The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-09-26

ice, hired Sandy, the mOsb ialhoaS
pilot of the Bahamas; borrowed an
American flag of the 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
solemnly 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 a 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-all in the per-
son of Captain Maxwell Marin, the only
white resident Of the island, a veritable
Pooh Bah, monarch of coral isle. His
salary is 5000 a 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 it is, 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 score Of acres OF
land, subsisting principally on fish and
other sea food. They are an honest,
pious, temperate people. Their chief
failing is a predisposition toward piracy,
and woe to the cargo Of the ship that is
wrecked upon their shores. This plrat-
ical tendency they came naturally by,
for this coral island was once the rendez-
vous 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
Deum' in imitation of Columbus himself.
The spirit of Columbus dominates every
thing in Watlings, overshadows every
thing, leaves nothing else to be thought
Of or written about
And no wonder. Here was everything
that Columbus described in his journal
the s'large lagoon in the middle of the
island" the luxuriant verdure, the
ssreefs running all round that island, !"
the hills near the shore, the .spiece OF
land like an island, yet which is not an
island, but could easily be made one," as
an admirable sight for fort; the harbor
lying hard by, in which call the ships of
Christendom could lie." All these and
many more Of the things which Column
bus had described we found, and at first
knew instinctively, and later proved to
mathematical certainty, that this was
the birthplace of the New World.
A little bay, two miles from the sspiece
of land like an island" chose after
much exploration as the very spot at
which the landing was made. That this
island was the San Salvador of Column
bus l know; that this pretty bay, with
its overhanging headland and shining
beach, was the more particular scene OF
the discovery believe. In the nature
Of things it cannot be proved, though
there is much in its favor. Near it is a
high hill which Columbus probably first
saw in the moonlight of that Hateful
morning. It is the first bit of coast to the
south, free enough from reefs to permit
safe landing. It is at a point whence Co
| lumbus would have rowed "north north
easterly to see the other side of the
island" as he says he did the second
morning after his arrival, on this occa-
sion discovering the ''piece of land like
an island" and the wonderful harbor sin
which the water is still as in a well"
On the promontory which lifted its
head above the little bay we erected a
memorial. 1t was constructed of coral
limestone found hard by. Thirty ma
tive workmen were employed cutting
roads with their machetes, bringing for
ward materials, mixing mortar and car
rying cement up the hillside. Skillful
boatmen brought supplies from the
steamer through the dangerous coral
reef. The American flag foated from a
staff as we worked, and the monument
grew day by day. The sun beat with
| tropical fierceness; our drinking water
was dipped out of the hollows of the rocks,
warm and brackish. But no one fell ill.
and finally the work was finished. 1t
| had been well done. Plenty of cement
bound the stones firmly together. The
result was beautiful. In the coral lime
stone are all the tints Of the rainbow,
| all the marine FORMS Land and sea to-
gether had built memorial to Colun1,
| 8