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.
Crescent-shaped canoes
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.