134 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



Even if any storm should break out here, it is well known, to those who have sailed on this route, how 

 different such storms are in different latitudes. In order to show this, one need only call to mind the 

 many cases that have occurred of ships that have started together but become separated at sea: of 

 these, those that have gone up to higher latitudes have suffered most from bad weather, while those that 

 have kept to a lower latitude have been more favoured by fortune. But as the circumstances have 

 varied a great deal, I do not wish to tell them in detail; but I will return to our ships. If, as they 

 continue their voyage, they gradually increase their latitude at the beginning of October and set their 

 course in accordance with the winds, they can have a well-f ounded hope of avoiding the distresses of 

 higher latitudes and the winter cold that there prevails. In full enjoyment of the advantages offered 

 by the weather, they sail in about 30 degrees without variations of climate: as they remain about the 

 same parallel, they find the air mild and the sea warm, and, protected fromillness, they joyfully hail 

 the senas with full certainty in 35 degrees. They approach the coast in the middle of November, 

 during the most temperate part of the year, because the sun's remoteness, on more than 45 degrees 

 to the south, alleviates the heat. With the pleasant north-west winds, they sail on gladly, and in 

 the middle of December they dröp anchor in the harbour of Acapulco, with gratitude to God and with 

 plenty of ti me to take on board the situado and to transact all necessary business for the retur n-journey. 

 This they can begin during the first days of March, that is during the ti me when the brisas blow most 

 freshly. The voyage goes smoothly; af ter some few days they probably encounter the trade- wind 

 without needing to lower the latitude to more than 13 degrees; as they keep to this latitude, they have 

 sailed more than 500 leagues from land before the sun reaches them and attains the zenith, and they 

 do not suffer in any way from this state of tliings. With this course also they avoid shoals, if only 

 they beware of the banks Manuel Rodriguez and Villalobos, of los Barbudos, and the island of San 

 Bartolomé, the Thirty-six Islands, and some others which are called las Bobas, where not many years 

 ago one of our ships very nearly came to grief ; and also other inconveniences to which those who do 

 not sail in this latitude are exposed. And it cannot be said that all this is excessive caution, or that 

 anything can safely be neglected when it is a question of remedies in such important matters. One 

 hundred leagues before they reach the Ladrones, the course and the latitude can be changed in order, 

 as the instructions do direct, to pass through la Bocana [the strait between Guam and Rota] or to call 

 at any of the islands in accordance with orders. From here the voyage is continued with a view to 

 make the Embocadero de San Bernardino, which may come into sight at the beginning of June, when 

 the adverse vendaval has spread itself in order to collect its forces for the first attack. Unhindered 

 by this, they find the entrance free, and pass through it with a favourable wind, so that, after six or 

 eight days continuous sailing, they can come to anchor at this port. Things have gone like this with 

 many who have found themselves in the entrance of Mariveles and in this bay without being able to 

 say how they got there; but I shah 1 not talk about that as it is now morning, and people can already 

 be seen on the shore. 



I will end by saying that I have never seen or heard of any slup that sailed early from this port 

 to New Spain being löst in their return-journey: on the contrary, those who have chosen for their 

 departure months that imply a safe voyage have certainly done what is best in his Majesty's service. 



We have here clescriptions of both a disadvantageous and an advantageous course 

 (according to the seasons of the year); but neither of them could have led the navigatör 

 to the Hawaiian Islands. Nor is any land with the position of those islands mentioned 

 amongst the dangers which should be avoided, still less as an intermediate station on the 

 voyages, whose difficulties are so vividly described. It might be objected perhaps that 

 neither does the author speak of Rica de Oro, Rica de Platå, and Dona Maria Lajara; 

 but this merely shows that he did not share the belief of the pilots in the existence of those 

 islands. Starting from the practical experience which he so strongly emphasizes, it is not 



