CHAPTER X.
MENDANA IN SEARCH OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Twenty-six years had elapsed since the Sarmiento-Mendana voyage, and now Mendana was sent out again with instructions to found a colony at the island of _San Christobal_, in the Solomon Group; and from thence to make another attempt to discover the Great Southern Continent, the Java Maior, that formed such a conspicuous feature on the maps of the period, and was beginning to attract the attention of other countries besides Spain.
Mendana's fleet was composed of three large vessels and a frigate.
Pedro Fernandez de Queiroz was his captain and chief pilot; the other officers were Lope de Vega, Felipe Corzo, and Alenzo de Leyva.
As it was intended to settle a colony, many took their wives with them, and amongst these were: Da.

Isabel de Barreto, Mendana's wife, and Da.
Mariana de Castro, the wife of Lope de Vega.
They set sail from Callao on the 9th of April, 1595, and, after discovering the Marquesas, and a few smaller islands, they sighted land on September the 7th, which Mendana believed, at first, to be the Solomons, of which he was in quest.
They soon found out their mistake, and named the island _Santa Cruz_.

To the northward of this island was seen a most remarkable volcano in full eruption.* The frigate was ordered to sail round it to search for Lope de Vega's ship, which had parted company some time previously.
[* Tinacula Volcano, in eruption at the present day.] They thought that she might have passed to the north, but the hopes of seeing her again were very faint.
Mendana continued near the north coast of Santa Cruz, searching for a port, and was rejoined there by the frigate, which returned without any tidings of Lope de Vega and his ship.
At last a port was discovered where the ships anchored in smooth water, close to the shore.
On the 21st of September, they found a better port, which Mendana named _La Graciosa_, for it was very beautiful, larger and more commodious than the one where they were first anchored.

A river of moderate size and a copious stream of very clear water gushing from beneath some rocks was found in proximity to the anchorage.

Here an attempt at colonisation was made, but what with the hostility of the natives, sickness, and a mutinous spirit, the young colony did not progress favorably.