182 



COLUMBUS'S FIRST LANDFALL. 



enough and ample harbor for all the vessels of 

 Christendom, but the entrance is very narrow." 

 It is conceded that Columbus first saw one of the 

 Bahama Islands, that he anchored consecutively 

 at four others, and that from the last one he 

 went to Cuba. Of the Bahama group, according 

 to the present enumeration, it was possible for 

 him to have landed on one of 36 islands, 687 cays, 

 and 2,414 rocks ; but the choice of his first 

 landfall has been restricted chiefly to the 

 following islands: San Salvador or Cat, 

 Watling, Grand Turk, Mariguana, and Sa- 

 mana or Attwood Cay. A discussion of the 

 claims of each of these is given in Vol. II 

 of Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History 

 of America," and perhaps more fully in Ap- 

 pendix No. 18 of the " Report of the' United 

 States Coast and Geodetic Survey " for 1880, 

 where Capt. Gustavus V. Fox makes " An 

 Attempt to solve the Problem of the First 

 Landing - Place of Columbus in the New 

 World. The results of his researches were 

 'to the effect that Samana or Attwood Cay 

 was the exact locality. Such was the con- 

 dition of affairs when in June, 1891, the 

 Chicago " Herald " sent Walter Wellman 

 and Charles Lederer to the Bahamas to fix 

 the spot with exactness. They landed first 

 at Nassau, and there were received by the 

 Governor of the Bahamas, who provided 

 them with a letter requesting the authorities 

 " to assist and promote in every way in their 

 power the objects" of the expedition. A 

 steamer was chartered, and they proceeded 

 first to Cat Island, but found there no coast 

 along which Columbus could row in his 

 boats "in a northeasterly direction to see the 

 other side, which was on the other side of the 

 east " (Columbus's log-book), for there is no north- 

 north-east coast in the island. The eastern coast 

 is north-northwest and south-southeast, and if 

 he had landed there and taken his boats " to see 

 the other side," he must have steered either north- 

 west or southeast. If he had steered north- 

 northeast, or even due north, he would have gone 

 right out into the ocean. If, perchance, he had 

 landed on the southern shore, where Port Howe 

 is, he would have been compelled to row south- 

 east or southwest " to see the other side." Again, 

 if he had anchored on the southern side of the 

 island the natives would not have told him to 

 " round the island to the southward " to go to 

 the southwest in search of gold, as Columbus says 

 they did. Cat Island has no large lagoon in its 

 middle ; it has no " reef running all round it " ; 

 it has no such harbor as that which Columbus 

 says he saw ; it has no piece of land like an island 

 and yet not like an island, but which could easily 

 be made an island ; it is not very level, and neither 

 in its physical features nor in its position relative 

 to other islands that Columbus visited does it 

 meet the requirements of the first voyage. It 

 was decided that Cat Island was not the first 

 landing-place, and the steamer was turned east- 

 ward toward Watling Island. This they found to. 

 conform to the historical evidences, and geomet- 

 rically to be unerringly the first landfall. The 

 conditions required by any theory of the first 

 voyage are those indicated by Columbus himself. 

 These are that the islancL first touched, which he 

 named San Salvador, must have such features as 



a north and south coast, surrounding reefs, a 

 large lagoon in its middle, a headland nearly cut 

 from the mainland by the action of the sea, and 

 a spacious harbor near by with a narrow entrance. 

 The second island, which he called Santa Maria, 

 must have coasts approximating north and south 

 and east and west, and must be south or south- 

 west from San Salvador about 25 miles. The 



third island, called Fernandina by Columbus, 

 must be visible from the second ; it must have 

 a long coast running south-southeast and north- 

 northwest ; it must have, somewhere along its 

 shores, a bit of coast running east and west, and 

 near by must be a harbor with several narrow 

 entrances. The fourth island, named Isabella by 

 Columbus, must not be visible from the third, 

 but must be almost due east from the south cape 

 of Fernandina ; it must have a rocky islet at its 

 northern extremity, with a lagoon near by ; to 

 the south of it must lie another island, separated 

 from Isabella by but a narrow channel (so nar- 

 row that, without close examination, it might be 

 mistaken for an inlet) ; and this adjacent island 

 must be surrounded at its southern extremity by 

 shoals that extend south and east. Moreover, all 

 these islands must be so located that in sailing 

 southwest from the northern point of the fourth 

 island a navigator would be able to calculate 

 with approximate correctness his distance and 

 direction from the southern cape of the third 

 island ; they must so lie that a ship sailing cer- 

 tain prescribed distances west and southwest 

 would come upon a chain of seven or eight isl- 

 ands lying north and south (designated as Islas 

 de Arena by Columbus), with shoal water five or 

 six leagues to the south of them. Finally, the Islas 

 de Arena must lie where a voyage of 58 miles 

 south from them would bring a navigator in sight 

 of Cuba, not far from the mouth of a wide river 

 which affords a good harbor. That Cat Island 

 was an impossible San Salvador has already been 



