314 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



As regards the total number of the settled, unset- 

 tled, or uninhabitable Bahama islands there is so far 

 quite as little exact information as of their situation 

 and extent, with other of their characteristics worthy 

 to be known. Including all the keys, all the larger 

 and smaller islands, the number is reckoned at several 

 hundreds. There is moreover no accurate and reliable 

 chart of these islands ; for that drawn by Captain 

 Romans + is said to be based more on the accounts of 

 others than on the author's own survey. Hence there 

 is still wanting a sure and fixed guide for sea-farers 

 among these labyrinthine islands, and the pilots, in- 

 dispensable to vessels both large and small, must in 

 finding navigable channels rely on their own knowl- 

 edge, often gained, alas, by insufficient experience, 

 trusting merely to their memory. 



Providence Island itself is not yet thoroughly 

 known ; its length is estimated at 25-30 miles, and its 

 breadth at 6-9. The other more important islands, 

 most of them settled in a fashion, are: 



Harbour Island, Abaco, Long Island, Lucaya, An- 

 dros, Eleuthera, Mayaguana, Exuma, Ynagua, Great 

 Bahama &c. The most of these, certainly very many 

 of them, are narrow and long, running from north- 

 west to south and south-east. Providence lies more 

 east and west. 



Cat Island, one of the smaller of the group, is re- 

 markable for being the first land of the West trodden 

 by Christopher Columbus on his voyage of discovery 

 in the year 1493 ; he gave it the name St. Salvadore. 



Andros Island, it is said, is one of the most valuable 

 of the Bahamas ; possessing much excellent land, ex- 



