» * * After getting in water I returned to the ship, and set sail, and sailed to the northwest
until I discovered all that part of the island as far as the coast which runs east [and] west."

Captain Becher anchors Columbus off Exuma harbor, where his vessels take in some water.
He does not say which entrance, but from his track it appears to be the southeast one. The series
of connected harbors formed by Elizabeth and Stocking islands and the adjacent cays, on the
northeast side of Exuma, are the best in the Bahamas. They are from J to ^ a mile wide, and
have two entrances, 7^ miles apart. The southeast one has IS feet at low water and the north-
west one 21 feet. The tide rises 2i feet. Beginning at the southeast is Elizabeth harbor, with
from 21 to 23 feet; Stocking with 16; Conch 15 to 24, and at the northwest Exuma with 31.
These harbors are generally known by the name of "Exuma," and they will be so called in this
paper. Captain Becher had the Admiralty plans, and the description of each, in his oflfice, and
therefore knew that Exuma could not be the '* marvellous port" which Columbus examined and
found too shoal. Hitherto Columbus had been casting anchor on the reefs surrounding the
islands, and his anxiety therefrom found expression in his Journal of the 15th and 16th of October.
