46 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



habit of sailing to Porto Kico to obtain boat-building material, as 

 the trees growing on the Lesser Antilles were not suitable for making 

 large dugouts. 



Fire-killed trees left to dry before felling were later felled by 

 firing and then gouged out with stone axes after alternate processes 

 of burning and charring to loosen the wooden fiber to be removed. 

 The width of beam was increased by inserting beams of wood trans- 

 versely at several points. A unique invention was the building up 

 of the gunwales with a plaited bulwark of sticks and reeds knitted 

 together with rattan and pitched with gum. Herrera described the 

 canoes as " boats made of one piece of timber, square at the ends like 

 trays, deeper than the canoes, the sides raised with canes, daubed 

 over with bitumen." Use of sails and awnings, decorative designs in 

 paint and carving — all were traits making the West Indian dugout 

 canoe a highly developed invention. PaddleS rather than sails 

 were the ordinary means of propulsion. A long paddle having a 

 crutch-shape handle was generally employed. Long voyages were 

 not infrequent. For instance, three Lucayan Islanders escaped from 

 Hispaniola and the bonds of Spanish slavery and attempted to sail 

 back to the Bahamas. They were recaptured when they had prac- 

 tically completed their journey of over 100 miles. Bailing was 

 accomplished with a calabash bail; also by rocking the boat. 



Ohjects of shell and hone. — Both ornamental and useful objects 

 were fashioned by the Ciguayan Indians of Samana from varieties 

 of shells. In the west Florida Keys shell picks and celts were 

 shaped from the Busycon species, while in Haiti varieties of the 

 Strombus species shell were so employed. Even objects of a religious 

 nature were carved from varieties of shells obtained from the adja- 

 cent waters. The varieties of shell used in axes found on the coast 

 of Yucatan again differ from those of Haiti and are smaller. Objects 

 of personal adornment, as necklaces of shell beads, nose ornaments 

 of turtle shell, and amulets, such as the small, beautifully carved 

 personal amulets or zemis; inlay of shell particles on wooden seats 

 and other household furniture; univalves shaped into cups, dishes, 

 plates, and celts of the shoehorn variety — these are some of the uses 

 to which native ingenuity put bivalve or univalve shells. 



The use of conch-shell bowls, plates, or of domestic utensils of 

 any description has been characterized as pre-Arawak. In Cuba 

 this usage of shells in a purely practical and utilitarian manner has 

 been termed " Ciboney " culture, hitherto not described from any 

 of the other islands of the Greater Antilles. Quantities of shell 

 bowls, plates, and of improvised utensils of several varieties similar 

 to the " Ciboney " culture were found by the Museum expedition to 

 be also characteristic of the cave culture of the south shore of 



