This is an extract from the introduction to the second chapter of the historical novel ‘Bahama Saga’ by Peter Barratt published by Authorhouse in 2002.

Mission of Discovery - Chapter Two (c. 150 BC)

After the discovery of the Greater Antilles the great migrations in the Americas came to an end. Life now for the inhabitants of the islands remained virtually unchanged for the next four thousand years.  The seasons ruled their lives and the bounty of both land and sea responded to their unvoiced requests for sustenance.

It might be thought strange that anyone would wish to break out of such a tranquil self-sustaining environment yet, for reasons unknown, a small number of the Antillean people just before the dawn of the Christian era left the tranquility of the island of Cuba to make some temporary settlements in the islands about one hundred miles to the north of their homeland. To survive, the transplanted visitors lived off the meagre resources of the islands and traded with the nearby islands of Cuba and Hispaniola.

Traditionally most trade in the Antilles was carried on between the larger islands though very occasionally, a small convoy of canoes would head out for the low, swampy isles and cays north of Hispaniola today known as the Turks and Caicos Islands. One such trading voyage to the Caicos resulted not only in commerce but in the discovery of a distant shrine cave far to the north in a small flotilla of islands today part of the Bahamian archipelago.

Island Notes is contributed weekly by Peter Barratt, an architect/town planner formerly in charge of the development of Freeport, and author of a number of books including FREEPORT NOTEBOOK and GRAND BAHAMA. His books are available in Grand Bahama at Oasis drug store, the Rand Nature Centre, Bahamian Tings and the Garden of the Groves shops. In Nassau you can find his works at most bookshops on the island.