74 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



examination of the practicability of the proposal, for the Governor, Alonso Fajardo de 

 Tejstca, in a letter to the King (dated Manila, 10 December 1621 ), states that he liad looked 

 througli a memorial of the pilot Gaspar Conquero, "which treats of the exploring of 

 the island of Oro", and adds that, "as soon as he [Conquero] makes this port, or there is 

 any other person suitable for conducting this exploration, and to be given the island as an 

 encomienda [feud], I shall do as your Majesty orders". 1 But we do not know that this 

 led to any consequences. 



The plans of discovery given up by the Spaniards were taken up by other nations, 

 first by the Japanese. The English commercial agent Richard Cocks states that, 

 during his stay at the imperial court, the Japanese Admiral had taken great pains 

 to induce William Adams, who played such an important part in the establishment of 

 Dutch and English trade connections with Japan, to be pilot in an expedition towards 

 the north to take possession of certain islands which were said to be rich in gold. As 

 Cocks fancied that the English were suspected of similar plans, he was anxious to give 

 an opposite impression and tried to persuade the Admiral that it would be better to induce 

 the Emperor to undertake the conquest of the Philippines in order to drive the Spaniards 

 from those islands, whose nearness constituted a danger for Japan. 2 Neither proposal, 

 so far as I know, led to any result. 



The matter aroused more serious attention with the Dutch. One of their trade- 

 agents, Willem Verstegen, had picked up in Japan confused reports of the Gold and 

 Silver Islands and of the attempts of the Spaniards to look for them. On 7 December 

 1635, he put together a detailed account of these, 3 which he sent to the Governor-General 

 of Batavia with the intention of prevailing upon him to work for the discovery that the 

 Spaniards had missed. In the report of Verstegen two Spanish voyages are mentioned: 

 in the former, which had taken place "a very long time ago", a wind-driven vessel had 

 come across a large and hilly island, inhabited by a friendly, white, well-shaped, and 

 well-dressed people, and where gold and silver could be gathered on the shore — even 

 the cauldrons and other cooking utensils had been made of the same metals — ; the second 

 expedition, which had been under the command of "General Jan Bastiaen Busquaine", 

 had, in consequence of unintelligent leadership, failed in its actual search for the island, 

 but had nevertheless in its voyage back to Mexico with a Japanese ship, come in sight of 

 it. Evidently we have here a re-echo both of Aguirre's narrative of the Portuguese captain's 

 voyage, with romantic additions, and also of Vizcaino's exploring expedition, with the 

 incorrect statement that the land sought for had really been observed. The position of 

 the island is stated by Verstegen as 37 7 2 ° lat., about 400 [Spanish] miles east of Japan; 

 and he adds that it had several times been seen by the Spanish galleons both on the 

 voyage ont and the voyage back between Manila and New Spain, although the captains, 

 in accordance with their instructions, had neglected to visit it. 



1 Bl. & Rob. XX, p. 133. 



2 Biary of Richard Cocks 1615— 22, ed. by E. M. Thompson, Vol. II, London, Hakluvt Soc. 1883. 

 p. 283. 



:i Printed in Jicize van M. G. Vries uitg. door P. A. Leupe, Amst. 1858, pp. 35 — 40. 



