APPENDIX.
the latter.
371
It had now become calm, but shortly after there sprung up a
breeze from W . N . W . , which was ahead for the course they had been steering ; so they bore up and stood to the E . S. E . in order to get an offing ; for the weather threatened a storm, which however dissipated itself in rain.
T h e next day, being the 18th October, they anchored opposite the
extremity of Fernandina. T h e whole of this description answers most accurately to the island of Exuma, which lies south from San Salvador, and S. W . by S. from Concepcion.
T h e only inconsistency is, that Columbus states that Fer足
nandina bore nearly west from Concepcion, and was twenty-eight leagues in extent.
This mistake must have proceeded from his having taken the
long chain of keys called L a Cadena for part of the same E x u m a ; which continuous appearance they naturally assume when seen from Concep足 cion, for they run in the same S. E . and N . W . direction.
Their bearings,
when seen from the same point, are likewise westerly as well as south足 westerly.
A s a proof that such was the case, it may be observed, that,
after having approached these islands, instead of the extent of Fernan足 dina being increased to
his eye, he now remarks that it was
twenty
leagues long, whereas before it was estimated by him at twenty-eight ; he now discovers that instead of one island there were many, and alters his course southerly to reach the one that was most conspicuous. T h e identity of the island here described with Exuma is irresistibly forced upon the mind.
T h e distance from Concepcion, the remarkable
port with an island in front of it, and farther on its coast turning off to the westward, are all so accurately delineated, that it would seem as though the chart had been drawn from the description of Columbus. On the 19th October, the ships left Fernandina, steering S. E . with the wind at north.
Sailing three
hours on
this course, they
discovered
Samoet to the east, and steered for it, arriving at its north point before noon.
Here they found a little island surrounded by rocks, with another
reef of rocks lying between it and Samoet.
T o Samoet Columbus gave
the name of Isabella, and to the point of it opposite the little island, that of Cabo del Isleo ; the cape at the S. W . point of Samoet Columbus called Cabo de Laguna, and off this last his ships were brought to anchor.
The
little island lay in the direction from Fernandina to Isabella, east and west. T h e coast from the small island lay westerly twelve leagues to a cape, which Columbus called Fermosa from its beauty ; this he believed to be an island apart from Samoet or Isabella, with another one between them. Leaving Cabo Laguna, where he remained until the 20th October, Colum-
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