APPENDIX.
370
be about five leagues distant ; some of the others were nearer, and some further off.
T h e island thus selected, it is presumed, was the present
island of Concepcion ; and that the others were that singular belt of small islands, known as L a Cadena (or the chain), stretching past the island of San Salvador in a S. E . and N . W . direction : the nearest of the group being nearer than Concepcion, while the rest are more distant. Leaving San Salvador in the afternoon of the 14th for the island thus selected, the ships lay by during the night, and did not reach it until late in the following day, being retarded by adverse currents.
Columbus gave
this island the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion : he does not men tion either its bearings from San Salvador, or the course which he steered in going to it.
W e know that in all this neighborhood the current sets
strongly and constantly to the W . N . W . ; and since Columbus had the current against him, he must have been sailing in an opposite direction, or to the E . S. E .
Besides, when near Concepcion, Columbus sees another
island to the westward, the largest he had yet seen ; but he tells us that he anchored off Concepcion, and did not stand for this larger island, be cause he could not have sailed to the west.
Hence it is rendered certain
that Columbus did not sail westward in going from San Salvador to Con cepcion ; for, from the opposition of the wind, as there could be no other cause, he
could not sail towards that quarter.
N o w , on
reference
to the chart, w e find the island at present known as Concepcion situ ated E . S. E . from San Salvador, and at a corresponding distance of five leagues. Leaving Concepcion on the 16th October, Columbus steered for a very large island seen to the westward nine leagues off, and which extended itself twenty-eight leagues in a S. E . and N . W . direction.
H e was be
calmed the whole day, and did not reach the island until the following morning, 17th October.
H e named it Fernandina.
A t noon he made sail
again, with a view to run round it, and reach another island called Samoet ; but the wind being at S. E . by S., the course he wished to steer, the na tives signified that it would be easier to sail round this island by running to the N . W . with a fair wind.
H e therefore bore up to the N . W . , and
having run two leagues found a marvelous port, with a narrow entrance, or rather with two entrances, for there was an island which shut it in completely, forming a noble basin within.
Sailing out of this harbor by
the opposite entrance at the N . W . , he discovered that part of the island which runs east and west.
T h e natives signified to him that this island
was smaller than Samoet, and that it would be better to return towards