734 PAPERS RELATING TO i^THROPOLOGY. 



It is uow very difficult to find wrought stones in the ground. Here 

 and tbere the plow or the hoe turns up some occasional fragments. 

 These stones lie in fact in the arable layer or stratum, and this has been 

 so well worked that everything it contained has been brought to light. 

 New clearings alone would favor the collector. In the deep strata 

 would other things belonging to an earlier race be found? In the case 

 of Grande-Terre it would be impossible, for as soon as we have passed 

 the vegetable mold we reach calcareous rocks, Madrejioric formations 

 containing numerous fossil shells and dog-fish, which i^reclude all idea 

 of the presence of man. It appears to me more probable in the case 

 of Guadeloupe, which is of more ancient formation, and which must at 

 all times have offered more resources to man. 



However large may be the number and variety of the types which I 

 possess, I still consider my work incomplete. 



It constitutes only the prolegomena of what I would wish to accom- 

 plish. 



In the presence of this collection, one is led to ask if these wrought 

 stones are the work of the Yguiris or of the Caribs, or if they would 

 not belong to these two races. We are in almost complete darkness on 

 this point. It is necessary to throw some light on the subject. This 

 could be done only by visiting all the Lesser Antilles, which were al- 

 ready occupied by the Caribs on the arrival of Columbus; the Greater 

 Antilles, from Porto Rico to Cuba; and Trinidad, which is but a frag- 

 ment recently detached from the continent ; by gathering carefully in 

 each island all the wrought stones which would certainly be found there; 

 hj studying with the utmost care the inscribed stones ; by classifying 

 separately the inscriptions and relics according to locality, and finally 

 by comparing the whole together in order to determine the points of 

 relationship 



Having completed this first labor in the Greater and Lesser Antilles, 

 it would be necessary to collect together the relics from the soil of 

 Guiana, and, taking them as types, to compare them with those of each 

 Antille separately. Then only could we come to some conclusion. We 

 would have laid open to us, in fact, the now silent history of these 

 aboriginal inhabitants. 



I have been able to obtain some pieces from Porto Eico, as follows : 

 1st. Celts of all sizes, in general well polished, but some with a fine 

 brilliant glazing. 2d. A mortar representing a bat — a very curious 

 piece which must have required long months of labor. 3d. An idol 

 representing a man lying on his belly, and supporting a mountain on 

 his back. A very remarkable peculiaritj^ is that the legs are bent as 

 if in the act of swimming. I think that this idol is the personification 

 of some marine deity, protector of an island. 4th. An enormous 

 necklace, covered with inscriptions on one of its lower surfaces: This 

 necklace was evidently slung over the shoulder like a hunting-horn. 

 5th. The lower part of another necklace, but without any inscription. 

 6th. A small netting-needle. 7th. Some remains of i)ottery (heads of 



