The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-10-14


the stars and stripes flying at masthead
steamed away
n day and n 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 rs the San Salvador
of Columbus. For half day we steamed
along the coast Of Cat island, and | ex-
amined 1t 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. It 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 Nairn, the only
white resident of the island, veritable
Pooh Bah, monarch of coral isle. His
salary is 5000 year, and he has been
there thirty years.
Captain Nairn became our guide
counselor, friend and foeman. With
him we explored the island. A coral
rock it is, a 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 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-
vous of infamous Blue Beard, and some
Of these poor people are no doubt his
direct descendants.
But | 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 large lagoon in the middle Of the |
island" the luxuriant verdure, the |
'reefs running all round that island"
the hills near the shore, the piece 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 "all the ships of |
Christendom could lie" All these and
many more of the things which Column I
bus had described we found, and at first |
knew instinctively, and later proved to |
a mathematical certainty, that this was |
the birthplace of the New World.
a little bay, two miles from the piece |
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 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 O
high hill which Columbus probably first |
saw in the moonlight of that fateful |
morning. 1t is the first bit of coast to the
south, free enough from reefs TO permit
safe landing. 1t is at 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
after his arrival, on this occa-
sion discovering the piece of land like
an island" and the wonderful harbor '.in
which the water is still as in WE'LL"
On the promontory which lifted its
head above the little bay we erected
It 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 i'll,
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 Column
q