CHAPTER VII. 



Tlie Voyages of the Spanish Galleons (Inring the First Half 

 of the Eighteenth Century. 



Concerning the voyages of the galleons during the seventeenth century, recorded 

 in the preceding chapter, the same c an be said as about their voyages during the 

 sixteenth century, that is to say, that the narratives preserved do not yield any positive 

 evidence that the Hawaiian Islands remained unknown to the Spaniards, but that the 

 lack of every hint of their existence nevertheless makes it highly probable that they 

 were never seen. 



To this could be added yet another indirect piece of evidence that the Spaniards 

 were unacquainted with the islands the history of whose discovery we have under- 

 taken to make clear. If they had only been seen in the distance, one can imagine the 

 possibility that the discovery was not considered deserving of mention amongst the other 

 notices of the voyages across the ocean; but if, as is commonly supposed, the Spaniards 

 saw the islands at close quarters, and still more if they set f oot on them, then the numer- 

 ous population would certainly have attracted their attention. It is generally known 

 that missionary zeal formed an important part of the interest of the Spaniards and the 

 Portuguese in the exploring of foreign lands. In the preceding chapters we have seen 

 evidences of this — not to speak of the missionary work in Japan — in the energy with 

 wich the Spaniards proceeded to the christianization of the heathen Ladrones ; and in 

 the following century we shall meet with the same phenomenon after a new field was 

 opened for the religious propaganda on the Caroline Islands. Is it conceivable then that, 

 if the Spaniards had come into any sort of contact with the people of Hawaii, who were 

 not inconsiderably higher in civilization than the savage natives of the Ladrones and 

 Carolines, nötning would have been done in any way for the conversion of that people and 

 given rise to plans and enterprises whereby both spiritual and temporal interests would 

 have been promoted to so high a degree? That the narratives observe complete silence 

 on this point is so much the more striking because, to a very considerable extent, they 

 come from the records of priests and monks, who gave so many evidences of thé intensity 

 of their religious interests, and even of a f anaticism that regarded martyrdom as the highest 

 reward of their efforts. 



