CHAPTER II. 



Examination of the Hypothesis of the Spanish Discovery. The older 



Voyages in the Pacific Ocean. 



After having thus given an account, as complete as I have been able to make it, 

 of everything that lias been said, from the standpoint of history, concerning the Spanish 

 discovery of Hawaii, I wish to pass to an examination of these views. In this con- 

 nection it may be premised that there is no cause for surprise that such a view came to 

 be held at the time when La Pérouse first put forward the hypothesis in question and it 

 was afterwards confirmed by Fleurieu, Humboldt, and Burney. On the contrary, this 

 hypothesis seems to have quite naturally flowed from the sources which were then avail- 

 able. But it seems peculiar that, so far as I know, none of those who låter, right up to 

 our own days, have occupied themselves with the question have sought to make full use 

 of the historical and cartographical information which since then has been brought for- 

 ward in no small quantity. 



In forming an opinion on the question of the probability that Spanish ships in early 

 times came upon the Hawaiian Islands, the climatic conditions of the Pacific Ocean 

 north of the Equator are of fundamental importance. 



These islands lie within the region of the north-east trade-winds. During six months 

 of the year, from May to October, this wind blows practically without cessation; but even 

 during a great part of the rest of the year the north-east trade prevails: the average for 

 fifteen years shows 258 trade-wind days yearly. Further to the south, about 15° N. lat., 

 the trade-wind is constant throughout the year within a belt that extends from near the 

 west coast of America to about the Marianne Islands; west of these we find a region with 

 variable winds, where violent hurricanes are by no means rare. The prevailing ocean- 

 currents are in general accordance with the above air-currents: the North Equatorial 

 Current, which about 10° N. lat. sweeps round the northernmost of the Marshall Islands 

 and the Carolines, reaches, at its northern limit, as far as Hawaii; in the neighbourhood 

 of this archipelago the current sets mainly towards the west, with a direction and 



