12 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



with bottom from 40 to 35 fathoms, is to anchor there and wait there three months 

 for the other two ships. When together, a resolution will be taken as to what further 

 ehall be done, in compliance with His Majesty's orders. If by chance the other ships 

 do not arrive, the Captain before he departs, is to raise a Cross, and at the foot of it, 

 or of the nearest tree, he is to make a sign on the trunk to be understood by him who 

 next arrives, and to bury a jar with the mouth closed with tar, and containing a narra- 

 tive of all that has happened and of his intentions. Then he will steer SW. as far as 

 20, thence NW. to 4, and on that parallel he is to steer West in search of New 

 Guinea. After coasting all along that land, he is to proceed to the Country of 

 Manila, by the Island of Luzon of the Philippines, in 14 North, thence by the Eastern 

 Indies to Spain." 



Much confusion has arisen, and much speculation has been 

 indulged in, owing to a doubt as to the correct interpretation of 

 references by Torres to the " prescribed latitude." The general 

 and very natural impression has hitherto been that Quiros was under 

 orders not to turn north until he had reached a certain southern 

 latitude, the precise situation of which he and Torres were ordered 

 to keep secret. 



The narrative of Bermudez (as the mouthpiece of Quiros), only 

 recently given to the world, proves conclusively that there was no 

 mystery and no intentional concealment. Quiros, as a matter of 

 fact, received no orders from Spain, and the valedictory epistle of 

 the Governor of Peru did not restrict his discretionary powers, 



The expedition was manned by 130 seafarers and six priests. 

 The flagship and the " Almirante " were vessels of 150 and 120 tons 

 respectively. 



QUIROS had barely gone to sea when he began to be ill, and he 

 was more or less of an invalid during the whole of the voyage. 

 From the occasional references to headaches and other symptoms, 

 a layman would conjecture that he had got a " touch of the sun " 

 at Lima. At all events, he was frequently too ill to take his proper 

 place of command and was under the necessity of leaving to sub- 

 ordinates many decisions which were among his own obvious 

 duties. The narrative (written, it must be remembered, by a 

 faithful admirer) naively shows him to have been by turn querulous, 

 weak, timid and vacillating, although ever honestly and even 

 zealously solicitous for the glory of his God and the advantage of 

 his King. His sentiments, as reported by Bermudez, were humane, 

 honourable and far ahead of his time, and I do not think they were 

 cant, such as flowed readily enough from the pens of some previous 

 and contemporary navigators. His shortcomings may charitably, 

 and I think justly, be set down as symptoms of his malady. 



The too early abandonment of the initial WSW. course was 

 unfortunate for Quiros, who, had he persevered, would probably 

 have anticipated Tasman's discovery of New Zealand. Torres 

 protested against it and endeavoured to induce Quiros to carry out 

 his original intention of touching 30 S. before " diminishing his 

 latitude," but to no purpose. 



