Pedro Fernández de Quirós was a remarkable navigator and explorer. Having sailed in 1595 as chief pilot in the ill-fated Spanish expedition to the Solomon Islands, he returned to the 'Austral Lands' - the area of the New Hebrides - in 1605 with another expedition, which is the subject of this volume. In his Introduction Father Kelly sets out to resolve some of the outstanding historical problems of this Quirós expedition in the light of recently discovered documents. At the same time he gives a brief description of the Franciscan missionary apostolate, its contribution to geographical discovery in the Pacific, and its missionary plans for the natives of the Austral lands. He also provides a systematic survey of source material in Spanish, Roman and other European archives. The volume contains 32 documents concerning the 1605 expedition, including Munilla's Relación, as well as the Franciscan Missionary Plan. All these have been translated by Father Kelly. Continued in Second Series 127, with which the main pagination is continuous. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1966.

Prepared under instructions from the Right Honorable the Treasurer by K.M. Archer, Commonwealth Statistician.