[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

2 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

which he took for the desired Australian continent
and called Tierra Australis del Espiritu Santo ; the
large bay he named San Iago and San Felipe, and
his anchorage Vera Cruz. He stayed here some
months and founded the city of New Jerusalem at
the mouth of the river Jordan in the curve of the bay.
Quiros claims to have made a few sailing trips thence,
southward along the east coast of the island; if he
had pushed on far enough these cruises might easily
have convinced him of the island-nature of the
country. Perhaps he was aware of the truth; cer-
tainly the lovely descriptions he gave King Philip of
the beauties of the new territory are so exaggerated
that one may be pardoned for thinking him quite
capable of dignifying an island by the name of con~ ’
tinent. .

The inevitable quarrels with the natives, and
diseases and mutinies among his crew, forced him to
abandon the colony and return home. His lieutenant,
Luis Vaez de Torres, separated from him, discovered
an passed the Torres Straits, a feat of excellent
seamanship. Quiros returned to America. His
high-flown descriptions of his discovery did not help
him much, for the king simply ignored him, and his.
reports were buried in the archives. Quiros died
in poverty and bitterness, and the only traces of his
travels are the names ESpiritu Santo, Bay San Iago
and San Felipe, and Jordan, in use to this day.

No more explorers came to the islands till I767,
when a Frenchman, Carteret, touched at Santa Cruz,
and 1768, when Bougainville landed in the northern