Note 1270 — Chapter IV · (continued 2)

We first hear of Sarmiento in a memorial dated at Cuzco on March 4, 1572, in which he says that he was the author of a history of the Incas, now lost. We further gather that, owing to having found out from the records of the Incas that Tupac Inca Yupanqui discovered two islands in the South Sea, called Ahuachumpi and Ninachumpi, Sarmiento sailed on an expedition to discover them at some time previous to 1564. Balboa also mentions the tradition of the discovery of these islands by Tupac Yupanqui. Sarmiento seems to have discovered islands which he believed to be those of the Inca, and in 1567 he volunteered to command the expedition dispatched by Lope de Castro, then governor of Peru, to discover the Terra Australis. But Castro gave the command to his own relation, Mandana. We learn, however, from the memorial of Sarmiento, that he accompanied the expedition, and that the first land was discovered through shaping a course in accordance with his advice. Sarmiento submitted a full report of this first voyage of Mandana, which is now lost, to the Viceroy Toledo. In 1579, Sarmiento was sent to explore the Straits of Magellan. In 1586, on his way to Spain, he was captured by an English ship belonging to Raleigh, and was entertained hospitably by Sir Walter at Durham House until his ransom was collected. From the Spanish captive his host obtained much information respecting Peru and its Incas. He could have no higher authority. One of the journals of the survey of Magellan Straits by Sarmiento was published at Madrid in 1768: Viage al estrecho de Magellanes: por el Capitan Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, en los años 1579 y 1580. See Vol. II. p. 616.