98 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



with the native population and the geography of Anegada, joined the 

 expedition at Road Town. 



On his second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, Christopher 

 Columbus, after pausing at the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe, 

 St. Martin, and St. Croix, long enough to give them their names, 

 which they have retained to the present day, observed north of low- 

 lying St. Croix a formation of rocks, islets, and mountainous islands 

 " too numerous to mention " even to this facile explorer. His imagina- 

 tive brain immediately visualized this massed archipelago as symboliz- 

 ing St. Ursula and her 1 1,000 virgins — hence the name Virgin Islands. 

 He singled out the Island of Tortola as worthy of a special name, 

 since it appeared to be more mountainous — suggesting great mineral 

 deposits, which after all, was a major objective of this First Explorer. 



The island of Anegada was approached cautiously at half speed 

 because of the extensive shallows. At a distance of 5 miles from the 

 shore the Marion dropped anchor in 4 fathoms. Anegada, a low-lying 

 coralline formation, was but dimly visible. The Marion's boat was 

 launched and loaded with supplies. Practically the entire population 

 of Anegada, embarked in a nondescript fleet of sailboats and row- 

 boats, came out to meet us, to " see that it was done properly ", as we 

 learned later from the colored British Government Agent. He did 

 not explain what he meant by " it." A lookout in the only tall tree on 

 the island had reported the Marion aground. Native joy was soon 

 dampened when the lookout's error was discovered. 



No time was lost in reaching the shell mound, which proved to be 

 a very large one built up almost entirely of conch shells, Strombus 

 gigas. The thorn forest which covers most of Anegada hid from our 

 view any other evidence of aboriginal occupancy. Since the excavat- 

 ing of a mound practically devoid of any cultural material other than 

 discarded conch shells was impractical, work here was restricted to 

 making measurements and photographs of the mound. A brief sur- 

 vey of the island was made in an attempt to locate other middens that 

 might be richer in cultural material, and selection was made of pottery, 

 shell, and polished stone implements gathered at random from the 

 surface. All of this consumed a few days' time, after which the 

 expedition returned to Road Town. 



Mr. Roy, who was very helpful throughout, suggested a trial ex- 

 cavation of the Indian midden just east of Road Tow T n. With his 

 help, laborers were obtained and the highest part of the midden was 

 trenched. The results were striking in that the cultural objects ob- 

 tained were practically identical with material collected by previous 

 Smithsonian expeditions from Arawak village sites in Santo Domingo, 



