[* In a map of the South Sea, _Mar del Zur_, published towards the year
1650, the Solomon Islands are represented as extending in a sweeping
curve, resembling their natural trend it is true, but the position is
from the locality of New Caledonia and New Zealand, right across the
Pacific Ocean to the south of Cape Horn. In that distance 40 islands are
represented, of an average size equal to the two large islands of New
Zealand, truly a magnificent mistake!]

In the few old maps that exist, it is difficult to determine precisely in
what measure the members of the expedition are responsible for the
charting; some of it is certainly the guesswork of geographers, based, it
must be acknowledged, on the best information then available, for we must
bear in mind that the accounts of Mendana's expedition were only known
from a few extracts, the actual narratives being lost at the time these
charts were draughted.

Now that some of those narratives have been found, it is easy to identify
the present day Solomon Islands with the group discovered by the
Spaniards; most of the latitudes in the old chart that I give here, agree
with those given by Herrera, the Spanish historian, which shows that if
they have been thrown out of position, as they are on some old charts, it
is through the fault of the map-makers.

The map given here is by Mazza, an Italian geographer of distinction; it
is the earliest one that I have been able to procure, the earliest known
to exist, the date being between 1583 and 1589.

I have marked on it the probable track of the ships; the first bay where
they anchored, and which was called _Baya de la Estrella_, is marked by
No. 1. The second anchorage, on the coast of Guadalcanal, marked No. 2,