62 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



Mexico and the Philippines in both directions, and he was fully conscious of the signi- 

 ficance of this route in both political and commercial respects. To what he has to 

 say on these subjects, theref ore, we must attach special importance ; and as his account 

 of the navigation of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean is the most complete that 

 we have from these early times, we will here repeat it in its entirety. 1 



Since I have told. . . the characteristics of the Filipinas Islands, and their customs and practices, 

 it will not be inappropriate to discuss the navigation to them, since it is made thither from Nueva 

 Espaha; the return voyage, which is not short, or without great dangers and hardships.; and that 

 made in the eastern direction. 



When the islands were conquered in the year of 1564, the Spanish fleet sailed under command 

 of the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, from Puerto de la Navidad situated in the South Sea, 

 on the coast of Nueva Espaha, in the province and district of Xalisco and Galicia, where resides the 

 Royal Audiencia of Guadalajara. A few låter voyages were made also from the same port, until the 

 point for sending of these vessels was removed, for better and greater convenience, to the port of Aca- 

 pulco, located farther south on the same coast, in 16 1 / 2 degrees of latitude; it is 80 leagues from Mexico, 

 and in its district. It is an excellent port, sheltered from all weather; and has a good entrance and 

 good anchorages. Its vichnty is advantageous, being better provisioned and more populous than that 

 of La Navidad. There a large Spanish colony has been established, with its alcalde-mayor, and royal 

 officials who have charge of his Majesty's treasury; and these attend to the despatch of the vessels. 



The vessels that sail to the Filipinas, as they are despatched annually on his Majesty's account, 

 must necessarly leave in the certain season of the brisas, which begin in the month of November and 

 last until the end of March. This navigation should not be made at any other season, for from June 

 the vendavals 2 blow, and they are contrary to the voyage. 



As a rule, these ships sail and are despatched at the end of February, or at the latest by the 

 20th of March. They sail west toward the islands of Las Velas, otherwise called the Ladrones. The 

 island of Guan, one of them, hes in 13 degrees of latitude. Inasmuch as the vessels on leaving Aca- 

 pulco are wont sometimes to encounter calms, they sail south from 16 1 j„ degrees, in which the port is 

 situated, until they strike the brisas, which is generally at 10 or 11 degrees. By this route they sail 

 continually before the wind, and without changing the sails, with fresh and fair brisas, and in other 

 moderate weather, for 1800 leguas, without sighting any mainland or island. Then leaving to the south 

 the Barbados and other islands, and advancing gradually to a latitude of 13 degrees, they sail until 

 they sight the island of Guan; and above it, in 14 degrees, that of La Carpana. This voyage to those 

 Ladrones Islands generally lasts seventy days. 



The natives of those islands, who go naked, and are a very robust and barbarous race, go out to 

 sea to meet the ships as soon as they descry them, at a distance of four to six leguas, with many 

 vessels; these are one-masted, and are very slender and light. These vessels have a counterpoise of 

 bamboo to leeward, and their sails are made of palm-leaves and are lateen-sails. Two or three men go 

 in each one with öars and paddles. They carry loads of flying-fish, dorados, cocoa-nuts, bananas, 

 sweet potatoes, bamboos full of water, and certain mats; and when they reach the ships, they trade 

 these for iron from the hoops of casks, and bundles of nails, which they use in their industries, and 

 in the building of their ships. Since some Spaniards and religious have lived among them, because of 

 Spanish ships being wrecked or obliged to take refuge there, they come more freely to our ships and 

 enter them. 



1 I here use the translation given by Messrs. Alfonso de Salvio, Norman F. Hall, and James Alexander 

 Robertson in The Philippine Islands 1493—1898, Vol. XVI, 1904, pp. 199—206. This translation follows the 

 original more closely than that made by Henry E. J. Stanley in the edition of Morga's work produced by the 

 Hakluyt Society. In essentials the two editions are in complete agreement. 



2 The Spaniards called the north-east trade-wind "las brisas'' and the south-west monsoon "los 

 vendavales". 



