Note 278 — Chapter XI · THE JOURNAL OF GALLEGO—PREFATORY REMARKS.
Reading edition
The reader will now require to use some caution in following this part of the narrative, since Gallego seems to have fallen into much confusion respecting the island of St. Christoval. The name of Santiago was evidently applied by him to the north side of the island west of the prominent headlong of Cape Keibeck, which he might easily have taken for the extremity of the island. The name of San Urban was in all probability given to the peninsula of Cape Surville, which, as I have myself remarked while off the St. Christoval coast, has the appearance of a detached island when first seen, in approaching it from the northward and westward. This deceptive appearance, when viewed from a distance, is due to the circumstance that the neck of the peninsula of Cape Surville is raised but a few feet above the level of the sea, and is in consequence below the horizon when this cape is first sighted. The distance of San Urban from Guadalcanal, as given above, is inconsistent with the rest of the journal; and for 4 leagues, 40 leagues was evidently intended, the omission of the cipher being probably a clerical error. The name of St. Christoval was subsequently given, as shown further on in the narrative, when the Spanish ships visited the south coast of this island.