Island discovered by Edw. Davis. 'Having recovered our fright, we kept on to the Southward. We steered SbE ½ Easterly, until we came to the latitude of 27° 20′ S, when about two hours before day, we fell in with a small low sandy Island, and heard a great roaring noise, like that of the sea beating upon the shore, right ahead of the ship. Whereupon, fearing to fall foul upon the shore before day, the ship was put about. So we plied off till day, and then stood in again with the land, which proved to be a small flat Island, without the guard of any rocks. We stood in within a quarter of a mile of the shore, and could see it plainly, for it was a clear morning. To the Westward, about twelve leagues by judgement, we saw a range of high land, which we took to be Islands, for there were several partitions in the prospect. This land seemed to reach about 14 or 16 leagues in a range, and there came thence great flocks of fowls. I, and many of our men would have made this land, and have gone ashore at it, but the Captain would not permit us. The small Island bears from Copiapo almost due East [West was intended] 500 leagues, and from the Galapagos under the line is distant 600 leagues[62].'
Dampier was not present at this discovery; but he met his old Commander afterwards, and relates information he received concerning it in the following words. 'Captain Davis told me lately, that after his departing from us at Ria Lexa, he went,
after several traverses, to the Galapagos, and that standing thence Southward for wind to bring him about the Tierra del Fuego, in the latitude of 27° S, about 500 leagues from Copayapo on the coast of Chili, he saw a small sandy Island just by him; and that they saw to the Westward of it a long tract of pretty high land, tending away toward the NW out of sight[63].'
Question whether Edward Davis's Land and Easter Island are the same Land, or different. The two preceding paragraphs contain the whole which either in Wafer or Dampier is said concerning this land. The apprehension of being late in the season for the passage round Cape Horne seems to have deterred Davis from making examination of his discovery. The latitude and specified distance from Copiapo were particulars sufficient to direct future search; and twenty-five years afterwards, Jacob Roggewein, a Dutch navigator, guided by those marks, found land; but it being more distant from the American Continent than stated by Davis or Wafer, Roggewein claimed it as a new discovery. A more convenient place for discussing this point, which has been a lasting subject of dispute among geographers, would be in an account of Roggewein's voyage; but a few remarks here may be satisfactory.
Wafer kept neither journal nor reckoning, his profession not being that of a mariner; and from circumstances which occur in Davis's navigation to the Atlantic, it may reasonably be doubted whether a regular reckoning or journal was kept by any person on board; and whether the 500 leagues distance of the small Island from the American coast mentioned by Davis and Wafer, was other than a conjectured distance. They had no superior by whom a journal of their proceedings would be required or expected. If a regular journal had really been kept, it would most probably have found its way to the press.
Jacob Roggewein, the Dutch Admiral, was more than any other navigator, willing to give himself the credit of making new discoveries, as the following extracts from the Journal of his expedition will evince. 'We looked for Hawkins's Maiden Land, but could not find it; but we discovered an Island 200 leagues in circuit, in latitude 52° S, about 200 leagues distant to the East of the coast of South America, which we named Belgia Austral.' That is as much as to say, Admiral Roggewein could not find Hawkins's Maiden Land; but he discovered land on the same spot, which he named Belgia Austral. Afterwards, proceeding in the same disposition, the Journal relates, 'We directed our course from Juan Fernandez towards Davis's Land, but to the great astonishment of the Admiral (Roggewein) it was not seen. I think we either missed it, or that there is no such land. We went on towards the West, and on the anniversary of the Resurrection of our Saviour, we came in sight of an Island. We named it Paaschen or Oster Eylandt (i. e. Easter Island).'
Paaschen or Easter Island according to modern charts and observations, is nearly 690 leagues distant from Copiapo, which is in the same parallel on the Continent of America. The statement of Davis and Wafer makes the distance only 512 leagues, which is a difference of 178 leagues. It is not probable that Davis could have had good information of the longitudes of the Galapagos Islands and Copiapo; but with every allowance, so large an error as 178 leagues in a run of 600 leagues might be thought incredible, if its possibility had not been demonstrated by a much greater being made by the same persons in this same homeward passage; as will be related. In the latitude and appearance of the land, the descriptions of Davis and Wafer are correct, Easter Island being a mountainous land, which will make partitions in the distant prospect and appear like a number of Islands.
Roggewein's claim to Paaschen or Easter Island as a new discovery has had countenance and support from geographers, some of the first eminence, but has been made a subject of jealous contest, and not of impartial investigation. If Roggewein discovered an Island farther to the West of the American coast than Davis's Land, it must follow that Davis's land lies between his discovery and the Continent; but that part of the South Sea has been so much explored, that if any high land had existed between Easter Island and the American coast, it could not have escaped being known. There is not the least improbability that ships, in making a passage from the Galapagos Isles through the South East trade-wind, shall come into the neighbourhood of Easter Island.