THE LUC AY AN INDIANS. 97 



above the eyes. This flattening was practiced to such a degree 

 that the bones of the child's skull were often broken by the press- 

 ure of the bandages, and two out of the four skulls had false 

 joints, which appear to be the result of fracture produced in this 

 way. 



The type of the race is extremely well marked, and, after one 

 of the skulls had been examined, it was easy to see at a glance 

 that the others belong to the same people, and their characteristics 

 agree closely with the very short description of the Ceboynas 

 which Columbus gives. 



In his log-book, October 13th, he says: "At dawn many of 

 these men came down to the shore. All are, as already said, 

 youths of good size and very handsome ; their hair not woolly, but 

 loose and coarse like horses' hair. They have broader heads and 

 foreheads than I have ever seen in any race of men, and the eyes 

 very beautiful, not small. None of them are black, but of the 

 complexion of the inhabitants of the Canaries. All, without ex- 

 ception, have very straight limbs, and no bellies, and very well 

 formed." 



This passage, and a few others in his log-book, contain nearly 

 all that is known of the race, for the rapidity with which discov- 

 ery followed discovery was unparalleled ; and the simple Lucayans 

 attracted little interest or attention after the Spaniards found the 

 large fertile islands of the Antilles and the civilization of Mexico. 



We know, however, that the statements in the histories to the 

 effect that they were naked, weaponless, and without arts, are in- 

 correct, as they are based upon the impressions which Columbus 

 formed during his first day among them. 



It is true that the men who welcomed Columbus were naked 

 and without weapons, and that, as they sat in their canoes, with 

 their stiff, black hair cut straight across their low foreheads and 

 hanging down behind in a long scalp-lock, with their naked bodies 

 painted, "some black and some white and some red, and some 

 whatever they find," they must have seemed like thorough sav- 

 ages. He soon found, however, that they had gardens and neat, 

 well-swept houses, and that they knew how to manufacture 

 cotton cloth, and had such simple clothing as suits the climate. 

 Their large canoes, hewed out of the trunks of single trees, were 

 large enough to hold forty or fifty men each, and " wonderfully 

 built according to the locality," and Columbus says they were 

 skillful boatmen, paddling with wonderful speed, and managing 

 them with great dexterity. 



Fragments of pottery, household utensils of carved wood, and 

 rude pictorial carvings have been found in the islands, and the 

 occasional discovery of beautifully polished stone implements 

 proves, like the piece of gold marked with letters, that they were 



VOL. XXXVI. 7 



