DISCOVERY OF THE SOLOMONS 133 



islands, and of a terra firma" (i.e. continent), and to form 

 a settlement. A new province was to be added to the 

 Empire of Christ and of Spain. 



Callao is in about 12 S. Lat., and had they sailed due 

 West, and sailed far enough, they would have hit the 

 East coast of Australia near Cape York. Sarmiento's 

 advice was 'that they should sail W.S.W. to 23, and 

 thence apparently set a Westward course, that would have 

 brought them to Rockhampton in Queensland^ He 

 declared that it had been intended that Mendafia should 

 direct the navigation on the advice of a council consisting 

 of the Pilots and himself as Cosmographer. On the 

 other hand Gallego claimed that the direction of naviga- 

 tion belonged to him as " Pilot " ; and, to the hot indig- 

 nation of Sarmiento, Mendafia acted by the advice, not 

 of the Cosmographer, but of the Pilot. Now Gallego 

 had been told that the " rich islands " were in 15 S. Lat., 

 six hundred leagues from Peru. He steered South- 

 West, and sailed down to I5f S. Lat. Then, in spite 

 of fierce protest from Sarmiento, he refused to sail further 

 on this track, and turned due West, thus "missing the "Missing the 

 discovery," writes Sarmiento. Westward he sailed " 620 ' 

 leagues, rather more than less " so things seemed to 

 him and then, seeing no sign of land, he steered West 

 quarter-North, and thereby lost his chance of discovering 

 the Eastern coast of Australia. Had he continued on the 

 Westward course he would have arrived at Cooktown 

 two hundred years before Cook. 



Still the days passed. No land was seen nor sign of land, 

 and the pilots told Gallego that he was the only one whose 

 zeal had not flagged. He told them "that they need not 

 be disheartened, for that, with the favour of God, they should 

 see land by the end of January, whereupon they all held 

 their peace and said nothing." Apparently he was aiming 

 at New Guinea. On the I5th of January they passed 

 an island in the Ellice Group, which they named the 

 Island of Jesus. But Gallego feared the " great currents," 

 and would not allow his weary and angry men to land, 

 assuring them it was a tiny island, and that he would 



