23 
Though the earliest beginnings of what was to become the 
great Maya civilization antedated the birth of Christ by several 
thousand years, the first Europeans to encounter the Mayas were 
the survivors of the wreck of an ill-fated Spanish ship on its 
way from Darien to Santo Domingo that founded on a reef off 
Jamaica in 1511. Of the 19 who escaped, 7 perished in the course 
of the 14 days they were at sea in an open boat at the mercy of 
the prevailing easterly trade winds that carried them to coast 
of Yucatan 
IN CONCLUSION 
Although Mr. Bredin intended to give the expedition a full 
week of collecting in the Cayman islands, an unforeseen change 
in airplane schedules between Cozumel and Merida disrupted our 
plans. In consequence, we were vouchsafed but two days in 
Georgetown, Grand Cayman, before our charter expired on May 5. 
These days were largely occupied in getting our collections 
and collecting gear packed for shipment home. We were due to 
leave for Miami on the 6th of May, but, because of minor air- 
plane trouble, we did not get away until the morning of the 7th. 
The 9th saw us back at work at the Museum and Dr. Daiber at the 
University of Delaware. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
Of the many to whom the Smithsonian Institution owes so 
much for the happy conclusion of a successful voyage to Quintana 
Roo--a still too little-known corner of the world--only a few 
can here be named: First of all, Mr. and Mrs. J. Bruce Bredin, 
