28 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



Finally, we have to note the expedition which obtained the richest results, it is 

 true, but which is for our present subject of least interest: Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, 

 in 1542 — 3, followed the American coast as far as Poinb Arena, in 39° N.; and after he 

 had died in the conrse of the voyage, his pilot Bartolomé Ferrelo possibly got 3 7 2 degrees 

 of latitude further north. Neither of them saw any other island except those lying quite 

 close to the coast. 



Having, in our account of the history of the exploration of the Pacific Ocean, so far 

 sought in vain for any trace of knowlcdge of the Hawaiian Islands, we now come to the 

 person who is nowadays generally pointed out as their first discoverer, Juan Gaétano 

 or Gaytan. 



This man belonged to the crews on the squadron of six ships which, under the com- 

 mand of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, sailed away in 1542 from Mexico to take possession 

 of the islands in the west (Islas de Poniente) which in the course of this expedition are 

 first spöken of under the name which they have since retained, the Philippines. Juan 

 Gaytan, however, had no very high command in the fleet: he was not the captain of any 

 of the ships; nor is he mentioned amongst the pilots who, before the start, bound them- 

 selves by oath to perform their duties; 1 nor is he mentioned in any other account of the 

 voyage except his own, but we find his name, Juan Gaytan, in the list of 144 Spaniards 

 who were still alive in 1546, when Villalobos' people, after the total loss of the expedition, 

 were sent home by the Portuguese from the Moluccas. 2 If, therefore, the Hawaiian 

 Islands were really discovered in 1542, there is at least no justification whatever for 

 tacking the discovery to the name of a person who, amongst the 370 participators in the 

 voyage, held no higher position than perhaps the subordinate one of a "maestre" or 

 "contramaestre". 3 



When La Pérouse put forward the hypothesis of the Spanish discoverer of 

 Hawaii, he had not access to any other account of Villalobos' expedition than that which 

 was published under the name of Juan Gaetano in Italian in Ramusio's well-known 

 collection of voyages. 4 La Pérouse summarized and commented on this account in the 

 following fashion: — 



poiDt of separation from the vessel that was sent home. Facsimiles of this map are given in Nordenskiöld, 

 Periplus, Fig. 89, and in Justin Winsor, History of America, Vol. II, Lond. 1886, p. 441. 



1 Gol. de docum. ined., Ser. 2, T. II, p. 54. 



2 Col. de docum. ined., V, p. 208. 



3 The holders of these positions also took the oath mentioned above, although, unlike the pilots, they 

 are not mentioned by name. 



4 Delle Navigationi et viaggi raccolte de M. Gio. Battista Ramusio, Vol. I, Venezia 1550, fol. 375 v°. 

 — This vvork is cited in note 39 to La Pérouse's instructions, but it is clearly not directly from Ramusio that 

 La Pérouse derives his knowledge of Gaetano, but from the abridged suinmary of his voyage that can be seen 

 in Histoirc générale des voyages, par 1'abbé Prévost, T. XVII, Amst. 1761, p. 458. This surmise is confirmed 

 by the fact that this last-named work is included in the list of the books that La Pérouse took with him 

 (Voyage autour du Monde, I, p. 250). Although iu this list there also occurs the work of President de 

 Brosses, La Pérouse seems to have overlooked the somewhat rnore detailed account of Gaetano's voyage that is 

 found there (see Histoire des navigations aux Terres Australes, T. I, Paris 1756, p. 169). The longitude- 

 figures that de Brosses includes in the account are not to be found in the original, but are of his own con- 

 coction. 



