20 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



duties, the speed decreased, with considerably delay to our voyage; scarcely by noon of the 20th 

 could we consider ourselves to be at 72°, in the meridian of Owhyhee, about 55° longitude and 13° 

 latitude; nevertheless we had not, according to our calculation, an error of less than 7° to the east- 

 ward, wliich, considering the long logline we made use of, and that that error ought not necessarhy 

 to be the maximum to which it should be circumscribed on the voyage, strongly supported the suspi- 

 cion that the Sandwich Islands of Captain Cook were Los Monges and Olloa of the Spanish charts, 

 discovered by Juan de Gaytan in 1555, and situated about 10° to the eastward of the new position fixed 

 upon by the English". 1 



We thus see that the presumptive or circumstantial evidence as to the true discoverer of the 

 Sandwich Islands is indubitable; having on its side the opinions of distinguished men, among whom 

 figure countrymen of Cook himself, men who prefer justice and reason to a vain national pride. The 

 last observation to be considered is the difference in the dates given to the first discovery. Foreign 

 authors say that it took place in 1542, in the expedition commanded by General Rui Lopez de Villa - 

 lobos; while the Spanish chronicles denote 1555. The latter date should be the more correct one, for 

 Juan Gaytan wrote the narrative of the voyage of 1542, and mentions nothing respecting those is- 

 lands, while he gives an account of Rocca Partida (Split Rock), and Anublada (Cloudy Island), and 

 of all those he discovered on that expedition. To complete and términate, therefore, these investi- 

 gations, there is only wanting the narrative of Gaytan corresponding to the voyage in which he made 

 that discovery; though in my opinion it is not required to make clear the truth of this fact. 



We shall låter see the real nature of the evidence which the Spanish author adduces. 

 Here we need only mention that the statement about the year 1555 rests solely on a map 

 whose author is unknown and whose origin cannot be traced farther than the end of 

 the eighteenth century, and on a note in a log-book kept during a voyage from Acapulco 

 to Manila, which obviously has no other meaning except as evidence that a Spanish officer, 

 five years after La Pérouse and possibly independent of him,- had reason to doubt the 

 originality of Cook's discovery: concerning the Spanish discovery and the time when 

 it was made, of course, his opinion is quite devoid of authority. 



None the less we find in authors of our day the discovery associated with the name 

 of Gaytan, and the year 1555 spöken of in terms which seem to indicate that the state- 

 ment is regarded as the latest result of scientific investigation in this much debated 

 question. 3 



1 This quotation is partly meaningless. In the original Spanish it runs as follows: "Apenas para el 

 medio dia del 20, pudimos considerarnos en meridianos de Owihée por 55° de longitud y 13° de latitud, y 

 sin embargo, no teniamos en nuestra estima un error menor de 7° al Este; el cual, atendiendo ä la corredera 

 larga, de la cual usamos, y å que no debia ser precisamente el måximo que pudiera contraerse en el viaje, 

 apoyaba fuertemente las sospechas de que las islas de Sandwich del capitan Cook, fueron los Monges, Ulua, etc, 

 de las cartas espanolas descubiertas por Juan de Gaytan en 1555, y situadas unos 10° mås al E. de la nueva 

 posiciön determiuada por los ingleses." (BeltrÅn y Rözpide, op. tit. p. 29 note). — The corvettes "Descubierta" 

 and "Atrevida'', commanded by Don Alexandro Malaspjna, sailed from Acapulco to Manila, December 1791 — 

 March 1792, but they did not touche at Hawaii. In neither of the printed relations of this voyage is the passage 

 cited to be found; see Diario del viage explorador de las corbetas espafiolas "Descubierta" y "Atrevida" 

 en los anos de 1789 a 1794, llevado por el teniente de navio D. Francisco Javier de Viana (Cerrito de la Vic- 

 toria 1849) and Viaje politico-cientifico alrededor del mundo por las corbetas Descubierta y Atrevida. .. publ. 

 por Don Pedro de Novo y Colson (Madrid 1885). In the latter of these works the commander Malaspina says 

 (p. 209): "el desgraciado Conde de la Péyrouse ha convencido de nuevo que aquel Archipiélago era el que en 

 1555 descubriö Juan de Gaitåu, navegante espanol, y denominö en sus diferentes Islas de Monge, Ulua etc." 



2 Cf. Malaspina's expression in the preceding note. 



3 See for instance Brigham, l. c, p. 75; Lord Amherst of Hackney in the Introduction to The Discovery 

 of the Solomon Islands, Vol. I, Lond., Hakluyt Soc. 1901, p. iij. 



