in the search), and he also asserts that from the northern point the coast ran west for 12 leagues, to its western cape, Cabo Hermoso. The direction of this coastline running west contradicts both Columbus's own arrival at the island (since he arrived at the north point by sailing east, and did not arrive at Cabo Hermoso first) and his later description of his departure from this northern end of Island IV (as he departed sailing SSW and yet did not run aground). From Cabo Hermoso, Columbus described a "great bight" to the northeast. Further confusing the issue, Columbus then says that he believes Cabo Hermoso is on a separate island from Samoete. The following morning (20 October), he tried to enter the bight in order to circumnavigate the island. That attempt soon proved futile because it was too shallow, and Columbus reversed course and returned to the northern end, awaiting the arrival of the King which his kidnapped native guides had told him about. After two days of fruitless waiting for the King and another day becalmed, Columbus departed from the northern end of Island IV at midnight on 24 October, setting his sights on Cuba, the large island to the south he had been told about. He sailed WSW until dawn on the 24th, then was becalmed again until noon, making scant progress in the afternoon. At some point, he fixed his position at seven leagues southeast of Cape Verde, which he describes as being "in the western part of the southern part" of Island III. From that point, he made two leagues on a doubtful course under a rising wind; then, the morning of 25 October, he made five leagues WSW and another 11 leagues west when they sighted the Ragged Islands, which he called the Islas de Arena ("Sand Islands") running north–south at a distance of five leagues. Candidates Modern San Salvador Island was known since the 17th century as Watlings Island but renamed in 1925 after historians identified it as Guanahani. This hypothesis was first proposed by Juan Bautista Muñoz (1793). It was resurrected by A. B. Becher (1856) and forwarded strongly by James Murdock (1884). Notable defenders of the theory include the influential historians Richard Henry Major (1871) and Samuel Eliot Morison (1942). It remains widely accepted as the most probable candidate today. However, Keith Pickering argues that Watlings Island is among the least