KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 57. N:0 4. 135 



to be supposed that he would have kept silence about any real land-discovery of any im- 

 port ance for navigation. 



There reniains to be mentioned a work that can be regarded as the most important 

 of all, inasmuch as it constitutes what was for its time a complete handbook to 

 navigation, especially intended for navigation on the Pacific Ocean. We here mean the 

 work of Joseph Gonzalez Cabrera Bueno. 1 



The author, who would seem to have begun his career as a practical seaman as earlv 

 as 1701, 2 has already appeared as Piloto Mayor on the "San Cristobal" in the year 

 1731, and on the "Nuestra Seiiora de Cobadonga" in 1733. As his work is dedicated to 

 the Governor Fernakdo de Valdes y Tamon, and is provided with a special recom- 

 mendation by the General Geronimo Montero, it may well be regarded as official; at 

 any råte the position of the author is a guarantee that it contains everything that it 

 was thought necessary for the pilots of the galleons to know in his time. 



We pass över the contents of the work as regards the elements of navigation, its 

 mathematical and astronomical bases, and the nautical instruments, in order to dwell upon 

 the fifth division of the book, "en que se träta de varias Derrotas, el modo de medir Tierras, 

 y otros Tratados curiosos". Although it does not contain anything which is essentially 

 new, yet, for the sake of completeness, we wish here to reproduce what is said about the 

 voyage from the Embocadero to Acapulco and from there back to the Mariannes. 



After having passed San Bernardino, which is the first meridian and which lies in 12° 45' lat., 

 you must steer EV 4 NE., for about 50 leagues. Then you must go ENE. in order to make for the 

 Mariannes. In case you have got a wind suitable for keeping such a course, you must try to sight 

 the volcanoes between which the passage is broadest. If you succeed in this, you will find yourself 

 in 20° 30' lat., and 22° long., with due regard to the variation of the compass, which in this meridian 

 is from 7 to 8 degrees East. And whether you sight the islands or do not sight them, you should steer 

 to the north when you encounter the wind which is called the brisa. During this part of the voj-age 

 you will find the winds variable and favourable in the higher latitudes, and in the event of your pursuing 

 your voyage from the above mentioned position, you must set your course NE7 4 N. to 31° lat., and 28° 

 30' long. From this position you must steer ENE. until you find yourself in 36° or 37° lat., 3 and 40° 

 long., wherein you must notice the variation, which will be from 9 to 10 degrees. From this last-named 

 position you must steer E. until you find yourself in 64° long., on which meridian you will notice a 

 variation of 14 degrees, which is the highest that has been observed in recent times. From here the 

 variation begins to diminish until you are in the latitude of Cape Mendocino, which hes in 94° long. : 

 in this position you will find 5 to 6 degrees of variation. If you succeed in making this observation 

 exactly, you will undoubtedly discover the senas, which consist of various bulbs or heads like onions 

 in Europé with green and red stalks, 3 or 4 fathoms long; and here the water will be turbid and dirty. 

 When you are sure of this observation, you must steer SE. to 35° lat., and continue thence, out of sight 

 of land, in the same direction. With this course you will come into sight of Isla de Cenizas or Isla de 

 Cerros, which stånd in the direction NW. — SE. to one another, the former being situated in 30° lat., 

 the latter in 28° 45 ! . 



1 The full title of this work is "Navegacion especulativa y pratica con la explicacion de algunos 

 instrumentos, qve estan mas en vso en los Navegautes, con las Reglas necesarias para su verdadera uso; Tablå 

 de las declinaciones del Sol, computadas al Meridiano de San Bernardino . . . Compuesta por el Almirante D. 

 Joseph Gonzalez Cabrera Bueno, Piloto Mayor de la Carrera de Philipinas, y Natural de la Isla de Tenerife 

 vna de las Canarias . . . Imprensa en Manila . . . Ano de 1734." 



2 Navakrete, Bibi. Maritima, II, p. 76. 



a Concerning this latitude, ef. p. 106 above. 



