The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606. Volume 1

The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606. Volume 1

The Council of the Hakluyt Society has decided that the volumes containing the narratives of the discovery of the Solomon Islands by Mendaa shall be followed by a monograph on the two voyages of Quiros. In the first voyage he was Chief Pilot to Mendaa; the second and most famous voyage was under his own command. The best and most detailed narrative of both voyages is contained in a work which remained in manuscript until twenty-eight years ago, when it was edited and published at Madrid by Don Justo Zaragoza. It is entitled History of the Discovery of the Austrial Regions, made by the General Pedro Fernandez de Quiros.1 Two copies were known to be in existence: one in the private library of the King of Spain, the other in that of the Ministry of Marine. Both have erroneous titles, written by careless librarians. The narratives were evidently dictated by Quiros, or written from his notes; but Seor Zaragoza gives reasons for the belief that the work, in its present form, was written by Luis de Belmonte Bermudez, a young man who was Secretary to Quiros during the voyage of 1606, and that [xii]it contains several passages for which the Secretary was alone responsible. Belmonte Bermudez remained faithful to Quiros in his adversity, and, after his masters death, he became a poet of some celebrity. Seor Zaragoza quotes several passages which show the hand of a poet.2 There is also a quotation from the Araucana of Ercilla on unknown lands not yet revealed by God, to which is added another version by the young sailor-poet on those unknown lands now revealed by God.3 The author is mentioned twice in the narrative: once as being nearly drowned in landing on the island of Anaa4 (Conversion de San Pablo), and again in the list of officials for the municipality of the city of New Jerusalem projected by Quiros.5 The question of authorship is really settled by the poet himself, in a line of his poem entitled La Hispalica, quoted by Zaragoza. Speaking of Quiros as his Lusitanian master, the star of gallant Portuguese, he adds that, in recording the history of the voyage there was: ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 41200
Author: Queirós, Pedro Fernandes de
Release Date: Oct 27, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Translator: Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir, 1830-1916