blow,[1] which will be of help on the way back; but let it be remembered that he who wishes to return ought to take a higher degree of latitude, because there the winds will not fail him.
In view of your Majesty's command and orders from Don Luis de Velasco, viceroy of Nueva España, the expedition commanded by Miguel Lopes de Legaspi has discovered since November twenty-first, 1564, the following islands to the west, in the South Sea:
North-southwest from Puerto de la Navidad, in about ten degrees of north latitude, and at a distance of eleven hundred and twenty leagues, were found some islands running east and west. The inhabitants were dressed in a sort of cloth made of thin palm-bark. The men wore long beards, and for that reason the islands received the name of Barbudos.[2] No weapons were found among them, from which we can infer that they are a peaceful people, and that they had never come into conflict with other men. They live on cocoanuts, roots, and fish. It was learned that they kept some Castilian fowls. These islands may be about one hundred and seventy-five leagues from Nueba España [S: Nueva Guinea].
- ↑ The brisa is the north, northeast, or east wind, the vendavál the south or southwest wind. The observations made for a considerable period at the Jesuit observatory in Manila indicate the main prevalence of winds as follows: north and northeast, November to January, inclusive; east, February to April; south and southwest, May to October. See Algué's account of these winds, in his Archipiélago Filipino, vol. ii, ch. iv; also (with additional observations, and citations from other authorities) in Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, vol. iv, pp. 227-256. In these is discussed the question whether these prevalent winds can be properly termed monsoons.
- ↑ Probably some of the Marshall Islands.
