THE MAKING OF AN ISLAND 131 



simply in terse official style that "the British Man-of-War, 

 Loioenstoffe, and eight Jamaica ships, her convoy, were un- 

 fortunately cast away on the reefs and destroyed. . . . The 

 crews perished in attempting to land . . . and were swallowed 

 in the breakers." As an added footnote is the cheerful informa- 

 tion that even if the survivors had succeeded in reaching shore 

 they could have expected "but little hospitality as the island 

 was inhabited by one man— a fugitive outlaw accused of evil 

 and wanton murder." Thus, in tragedy and death did the writ- 

 ten history of Inagua begin. 



The trail was ill-defined and wound between thick clumps 

 of tangled thorn trees and stunted bushes. In a few seconds 

 after leaving the saltpond the soil underfoot changed from 

 shifting sand to a hard floor of smooth gray rock. Scattered 

 helter-skelter over its surface were dozens of slabs of loose 

 flat stone. These varied in thickness and in size from small 

 dinner plates to irregular sheets seven or eight feet in circum- 

 ference. The rock floor seemed hollow and boomed cavernously 

 even under the soft tread of my canvas shoes. Whenever I 

 stepped on one of the loose slabs it rang with the resonance 

 of a bell, the tone varying through several octaves depending 

 on the width and thickness of the plates. The sound was clear 

 and metallic; the effect was startHng. For a half mile around 

 my presence could be detected by the clang of rock on rock. 

 I felt as though I were walking on the keys of some gigantic 

 piano or harpsichord, strangely off tune and prolonged as 

 though an invisible player had his foot on the sustaining pedal. 

 Once, far off in the distance a wild medley of discords came 

 jangling through the thorn bush. The sounds came nearer, in- 

 creasing in volume, until a small herd of wild donkeys burst 

 through a glade in front of me and went clattering away again. 

 The noise of their going sounded like a carnival of mad bell 

 players. Some of the plates had a light tinkling sound, others 



