Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-02-22

Spanish government and i'm due time
an answer was forwarded him, stat
ing that the group discovered by Cook
in ITS, and named by him Sandwich
Islands, had previously been discover
ted by the Spanish pilot Juan Gaetano,
in 1866. The documents then sent by
the Spanish government and contain
ing the alleged proofs of the discovery
may be found in the second volume
OF Fornander's Polynesian Race. l.
The following data were offered by
the chief of the Spanish marine de-
partment as convincing proofs:
THE principal one,ns he wrote, "is
an old nlaHtseIfpt chart, registered in
these archives as anonymous, and in
which the Sandwich Islands are laid
down under that name, but which also
contains note~declaring the name
Of the discoverer and the date of the
discovery, and that he called them
"Islas de Mesa" = The chart
appears to be copy of that called the
chart of the Spanish galleon, existing
long before the time of Cook, and
which is referred to by all national
and foreign authors that have been
consulted" s...,<. g. III.
He states his authorities to be:
Blaue's Atlas, 1868, D'Auville, 1851 and
Ortelins, the latter, however, not hay-
ing been directly consulted
This is all the proof given, and it is
thus reduced to the anonymous state
ment of a man who lived more than
two hundred years after the alleged
facts, and who does not, give his
sources. IL I'LL. ...... Ill. =. .<.s-....
Testimony Thrown Out ....r... .-:......
In historical criticism such testi-
money cannot have the slightest
weight and must be discarded The
statement, indeed, may be true, but
we have no reasons to believe it,
since the witness evidently. could not
have, any personal knowledge about
it, whilst we cannot check his
sources. .... -. .....
Perhaps he had not any authority
for his statement; perhaps it is a
mere surmise; perhaps wrong inter-
probation of Gaetano's logbook of the
voyage across the Pacific in 1912
wherein he speaks of the discovery OF
a group of islands in the northern Pa
eific which he called Los Reyes, Los
LCoralles and Los Jardins, and stated TO
be. situated at 900 leagues from the
gulf of California Nine hundred
leagues or 200 miles is no doubt
more or less the distance which sep
arates Hawaii from Cane California,
but as the Spanish pilot under esti-
mates the entire distance between the
American coast and Mindanao in the
Philippines by 30 per cent, it is evil
dent that we have always to double
his estimates of the course sailed
over, which gives US 54G0 miles from
the Californian coast instead of POO.
and brings us to the Marshall islands
instead of the Hawaiian archipelago.
Moreover as our pilot puts his diScoy-
cry at latitude 10 degrees north in
stead of latitude 20 degrees north and
says that the Garden island is 30
leagues TO the south-southweaSt OF the
Coral islands, whereby no two islands
of our group could possibly be identi-
fled, it follows that the islands discoy-
cred by Gaetano in 1912 were not Ha-
wall. but some of the Marshall group.
voyage Not Credited. .> - ......
This the Spanish official had sense
enough to discern, and he therefore
hastens TO say that the discovery was
not made by Gaetano on that voyage,
but in l555. We have no description
kof this sos voyage, nor is there any
I reason why we should believe that he
made any voyage across the Pacific IN