Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-10-02

pilot of the Bahamas; borrowed an
American flag of tho consul, and with
the stars and stripes flying at masthead
steamed away.
A day and night of alternating calm
and storm, through rocky passages and
over dangerous shoals, and we were at
Cat island, which Washington Irving
made famous and our old biographies
solernnly confirmed as the San Salvador
of Columbus. For half a day we steamed
along the coast of Cat island, and ex-
amined it very carefully. 1t bears no
resemblance whatever to the island
which Columbus described in his jour
nal. For fifty years it has been San
Salvador under false pretenses.
In the afternoon we reached Watlings. |
Palm trees and hazy vistas, matched |
huts and outlying reefs over which the
surf broke lazily marked its shores. A
boat at once put off to us. 1t contained
all the officials of the island-the local
magistrate, the port officer, the post
master, the sheriff, the colonel OF the
militia and many more-au in the per-
son Of Captain Maxwell Nairn, the only
| white resident of the island, a veritable
Pooh Bah, monarch of a coral isle. His
salary is 5000 year, and he has been
there thirty years.
CAPTAIN Marin became our guide,
counselor, friend and foeman. With
him we explored the island. A coral
rock 1t is, q dozen miles long and half
as broad, containing large lagoons OF
brackish water, covered with tropical
vegetation, nearly surrounded by reefs.
Eight hundred negroes live here, tilling
altogether probably a score OF acres OF
land, subsisting principally on fish and
other sea food. They are an honest,
pious, temperate people. Their chlet
failing Is a predisposition toward piracy,
and woe to the cargo Of the ship that Is
wrecked upon their shores. This pirat-
ical tendency they came naturally by,
for this coral island was once the rendez-
yous of Infamous Blue Beard, and some
Of these poor people are no doubt his
direct descendants.
But l could see little in this island
, save Christopher Columbus. At every
turn the great discoverer was suggested
The salt lagoon appeared to echo back
his name; the sands of the shore seemed
. TO bear the impress of his feet; the surf
! breaking over the reefs chanted the 'Te
0 Denim" in imitation of Columbus himself
The spirit of Columbus dominates every
: thing in Watlings, overshadows every
@ thing, leaves nothing else to be thought
J. of or written about.
y And no wonder. Here was everything
: that Columbus described in his journal
: the 'large lagoon in the middle of thu
!, island" the luxuriant verdure, Tn.
. "reefs running all round that island,
the hills near the shore, the piece o
land like an island, yet which is not al
=, island, but could easily be made one" a
. an admirable sight for fort; the harbo
- living hard by, in which "all the ships O
. Christendom could lie." All these an
81 many more of the things which Colun
- bus had described we found, and at hrs
% knew instinctively, and later proved
- a mathematical certainty, that this wa
~ the birthplace of the New World.
hsa A little bay, two miles from the "pief
as of land like an island" chose aft'
= much exploration as the very spot
10 which the landing was made. That tn
81 island was the San Salvador of Colur
=, bus know; that this pretty bay, vii
20 its overhanging headland and shinir
" beach. was the more particular scene
~ the discovery believe. In the natu
- of things il cannot be proved, thoue
g. there Is much in its favor. Near 1T is
~ high hill which Columbus probably tir
a. :. saw in the moonlight of that fatef
- morning. 1t is the first bit of coast to q
90 south, free enough from reefs to perm
"a safe landing. 1t is at a point whence I
~ lumbus would have rowed north mort
"a easterly to see the other side OF t
's- island" as he says he did the secol
~, ius morning after his arrival, on this ocd
"a sion di covering the "piece of land Ii
- an island" and the wonderful harbor y
which the water Is still as in well.
LA On the promontory which lifted
"a head above the little bay we erected
a. memorial. 1t was constructed OF CO
s-S limestone found hard by. Thirty
o. tive workmen were employed cuttl
roads with their machetes, bringing I
ward materials, mixing mortar and
. ryin9 cement up the hillside. Skill
"a boatnen brought supplies from
as steamer through the dangerous co
sso reef. The American flag foated fror
~ ~ staff as we worked, and the monum
'p - grew day by day. The sun beat W
tropical fierceness; our drinking wa
.1 was dipped out of the hollows of the roc
-, warm and brackish. But no one fell
80 and finally the work was finished.
- had been well done. Plenty of Gem
10 bound the stones firmly together.
- result was beautiful. In the coral Ii
stone ere all the tints of the rainb
Ba- al sne ,na,ino 40 o,,,oriaI 20 Col,
,om- ge'her n"o 'uii' '' 'i-0'''- ~
ught X
nant IN
MIN 81