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Since we are speaking of the Dutch, we shall put the chronological order of discoveries a little on one side, that we may relate as well as those of Mendana and Quiros, the expeditions of Jan Abel Tasman.
Having satisfied himself that it was useless to seek for De Quiros, he turned to the west, hoping to reach the Philippine Islands, where the Spaniards had a colony, at Manila. It was his singular fortune to sail through that opening which lies between New Guinea and Australia, to which the name of "Torres Strait" was long afterwards applied.
And Bashti's withered ancient hand, the back of it netted with a complex of large up-standing veins from which the flesh had shrunk away, dipped out a huge pistol of such remote vintage that one of Cromwell's round-heads might well have carried it or that it might well have voyaged with Quiros or La Perouse.
Other accounts of their Voyage says not a word about this; but supposing this to be true, hanging Clouds and a thick Horizon are certainly no signs of a Continent I have had many proofs to the Contrary in the Course of this Voyage; neither do I believe that Quiros looked upon such things as known signs of land, for if he had he certainly would have stood to the Southward, in order to have satisfied himself before he had gone to the Northward, for no man seems to have had discoveries more at heart than he had.
There Dona Ysabel Barreto married Don Fernando de Castro, and returned to Nueva Espana in his ship, the "San Geronymo," in the year ninety-six. The events of this voyage have been only lightly touched upon here, so that it seems fitting to reproduce literally the relation, to which Don Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, chief pilot on this voyage, affixed his signature, which is as follows.
In another place Captain Dampier observes that he saw nutmegs amongst them, which seemed to be fresh-gathered, all which agrees perfectly with the account given by De Quiros; add to this, that Schovten had likewise observed, that they had ginger upon this coast, and some other spices, so that on the whole there seems not the least reason to doubt that if any part of this country was settled, it must be attended with a very rich commerce; for it cannot be supposed that all these writers should be either mistaken, or that they should concur in a design to impose upon their readers; which is the less to be suspected, if we consider how well their reports agree with the situation of the country, and that the trees on the land, and the fish on the coast, corresponding exactly with the trees of those countries, and the fish on the coasts, where these commodities are known to abound within land, seem to intimate a perfect conformity throughout.
It has since been ascertained they were then a little to the north of Pitcairn Island, afterwards the home of the mutineers of the Bounty; but Cook did not feel himself at liberty to make any deviation from his course "to look for what he was not sure to find," although he thought he was "not far from those islands discovered by Quiros in 1606."
They seemed to think the captain wanted him. On examination, he proved to be very slightly hurt, and his wounds were dressed. After leaving the Friendly Islands, the Australis del Esperito Santo of Quiros was reached. Sailing round it, Cook proved it to be an island.
This was De Quiros, a Spaniard, who had already sailed with a famous voyager, and now desired to set out on an expedition of his own. He spent many years in beseeching the King of Spain to furnish him with ships and men so that he might seek this southern continent.
Thus four ships carrying nearly four hundred people sailed from the port of Lima on the 11th April, 1595. Amongst those on board may be named Doña Isabella, wife of Mendana, the three brothers-in-law of the general, and the pilot Pedro Fernandez Quiros, who later on distinguished himself as commander-in-chief of another expedition.
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