138 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



They sailed, then, for Mexico on a North-East course. 

 They passed the Marshall Group, where they found a 

 chisel made from an iron nail, a curious relic of some 

 untold story of Spanish shipwreck. They met with 

 tremendous storms, and were in the extremity of suffering 

 and peril, for their ships were built for the easy sailing 

 of the Peruvian coast. The men talked of mutiny, and 

 of sailing for the Philippines ; and Mendana with difficulty 

 dissuaded them from a plan which, at that season of the 

 year, meant inevitable disaster. At length, on December 

 iQth, after a voyage of four months, they saw the 

 coast of California. In a Mexican harbour they were 

 amazed to find that their arrival caused dismay, " for 

 it had not been certified that we were not Lutherans " 

 a strange saying, which was explained when, in another 

 harbour, the people fled away believing that they were 

 " the strange Scottish people " who, under John Hawkins, 

 had troubled them two years before. Finally, in July 

 1569, they returned to Callao, all that were left of 

 them, one hundred of the one hundred and fifty who had 

 sailed. 



In Spain the voyage was regarded as a failure. The 

 official report declared that the islands, that had been 

 discovered, were of " little importance. They found no 

 specimens of spices, nor of gold and silver, nor of mer- 

 chandise, nor of any other source of profit, and all the 

 people were naked savages." The discovery, however, 

 did not seem wholly without value. ; ' The advantages 

 that might be derived from exploring these islands would 

 be to make slaves of the people, and to found a settle- 

 ment in some part of one of them, where provisions could 

 be collected for the discovery of the mainland, where it 

 is reported there is gold and silver and people clothed." 

 The islands, that is, might be useful as a base for 

 voyages in search of the continent that must be near 

 at hand. There was still a chance that Spaniards might 

 discover Eastern Australia. 



And yet, in spite of the official statement that there 

 was no evidence of gold in the newly discovered islands, 



