HISTORICAL NARRATIVES AND FIELD WORK 27 



The present inhabitants of Hispaniola still find the figures of Zemes in 

 several parts of the island, and it is by this sign that they know where Indian 

 towns formerly stood, as well as by certain heaps of shells found underground ; 

 the Indians having been very fond of shellfish ; and as often as this happens, 

 very curious discoveries are to be made, by continuing to dig a little, in the 

 neighborhood of such heaps ; for here are generally to be found everything the 

 people used ; such as earthen vessels, flat earthen plates for baking cassava 

 bread, hatchets, and those little plates of gold they used to hang to their nostrils, 

 and sometimes to their ears; but above all, a considerable quantity of Zemes 

 of every form." 



Field work in Samana Province^ 1928. — Early in 1916 Dr. William 

 L. Abbott, whose studies in the natural history of the Dominican 

 Republic began as early as 1883, visited the Samana caves and ob- 

 tained material of great interest to the archeologist and biologist. 

 Doctor Abbott later paid repeated visits to the eastern coastal region, 

 notably the peninsula of Samana and the northern Dominican coast 

 as far west as the Province of Monte Cristi adjoining the Republic 

 of Haiti. Trips to several localities in the highlands of the interior, 

 in the Provinces of La Vega and Azua, were also made. On these 

 expeditions he made valuable collections of mammals, birds, reptiles, 

 moUusks, insects, and Indian artifacts. 



In Samana, Doctor Abbott succeeded in obtaining living jutias 

 {Plagiodontia hylaeum)^ supposed to have become extinct shortly 

 after the early decades of the Spanish conquest. In the upland 

 mountain valley of Constanza he discovered a form of crossbill 

 {Loxia megajdaga) related to the white-winged crossbill, a species 

 restricted in the breeding season to the Boreal zone of North America. 



Through the generosity of Doctor Abbott a project was initiated 

 in 1928 to correlate biological investigations in the Dominican Re- 

 public with historical accounts regarding the aborigines and arche- 

 ological excavations of open village sites, kitchen middens, and of 

 midden deposits in the Samana caves. Dr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr., of 

 the National Museum, and the writer spent a part of the winter and 

 spring of 1928 in exploration of caves on the south shore of Samana 

 Bay and of aboriginal village sites on Samana Peninsula, The com- 

 bined objectives of the expedition were to recover skeletal and cul- 

 tural remains from shell heaps, kitchen middens, and aboriginal 

 habitation sites, as well as to make general collections of the plants 

 and vertebrates of the region. 



Working from the town of Santa Barbara de Samana as a base, 

 the expedition crossed to the caves on the south shore of Samana 

 Bay, where a month was spent in the caves of the Playa Honda 

 coast. Living quarters were established in the cave known as " Boca 

 del Infierno." This cave has three main openings, two of which 



" Natural and Civil "History of the French Dominions in North and South America. 

 London, 1760. 



