defiance of the instructions, being
supported by Mendana in so doing.

So it happened that, notwithstanding Sarmiento's protests and constant
remonstrances, Gallego and Mendana, persisted in this more northerly
course for forty days, evidently with the intention of making for the
better known seas that surround the Caroline and Philippine Islands.

Sarmiento constantly urged that the islands and continent that he was in
search of were more to the south.

However, no land being sighted after many days, Mendana became alarmed
and requested Sarmiento to resume charge of the navigation.

He did so, and ordered the course to be shaped W.S.W., announcing at the
same time that land would be sighted on the next day, and this proved
correct.

An island was discovered which received the name of _Nombre-de-Jesus_. It
has been identified with Nukufetau, in the Ellice group.

They had been sixty-two days at sea and were sadly in want of a change of
diet. Seventeen days later, they sighted the small islands and rocks
which they called _Baixos de la Candelaria_, Candlemas Reefs; these have
been identified with Lord Howe Islands, lately ceded to England by
Germany.

On the 7th of February, they reached at last a large island called Atoglu
by the natives. The Spaniards gave to it the name of the patroness saint
of the voyage, Santa Ysabel.

Natives came off in crescent-shaped canoes to meet them.

They found a bay on the northern coast, and having noticed the planet
Venus at 10 o'clock in the morning, they called this bay the _Baya de la
Estrella_, the Bay of the Star, a name which has been restored to it in
recent years.

They began at once to build a brigantine which had been taken out in
pieces; in fifty-four days it was put together with the help of fresh
timber obtained on the island.

Sarmiento then conducted a reconnoitering expedition inland, but met with
hostility from the natives.

In the meanwhile, Gallego and Ortega, the camp-master, examined the coast
on board the brigantine and discovered several other islands.*

[* Very little gold, if any, was found in the Solomon group.]

An expedition in search of the Great Southern Continent, or _Java Maior_,
was also projected with the brigantine, but soon abandoned, as they found
the little ship unsuitable for open sea work.

All the islands discovered were supposed to belong to the outlying
islands situated to the east of New Guinea, and the inference, as we
kno