ST. JOHN


 Great waves, called rollers by seamen in the islands, are usually
produced by various meteorological forces and occur in modern
times quite frequently in the Leeward and Windward Islands. It
can be reasonably conjectured that they also prevailed in pre-
Columbian times. Certainly during historic times there have been
countless records of dangerous landings and destruction inflicted by
rollers. The forces causing such rollers can be the conflict between
waves within the trades or more usually out of gale winds and hur-
ricanes. Reflecting on the settlement of bays and river mouths by
aboriginal peoples, it has long been noted that the great destruc-
tive effect of rollers is increased in those bays which are V-shaped
and especially "when the roadstead consists of a narrow shelf of
shallow water with oceanic depths to seaward" (H. O. Pub. No. 21,
p. 39). This latter feature will be considered again in conjunc-
tion with settlement patterns on the island of St. John.
 October to May seems to be the prevailing season for rollers
or ground swells, and their persistence for several days often makes
for difficult boating in exposed areas. The ground swell seems to
prevail after light east or southeast winds and strike the south and
east coasts of St. John and other Virgin Islands frequently during
those months.
 As these actions of the seas result predominantly from wind
and storm action, we should not by-pass the direct effect of these
wind forces on such islands as St. John and, in turn, on the island
populations. Due to its position to the southwest of the Azores
High, the Virgin Island Group is influenced by the northeast trade
wind belt. There is within this system a seasonal switch from the
predominant northeasterly in the autumn and winter, while spring
and summer bring easterly winds. From an overall viewpoint, how-
ever, St. John and others of the Virgins experience prevailing east
winds. A range of velocity runs between 8.9 and 4.3 knots-July
being the period of highest winds. It will be noted that the average
wind velocity is low and on the whole not a force of great conten-
tion.
 Islands as small as the Virgins are little affected by the so-
called land-sea breeze complex. However, an interesting set of
circumstances, especially on the islands of St. John and St. Thomas,
may well have had more than passing influence on settlement lo-
cation in pre-Columbian times. It will be recalled that the geology