36 BULLETIN 15 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



source of fresh water precludes extensive settlement except by those 

 who are prepared to erect storage reservoirs. The first site explored, 

 designated kilometer 2 by the writer, is south of the pueblo of Petite 

 Saline, 10 kilometers inland from the Atlantic coast, and 30 kilo- 

 meters north of the Yaque River, the sole source of fresh water in 

 the lower valley for several months of the year. For a brief period 

 following the rainy season, in December and January, springs sup- 

 plied from water stored in the subsoil of the foothills afford a source 

 of fresh water. During the remainder of the year a series of arti- 

 ficial reservoirs with earthen dams provided water for the aboriginal 

 occupants of the village. Ruins of these reservoirs, although over- 

 grown with thorn thickets, are readily discernible on the lower 

 ground southeast of the village. The aboriginal practice of im- 

 pounding water in reservoirs during the rainy season is continued 

 by the few Dominicans who live in this semiarid region. 



JMoralis, one of the most careful of Spanish writers, observes that 

 irrigation was extensively practiced in Xaragua, in Azua, in the 

 lake region, in Yaquino, and in Bainoa. " In all these regions are 

 fosses or trenches made of old time, whereby they convey the water 

 in order to water their fields, with no less art than do the inhabitants 

 of New Carthage and of the Kingdom of Murcia." 



Kilometer 2 site includes six parallel roAvs of refuse heaps and 

 kitchen middens extending 350 feet north and south. Ashes from 

 the different aboriginal hearth fires form layers extending practically 

 the entire length of each rovv\ Each midden is separated from the 

 next parallel midden by the distance of 5 to 10 paces. Cultural 

 deposits of ashes and kitchen refuse in the average never exceeded 

 a depth of 7 feet. Only a few inches of soil covered the middens. 



Another archeological site, higher up in the foothills of the Silla 

 de Caballo (Saddle Mountains) Range, near the present Dominican 

 pueblos of Manantial and Las Aguitas, is much larger than the 

 former Ciguayan village site, designated as kilometer 2. This sta- 

 tion undoubtedly owes its origin to the presence of fresh-water 

 springs. A portion of the site extends to the summit of the highest 

 hills of the region at an elevation of more than 300 meters. Many 

 of the higher hills of the Monte Cristi Mountains have at their 

 summit small culture deposits of conchs and shells of other mollusks 

 intermingled with layers of ash from aboriginal hearths. 



The net results of the exploratory work in this region are of value 

 to biologists in determining the fauna of the area, nmch of which 

 has become extinct since colonization by the Spanish. I>Iammal, 

 bird, fish, and reptile bones occur in quantity throughout the mid- 

 dens. The relative proportions of fish and mammal bones establish 

 without a doubt that the aboriginal occupants of the Monte Cristi 

 sites were primarily fishermen. This is significant, as the sites are 



