390 



Don Alvarado de Saavedra, sailed from Zacatula, Mexico, Oct. 

 31, 1527. The narrative of the voyage is preserved in Herrera's 

 vv^ork, (Herrera, decada 3, Hbro 1, cap. 6), and also in Burney's 



''Discoveries in the South Seas'' (Vol. 1, p. 148) When the 



squadron was about a thousand leagues from port it was scat- 

 tered by a tempest. The two smaller vessels were never heard 

 from again, but Saavedra pursued the voyage alone in the Florida 

 to the Moluccas, touching at the Ladrone Islands on his way. 



"Now a well-known Hawaiian tradition relates that in the 

 reign of Keliiokaloa, son of Umi, a foreign vessel was wrecked 

 at Keei, South Kona, Hawaii. According to the tradition, only 

 the captain and his sister reached the shore in safety. From their 

 kneeling on the beach and remaining a long time in that posture* 

 the place was called Kulou, as it is unto this day. The natives 

 received them kindly and placed food before them. These strang- 

 ers intermarried with the Hawaiians, and were the progenitors 

 of certain well-known families of chiefs, as for instance, that of 

 Kaikioewa, former Governor of Kauai." Professor Alexander 

 continues, demonstrating the likelihood of these foreigners being 

 the survivors of two lost vessels. 



2. Discovery by Juan Gaetano. 



1555. 



Quoting further from Professor Alexander's paper, *'An offi- 

 cial letter from the Spanish Hydrographical Department, dated 

 Madrid, February 21, 1865,. . . . states that an ancient manuscript 

 chart was found in the archives of that office, in which this group 

 is laid down as in the chart of the Spanish galleon, with the name 

 'Tslas de Mesa," and a note declaring that they were discovered 

 and named by Juan Gaetano in 1555. Unfortunately no record 



of that voyage has been found " There is other evidence to 



show that the Spanish officials, for commercial reasons, kept the 

 discovery secret. 



3. Discovery by Captain James Cook. 



1778. Jan. 18. 



The renowned English navigator, Captain James Cook, made 

 three famous voyages of discovery. (1) 1768-1771, to Tahiti, 

 New Zealand^ Australia, New Guinea, and the East Indies; (2) 

 1772-1775, to the South Pacific; (3) 1776-1778, in quest of the 

 long sought "Northwest Passage" between the Pacific and At- 

 lantic. David Nelson was the botanist on Cook's third voyage, 

 and was the first botanist in the Hawaiian Archipelago. From 

 the Society Islands he sailed northward, toward the northwest 

 coast of America, and on Jan. 18th, discovered the Island "of 

 Oahu, and 50on afterwards saw Kauai. On the nineteenth Nii- 



