56 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Puberty of girls was celebrated by a feast, after which the girl 

 wore a small net filled with leaves and attached to the w^aist. Both 

 sexes wore ornamental bandages on upper arms, below the knees, and 

 at the ankle. The legs of w^omen were swathed with cotton bandages 

 from ankle to the knee. Similar ornaments were worn in Jamaica and 

 are still worn by the Indians of southeastern Panama. 



Ferdinand Columbus, writing of the Carib of the island of Guade- 

 loupe, refers to the same custom as being practiced in the Lesser 

 Antilles. He writes that " the same both men and women use in 

 Jamaica, who swath their arms up to their armpits, that is about 

 the smallest parts, like the old-fashioned sleeves used among us." 

 Presence of similar cotton bandages is indicated on a wooden zemi 

 carving in the National Museum from Haiti. 



That the Ciguayan Indians of Samana were also weavers is indi- 

 cated by a discoidal spindle whorl of burned clay (Cat. No. 341023, 

 U.S.N.M.), which was recovered from the Ciguayan village site at 

 San Juan (pi. 17, No. 6), The presence of netting tools and of net 

 weights, together with other objects, offer evidence of the extensive 

 use of woven cotton yarns by the former Indian population of that 

 area, Ferdinand Columbus tells that in Cuba a large quantity of 

 cotton, estimated at 12,000 pounds, was seen and, no doubt, appro- 

 priated by the Spanish. A different form of the loom, unlike the 

 South American Arawak type, was also seen in Cuba. It is possible 

 that this loom resembled more that of the Mexicans or Central 

 Americans, and, if so, is an interesting evidence of Central American 

 influence in the West Indies. The spindle whorl uncovered by the 

 Museum expedition was of pottery, although stone whorls have been 

 found in the Greater Antilles. The finding of pottery stamps at 

 San Juan (pi. 17, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) may indicate that stamped 

 decorative patterns were also applied to woven cloth by the island 

 Arawak of Haiti. Stamps of pottery from Haiti, including those 

 recovered by the Museum expedition from San Juan are more crude 

 than the Mexican stamps, but in a general way resemble the Mexi- 

 can form. Quite an array of Mexican resemblances might be listed 

 in this connection, all of which, however, such as stamps, clay fig- 

 urine heads, metates, stone stools, tubular beads, loom, and other 

 objects, are generalized in their resemblance and can not be directly 

 associated with any one Mexican culture period or area. Cylindrical 

 stamps of wood are used by certain tribes of the Amazon Valley in 

 decorating their textiles with designs. It is possible that the 

 Samanan pottery stamps are, after all, more adapted to similar pur- 

 poses, also to placing ornamental painted designs on the body, than 

 to apply relief decorative designs on pottery vessels. No pottery 

 vessels with incised or embossed designs made by pottery stamps 

 were found in Samana. 



