The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-28
DONS OF OLD--TALES
FROM THE ARCHIVES

has preserved the Mesa group of the
chart Of the Spanish galleons and has
placed ITS center nineteen degrees east
OF oronyhee and n the parallel of the
latter island He doubtless thought
tnat by preserving the group found BY
the Spaniards none would dare dispute
with the English It's first discovery of
the island.
But Arrowsmith, in his general
chart OF 1890 and IN his hemisphere of
4'94, sacrificing his amore propre to
the evidence. only lays down one of the
two groups. Since 1856 La Peranse.
DESTROYS OF ascertaining if such islands
really existed 10 the eastward of Sand
wleh, passed over the same parallel.
three hundred leagues from east to
west, and in the whole of this expanse
he found neither group. island, nor any
sign whatever Of land, and did not
doubt that the Island of Orohyhee.
with its arid mountain in the form of
table, was the La Mesa of the Span
iards, and adds: In the charts at the
foot Of this archipelago might be writ
ten Sandwich Islands, surveyed by Cap
tain Cook, who named them, anciently
discovered by the Spanish naviga-
tors. A"
Orohyhee is most likely the equiva-
lent for the Sandwich, judging from
the conclusion of La Peranse, and may
be corruption of Hawaii.
The extracts continue: HPerfectly
in accord with this opinion and strength
ening it by evident proof is the log of
the corvettes Deseubierta and Atre-
vida on their voyage from Acapulco to
Manila.
According TO the extracts. the fol
lowing is that part of the log which
bears upon Hawaii. The old Spanish
colonial minister who searched the rec
ords for the data contained in the ex
tracts sent TO Hawaii, evidently thinks
that it clinehes the argument that the
Dons won the honors of the Pacific be-
fore the keel Of Cook s ship entered
its water, and displays it proudly to
the greater glory of Leon and CASTLE.
"With a sea so heavy from the
NV. by NJ says the log, . that while
the rolling of the ship increased, and
internal duties, the speed decreased
scarcely by noon Of the twentieth
could We consider ourselves to be at
seventytwo degrees in the meridian of
Onyhee. about So degrees longi-
tude and 10 degrees latitude; new
erthless, we had not, according to
our calculation, an error of less than
degrees to the eastward, which,
considering the long logline we made
use of, and that that error ought not
necessarily be the maximum to which
it should be cireumscribed on the voy-
age, strongly supported the suspicion
that the Sandwich Islands of Captain
Cook were Los Monges, Olloa, etc, of
the Spanish charts discovered by Juan
de Gaytan in 1866 and situated about
10 degrees to the eastward of the new
islands fixed upon by the English. -
It viii be noticed that here the
Orohyhee of La Peranse is spelt Ony
hee, possible mistake of the transla- |
tor or Manila eopyist. This report is
vague and complex; perhaps it was in !
spired by the desire of the Spanish to |
detract from their mighty rivals of |
the ocean. In the first place they gave
their position as So degrees longitude
(west, of course). This is a palpable /
mistake and must mean 155 degrees !
west (this may be another copyist er
ror.) They allowed a mistake of |
degrees to the eastward which would /
have placed them, if correct, 10 degrees .
or so south of the island Of Hawaii. I
Under these circumstances they would .
not be in sight of land and besides I
do not say they were. It is not appa- |
rent how this would prove identity be-
tween the islands of Gaetano and the
Sandwich group.
They could not have meant that they
were in the position supposed to be
occupied by La Degraciado and its fell
low islands because Blaen, who based
his map most likely on the "Chart
of the Spanish Galleons' places that
group 100 degrees west. which is of
course a mistake And then they men
ton another group 10 degrees removed
from Gaetano's group and "fxed upon
by the English. y Here again the two
groups appear and make it seem likely
that they are following the old maps
a little too much It will be remem
bered that Lieutenant Roberts placed
two groups IN his charts for reasons
explained but that Arrowsmith decided
that there was only one. So there seems
to be little doubt that ola Degra-
,iado. +" etc, were the Sandwich Islands
although the report of the two adven-
furious corvettes does not prove it.
The extracts call attention to the
fact that foreign authors (authors not
Snanjsh1 note a difference in dates.