no. i columbus's landfall — wolper 31 



it comes up and when a lucky person finds it, he keeps it on the 

 table inside his hut for protection against thunder. This is an example 

 of their belief that goodness comes from the sky. 



Columbus had said that he saw no idols here, and archeological 

 surveys and excavations have not revealed any. 43 The writer does 

 not intend to imply that there is none here, but merely that none has 

 been found to date. 



When the Indians shouted for Columbus to come to shore, he was 

 afraid to do so because of "a great reef of rocks." 



To go north-northeast it is necessary to sail along the outskirts 

 of a "reef of rocks"; otherwise, Columbus would have entered 

 through the Bone-fish Channel, which is 12 to 14 feet deep and about 

 100 feet wide. It is doubtful whether he could have found this 

 passage because of its position, which is several miles from the harbor. 

 However, the reef that runs north-northeast from here close to the 

 shore would have prevented Columbus from going ashore, and it is 

 along this coast that the writer found Indian sites. Columbus would 

 have had to pass the Indian villages before he found the channel at 

 the entrance of the great harbor at the north. It is quite likely that 

 he would have then taken the first opening, which is the High Reef 

 Channel; this is 12 to 14 feet deep and 125 feet wide at the end of 

 Polaris Reef. Although this channel, closer to shore, is the deeper 

 it looks shallow because of its clear, sandy bottom. Between the 

 High Reef Channel and the Green Cay Channel, 7 to 10 feet deep 

 and 60 feet wide, which is south of Green Cay, there is a reef called 

 Middle Reef, a half mile or so long. The Green Cay Channel which 

 looks deep and dark because of a reefy bottom, is shallow, although 

 it is farthest from shore but, from his description, it is the High Reef 

 channel 4i that Columbus most probably took. 



Once Columbus had navigated through this entrance, he would 

 have had to go around some shoals, which today protrude above the 

 water, before he was clear in the great harbor where the "sea moves 

 no more than within a well" (fig. 9). Fringing the harbor he could 

 see the high, white sea foam from the breaking waves on the line of 



4 ;; Through the courtesy of Dr. Clifford Evans, Curator, Division of Arche- 

 ology, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, casts of fine 

 examples of zemis were sent to and are on view in the New World Museum. 

 These original zemis were from Puerto Rico, not from San Salvador. 



11 If Columbus had kept close to shore and saw the opening of the High 

 Reef Channel, he would have had to direct his longboats due east through it 

 heading for land; then a sharp NNW, NE around Bacchus Point, and then SE 

 to anchor or cruise about the harbor. 



