The ancient Peruvians had a curious method of keeping tally of events.
They had no alphabet, and instead of writing they made use of strings of
various make, colour, and length, and, with the addition of knots, more
or less complicated, were able to place on record any important event.

Sarmiento believed that he had obtained valuable information from the
Incas and their _guipus_ relative to these islands, which were also
believed to be the outposts of a southern continent, and he thought that
he could fix their position approximately.

In consequence, in the year 1567, he made a proposal for the re-discovery
by the Spaniards of these distant lands. In one of his memorials to
Philip II, he represented that he knew of many islands in the South Sea
which were undiscovered by Europeans until his time, offering to
undertake an expedition for their re-discovery with the approval of the
Governor of Peru, who was then Lope Garcia de Castro.

Garcia de Castro willingly accepted Sarmiento's offer, and not only
helped him in every way that lay in his power, but also offered him the
sole command of the fleet. But, Sarmiento insisted that it should be
entrusted to Alvaro de Mendana, a young nephew of Garcia de Castro.

This was probably a mistake on the part of Sarmiento, and was, no doubt,
the cause of the failure of the expedition, and we may also attribute to
his refusal of the sole command, the fact that his name has hitherto
remained ignored not only in connection with this initiatory voyage, but
also in connection with the further voyages of Mendana, Queiroz and
Torres.

Sarmiento, however, stipulated that he should have the conduct of the
discovery and navigation, and that no course should be altered without
his consent.

The two ships of the expedition sailed from Callao, the port of Lima, in
Peru, on the day of the feast of Santa Ysabel, the 19th of November,
1567, and Santa Ysabel became the patroness saint of the expedition.

Sarmiento intended to steer W.S.W. until he reached the tropic of
Capricorn,* and this direction was kept until the 28th of November.

[* Sarmiento, and after him Torres, both endeavoured to keep in the
latitude of the tropic of Capricorn. In the charts of the period a port
or bay was marked on the coast of Java-Major in that latitude. See "Baye
Perdue," in the Lusitano-Spanish charts.]

On that day the chief pilot, Hernando Gallego, altered the course without
Sarmiento's permission, and in