Exuma Island

Exuma Island is described as the sea monsters’ midsummer gathering place: a shelter beside a great ocean trench where they converge to mate. Its significance in the account is both geographic and evidentiary, since Yves de la Croix identifies it as the place that confirmed his predictions and led to the creatures being found.

The Midsummer Gathering

Yves explains that reports pointed to one place and one time for the sea monsters’ gathering. They converge at Exuma Island when the midsummer sun crosses over a great ocean trench, which provides their shelter. He describes their purpose there as mating, although his characterization of the behavior is judgmental rather than a neutral account of the creatures’ customs.

Role in the Discovery

The island is presented as the answer to the search, not merely as a stop along the way. Louis XIV acknowledges that Yves found the creatures in the wild sea of the New World and that his predictions were correct; Yves, in turn, credits his success to collecting reports that all pointed toward Exuma Island and the gathering time. The report provokes an expectant silence, which the Marquise de Maintenon ends by declaring that no more needs to be heard about the subject.