Early Voyages to Terra Australis/A Memorial Addressed to his Catholic Majesty Philip the Third, King of Spain
INDICATIONS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC.
A MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY PHILIP THE THIRD, KING OF SPAIN,
BY DR. JUAN LUIS ARIAS, RESPECTING THE EXPLORATION, COLONIZATION, AND
CONVERSION OF THE SOUTHERN LAND.
SIRE,--The memorial of the Doctor Juan Luis Arias showeth: That in consideration of the great advantage which will accrue to the service of Your Majesty, to the extension of the Catholic Church, and to the increase of our holy faith, from the conversion of the gentiles of the southern land, which is the principal obligation to which Your Majesty and your crown are pledged, he now earnestly begs (great as have been his former importunities) to solicit Your Majesty's consideration to that which is here set forth. At the instance of the fathers of the Seraphic order of St. Francis, and in particular of the father Fray Juan de Silva, he has composed a treatise dedicated to his most serene highness the Infant Don Ferdinand*, from which a judgment may be formed of the temperature, productions and population of the southern hemisphere, and every other point desirable to be understood with respect to its most extensive provinces and kingdoms. He has done this with a view to its discovery, and the spiritual and evangelical conquest, and bringing in to our holy faith and Catholic religion of its numberless inhabitants, who are so long waiting for this divine and celestial benefit at the hand of Your Majesty. It is a subject upon which the father Fray Juan de Silva has bestowed the most serious attention, and for which he is most anxiously solicitous; for all his order desire to be engaged in this mighty enterprise, which is one of the greatest that the Catholic Church ever has, or ever can undertake, and the accomplishment of which it is the duty of all us her faithful sons to pray should be accelerated as much as possible. For the English and Dutch heretics, whom the devil unites for this purpose by every means in his power, most diligently continue the exploration, discovery, and colonization of the principal ports of this large part of the world in the Pacific Ocean, and sow in it the most pernicious poisons of their apostasy which they put forth with the most pressing anxiety in advance of us, who should put forth the sovereign light of the gospel. This they are now perseveringly doing in that great continent in which are the provinces of Florida, and they will afterwards proceed to do the same with New Spain, and then with New Mexico, the kingdom of Quivira, the Californias, and other most extensive provinces. For which purpose, and for other reasons connected with their machinations against our kingdom, they have already colonized Virginia. To further the same object also, they have fortified and colonized Bermuda, and continue most zealously and rapidly sowing the infernal poison of their heresy, and infecting with it the millions upon millions of excellent people who inhabit those regions. From Virginia also they are advancing most rapidly inland, with the most ardent desire to deprive the Catholic Church of the inestimable treasure of an infinite number of souls; and to found in that land an empire, in which they will at length possess much better and richer Indies than our own, and from which position they will be able to lord it absolutely over all our territories, and over all our navigation and commerce with the West Indies. This is a most grievous case for us, and most offensive to our Lord God and His Church, and this kingdom has reason to dread from so mischievous a state of things very great injuries from the hands of these enemies, and no less punishment from the divine indignation for having allowed these basilisks to locate themselves in such a position; from whence, before we of the Catholic Church arrive with the preaching of the gospel with which we are commissioned, they draw to themselves and infect with the depravity of their apostasy that countless number of gentiles which inhabit the said provinces, and which cover a greater surface of land than all Europe.
* In the collective volume in the British Museum which contains the original of the present memorial, are several memorials to the king from the Fray Juan de Silva, advocating the same cause on general religious and political grounds; but the editor has been unable to find the treatise here referred to as dedicated to the Infant Don Ferdinand, nor is any mention made of it by Nicolas Antonio or Leon Pinelo, both of whom speak of the memorials addressed to the king.]
But as the said tretise of the southern hemisphere has not yet been put into a form to be communicated, which will soon be done, I have resolved herein to relate to Your Majesty, although very briefly, some of its contents; in order, meanwhile, to afford the necessary information concerning these southern lands, whither it is proposed to set on foot so great and mighty an undertaking as the evangelical and spiritual conquest of the said hemisphere.
In order to understand the question, it must be premised that the whole globe of earth and waters is divided into two equal parts or halves by the equinoctial line. The northern hemisphere, which stretches from the equinoctual to the Arctic Pole, contains all which has been hitherto discovered and peopled in Asia, Europe and the chief part of Africa. The remaining half, or southern hemisphere, which reaches from the equinoctial to the Antarctic Pole, comprises part of what we call America, and the whole of that Austral Land, the discovery and apostolic conquest of which is now treated of. Now, if we except this southern hemisphere all that there is of Africa lying between the equinoctial line and the Cape of Good Hope, and all that there is of Peru from the parallel of the said equinoctial line, which passes near Quito, down to the straits of Magellan, and that small portion of land which lies to the south of the strait, all the rest of the firm land of the said southern hemisphere remains to be discovered. Thus of the whole globe, there is little less than one entire half which remains to be discovered, and to have the gospel preached in it; and this discovery and evangelical conquest forms the principal part of the obligation under which these kingdoms lie for the preaching of the gospel to the gentiles, in conformity with the agreement made with the Catholic Church and its head, the supreme pontiffs Alexander VI and Paul III.
Some one will say, that what has been stated is contradictory to what the Apostle understands as meant by the Psalmist with reference to the preaching of the gospel, where he says, "Their sound is gone out in every land, and their words unto the ends of the world." For the Apostle, speaking of the conversion of the gentiles, says thus: "How shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? or how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things." Then shortly after the Apostle sayeth: "But I say, 'Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." According to which it seems that it must be affirmed, either that then or now the preaching of the gospel has already had its course, and its voice gone out throughout all the world, or that the gospel was to be only preached for the most part in the northern hemisphere and in some very small part of the aforesaid lands of Africa and Peru in the southern; and that in the remainder of the world there is no population or discovered land-surface uncovered by water where there could be populations or habitations, and thus that the voice of the gospel has already run its course as far as it can, and that in the rest of the southern hemisphere there is no provision for it. To all this I reply, that these words of the Psalmist were a prophecy of the preaching of the gospel, speaking out of the past into the future, with the infallible certainty of prophecy. And although the Apostle in quoting the said passage of the Psalmist, seems to affirm that already in his time the preaching of the gospel had had its course throughout the world, it is to be understood that he speaks in the sense of the aforesaid prophecy; that the preaching of the voice of the gospel had to run, and not that it had already run throughout the whole of the globe, since his quotation of the said passage of the Psalmist was made at so early a period that the gospel was then preached only in a small part of the northern hemisphere.
The passage of the Apostle where he so speaks may be also thus understood: he could not say that the gentiles did not hear the voice or word of the gospel to their conversion, because already it has gone forth from the apostolic seminary for the conversion of all the earth; and in order that it may reach to its boundaries so that no portion of the gentiles throughout the world should remain to which it should not reach, and into which it should not penetrate. Moreover it may be understood in this sense, that he speaks of the gentiles (after the consummation of the preaching of the gospel) as placed at the divine tribunal, and as giving to understand that those who would not be converted should have no remission; and on this point the Apostle puts the following question: "Haply all have not the word of the gospel, else if they had heard it would they not have embraced it?" and that they had all heard it is a certain thing, since the sound of the gospel Voice has sounded throughout all the earth; so that in all these senses this expression of the Apostle may be understood without opposition in any way to the strictness of its genuine and literal meaning. And if anyone should say that the nearest explanation of the passage would be, that the sound of the preaching of the gospel might reach to the ends of the earth in the interval that took place between the time when the Apostles Went forth to preach the gospel, after the Redeemer had gone up to heaven, and the time when St. Paul said these words,--the answer is, that although the preaching of the gospel may have travelled far in the said interval, it did not extend over any great part even of the northern hemisphere, as is very manifest; and thus the southern hemisphere still remained, and has remained until now, without the voice of the gospel being preached or sounded in it, always excepting those parts of Africa and Peru which are comprehended therein, but which when its extent is considered, form a very small part of it. Moreover, the equinoctial line, which is, as it were, the boundary of the two hemispheres, may be understood to represent the ends of the earth, to some parts of which the preaching of the gospel might reach in the said interval. But this is not contradictory to our proposition, and if due consideration be given to the subject it will be seen, that Christ our Redeemer has pointed out to us with much clearness, that this preaching of the gospel in the southern hemisphere should take place after that in the north; for in giving charge to His Apostles, and through them to those apostolic men who should succeed them, that they should preach the gospei, it appears that He gave them to understand that that charge was principally and directly given for the northern hemisphere; for He spoke to them in this manner "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." Now although some Greek and Latin doctors have understood that by these two folds the Redeemer meant, firstly, that of the Jews, who were to be brought into the Church, and who, from the commencement of the preaching of the gospel, would continue to be converted; and, secondly, that of the gentiles which he pointed out thus distinctly because it was to be the principal fold; yet the said passage is not well explained in this manner, as time and the progress of gospel preaching have since shown; and inasmuch as it would follow from the said interpretation that, in some sense, the Redeemer had committed to the Apostles the preaching to the Jews only, and, as by original intention, reserved to Himself the preaching to the gentiles; that was not the case, since the preaching to all the principal of the gentiles of the northern hemisphere was divided among the Apostles, and, in fact, they continued carrying out the injunction. The subsequent election also of the Apostle who was the chosen vessel for preaching to the gentiles must be understood in the same manner. Thus our Lord the Redeemer made a distinction in this passage between the two principal folds which were to be brought into the pale of the Church. The first, that of the gentiles of the northern hemisphere, the immediate preaching to whom was enjoined upon the Apostles; the other, that of the southern hemisphere, whose conversion to our holy faith He appears to have reserved to Himself when He says, that they should take care to bring within the pale of the Church the sheep of the northern hemisphere, and that He would take upon Himself the charge of bringing in the others as in His own person, and it is a very certain fact that that injunction is now in course of being carried out, from the Franciscan order having gone forth and undertaken the extension of this great enterprise. For its seraphic and sovereign chief, the most glorious patriach St. Francis, possessed in his own person so express and true an image of the Redeemer, that it might very well be said that the fold of the southern hemisphere should be brought in by Him in person, it being that which that exalted patriach reserved to himself to bring in to the pale of the Church through the medium of the faithful sons of his institute and order. Thus it is seen in this passage in how great esteem the Almighty Lord held this extensive and precious fold of the southern hemisphere, which His Church hopes for; since He says that the sheep thereof, as those which are most chosen and drawn by His hand or by that of His seraphic and sovereign standard bearer, are to hear His voice with the most singular affection and devotion, receive His doctrine and faith and be most faithful to Him, continuing always most constant and firm therein; not like those of the northern hemisphere, amongst whom there has been so great a defection and apostasy, so great a number of provinces of the northern hemisphere having deserted their faith and apostatized so that the Catholic faith, in the purity in which the Apostles preached it, may be said to remain only in that little portion which is governed by the head of the Church and in these kingdoms of Spain, in which the divine providence by such great means preserves it as a chosen seminary and as a refined and pure plantation of religion, from which it should be transplanted to that southern hemisphere.
And thus the sovereign commission to preach the gospel to the said southern hemisphere appertained as of a necessity to those kingdoms, as those which the Redeemer had distinguished and preferred to the rest, in order that they should attract that hemisphere, which is to be the most enlightened of the Catholic and faithful fold of His Church. Whence it follows, that the principal compact and agreement into which these kingdoms have entered with the Church in undertaking to preach the gospel, is directed toward the preaching to the aforesaid southern hemisphere.
Some one, however, may say in opposition to the above argument that the commission which the Redeemer gave to the Apostles to preach the gospel should be understood as being general and therefore applying to both hemispheres, in accordance with what He said to them before He ascended into heaven: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." As also relates St. Matthew: "All power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The same also is written by the evangelist St. Luke. The answer to all this is, that it in no sense contradicts the distinction which has been made between the two principal folds of the gentiles which had to be taken from these two hemispheres; for in the passage quoted, Christ our Redeemer speaks in the persons of the Apostles, with all the apostolic men and preachers of the gospel who were to succeed them until the end of the world; but that which he committed to them bore immediate reference to the northern hemisphere which was that which they divided amongst themselves and where they preached, for not one of the Apostles has been understood to have passed to the southern hemisphere. The words also that the Redeemer added in the abovementioned passage: "And there shall be one fold and one shepherd", prove that He there speaks of the fold which was to be converted from the southern hemisphere; becuase, until that hemisphere be settled, the preaching of the gospel will not have been consummated, and consequently the making one fold of the two hemispheres under one shepherd cannot be verified. This the conversion and spiritual and evangelical conquest of the southern hemisphere has remained to be effected by the Apostolic men of this kingdom.
Moreover, long ago, the Divine Majesty foretold this same thing by the prophet Obadiah, who says thus "The captivity of Jerusalem which is in the Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south, and Saviours shall come up on Mount Sion to judge the Mount of Esau." And where our Vulgate puts Bosphorus the Hebrew text says Sepharat, which signifies Spain, according to the Chaldaic paraphrast and the Sederholan of the Hebrews and Rabbi Zonathas Abenuciel and many other Hebrews. And it is with much propriety that, in the place of Spain, our interpreter has put Bosphorus, for that word signifies the passage of an ox, that is to say; a strait. Now there are in the Mediterranean three straits of this name; one is called the Thracian Bosphorus, which is that of Constantinople, which is the passage from the said Mediterranean to the Black Sea; another is called the Commerian Bosphorus, which is the passage from the Black Sea to the Lake Meotis; the third is the Gaditan Bosphorus, which is the Strait of Gibraltar. When, therefore, hydrographers speak of the Bosphorus alone without addition, it is understood to mean the principal one in the Mediterranean, by which it communicates with the ocean and therefore the prophet Obadiah meant the same when he said "the captivity of Jerusalem which is in the Bosphorus," that is to say, which is in Spain. But, as has been said, our translator has with much propriety and in accordance with the intention of the prophet, given Bosphorus as the rendering for the word Sepharat; for although the transmigration of Jerusalem which was in Spain was to possess the cities of the south, its conquerors had to go forth principally from that part of Spain which is nearest to the Bosphorus, or of Gibraltar, as is seen to be the case.
The literal meaning of this prophecy therefore, is that the transmigration of Jerusalem which was in the Bosphorus, that is to say, the Spaniards who have beet-the most constant of the faithful and to whom was transmitted the perseverance of the faith of Abraham and Jacob, are to possess the cities of the south, that is to say the southern hemisphere, gaining over it a spiritual and apostolical conquest by the preaching of the gospel. And then the saviours, who are the preachers of the gospel and who bring salvation to the gentile, shall come up to Mount Sion to judge the Mount of Esau, which is as much as to say, they shall ascend to the highest climax of the sovereign virtues, from whence they shall announce to the gentiles the true knowledge of their Creator and Redeemer. And thus they shall judge them by condemning and extirpating their errors, and reducing them to the purity of our holy faith. After their conversion also, they shall judge them at the divine tribunal of the sacrament of penitence. The prophet concludes by saying: "And the kingdom shall be the Lord's." For when these Catholic kingdoms shall have drawn to the faith this southern hemisphere and shall have proclaimed and sung this glorious victory the Redeemer will have made perfect the kingdom of His Church, which now is defective in the greatest part from not having accomplished this grand object. Hence it may be gathered how great a service this will be to the Redeemer, and how blessed will be the prince of this monarchy who shall undertake and complete it. Thus it has been seen that the prophet Obadiah prophecied to the letter the conquest and spiritual possession of the southern hemisphere, through the medium of the preaching of the gospel by the Spanish nation, which has preserved in its integrity the faith of the Redeemer and of His Catholic Church.
Some have asked, as already pointed out, whether the southern hemisphere be not all water, forming, as it were, a great part of the ocean, so as to leave but little of the surface of the earth in it uncovered. The reply to this is, that, according to what we are taught by sacred writ and by philosophical reasoning, there is proportionably as great a surface of land uncovered in the southern hemisphere as in the northern. For the fiat of the Creator, that the waters should be collected into certain hollows of the earth, in order that there should remain uncovered the portion that was necessary for the production of vegetation, as where He says in Genesis the 1st: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear," supposes this water to have been created au entire orb, which covered and surrounded the whole of the earth, in the same manner as we reckon the positions of the elements; the land the lowest, in the middle of which is the centre of the whole elementary and celestial machine then the water, and after that the air and igneous substance or the fire, which reaches its culmination or convex part in the concave of the celestial firmament. Then if, when God commanded that the waters should be gathered together, it was to be understood solely with reference to the northern hemisphere, the water in the southern hemisphere would remain as it was, surrounding and covering all, and the whole sphere of water could not he contained beneath one spherical surface equidistant to the centre of gravity, which always seeks to be united with the centre of the whole machine. And thus all the water of the southern hemisphere would be more remote from the said centre than that of the other hemisphere, without being contained in any sinus, and thus would be much higher, and naturally could not contain itself without flowing towards the other hemisphere, until it placed itself in equilibrium with the said centre of gravity; as is plainly gathered from the demonstration of Archimedes, in his work "De Insidentibus Aquae," and is manifestly seen in the ebb and flow of the ocean: in which it is observed, that when the water rises above the surface of equidistance from its centre of gravity it immediately outflows its ordinary limits until it finds its level with that surface; so that the gathering together of the waters was proportional in the two halves of the sphere of earth and water, gathering itself into certain hollows of the earth, which also have their means of correspondence between the two hemispheres. For as the quiet and equilibrium of the parts of the earth and water with respect to the centre of gravity consist in the equal tendencies of the opposite parts towards the same centre, it follows that the sinuses or receptacles of water in the one half are nearly proportioned in their position and other respects to those of the other. From all which it follows, that in the southern hemisphere there is an uncovered surface of land correspondent, or nearly so, to that which has been discovered in the northern hemisphere.
If any one should say in opposition to the above argument, that the Psalmist appears to assert that the hemisphere opposite to the northern was entirely covered with water, when he says: "Who stretcheth out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth for ever;"--in which the real meaning of the royal prophet would seem to be, that that half of the earth which is between the equinoctial and the Arctic pole was that which was peopled, and that, as by a miracle, all the earth was stretched out above the waters, which covered the other half as far as the Antarctic pole--the answer is, that the Psalmist does not intend to say absolutely that the earth is stretched out above the waters; for that is impossible, since these two bodies, earth and water, gravitate towards the centre of gravity, which is that of the mass or sphere of land and water and thus of necessity the water upon the earth is contained in its hollows; but, as by an allegory, he said that it might seem to those who inhabit the one hemisphere, that the land was stretched upon the waters which extended towards the other hemisphere, as it is our custom in imagination to think that the antipodes are below those to whom they are antipodes, it being in conformity to the law of gravitation that both one and the other are alike uppermost, and the lower part, which is the centre of gravity, towards which both incline, is common to all.
And thus, in agreement with this, the same prophet, speaking of the divine foundation of the earth, says also in another place: "Who bath founded the earth upon its own stability, that it shall not he moved for ever;" which was as much as to say, that the earth has no other stability or foundation for its remaining in the position in which it is: but its own stability, which consists in the equal tendencies of its opposite parts towards the centre of gravity, a law to which the water also is subjected, and, as it rests upon the earth, it keeps the same relation to the centre of gravity; from all which results the aforesaid equalization of the whole mass of earth and water to that centre, and in this consists its stability. Hence it follows that the Psalmist, in the passage first quoted, spoke generally of the two hemispheres; since the inhabitants of each one might imagine to themselves that all the earth of that hemisphere was kept in its place by the water contained in the hollows of the other. The expression that the earth never shall move at any time, implies that it is naturally impossible that its centre of gravity should be moved from the centre of the entire elementary and celestial system, for that would be that gravitation should ascend or move upwards. Hence the statements of the Psalmist in no way opposes what has been demonstrated that there is as much surface of land uncovered and free from water in the southern hemisphere as there is in the northern.
Also, if we recur to the celestial influences which, in regard to temperature, affect the earth and water with dryness and cold heat and moisture, cold and moisture and heat and dryness, and cause some parts of the earth to be uncovered by water and to be kept dry; while others remain underwater; these are the influence of the fixed stare which are vertical to the southern hemisphere and as efficacious as those of the northern hemisphere for keeping the parts of the said southern hemisphere dry, uncovered, and habitable, as may be proved by observing the celestial objects which correspond to each hemisphere; when it will be seen that, of the forty-eight fixed stars, four-and-twenty correspond to each hemisphere, and also of the twelve signs of the zodiac, six belong to each; so that it cannot be doubted that there is in the southern hemisphere at least as great a part of the earth's surface uncovered as in the north. Now it is consequently manifest that this part of the earth is as fertile and habitable as the northern hemisphere, for the south has of necessity the same distribution of zones as the north; that is to say, half of the torrid zone from the equinoctial line to the tropic of Capricorn, then the temperate zone from that to the Antarctic Circle, and then that which lies between the Antarctic Circle and the Antarctic Pole; and those zones in the two hemispheres which correspond to each other, have (allowance being made for the natural motion of the sun through the ecliptic) the same, or nearly the same temperature excepting such differences as are caused by certain vertical stars and the various form, arrangement, and temperament of the land, from which it occurs that in the hottest part of a zone, there are some spots very temperate and cool. And thus in those zones which are generally cold, there are some parts that are milder and very free from the severity of the cold. And if particular consideration be given to the influences produced on temperature by the constellations belonging to the southern hemisphere it will be found that there are lands in it, not only habitable, but much more so than in the other hemisphere; and it has been seen by experience, from the discoveries which have been made in that half of the torrid zone which is south of the equator, that whereas the ancients considered its heat to be so excessive that it was utterly uninhabitable, there have been found in it parts as habitable and of as mild a temperature as in the most temperate and habitable parts of Spain. This has been shown in the country of the Baia de Sanfelipe y Santiago, discovered by Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros which is very near to the middle of the southern half of the torrid zone, where, in the month of May, was found the same mildness of temperature, the same songs of birds in the twilight, the same agreeableness and delight in the softness of the air, as is found in Spain in the mildest and most refreshing season of spring and although, in the middle of the time that they were in the bay, the sun went down about 20° to the north, which, together with the fifteen or twenty minutes of the latitude of the bay, made their distance from the sun, which was in the south of the zenith, little more than twenty-five degrees, and thus fofty-five of southern altitude; yet was the temperature extremely mild for a situation so near to the middle of the southern half of the torrid zone. But in other islands which they discovered in the same southern half of the torrid zone, when the sun stood in southern signs for January, February and March, being vertical or very near the vertex or zenith of those islands, there was not felt greater heat there than in our summer, no, indeed, did there appear to have been so much on those occasions when they went on shore for the purpose of taking in water.
By the same reasoning it is shown, that the land of the southern hemisphere is greatly stored with metals and rich in precious stones and pearls, fruits and animals; and from the discoveries and investigations which have been already made in this southern hemisphere, there has been found such fertility, so great plenty and abundance of animals, swine, oxen and other beasts of different kinds fit for the sustenance of man as has never been seen in our Europe; also of birds and fishes of different species, and amongst them all, those which we most value as wholesome and delicate on the shores of our own ocean; and fruits, some of which we already know, and others of different kinds, all which may well excite the greatest admiration, as has been related in detail in the treatise referred to at the beginning of this memorial.
It must be observed that, although the arguments we have hitherto advanced refer to the entire southern hemisphere, yet that which we now propose to have explored, discovered, and evangelically subdued is that part of the said hemisphere which lies in the Pacific Ocean, between the longitude of the coast of Peru, as far as the Baia de San Felipe y Santiago and the longitude which remains up to Bachan and Ternate, in which longitude the following most remarkable discoveries have already been made. The adelantado Alvaro Mendana de Meyra first discovered New Guadalcanal, 'which is a very large island very near New Guinea; and some have imagined that what Mendana called New Guadalcanal was part of New Guinea, but this is of no consequence whatever. New Guinea belongs also to the southern hemisphere, and was discovered some time before; and almost all of it has been since discovered on the outside [the northern side]. It is a country encompassed with water,* and according to the greater number of those who have seen it, is seven hundred leagues in circuit: others make it much more: we do not give a close calculation here, because what has been said is sufficient for the intention of this discourse. The rest will be said in its proper place. The middle of those great islands are in from thirteen to 14° of south latitude. The adelantado Mendana afterwards discovered the archipelago of islands which he called the Islands of Solomon, whereof, great and small, he saw thirty-three of very fine appearance, the middle of which was, according to his account, in 11° south latitude. After this he discovered, in the year 1565, the island of San Christobal not far from the said archipelago, the middle of which was in from seven to eight° of south latitude. The island was one hundred and ten leagues in circuit. Subsequently, in the year '95, the said adelantado sailed for the last time from Peru, taking with him for his chief pilot the Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, with the purpose of colonizing the island of San Christobal, and from thence attempting the discovery of the southern terra firma. He shortly after discovered to the east of the said island of San Christobel the island of Santa Cruz in 10° south latitude. The island was more than 100 leagues in circuit, very fertile and populous, as, indeed, appeared all those islands which we have mentioned, and most of them of very beautiful aspect. In this island of Santa Cruz the adelantado had such great contentions with his soldiers, that he had some of the chief of them killed, because he understood that they intended to mutiny, and a few days after he died. Whereupon, as the admiral of the fleet had parted company a short time before they had reached the island, the whole project was frustrated, and Pedro Fernandez de Quiros took Dona Isabel Garreto, the wife of the adelantado and the remainder of the fleet to Manilla.
* Dalrymple, in quoting this passage, thinks that the word "Aislada", here translated according to its general meaning, "encompassed with water", in this place rather signifies "separated into islands". This suggstion is, however, entirely arbitrary, and even in contradiction to the context, which states the supposed circuit of the island. Even in maps anterior to the voyage of Torres, as, for example, Hondius's Mappemonde, showing Drake's track round the world, published in the Hakluyt Society's edition of Drake's World Encompassed, New Guinea is laid down as an island, although it is true that in much later maps the point is spoken of as doubtful. Meanwhile, the editor sees no reason to deviate from the recognized rendering of the word "Aislada".
Some time afterwards Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, being at Valladolid, came to this court to petition for the same discovery, and was dispatched to the Viceroy of Peru, who was to supply him with all that was requisite. He sailed from Lima in January of the year 1605, with three Vessels, the "Capitana", the "Almiranta", and one "Zabra", with Luis Vaez de Torres for his admiral, in order to colonize the island of Santa Cruz and to follow out the intentions of the adelantado Mendana. After discovering in this voyage many islands and islets, he put in at the island of Tuamaco, which is from eight to nine leagues in circuit, in 10° south latitude, and about one thousand seven hundred leagues distant from Lima, which is about eighty leagues to the eastward of the island of Santa Cruz. The cacique or chief of Taumaco informed him, as well as he could make himself understood, that if he sought the coast of the great Terra Firma, he would light upon it sooner by going to the south than to the island of Santa Cruz; for in the south there were lands very fertile and populous, and running down towards a great depth towards the said south. In consequence of which Pedro Fernandez de Quiros abandoned his idea of going to colonise the island of Santa Cruz, and sailed southward with a slight variation to the south-west, discovering many islands and islets, which were very populous and of pleasant appearance, until in 15° 20' south, he discovered the land of the Baia de San Felipe y Santiago, which, on the side that he first came upon, ran from east to west. It appeared to be more than one hundred leagues long; the country was very populous, and, although the people were dark, they were very well favoured; there were also many plantations of trees, and the temperature was so mild that they seemed to be in Paradise; the air also, was so healthy, that in a few days after they arrived all the man who were sick recovered. The land produced most abundantly many kinds of very delicious fruits, as well as animals and birds in great variety. The bay, also, was no less abundant in fish of excellent flavour, and of all the kinds which are found on the coast of the sea in Spain. The Indians ate for bread certain roots like the batata, either roasted or boiled, which when the Spaniards tasted they found them better eating and more sustaining than biscuit.
For certain reasons (they ought to have been very weighty) which hitherto have not been ascertained with entire certainty, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros left the Almiranta and the Zabra in the said bay, and himself sailed with his ship, the Capitana, for Mexico, from whence he again came to this court to advocate anew the colonization of that land, and was again sent back to the viceroy of Peru, and died at Panama on his return voyage to Lima. The admiral Luis Vaez de Torres being left in the bay and most disconsolate for the loss of the Capitana, resolved, with the consent of his companions, to continue the discovery. Being prevented by stress of the weather from making the circuit of the land of the Baia, to see whether it were an island or mainland as they had imagined, and finding himself in great straits in 21° south, to which high latitude he had persevered in sailing in about a south-westerly direction from the fifteen or twenty minutes south in which lay the aforesaid Baia, he put back to the north-west and north-east up to 14°, in which he sighted a very extensive coast, which he took for New Guadalcanal; from thence he sailed westward, having constantly on the right hand the coast of another very great land which he continued coasting, according to his own reckoning, more than six hundred leagues, having it still to the right hand* (in which course may be understood to be comprehended New Guadalcanal and New Guinea). Along the same coast he discovered a great diversity of islands. The whole country was very fertile and populous; he continued his voyage on to Bachan and Ternate, and from thence to Manilla, which was the end of his discovery.
* It is from this sentence that Dalrymple observed the passage of Torres through these dangerous straits, and consequently gave to them the name of that navigator.
There was also a pilot named Juan Fernandez, who discovered the track from Lima to Chili by going to the westward (which till then had been made with much difficulty as they kept along shore, where the southerly winds almost constantly prevail): he sailing from the coast of Chili about the latitude of 40°, little more or less, in a small ship, with some of his companions, in courses between west and south-west, and brought in a month's time to what was to the best of their judgment, a very fertile and agreeable continent, inhabited by a white and well-proportioned people, of our own height, well clad, and of so peaceable and gentle a disposition that, in every way they could express, they showed the greatest hospitality, both with respect to the fruits and productions of their country, which appeared in every respect very rich and plentiful. But (being overjoyed to have discovered the coast of that great and so much desired continent) he returned to Chili, intending to go back properly fitted, and to keep it a secret till they and their friends could return on the discovery. It was delayed from day to day till Juan Fernandez died, when with his death, this important matter fell to the ground.
In regard to this subject it must be observed, that many have related this discovery of Juan Fernandez in the following manner, affirming that they had it thus from himself, viz., that going to the westward from Lima, to discover the track to Chili, waiting their opportunity and getting off shore (where the winds almost always are southerly), a certain space of longitude (which he would, at a proper time declare); and then standing south with little deviation to the adjoining points, he discovered the said coast of the southern continent in the latitude (which he would also tell when expedient) from whence he made his voyage to Chili.
Other relations, very worthy of credit, give this discovery as before described; but whether it happened in this or the other manner, or whether there were two different discourses, it is a very certain fact that he did discover the coast of the southern land; for it has been thus certified by persons of great credit and authority, to whom the said Juan Fernandez communicated the account with the above-mentioned proofs and details of the country and the people thus discovered: and one of these witnesses, who made a statement thereof to Your Majesty, as having heard it from the said pilot, and seen the description he brought of the said coast, was the Maestro del Campo Cortes, a man as worthy of credit as any that is known, and who has been employed in Chili nearly sixty years.
When Pedro Fernandez de Quiros sailed from the coast of Peru he followed nearly the same track until he reached the latitude of 26° when his companions and especially his admiral, earnestly advised him to continue on until he reached 40°, as the most reasonable means of finding the continent which they had come in search of. This, for certain considerations he refused, being apprehensive of unfavourable weather, as he saw that the sun already began to decline towards the equinoctial; but in this refusal he made a great mistake.
That which we have above related, is the most noticeable thing which has hitherto been effected in the shape of discovery the southern hemisphere in the said longitude in the Pacific; and although, with the exception of the discovery made by the pilot Juan Fernandez, no satisfactory examination of the coast of the much sought for great southern continent has been effected, yet, doubtless, the aforesaid voyage failed but little of finding it, and it is either by negligence or by carelessness, and it may be said, by the acknowledged blunders of some of the adventurers that it has not yet been discovered for in their explorations they saw very great and manifest signs of a most extensive continent; and when Pedro Fernandez de Quiros reached the aforesaid 26° they saw to the south very extensive and thick banks of clouds in the horizon, and other well known signs of mainland, and also a little islet, in which were various kinds of birds of very sweet song, which never sing nor are found at any great distance from the coast of the mainland. They discovered afterwards some islands, still very remote from the coast of Peru and Mexico, which apparently, could not have been peopled but from the coast of the southern continent. And in other islands which Pedro Fernandez de Quiros discovered in the same voyage, long before he discovered that of Taumaco, he stated that he saw some boys as fair and ruddy as Flemings, amongst the natives of the islands who were almost swarthy, and they said by signs that they brought those whites from a more southern latitude. Nearly the same thing Was met with by the adelantado Alvaro de Mendana, in some island which he discovered before he reached San Christobel and Santa Cruz, as in those which he called the four Marquesas de Mendoza and others in which there were the same reasons for presuming that they could not have been peopled from the coasts of Peru and Mexico, but from the southern land; not only from the distance from those countries, but from the great difference of the natives from the Indians of Peru and Mexico, and because when questioned by signs they had no knowledge of any land towards Mexico or Peru, and all seemed to point towards the south.
It is of great importance towards the same argument, to take into consideration the often confirmed indications given by the Indians of Taumaco of there being a deep and spacious, populous and fertile continent towards the south. The land also of the Baia de Dan Felipe y Santiago showed very great signs of its being the coast of the southern continent, as much by its great extent as by there being visable from it, looming at a great distance, cordilleras of very lofty mountains of very agreeable aspect; and by the fact of two rivers falling into the bay, one as large as the Guadalquiver, and the other not quite so broad, all signs of a continent Or at least of a very spacious and deep country approach ing to a continent.
Many specious rivers were also seen to discharge themselves along the coast which the pilot Juan Fernandez discovered, from which and from the signs of the natives, and from the people being so white, so well clad, and in all other respects so different from those of Chili and Peru, it was taken for certain that it was the coast of the southern continent, and seemed to be far better and richer than that of Peru. Besides all this, the great number of large islands which, as has been stated, have been discovered on voyages from the coast of Peru, made with the object of discovering the southern land, are necessarily the evidences of the proximity of a very large and not very distant continent, as we see in the islands of the archipelago of San Lazaro, near which are the Phillippines, the Moluccas, Amboina, those of Banda,* the Javas, and many others in their neighbourhood, which are the evidences of the proximity of the great coast of the continent of Asia; I now allude of India beyond the Ganges, the kingdoms of Siam and Cambodia, that of the Great Mogul of China, leaving out what lies more to the westward.
* Printed in the original thus, "Bandalaizavas", probably misprinted for Banda, las Zavas, or Java.
From all which it follows how infallibly certain is the greatness, populousness, fertility and riches of the southern continent and how readily, according to what has been above demonstrated, it may be discovered and subjected to an evangelical and spiritual conquest, by which may be attracted to our Mother, the Catholic Church, millions upon millions of most faithful and sincere sons as the result of this mighty evangelical conquest. And if the vast extent of the southern continent of which we have been writing, were not such as it has thus evidently been shown to be, for planting therein the purity of our holy and Catholic religion, nevertheless we have in that portion of the southern hemisphere which we have already seen and visited, if we take into consideration all the above-mentioned islands, more land than half of Europe, and as rich, populous, and fertile, in which there is the full harvest of which Christ our Lord and treasure spoke, to be cultivated by the holy labourers and preachers of His gospel.
Your Majesty ought to give much consideration to the fact that Christ our Redeemer and supreme good, when He finished the period of His first coming, recommended to His Apostles with the greatest strictness the preaching of His gospel, as the principal means by which the redemption of the human race, which had cost him so much was to receive its consummation. For this cause it was the last charge He gave them, that they might understand that it was the principal service they had to render Him, and for which He had chosen them. Immediately after so doing He ascended up to heaven, to give to His most holy humanity the seat of ineffable glory at the right hand of His Father, and receive the crown of the sovereign and universal empire over heaven and earth, as is shown by the evangelist St. Mark in the passage quoted above: "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved:" And after He "had spoken unto them He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them." Thus also should Your Majesty set the eyes of your heart upon the consummation of the preaching of the gospel in the southern hemisphere, which this same Lord is now recounting to you with the crown of the universal empire of the globe in His hand, ready to place it upon your head, if you value, as it should be valued, this Divine commission, and execute it with that zeal and devotion that the charge enjoins. But, if which God forbid, Your Majesty should not accept this commission, or with-hold the said zeal from the undertaking, it would doubtless be the greatest disaster that could happen to this kingdom, and the most certain sign that God is withdrawing his Hand from us; and even already it seems that this withdrawal has fallen upon us, in that we are not attempting a task which applies to us so well, and which so much concerns these kingdoms and all Your Majesty's possessions, and we do not seem to bethink ourselves that, in neglecting and crushing so great an enterprise, our most culpable and persevering remissness brings upon us this grievous and abiding calamity which we shall realize with greater certainty when we have to repair such great losses, for we shall have to effect all our conversions amidst great blindness and error.
Meanwhile Your Majesty might not apprehend how that this proposition is the most important that could be made for the welfare of your crown, and that its most speedy and faithful execution should be carried out with the same fervour and zeal as was shown at the commencement by your most Christian predecessors the Catholic kings, who frequently declared that, when other means failed, they themselves would go forth to carry it into effect. By this means your Majesty will return to find the road which they followed, and by which they brought their kingdom to so great a height of prosperity, from which exalted height it has, through the loss of time and through repeated blunders and hinderances, continued falling, until we have reached such a point that the most inconsiderable nations of Europe, whom we formerly held beneath our feet, now look upon us as an oppressed and afflicted nation and of small account, which is a horrible fact, and an easily recognizable effect of the divine indignation for the aforesaid cause, and there is no one who correctly reasons upon this subject but will come to the same conclusion.
Let me also invite Your Majesty's attention to the words of the Apostle in the passage quoted above: "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?" And let Your Majesty take into account that the Apostle is speaking with Your Majesty yourself, and with your kingdoms, with reference to this very point, in as much as the charge has been given for preaching to the entire southern hemisphere, and especially to that which lies in the Pacific Ocean, and without allowing any other Christian Prince should go or send preachers hither.* If Your Majesty do not send them, how shall they have any knowledge of their Redeemer and be converted to Him? And as the charge was given that these gentiles were to. be converted, Your Majesty and Your Crown will be principally responsible for their conversion, for you will be the immediate cause of that infinite number of gentiles not hearing the word of the gospel or knowing their Redeemer; for as they should know Him who is it that, if preachers are riot sent, has the guilt of not sending them, and not allowing others to send them? May Your Majesty ponder much upon this matter for it touches nothing less than your salavtion and the final loss of your crown if we do not perfectly discharge this most righteous duty, and acquit this most heavy debt to our Lord and Redeemer, by sending, as speedily as possible to the southern hemisphere, a sufficient number of preachers of the gospel.
* We presume that the eccentric argument here advanced, is based upon the inference deduced by the writer at the commencement of this memorial, from the peculiar use in sacred writ of the word "Sepharat," rendered in Latin "Bosphorus," the especial meaning is there discussed. See page 10.
May Your Majesty give no heed to the plausible arguments which some may perhaps advance with some show of political consideration that Your Majesty is not in a condition to undertake the conquest of new kingdoms of such great extent and so far off, but will have enough to do to keep those which you already have. There will also not be wanting men learned in the scriptures, who will prove from them that Your Majesty may disregard the fulfilment of an obligation so distinct and may withdraw from the contract you have made with the Redeemer, through the medium of His vicar and the head of His Church. May Your Majesty give no heed to this, but abominate it is mischievous to your greatness, your conscience, and to your crown. For this conquest is to be a spiritual and evangelical one, and by no means entailing, as is supposed any considerable expense upon Your Majesty, nor a matter which can divert you from walking conformably to the dictates of the Apostle. But rather, in order to secure Your Majesty the restoration and increase of your royal power to the extent of your desires, may Your Majesty give the attention of your exalted understanding to the words of the Apostle to his disciple Timothy, as if he had addressed them personally to Your Majesty: "For the time will come (please Cod that it may not be that in which we live) when they who are under an obligation to follow sound doctrine so important as this, not only do not receive it, but cannot endure it, heaping up to themselves the opinions of men with the title of teachers, who thereby only flatter them and conform to their wishes, turning away their ears from the truth and changing it into fables." For such are the superficial arguments of expediency for reasons of state which are advanced in opposition to the extension of the Catholic Church and the increase of our holy faith. The Apostle then says, and we may reasonably understand him as on the present occasion addressing himself to Your Majesty: "But do thou (whom as sovereign prince of this Catholic monarchy, and as having made a contract with the King of kings, art pledged by promise to the completing of the preaching of the gospel), abominating those who shall propose to thee the contrary, watch day and night over the fulfilment of this glorious and important obligation, labour as much as lieth in you that it may be all possible means be accomplished, do the work of an evangelist; for as the evangelists wrote the gospel in order that thou mightest cause it to be preached to the gentiles, do thou after thy manner perform the same office which they performed in preaching. Placing great value on the fact that the Redeemer would not entrust the charge to any other prince but to thy illustrious house do thou give all thy strength to the full and perfect completion of this grand and exalted ministry so that no gap be left." By so doing Your Majesty will be able to say at the day of account, that which immediately afterwards is said by the Apostle:
"Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi; in reliquo reposita est mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mehi Dominus in illa die justus judex, non solum autem mihi, sed his qui diligunt adventum ejus." I have fought the good fight gloriously, overcoming the greater power of Lucifer, liberating from his tyrannical and abominable servitude so great a number of millions of souls in the southern hemisphere which would have been lost and would have lost the Redeemer, who laid upon me the charge of this great and heroic deed; I have finished most faithfully my course; I have kept His faith pure in this Catholic seminary of my kingdom, and have transplanted it with the same purity into the hearts of the infinite number of gentiles which dwell in that spacious fold; and thus may I justly hope from the hand of the King Eternal, in the great day of the universal account, the glorious and blessed crown of righteousness (which the Apostle hoped for himself) from having rendered this service, the most acceptable that any king or prince of the world will have rendered to the Divine Majesty. The same Apostle goes on to say, afterwards that not only would it be given to him, but to all those who love the coming of the just Judge, which are those who hold in such account the fulfilment of their obligations, and especially of so heavenly a one as this, that they may justly hope for the reward of that unspeakably glorious crown. Your Majesty may also entertain a like security of hope that if the present proposition and prayer be accepted and undertaken with the earnest promptitude which, as has been shown, is enjoined upon you, there will be added to your present enjoyment of these Catholic kingdoms, and of the other possessions of your monarchy, every possible exaltation and aggrandisement, which is the most affectionate desire of Your Majesty's faithful subjects and servants.