]20 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAHAN ISLANDS. 



its supposed position. 1 For 17 November the diary contains this: "37° 2'N. lat., 51° 46' 

 long.; at noon we had "the Dubious Bank" (el bajo en duda) 21 leagues to SE.; and the 

 course we now keep, according to my reckording, will take us quite near to leeward of 

 this bank, and we shall have it on the port side; but our Piloto Mayor said that we shonld 

 have it to starboard." The allusion here is undoubtedly to the bank which one of the charts 

 discussed below (the Stockholm chart) places in these regions with the name Roncador 

 (properly "the Snorer"). Another reference to the chart we might perhaps find in the 

 entry for 23 November, where the pilot, after he had sailed about 3 7» degrees further 

 towards the east, and in 31° 30' N. lat. observed a flock of land-birds (patos silvestres), 

 says that he is convinced "that there must be some island during this long passage 

 nearer than those which, according to the opinion of many, lie to the north or the south 

 of the latitude in which the galleons generally pass". In great detail there is related, 

 both before and after the date last named, the daily appearance of birds and fishes and 

 also other phenomena, such as thundery weather, rainbows, sea-blubber (agua mala), 

 etc. Of greater interest than all this and the pilots speculations över it, is his entry for 

 4 December, when, being in 35° 5' N. lat., and 70° 2' long., he said that he had reached 

 the island Doha Maria Lajara and was due north thereof. "They say", it is added, 

 "that this island received its name from a lady, a governor's consort, who died and was 

 buried at sea in this region. On a chart by Don Manuel de los Santos this Isla de Doha 

 Maria Lajara lies in 76° long., which shows a very considerable difference from my chart, 

 but on the other hand a very close agreement with the chief pilot's, in that the difference 

 does not amount to more than half a degree; it is said, however, that no one has ever seen 

 any such island, although it seems indisputable that there is land to the south of this 

 parallel, to judge by the signs of land that are to be seen there." In this case the signs of 

 land were perhaps not altogether fallacious. If the pilot really was in 76° E. of Cape 

 Espiritu Santo, i. e. about 159° W. from Greenwich, and if he had there laid the rudder due 

 south, he would have reached the Hawaiian Islands — and the discovery of these islands 

 by the Spaniards would have become an indisputable fact. 



It was not until 5 January 1733 that the first senas were seen, in 36° 10' N. lat., 

 and 91° 45' long.; on 11 January the island of Guadalupe was sighted (29° 36' N. lat.); 

 and on 24 January they were so near Cape San Lucas that they could see people on the 

 beach. They followed the shore within gunshot, and in the evening put in at a bay near 

 the southernmost point of California. Here they were met by boats, which brought 

 water and a letter from a Jesuit Father, in which he ga ve an account of the supplies that 

 the place afforded and offered to receive the sick under pledge that, as soon as they were 

 well, he would convey them in his own boat to Acapulco. But no answer was given to this 

 invitation: though in great need of everything, they went on theirway with the lightland- 

 wind in order to make the islands Las tres 31 arias. These islands came in sight on 29 January ; 

 on 2 February the boat that had been sent to Navidad with letters returned bringing 

 water and other refreshments; on 13 February the sick and some passengers were landed 



1 When this observation was made, on 31 October, their position was NW. from Rica de Platå, in 

 34° 30' lat., and 37° 51' long. Compare with this the statement as to the position of the island in the pilofs 

 deklaration cited above p. 78. 



