These two explorations will be very easy to make, at little expense, from these islands rather than from España. For their entrances from that side are difficult to find, and from this side one cannot go astray, nor is there any obstacle. The first year after Gomez Perez de las Marinas arrived in this country as governor, he conferred with me about sending me to explore the strait of Danian. By reason of the expedition which he intended to make to Maluco, he deferred the other; and when he was so unfortunately killed it put an end to the project. He, I believe, Page 294would have far advanced the affairs of these parts if he had lived, and would have done good service for your Majesty, judging by the valor and zeal which he showed; and his absence, and the need for him, have brought this city to a sense of what they owe him, and now they deplore his loss.
I have given this brief account to your Majesty, begging humbly that you will pardon my boldness (which zeal for your royal service and the good of these regions has caused) in advising your Majesty, that you may see how glorious opportunities our Lord God has kept for you to extend and widen out the holy Catholic faith. But it is necessary that your Majesty should entrust this to a person of high rank and great worth, and that he should not come for a limited time, with the intention of gathering riches and the fruit of the land, and then returning; for those who have this intention will not be watchful for its welfare, nor zealous for the honor of God and for the service of your Majesty. I have informed the governor of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, of this, so that he may write to your Majesty and make use of the opportunities which are offered him. I know not what he will do. May our Lord God, for whom we labor, protect your Majesty many years, according to the needs of Christendom, and augment your estate with greater lands and majesty, for His glory and the good of ... may it prosper. Manila, June 27, 1597.
[Endorsed: “Examined on the thirteenth of September of 1599. As to what he says of the astrolabe, have a copy made and delivered to Cespedes, that he may examine it and give his opinion in regard to it. As for the rest, join everything in regard to this Page 295matter, and have all the papers brought in a bundle.”]
[Memoranda at beginning of document: “Memorial addressed to the king, dated at Manila on June 27, 1597, by Colonel Hernando de los Rios, which gives an account of a book which he is engaged in composing, concerning the approved usage and art of navigation, and of the importance of taking a port on the mainland of China, and particularly in the island of Hermosa, of which he gives a very circumstantial description, accompanying it with his map, and finally a very valuable discourse on the two routes which are the most expeditious and direct for navigation from Spaña to those kingdoms, that can be found. The first is through a channel or narrowing of the sea which enters Nuebo Mexico above Florida at forty-five degrees latitude, according to the information received from Father Federico of the Society of Jesus, and from a friar of the order of St. Augustine, who was very learned in cosmography, and who died in that city. The other is through the strait called Anian. There is inserted in the said memorial a relation which was left written by Fray Martin de Rada, of the order of St. Augustine. It was received from a Vizcayan named Juanes de Rivas, a native of San Sevastian, wherein he sets forth that various Portuguese have passed by that way to Yndia and China, and by way of Ucheo returned to Lisboa in forty-five days of voyage. He gives a condensed description of the ship's courses, and the navigation which must be accomplished until they have arrived in the harbor, either here or in China, etc., etc.
Memorial directed to the king of España by Benito Page 296Escoto, a Genoese noble, in the year 1616, giving an account of a certain method which he had discovered of putting together certain tables of longitudes in maritime voyages and navigation, etc.; and to find that navigation which, up to that time, so many serious men and mariners had sought and had not found—namely, the passage by the northern part of China, Japon, Malucas, and Philipinas, with a condensed discourse concerning the advantages which will accrue from the proposed action. And in continuation a letter from the prior of the convent of Santa Maria, written to ... in recommendation of the good circumstances and worthy qualities both of the author and his work.”] Page 297
[1] The original MS. of this document is illegible or torn in many places: these are indicated by leaders (...).
[2] This ship was wrecked on the coast of Japan, driven thither by tempests; and its rich cargo was seized by the Japanese. Detailed accounts of this event and its consequences are furnished by Morga in his Sucesos (Hakluyt Soc. trans.), pp. 75—79; Santa Inés, in the Crónica, ii, pp. 252—272; and La Concepcion, in Hist. de Philipinas, iii, pp. 106—119, 143—148.
[3] Francisco de Ibarra was a prominent Spanish officer in Mexico (1554—72); he subjected to the dominion of Spain the province of Copala, which he named Nueva Vizcaya, founding therein the cities of Durango, Sinaloa, and others.
[4] For accounts of early explorations on North American coasts, see the following works: On the northeastern coast, Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, iv, pp. 33—102. On the Pacific coast, H.H. Bancroft's History of the Northwest Coast, i, pp. 1—136. The voyages mentioned in this document are regarded by Bancroft as apocryphal. Bacallaos (“cod-fish”) was an early designation of the island of Newfoundland, but was afterward extended to the mainland of eastern Canada. The cape of Breton evidently refers to Cape Breton, on the island of that name.