for them, and made all proper efforts, it was not possible for us to find them, for they did not sail on the proper course, nor with good intention.
So I was obliged to return to the bay, to see if by chance they had returned thither. And on the same account we remained in this bay fifteen days, at the end of which we took Your Majesty's orders,* and held a consultation with the officers of the Brigantine.
[* The orders included instructions to sail as far as the 21st parallel; also to rendezvous at Graciosa bay, which order Torres appears to have disobeyed.]
It was determined that we should fulfil them, although contrary to the inclination of many, I may say of the greater part; but my condition was different from that of Captain Pedro Fernandez de Queiroz.*
[* Torres insinuates here that Queiroz was overruled by his crew.]
TORRES LEAVES SANTO.
At length we sailed from this bay, in conformity to the order, although with intention to sail round this island,* but the season and strong currents would not allow of this, although I ran along a great part of it. In what I saw there are very large mountains. It has many ports, though soma of them are small. All of it is well watered with rivers.
[* Again, Torres states that Espiritu Santo is an Island, see 8 paragraphs previous.]
Torres' Track
We had at this time nothing but bread and water. It was the depth of winter, and I had sea, wind, and ill will of my crew against me. All this did not prevent me from reaching the latitude mentioned (21° S.), which I passed by one degree, and would have gone further if the weather had permitted,* for the ship was good. It was proper to act in this manner, for these are not voyages performed every day, nor could Your Majesty otherwise be properly informed.
[* When Torres says, he "would have gone further," etc., he evidently thought he was not far from the Australian Continent; a few days' sail, three at the most, would have brought him to Cape Capricorne, on the coast of Queensland, a little to the south of the "Lost Bay" that was marked on some of the maps of the period.]
Going in the said latitude on a S.W. course, we had no signs of land that way.
From hence I stood back to the N.W. till 11° 30' S. latitude; there we fell in with the beginning of New Guinea, the coast of which runs W. by N. and E. by S.
I could not weather the E. point, so I coasted along to the westward on the south side.
I may here interrupt Torres' description in order to point out the various discoveries which he made along the southern shores of New Guinea during the course of his voyage to Manila in which he passed through the straits that bear his name.
The recovery of some ancient manuscript charts and other documents throws considerable light on this perilous and interesting voyage.*
[* The charts in question were pillaged from the Spanish archives during the wars of Napoleon I., and taken to Paris. There, buried away and uncatalogued, they were found, some years ago, by a friend of mine, who caused them to be returned to their original owners and acquainted me with their existence, thus enabling me to get copies of them which were first published to the English speaking world in my work on "The Discovery of Australia," in the year 1894.]
There lies at the eastern extremity of New Guinea a group of beautiful islands supposed to have been first sighted in the year 1873 by the leader of an English expedition, bent on discovery. Captain John Moresby, of H.M.S. Basilisk, the leader in question, in the account of his discoveries in New Guinea, published in 1876, says:
"I trust that the work done by H.M.S. Basilisk, in waters hitherto untracted, on shores hitherto untrodden, and among races hitherto unknown by Europeans will be held to call for some account."
Now, by comparing the Spanish map given here, with Moresby's it will be seen how Moresby's work, on this point of the coast, had been forestalled by Torres.
The features and place-names in the Spanish chart will reveal some of the most important of Torres' discoveries at the south-east end of New Guinea, where the Spanish navigator made his first stay in order to refresh the crews of the Almiranta and Brigantine.
From a description on this chart we learn that during five days and nights the Spaniards stood in sight of those tantalizing verdant shores, unable to effect a landing, threading their way through perilous reefs and over dangerous shoals.
Then, at last, they rounded, no doubt, the cape which Torres called Cabo de tres hermanas, or Cape of the Three Sisters, passed the next point marked (A) on the map, near the east point of the compass, and came to anchor in a little bay which was called Puerto de San Francisco.
It is situated near the south-east entrance to Rocky Pass, between Basilisk and Hayter Islands, and formed, in all probability, during their sojourn in these parts, the centre of their various excursions to the islands and bays around.
Its name, San Francisco, gives us the date of Torres' landing (14th of July, 1606), for it was customary in those days to name discoveries after the saints of the calendar; but the feast of St. Bonaventure occurs also on July the 14th, so that name was likewise made use of, and given to the whole territory discovered.
Contrary to Torres', Moresby's approach, in the year 1873, was from the N.E. where the mainland of New Guinea was supposed to extend beyond Hayter, Basilisk and Moresby's Islands.
The English captain had already cut off Moresby's Island, left his good ship Basilisk at anchor in the strait thus discovered (Fortescue Strait), and--the numerous reefs rendering navigation impossible for his ship--taken to his boats, the galley and cutter.
Moresby and party then rounded the northern shores of what they thought might prove to be the "beginning of New Guinea," when, suddenly, a bay seemed to open towards the south.
Moresby entered it, and, by the merest chance, hit upon the identical narrow passage which Torres, 267 years previously, had discovered from the south side and named Boca de la Batalla, Mouth of the Battle; having, no doubt, had an encounter there with the natives.
Moresby called that mouth Rocky Pass, and grew enthusiastic at the discovery, and at having "separated another island from New Guinea."
He was anxious to find if Rocky Pass would afford a passage for his ship, and spent the remainder of the day in examining it; but a rocky ledge, which ran across, barred it to the ship, and made it dangerous even for boats at the strength of the tide.
Moresby's experiences help to show the difficulties that the Spaniards had to deal with, and also that Torres must have been compelled to leave his two ships at anchor somewhere to the south of the Baya de San Milian; San Francisco Bay, for instance; and use the only rowing boat he had for his excursions.
In this he explored the bay formed by the horse-shoe-shape of Basilisk Island, named it the Baya de San Milian (modern Jenkins Bay), and penetrated to the largest bay to be found among all the islands he had discovered in this region--that is Milne Bay. He says: "We went a long way out from Cabo Fresco [modern Challis Head of Moresby's chart], which is as far as we could go towards the east in a boat."
Other nautical remarks which I translate from the old Spanish text of the chart are: "Towards the E. [N.E.] we did not see the end of the land, but we could judge from the various small islands that the channels were wide; towards the west there are no channels, only land and continuous lofty ridges, 'Tierra alta y cerrada' (evidently the Mount Owen Stanly ranges in the distance). We steered in that direction, but had to give up further progress after a while owing to the inadequacy of our boat."
These and other notes on the Spanish chart correspond exactly with what Moresby says of Milne Bay; and the dimensions given to that bay by de Prado, the cartographer of the expedition (40 leagues in circumference), may be considered as a fairly correct estimate.
On the 18th of July, Torres and his party having concluded their running survey of Basilisk Island, landed and took possession in the name of the king of Spain, naming as I have said, the whole territory the TIERRA DE SAN BUENAVENTURA.
A careful examination which I have made of a much distorted copy of a general map of New Guinea, made by Torres' cartographer, shows that Torres' Tierra de san Buenaventura (Basilisk Island), is one of several islands off the south-eastern extremity of New Guinea; and, by coupling this fact with what Torres says of his inability to navigate the bay (Milne Bay), and proceed east of Cabo Fresco (Challis Head), although he noticed wide channels in that direction, we may infer that the reefs and coral patches (not contrary winds as generally believed) compelled him to seek the southwest passage to Manila.*
[* Torres evidently did not discover the passage, discovered by Moresby and named by him China Strait, otherwise he might have been able to take the northern course.]
This becomes still more evident when we consider that Moresby also was unable to take his ship through to the northern shores.
From these regions Torres sailed to Orangerie Bay of modern charts, which he discovered on the 10th of August, 1606, and named in consequence, THE GREAT BAY OF ST. LAWRENCE.*
[* On the same day, one hundred years before, the Portuguese had discovered Madagascar, which they called the Island of St. Lawrence.]
Here, another lengthy stay was made and an extensive survey, comprising the laying out of a township, as may be seen by the accompanying map.
Then the little squadron went right up into the Gulf of Papua and down again as far as 11° S. latitude.
Not, therefore, through Torres Strait, so called, did Torres pass, but through Endeavour Strait, which has been named after Captain Cook's ship, the Endeavour.
Sailing along the shores of the islands to the north of Australia, between Cape York and Prince of Wales Island, Torres regained the coast of New Guinea and put in at the bay of St. Peter of Arlanza (modern Triton Bay), in order to refresh his crews.
There he took possession on the 18th of October, 1606, and, after a lengthy sojourn, sailed away to the Philippine Islands.
He had discovered Australia without being aware of the fact, and had completed the Spanish circumnavigation of New Guinea.