NO. I COLUMBUS S LANDFALL WOLPER J 9 



of the range, is 10 to 12 feet deep and 50 feet wide; Hawks' Nest 

 Cay Channel is 10 to 12 feet deep and also 50 feet wide ; and the Low 

 Cay Channel is 10 to 12 feet deep and approximately 80 feet wide. 

 Middle Cay is north of this channel. It is reasonable to assume that 

 Columbus would not have wanted to take the chance of losing a 

 caravel so far from home by sailing through these channels, and it is 

 obvious that he could not anchor his ships on the outside in this 

 strongly moving sea. He must have seen those cays, for he described 

 a "great reef of rocks which surrounded the whole of this island" 

 when he also saw the "reef of rocks" at the north, October 14, 1492. 



South of the island there is a long ridge of connecting reefs from 

 east to west with channels at each end. This forms a harbor at 

 the south of the island. South of Low Cay, the Snow Bay Channel 

 is 10 to 11 feet deep and about 80 feet wide. Also called Sandy 

 Point Bay, its other channel at the west of this ridge is 12 to 14 

 feet deep and 100 feet wide; through this channel ships enter the 

 Sandy Point harbor, although the reefs give inadequate protection 

 when winds come from the south or southwest. This harbor was 

 used when the southern half of the island was the principal area 

 of habitation. In 1831 (Farquharson, 1957), boats came in here from 

 Nassau, Savannah, Jamaica, and Glasgow. Exports were cotton, 

 corn, logs, hogs, sheep, cattle, and horses, but the tons of lignum 

 vitae (the "island tree") had to be shipped from the harbor at the 

 north of the island, which is safer and has more protection in all 

 weather. 



It is no wonder, when Columbus saw the breaking waves crash 

 over this ridge of reefs south of San Salvador, that he continued to 

 sail around Sandy Point to the first opening. This would have taken 

 his ships less than 1 hour to reach, but in a shorter interval the Indians 

 could have paddled there while communicating with all the others 

 on the low hills around this part, blowing on their conch horns, 25 

 curious, and eager to greet these visitors. 



First landing beach. But first, how did Columbus find this open- 

 ing? West of, and around Sandy Point, there is a continuous reef 

 that runs north for less than 4 miles, and then this reef, called 

 Gardiner's Reef at its highest point, turns sharply to the east for 



25 Communication remained the same until 1961, and the conch horn is still 

 used by some fisherman when they are returning in the evening. It had been 

 used to notify others from the other side of the island that someone had died. 

 It is the same type as the conch born found in archeological excavations. 



