The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea

island of San Christobal, in the Solomon Group; and from thence to make another attempt to discover the Great Southern Continent, the Java Maio

mposed of three large

nd chief pilot; the other officers were Lope

ith them, and amongst these were: Da. Isabel de Barreto, Menda

Cruz

Marquesas, and a few smaller islands, they sighted land on September the 7th,

island was seen a most remarkable volcano in full eruption.* The frigate was ordered to sai

no, in eruption a

lcano, from

of the Islands at the Sou

eliers' Map

' Map of

Islands at the South-

Lawrence (Orangerie

lanza (Modern Triton

assed to the north, but the hopes

hing for a port, and was rejoined there by the frigate, whi

where the ships anchored in sm

s was found in proximity to the anchorage. Here an attempt at colonisation was made, but what with the hostility of the natives, sickness, and a mutinous spirit, the young colony did not progress favorably. To make matters worse, Mendana himself fell ill and died, and the grand s

OF THE SOLO

n and Mendana's vague notions about them led historians

ing their natural trend it is true, but the position is from the locality of New Caledonia and New Zealand, right across the Pacific Ocean to the south o

must bear in mind that the accounts of Mendana's expedition were only known from a few extracts, the actual narratives being lost at the time these charts were draughted. Now that some of those narratives have been found, it is easy to identify the present day Solomon Islands with th

Map of the So

tion; it is the earliest one that I have been able to procure, t

Estrella, is marked by No. 1. The second anchorage, on the coast of Guadalcanal, marked No. 2, was named Puerto de la

nd, however, and corresponds therefore with San Christobal, where the third and las

t of the cartographer, for, according to the narrative, it lies at many days' sail from the first land sight

ulata for Malaita. Malaita, however, is a mistake of the Spaniards, for the nati

ake alluded to o

sition of New Britain and New Ireland. This was owing to the belief on the part of the Spaniards, that they had reached the region where their predecessors, Saavedra, Retez and Gaspar Rico, had mad

oz's