JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 195 



The Governor, Lope Garcia de Castro, gave orders for the equip- 

 ment of two ships of the fleet for the discovery of certain islands 

 and a continent (tierra iirme) concerning which His Catholic Majesty 

 D. Philip II. had summoned a number of persons versed in mathe- 

 matics in order to deliberate on the plan to be followed. After 

 selectincr the vessels, he nominated as Generalin command of the 

 expedition his nephew, Alvaro de Mendana; as Commander of 

 the troops (maestre de campo), Pedro de Ortega Valencia ; as the 

 Royal Ensign, D Fernando Enriquez ; and lastly, as Chief-Pilot — 

 to quote the words of the journal — "myself, the said Hernando 

 Gallego." 



The number of all that embarked on this voyage, including, 

 besides the soldiers and sailors, four Franciscan friars and the 

 servants, was a hundred. The preparations were made with such 

 alacrity and willingness that the ships were fitted out with a dis- 

 patch that seemed scarcely credible; and on the 19th day of Nov., 

 1 56G,^ being Wednesda}'', the day of St. Isabel, the two ships sailed 

 from Callao, the port of the City of Kings, which is situated, as 

 Gallego remarks, in 12i° S. lat. Shaping their course to the south- 

 west, they had not to allow for the variation of the compass, since 

 the needle pointed direct to the pole ; and reference is here made in 

 the journal to the circumstance that in Spain, more particularly in 

 the city of Seville, the needle varied one point to the north-west. 

 Steering in the same southerly and wester!}^ direction until the 27th 

 of the same month, they reached the latitude of 15|^°, being by their 

 reckoning 57 leagues^ due west from the "morro de Uacaxique," 

 which was in the same latitude.^ They now shaped their course 

 M^est, following along the parallel of lo|-°, because " the Lord Presi- 

 dent had said that in the latitude of 15°, at a distance of 600 leagues 

 from Peru, there were many rich islands." With the wind "a long 

 time in the south-east," they accomplished a usual daily run of from 

 20 to 30 leagues. By the third of December, they were by their 

 reckoning in the meridian of the bay of Fego,* which is stated by 

 Gallego to be situated in 16° north of the equinoctial and 546 

 leagues due north of their position. On the 7th of the same 

 month, the Chief-Pilot recorded his observation that the needle 



1 Vide !Note II. of Geographical Appendix. 



2 Spanish leagues, 17i to a degree, all through the narrative. 



3 I have not been able to fin 1 this name in any maps or charts. 



* In the maps I have examined there is no bay of this name given. 



