Avard. That evening we anchored not far from the ruins of 

 Fort George, at the north tip of West Caicos, ready to take 

 oflF the next morning for Mayaguana, some forty miles 

 away, the island which Verhoog had chosen as Santa 

 Maria de la Concepcion. We spent the second night in the 

 lee of the northwest point of Mayaguana, in about the 

 same spot Verhoog declared Columbus had anchored be- 

 fore sailing the next day for Acklin island, some forty 

 miles to the west. 



It was at this point that we found ourselves differing 

 from Verhoog, for we believed, according to the quotation 

 from the admiral's log mentioned on page 300, that 

 Columbus, following the reef-bound north shore of 

 Mayaguana, had continued on to Samana without at- 

 tempting to land. 



And as from this island [Mayaguana] I saw 

 another, larger, to the west [Samana], I clewed 

 sails up to navigate all that day until night, and 

 still was not able to reach the westerly point; this 

 island I named Santa Maria de la Concepcion, and, 

 about sunset, I anchored near the said point to see 

 if there was gold there. 



When we set out the next morning, Ed headed Sea 

 Diver directly north. We were all more serious than 

 usual, for we realized that this new theory of Ed's, which 

 depended on the inclusion of an additional island, would 

 stand or fall by the test we were about to make. 



Ed beheved that if Columbus's ships had continued 

 on the same course they had followed along the northeast 

 coast of Caicos, they would have bypassed Mayaguana, 

 finally reaching a point where Samana would have been 

 visible on the horizon. He believed that even though 

 Acklin was closer to Mayaguana than Samana, Columbus 

 would have sighted Samana first from this hypothetical 



On the Track of Columbus 315 



