AFFILIATIONS OF SANTO DOMINGAN POTTEEY 105 



fact with the known observation as to ocean currents and prevailing 

 winds in the West Indies it may be readily seen that this was a 

 natural watercourse or natural route of migration for South Ameri- 

 can tribes who had been dislodged from their ancestral home in the 

 interior, either through increasing population, warfare, famine, 

 or some other cause. Cuban Arawak groups actually did migrate 

 to the Florida Peninsula. They also reached the Bahamas, off the 

 coast of Florida, and it is a known historical fact that Columbus 

 engaged the inhabitants or natives of the island of Guanahani as 

 interpreters when he explored the northern coast of Cuba and Santo 

 Domingo, 



Hernando d'Escalante Fontaneda, a Spaniard who was wrecked 

 on the Florida reefs and had been captured by the Colusa Indians, 

 remained with them eight years, from 1552 to 1560. He wrote a 

 memoir in which are names of native towns, villages, chiefs, and 

 tribes of Florida. He relates that Indians habitually came across 

 from Florida in search of the fountain of life. These Indians came 

 in such numbers that the king Caloosa, or his father, Sequene, 

 assigned them a particular village in which they should live, telling 

 them it was useless to pursue their quest any farther. 



Connection of the island Arawak with Floridian tribes was essen- 

 tially one of trade and provisioning. Transference of decorative 

 designs, therefore, was incidental to trade contacts. It is neverthe- 

 less true that certain Arawakan earthenware designs are typical of 

 the southeastern Atlantic States and occur also elsewhere in North 

 America, but the penetration of Floridian designs within the Greater 

 Antilles remains an obscure problem. 



Peter Martyr ^^ mentions a species of tree in the Lucayan Islands 

 where many pigeons nest. Indians from Florida came to catch 

 these pigeons and carried boatloads back with them. In Guanahani 

 the Indians knew of a land lying northwest of the Bahamas; also, 

 in Cuba, natives knew of a land mass on the north. The relationship 

 between the so-called coonti flour in native Florida and cassava 

 flour in the Greater Antilles is on a par with other observed culture 

 trait complexes in the two areas. Methods employed in the produc- 

 tion of the root flour are similar but elementary and protean. Other 

 examples of Floridian and Antillean culture relationship might be 

 cited and traced to a common culture level proceeding from a com- 

 mon culture origin. For instance, the common wooden seat of tho 

 Bahamas occurred in Florida; petaloid celts and monolithic axes 

 extended farther north, and pottery decorative designs of the An- 

 tillean type occur widely throughout the Southeastern States. The 

 palm-thatched house of the Seminole Indian is identical with that 



" De Orbe Novo, p. 251. 





