Hernan Gallego says, in these formal words, that “in 2° or 3° to the S.W. we found very clear signs of land, but never saw any land whatever. Finally, we concluded that we had land to the west of us, and that it was New Guinea; not in a higher latitude than 4° S., for it was discovered by Iñigo Ortiz de Retes, and by no one else. Bernardo de la Torre neither discovered nor saw it, nor is there such a place as the Cape of the Cross.”[3]
I say, touching such signs as the palms seen in the sea, which Hernan Gallego mentions, that I also saw many, which might make me believe that New Guinea was near, being in the same latitude, and for other reasons that I will give further on. Also, in a northerly direction, I came upon the Barbudos in 6°, an island peopled by good natives. Moreover, I came from the island of Santa Cruz, 1,850 leagues from Lima, and afterwards navigated another 40 leagues more to the west, making 440 further than Hernan Gallego, according to his own account. And as I navigated to the Philippines, which is more to the west, I was more in the way of seeing the signs of the island I found than was Hernan Gallego. For he confesses that he went 1,450 leagues from Lima, and took his way to New Spain, which is N. to N.E. This proves that he could not have seen those signs, nor the islands he sighted, without having gone over much more longitude than he stated.
Hernan Gallego says further, in his report to the Licentiate Castro, who was at that time President of the Audience in the city of the Kings, who despatched the expedition:—“Being in 7° S., 30 leagues from the island of Jesus,[4] which was the first we discovered as we saw the archipelago of islands, it was never intended to prosecute discoveries further, but that we should return to Peru, as is public and notorious. If we had gone on another cock would have crowed, for we should have discovered another land, different from this, and very near where we were. The goodness of the land I do not wish to dilate upon, because your Lordship will hear that from others.”
I quote this to show that Hernan Gallego was certain that he was near New Guinea as he says. He could not have come to this conclusion if he had not known that it was 2,000 and more leagues from Lima; for in his position he could not have been deceived, because it was discovered at a very short distance, as the Maluco Isles are from it. Miguel Rojo de Brito, a native of Lisbon, went from Maluco to New Guinea, and said that they were close to each other, as may be seen in a chapter of his narrative which will be attached to this discourse. Although I do not know the original intention of that expedition, I suspect that they went in search of New Guinea, because it is explained that Iñigo Ortiz de Retes was its discoverer, and not Bernardo de la Torres. So that it may be looked upon as certain that it was from a report of one of these, or both, that they were deriving the information respecting the object they sought. For Gallego says that the Cape of the Cross has no existence, and that New Guinea is in not more than 4° S., implying that one said it was in 4°, which seemed most likely to be correct, and the other in more. He went in search, but did not find it; coming by chance on the island of Jesus in 6° 45′, and presently came to the reefs of Candelaria, and the Island of Santa Isabel, and always discovering by a higher latitude and decreasing longitude. The reason for not sighting New Guinea was the same as prevented us from reaching the Solomon Islands, namely, the island of Santa Cruz. My conclusion is that New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Islands of Santa Cruz are all near each other, for a reason I shall give presently.
Hernan Gallego says, further, that the Adelantado asked his opinion respecting the return from those islands to Peru, across 1,700 leagues of sea; that the port on this island of Cristobal was three leagues by land from the most eastern point; that with a fresh breeze from S.E. they navigated 20 leagues N.E. ¼ E., and 15 leagues N.E. ¼ N., and N.E. 25, and 18 N.N.E., and when there the latitude was 7°, and 30 leagues from the island of Jesus to E.
He says that this island of Jesus was the first they discovered in 6° 45′ S., and that its distance from the city of Lima was 450 leagues. If this is as he says, that from this island of Jesus to the port whence he had come the course runs N.-S., it follows that the same number of leagues intervening between the island of Jesus and Lima, also intervene between San Cristobal and Lima, both being almost on the same meridian. It is clearly to be seen that there is carelessness here, or that there was an error in his calculation, and there no doubt was one throughout in trying to determine the true longitude. For in so short a distance as there is from one point to the other, there cannot have been a mistake of 250 leagues. Whence I infer that, in such a long route as that from Lima to the Solomon Islands, the error would be much greater, the course being east and west.
If his narrative is considered, other obscure and contradictory points will be found. In one place he says that the natives told him that those islands to the S.E. were extensive, and that he saw them. Presently he says that a sailor climbed up a palm tree, and could not see them. He says that at the Island of Guadalcanal he could not see the end, and that the coast ran westward. Further on, he says that it would take six months to go round it; and that the land he did not see was reported to be very good, but that he certainly did not see it. He reports that it was better to take a northern route in returning to Peru, because it was difficult to find favourable winds further south. Few pilots would give this reason, because the usual winds outside the tropics, in the same latitude, are much the same on the north as on the south side. And how much easier was it, being (as he says) certain that there was no land to the S.E., to go to 11° S., where he would have found the route to 30° or 40° on that side, than to run down 11° and go up 30° or more on the other side, and yet be further from Peru.
It may seem strange that the Adelantado did not meet with the islands that we have now discovered on his first voyage. I reply that, when he began the voyage from Peru, he made a large curve W.S.W. to 18°, and another to W.N.W. to 6°, more or less, and followed that parallel, as I have been told by one who was on board. This was the reason that he did not come upon the islands in question, which are in a higher latitude, leaving them to the south and passing to the north of them.
There is further proof that the islands of Santa Cruz are near the Solomon Islands. The natives are the same colour, they dye their hair in the same way, called their chief “Jauriqui,” have the same arms, pigs and fowls, and many other things in common. It may really be concluded that all the people of Santa Cruz and the Solomon Islands came from the archipelago of the Philippines. The Santa Cruz people dye their teeth red and black, and use the buyo, as in the Philippines. In the Island of Luzon there are black men, who are said to be the aborigines of the land. They are called Pogotes, and are retired on the island of Maragondon and other islands. For the Moors and other Indians occupy their lands, drive them away, and force those that remain into corners of the land where they now are. It may well be that, by reason of the invaders, the persecuted people have gone away to seek other settlements, until they came to New Guinea as the nearest place, and thence to the Solomon Islands and Santa Cruz. The half-breeds, and differences of colour among them, proceed from intercourse between them.
In conclusion, I may say that the Adelantado told me, as well as certain pilots of that time, that Hernan Gallego, navigating on the coast of Mexico, made the land one day, and that afterwards he sailed over 700 leagues to reach the same place again. These, added to the 1,450 leagues which, he says, intervene between the Solomon Islands and Lima, make more than the 2,000 leagues which I say intervene between Lima and New Guinea, from which point the distance really ought to be drawn. This being so, my suspicion is confirmed; and there may be seen, as he says, the signs of the land of New Guinea, when he met with the Barbudos, and he did not see the land when he said he did. For if he had gone over the 1,450 leagues, as he said, it would take much more than four months of navigation. There are a little over 700 leagues from there to the coast of New Spain, navigating by the best-known route, which is that by the north. So that there cannot have been so great a mistake, if it was not from having intended to go by that point, and have taken the said 700 leagues more to the west. This appears to explain what has been said until the contrary is shown.