36 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tionship might be cited and traced to a common origin. For instance, 

 the common conical pottery bowl occurs throughout the southeastern 

 States as far west as Texas, petaloid celts as far north as Georgia, 

 and pottery decorative designs of, Antillean type widely throughout 

 the southeastern States. The palm thatched house of the Seminole 

 Indian apparently is identical with that of the Arawak of the 

 Greater Antilles. An analogous culture unit of a somewhat different 

 type might be seen in the rough flat shell beads, shell gouges, and 

 shell dishes of the key population of southern Florida and of the 

 coast fishermen of Haiti and Cuba. In mentioning such culture sim- 

 ilarity as significant it must be taken into account that the cave 

 dwellers of Samana, who were also fishermen, were in possession of 

 the same meager culture. 



Within the unit of the Greater Antilles was the strengthening bond 

 of a common speech. Columbus observed that Arawak speech was 

 understood as far w^est as Pinar del Rio Province in Cuba, as far 

 north as the Bahamas, where it was the common speech, and as far 

 east as the Carib islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe. He also 

 discovered that the natives of Cumana and of, Paria, on the Vene- 

 zuelan coast, knew of the existence of the island of Haiti and of 

 Haitian and Porto Rican gold. They also knew of the Mona Passage 

 between Santa Domingo and Porto Rico, which was in daily use by 

 the residents of both islands. The several centers of native crafts- 

 manship, as the carving industry which flourished on the island of 

 Gonave, has been referred to. Las Casas unites that one type of 

 customs prevailed throughout the island of Haiti. Although several 

 local dialects were noted, this did not interfere with their being 

 understood to any considerable extent by natives throughout the 

 entire West Indian Archipelago, with the exception of the Caribs 

 who occupied the Lesser Antilles. The son of Goacanagaric, cacique 

 of Marien on the Haitian north coast, easily conversed with native 

 women from Porto Rico (Borinquen) who had been rescued from 

 the Caribs by Columbus. Columbus was responsible for the state- 

 ment that native barter extended throughout the archipelago and 

 included stools, gold, dishes, and other pottery vessels, and carvings. 

 The wares the Arawak of Cuba wished to barter with the Spanish 

 consisted of food and provisions, cotton, yarns in balls, and parrots. 

 Doctor Chanca says that gold, provisions, and other objects of native 

 barter were gladly exchanged for beads, laces, pins, and glazed dishes 

 from Spain. 



Native intercourse with Yucatan was probably limited to a few 

 trading voyages, and that but recently, as there is no evidence as 

 yet at hand that the far higher culture of the Maya had influenced 

 that of the island Arawak of the West Indies. The cakes of beeswax 



