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It was plain we had chanced upon a Spanish colony, probably of some of the people of Mendana's fleet, who had succeeded in forming a settlement in New Holland. Anxious to make a favourable impression upon our first landing, Hartog and I now donned our best, and the cutter, being manned, we were pulled toward the beach, where we could see that a number of Spaniards had assembled to receive us.
The curious mistake alluded to on page 63 is this: In most of the old maps that were made prior to the identification of Sarmiento's and Mendana's discoveries, the Solomon Islands were placed much too close to New Guinea, occupying, in fact, the position of New Britain and New Ireland.
Mendana's fleet was composed of three large vessels and a frigate. Pedro Fernandez de Queiroz was his captain and chief pilot; the other officers were Lope de Vega, Felipe Corzo, and Alenzo de Leyva. As it was intended to settle a colony, many took their wives with them, and amongst these were: Da. Isabel de Barreto, Mendana's wife, and Da. Mariana de Castro, the wife of Lope de Vega.
Mendana's fleet consisted of three large vessels and a frigate, and, since it was intended to settle a colony, many took their wives with them, among the emigrants being Mariana, the wife of Lope de Vega, who commanded the "Santa Isabel". The total number of men in the fleet was 378, of whom 280 were soldiers.
In the few old maps that exist, it is difficult to determine precisely in what measure the members of the expedition are responsible for the charting; some of it is certainly the guesswork of geographers, based, it must be acknowledged, on the best information then available, for we must bear in mind that the accounts of Mendana's expedition were only known from a few extracts, the actual narratives being lost at the time these charts were draughted.
What did these jungle savages of the dark heart of Guadalcanal know of helmets? Had Mendana's men-at-arms worn helmets and penetrated here centuries before? And if not, then whence had the bush-folk caught the motive?
To persist in the intention of founding a settlement under such conditions would have been folly; all agreed in this, and the anchor was raised on the 18th November. Doña Isabella de Mendana's project was to go to Manilla, and there to obtain recruits from amongst the colonists, with whom she would return to found a settlement.
It was the head of one of Mendana's armourers, lost in a beach scrimmage to one of Bashti's remote ancestors. Still another head, the history of which was vague, was a white woman's head. What wife of what navigator there was no telling.
The chief reason for our commander's touching at the Marquesas Islands, was to fix their situation; that being the only circumstance in which the nautical account of them, given in Mr. Dalrymple's collection, is deficient. It was farther desirable to settle this point, as it would lead to a more accurate knowledge of Mendana's other discoveries.
The remnant of this disastrous expedition, having repaired to the Philippine Islands, returned to New Spain in the year 1596. The discovery of true Solomon Islands was soon forgotten and Mendana's vague notions about them led historians and geographers astray as to their position and size.*
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