Читать книгу The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea - George Collingridge - Страница 13

Sebastian del Cano

Whilst the Portuguese and Spaniards were fighting for the possession of the "Spicery," as they sometimes called the Moluccas, the old dispute about the line of demarcation was resumed in Spain and Portugal. It was referred to a convocation of learned geographers and pilots, held at Badajoz, on the shores of the Guadiana.

Those learned men talked and argued, and their animated discussions extended over many months; but no decision was arrived at.

Sebastian del Cano, who had been appointed commander after Magellan's death at the Philippines, and had returned to Spain with the remnant of the expedition, had been called upon to report his views at the meetings, but he, also, had not been able to prove under what longitude the Spice Islands were situated; and now another fleet was ordered to be fitted out to make further investigations.

It was entrusted to Garcia Jofre de Loaysa, with del Cano as pilot-major, and other survivors of Magellan's armada.

They sailed from Coruna in July, 1525, with an armament of seven ships. Every precaution was taken to ensure the success of the voyage, but the expedition proved a most disastrous one notwithstanding. During a fearful storm del Cano's vessel was wrecked at the entrance to Magellan's Straits, and the captain-general was separated from the fleet.

Francisco de Hoces, who commanded one of the ships, is reported to have been driven by the same storm to 55 deg. of south latitude, where he sighted the group of islands which became known at a later date under the name of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.

It was April before the rest of the fleet entered Magellan's Straits, and the passage was tedious and dismal, several of the sailors dying from the extreme cold. At last, on the 25th of May, 1526, they entered the Pacific Ocean, where they were met by another storm, which dispersed the fleet right and left.

On this occasion an extraordinary piece of good luck befel one of the small vessels of the fleet--a pinnace or row boat, of the kind called pataca, in command of Joam de Resaga, who steered it along the coast of Peru, unknown at the time, and reached New Spain, where they gave an account to the famous conquerer of Mexico, Fernand Cortez, telling him that Loaysa was on his way to the islands of cloves.*

[* It is strange that this voyage, along the coasts of an hitherto unexplored country, preceding as it did, not only the conquest of Peru by Pizarro, but even the arrival of that conquistadore in the South Pacific Ocean, should have remained unknown by Prescott and all other historians of the conquest of the Land of the Incas.]

The remnant of the fleet steered a north-westerly course when once in the Pacific Ocean.

They were in a sore plight. Both commanders were sick, and, nearing the Line, on the 30th of July, Loaysa died. Four days after, Sebastian del Cano, who had escaped and weathered so many storms and dangers, expired also, leaving the command of the expedition to Alonzo de Salazar.

Salazar steered for the Ladrones. On the 4th of September he arrived at that group, where he met Gonzalo de Vigo, one of the seamen of the Trinidad.

From the Ladrones the expedition sailed for the Philippines, and on the way Alonzo de Salazar, the third commander, died.

Martin de Iniquez was now appointed to the command, and it was November before they came to anchor at Zamofo, a port in an island belonging to the King of Tidor, who had become their ally during their previous voyage.

Disputes immediately arose between the Spaniards and the Portuguese commander settled at Ternate. A war ensued, which lasted for several years, with various degrees of success and activity, the people of Tidor supporting the Spaniards and those of Ternate the Portuguese settlers.

Galvano, the Portuguese historian of the Moluccas, and a resident there for many years, informs us that only one vessel of Loaysa's fleet reached the Spice Islands. The fourth commander, Martin de Iniquez, died some time after, poisoned, it is said, and the command of the remnant of the expedition was entrusted to Hernando de la Torre. But the only vessel left was found to be so much damaged in repeated actions with the Portuguese that it had become unfit for the homeward voyage.

About this time, 1527, Fernand Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, sent from New Spain his kinsman, Alvaro de Saavedra, in search of Loaysa's expedition.

Saavedra set out from the Pacific coast with three armed vessels and one hundred and ten men.

Two of the vessels were almost immediately separated from the commander, and their destiny remains a mystery to the present day.

Saavedra, however, in command of the Santiago pursued his course alone and reached the Spice Islands, after a voyage of a little over two months.

His countrymen were delighted to see him, but remembering their own sad experiences, would hardly credit that he had come from New Spain in so short a time.

He was immediately attacked by the Portuguese, and various engagements took place in which he was supported by the survivors of Loaysa's armada, who had now built a brigantine out of the planks of their famous fleet of seven vessels.

Meanwhile Saavedra, during the intervals of peace, did not neglect to load up his good ship with spices, and, in the beginning of June, 1528, he set sail for New Spain. The prevailing winds that had favored his outward passage were now against him. He tried to avoid them by taking a southerly course, and, in doing so, he fell in with the northern coast of New Guinea, the shores of which, as I have intimated, he followed for no less than 250 leagues.

Scene from the Spice Islands.

The Spaniards found traces of gold all along this part of the country, and Saavedra named the island Isla del Oro, the Island of Gold; but his description of the natives, whom he found to be black, with short crisped hair or wool, similar to those of the coast of Guinea in Africa, gave rise, no doubt, to the alteration in the name, for at a later date the island became known as Nova Guinea, or New Guinea.

Upon leaving the shores of New Guinea, Saavedra hoped to be able to reach New Spain, but the head winds which still prevailed compelled him to return to the Spice Islands.

The following year, in May, 1529, in another attempt to reach New Spain, he again coasted along the northern shores of New Guinea; he then sailed to the north-east, as in his previous voyage, and discovered some islands which he called Los Pintados, from the natives being painted or tattooed.

The people were fierce and warlike, and from a canoe boldly attacked the ships with showers of stones thrown from slings.

To the north-east of Los Pintados several low inhabited islands or atolls were discovered, and named Los Buenos Jardines, "The Good Gardens."

Saavedra cast anchor here, and the natives came to the shore, waving a flag of peace; they were light-complexioned and tattooed. The females were beautiful, with agreeable features and long black hair; they wore dresses of fine matting. When the Spaniards landed, they were met by men and women in procession, with tambourines and festal songs. These islands abounded in cocoanuts and other vegetable productions.

From the Good Gardens Islands they set out again towards New Spain.

On the 9th of October, 1529, Saavedra died; and the next in command, vainly attempting to make headway in an easterly direction, returned once more to the Spice Islands.

The remnant of Saavedra's expedition reached Spain, by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Lisbon, seven years later, in 1536.

According to Galvano, the Portuguese historian, Saavedra's discoveries in 1529 were more extensive than in 1528. He says the Spaniards coasted along the country of the Papuas for five hundred leagues, and found the coast clean and of good anchorage.

The year that witnessed the return from the Spice Islands of the survivors of Saavedra's expedition, 1536, witnessed also the sailing of another fleet sent out from New Spain by Fernand Cortez to discover in the same waters.

It consisted of two ships commanded by Grijalva and Alvarado.

The account of this voyage of discovery is very vague, and the various writers on the subject do not entirely agree. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that Alvarado abandoned the enterprise from the start, and went to the conquest of Quito, in Peru, leaving the sole command to Grijalva.

Tidor Volcano, seen from Ternate.

It appears certain, however, that Grijalva visited many islands on the north coast of New Guinea, and one, in particular, called Isla de los Crespos, Island of the Frizzly Heads, at the entrance of Geelvinck Bay, near which a mutiny occurred, and Grijalva was murdered by his revolted crew.

His ship was wrecked, and the expedition came to an end, a few of the survivors reaching the Spice Islands in 1539.

Most of the names given during the course of the exploration are difficult to locate.

Besides the various place-names mentioned by Galvano, Ostrich Point, the Struis Hoek of later Dutch charts, is, perhaps, a reminiscence of this untimely voyage.

A casoar, or cassowary, would, of course, be called an ostrich, and here we have for the first time in history a picturesque description of that Australasian bird.

Galvano's translator says: "There is heere a bird as bigge as a crane, and bigger; he flieth not, nor hath any wings wherewith to flee; he runneth on the ground like a deere. Of their small feathers they do make haire for their idols."

The Cassowary

The Earliest Drawing of a Wallaby (Western Australia) from Péron's stuffed specimens.

The Spice Islands, from Ribero's Official Map of the World. (Portugese and Spanish hemispheres)

Nova Guinea--The First Map of New Guinea 1600. (Portugese and Spanish hemispheres)

Jave-la-Grande--The First Map of Australia, known also as the "Dauphin Chart--1530–36. (Portugese and Spanish hemispheres)

Don Diego de Prado's Map of the Bay of St. Philip and St. James in Espiritu Santo (New Hebrides).

Spanish Ships