l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I48 



Beyond these cays and the gleaming beach of Low Cay in the 

 early dawn, because they are separated from the mainland, a low 

 dark silhouette appeared a few hours later, which gave the impression 

 of a flat, long island stretching on for miles. And if it were here 

 that Columbus's ships "jogged off-and-on" waiting for daylight, all 

 the Indians who lived in the villages on the banks of Pigeon Creek 

 could have been in this area to greet him and his men. "Lucayos" 



Fig. 5. — The "white head of sand," filmed on the author's Columbus Expedition 



in 1959. 



Columbus had said (meaning dwellers of cays), and that name has 

 remained for this group of islands since then. 



While those aboard the M.V . Drake, 467 years later, waited for 

 daybreak, the skipper had turned the boat about four times to keep 

 her in this area. Currents and waves forced the boat not only toward 

 the island but also in a southerly direction, which could have been 

 disastrous 24 if the skipper had not had full control of his boat. Could 

 this have been the very reason why Columbus had ordered his ships 

 to "jog off-and-on until daylight?" 



"Reef of rocks." At the mouth of Pigeon Creek there are three 

 channels separating these cays : The Nana Cay Channel, at the north 



24 There are many shipwrecks strewn along this eastern coast. 



