250 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 



natives could not thus be pacified. Broken-hearted and overcome 

 by disease, Mendana sickened and died ; and the heavens themselves 

 must have seemed to the superstitious Spaniards to have frowned 

 on their design, for a total eclipse of the moon preceded by a few 

 hours the death of their commander. The brother of Donna Isabel 

 had been selected by Mendana as his successor ; but a fortnight 

 afterwards he died from a wound received in an affray with the 

 natives. It was at length resolved to abandon the enterprise ; and 

 rather over two montlis after they had first sighted the island, the 

 survivors of the expedition re-embarked for Manilla. Hoping to 

 learn something of the missing ship before finally steering north- 

 ward, the}' directed their course westward until they should reach 

 the parallel of 11° of south latitude, when they expected to arrive 

 at St. Christoval whither the " Almiranta" might have gone. The 

 course^ which they steered under the guidance of Quiros, the. pilot, 

 must have soon brought them on this parallel ; and they appear to 

 have followed it with a favourable wind until the second day,^ when 

 seeing no signs of land, they were urged by the increasing sickness 

 and by the scarcity of water and provisions to give up the search, 

 and to this change of plans Quiros gave his consent. In a few hours, 

 if they had continued their course, the mountain-tops of St Christ- 

 oval would have appeared above the horizon and the " Isles of 

 Salomon " would have been found. But sucli was not to be ; and 

 when probably not more than fifty miles from the original destination 

 of the expedition, the ships were headed N.N.W. for Manilla. Such 

 a course must have brought the Spanish vessels yet closer to the 

 eastern extremity of the group ; but the night fell, and on the 

 followino- morninsf the Solomon Islands were well below the western 

 horizon. Of the three ships, two only reached the Philippines. 

 The "Fragata" lost the company of the other ships and " never more 

 appeared." It was subsequently reported that she had been found 

 driven ashore with all her sails set and all her people dead and 

 rotten.^ 



Thus terminated tlie attempt of the Spaniards to found a colony 

 in the Solomon Islands ; and the ill fate which it experienced was 

 scarcely calculated to encourage others to undertake a similar 



^ The course is differently given, by Quiros as W. by S. and by Figueroa as W.S.W. 

 (Dalrymple's Historical Collection : vol. I., 92.) 



2 Figueroa implies the second day ; whilst Quiros speaks of " two days." 



3 Dalrymple's Historical Collection of Voyages : vol. I., 58. 



