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Updated: May 31, 2025
On 25th August they entered the bay which Cook believed to be that discovered by De Quiros, and named by him the Bay of St. Philip and St. Iago in the Tierra Austral del Espiritu Santo, now known as the New Hebrides. In this conclusion Cook has the support of Dalrymple and modern geographers, but Forster, for some reason which is not quite clear, felt compelled to differ.
Quiros, in the Latitude of 25 or 26 degrees South, discover'd 2 Islands, which, I suppose, may lay between the Longitude of 130 and 140 degrees West. Dalrymple lays them down in 146 degrees West, and says that Quiros saw to the Southward very large hanging Clouds and a very thick Horizon, with other known signs of a Continent.
As to the product and commodities of this country in general, there is the greatest reason in the world to believe that they are extremely rich and valuable, because the richest and finest countries in the known world lie all of them within the same latitude; but to return from conjectures to facts, the country discovered by De Quiros makes a part of this great island, and is the opposite coast to that of Carpentaria.
This island, according to Quiros, was situated upon the same parallel as Santa Cruz, to which he intended to go. He therefore sailed westward and reached an island called by the natives Taumaco, in 10 degrees south latitude and 240 miles east of Santa Cruz.
On the 16th, high land was seen bearing south-west, which no one doubted to be the Australis del Espirito Santo of Quiros, and which is called by M. de Bougainville the Great Cyclades. After exploring the coast for some days, the captain came to an anchor, in a harbour in the island of Mallicollo.
If it be demanded what certainty I have that spices can be had from thence, I answer, all the certainty that in a thing of this nature can be reasonably expected: Ferdinand de Quiros met with all sorts of spices in the country he discovered; William Schovten, and Jacques le Maire, saw ginger and nutmegs; so did Dampier; and the author of Commodore Roggewein's Voyage asserts, that the free burgesses of Amboyna purchase nutmegs from the natives of New Guinea for bits of iron.
But the definite discovery did not come until 1605, when De Quiros and De Torres, Spanish Admirals, sailed to the East Indies and heard of the southern continent. They sailed in search of it, but only succeeded in touching at some of the outlying islands. That gave the name "Australia," which is all that survives to remind us of Spanish exploration.
The east point of this bay, which I name Cape Quiros, in memory of its first discoverer, is situated in latitude 14° 56' S., longitude 167° 13' E. The N.W. point, which I named Cape Cumberland, in honour of his Royal Highness the Duke, lies in the latitude of 14° 38' 45" S., longitude 166° 49' 1/2 E., and is the N.W. extremity of this archipelago; for, after doubling it, we found the coast to trend gradually round to the S. and S.S.E.
These must have been the same sort of fish mentioned by Quiros,* under the name of pargos, which poisoned the crews of his ships, so that it was some time before they recovered; and we should, doubtless, have been in the same situation, had more of them been eaten.
Most people thought there was nothing but the ocean in that part of the world; and as the voyage was dangerous and very long requiring several years for its completion scarcely any one cared to run the risk of exploring it. De Quiros.# There was, however, an enthusiastic seaman who firmly believed that a great continent existed there, and who longed to go in search of it.
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