Note 5 — Discovery of the Palaos Islands

Full accounts of the earlier knowledge of these islands, unsuccessful efforts to locate and discover them, and the organization of a mission to go there for the conversion of the natives, are given in Murillo Velarde’s Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 375 b., 379; and Concepción’s Hist. de Philipinas, ix, pp. 151–171. Both these writers use Clain’s letter, more or less closely following his account. Gregorio Miguel, in his Estudio sobre las Islas Carolinas (Madrid, 1887), p. 32, cites a MS. at Sevilla, dated 1567, written by Juan Martinez (see our Vol. II, pp. 149–150), to show that the Palaos Islands were first seen in 1566, by the captain of the Spanish ship “San Jerónimo,” Pero Sanchez Pericón. It was not until 1710, however, that they were actually discovered. The name Palaos (corrupted to Pelew) was given them on account of the vessels, called paraos (cf. Javanese prau), used by the natives. For description of the islands, their people, and the customs and mode of life of these natives, with a vocabulary of their language, see Miguel, ut supra, pp. 32–60.