TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 91 



the neighbourhood of the mines, which he called San Cristobal ; but the workmen 

 who built it, finding the precious metal even in the stones they used for its con- 

 struction, named it the ' Golden Tower.' The mines were soon exhausted, and 

 the country assumed again the aspect of exuberant nature. When, therefore, the 

 covetousness and cupidity of the Spaniards sacrificed the lives of millions of Indians 

 to their idol, Gold, the caverns which previously had only been used for their wor- 

 ship became now a retreat from the Spanish crossbows, and the frightful bloodhound 

 sent in pursuit of the poor Indian. * * I was greatly interested in a number of sym- 

 bolic pictures which the Indians had traced with charcoal on the white and smooth 

 walls of one of the smaller caves, which bears at present the name of the ' Painted 

 Chamber.' Peter Martyr of Angleria, the contemporary of Columbus, and one of 

 the earliest historians of his discoveries, relates, in his first decade of the ' Ocean,' 

 that the aborigines of Santo Domingo held caves in great veneration, for out of them, 

 they say, came the sun and moon to give light to the world, — and mankind likewise 

 issued from two caves of unequal height according to the size of their statures. In 

 the general uncertainty which prevails with regard to these monuments of by-gone 

 races, it was particularly gratifying to find these sculptures, which aflbrded a clue to 

 the period when they were executed. * * Near the entrance of a second cave, close 

 to the former, I observed some carvings in the rock. The character of these figures, 

 and their being cut in the hard substance of stone, prove an origin of a more 

 remote date than those in the other cave. * * Baron Humboldt observes, when 

 alluding to the carvings he met on the banks of the Orinoco, that ' it must not be 

 forgotten that nations of very different descent' when in a similar uncivilized state, 

 having the same disposition to simplify and generalize outlines, and being impelled 

 by inherent mental dispositions to form rhythmical repetitions and series, may be led 

 to produce similar signs and symbols.' Baron Humboldt had only opportunity to 

 view the carved figures on the banks of the Orinoco, but the examination of a great 

 number of these symbols shows to me that there is a great difference in their cha- 

 racter and execution; nor is it my opinion that the idols worked in stone and the 

 carvings on the rocks were executed by the races that inhabited South America and 

 the West Indies at the time of their discovery. They belong to a remoter period, 

 and prove much more skill and patience than the simple figures painted with char- 

 coal on the walls of the cave near Pommier. The figures carved of stone and worked 

 without iron tools, denote, if not civilization, a quick conception, and an inexhaustible 

 patience to give to these hard substances the desired forms, * * With respect to the 

 age or epoch when the figures sculptured of stone were executed there is no tradition. 

 It is remarkable that they are only found where we have sure evidence that the 

 Caribs inhabited or visited the place. I have no reason to believe that they were 

 made by the Caribs, which opinion I am the more inclined to adopt on comparing 

 them with the tools and utensils executed by the still existing tribes I met in Guiana. 

 There are, however, various proofs that the Caribs inhabited Santo Domingo ; among 

 others, I found at the eastern point of the island, called JuntaEngano, numerous heaps 

 of Conch shells (^Strombus gigas). These shells have invariably a hole near the spire, 

 which has been made for the purpose of detaching the animal from the shell, and 

 to extract it with ease. I met a large number of similar piles at the island of 

 Anegada, which the historians of the Antilles ascribe to the Caribs, who, on their 

 descent from the Lucuyas to wage war upon the natives of Puerto Rico, touched 

 first at Anegada in ordor to provision themselves with conchs for their expedition. 

 A far more interesting discovery than these heaps of conch shells, during my travels 

 in Santo Domingo, is, however, a granitic ring in the neighbourhood of San Juan de 

 Maguana, which seems to have entirely escaped the attention of previous historians 

 and travellers. Maguana formed one of the five kingdoms into which Santo Do- 

 mingo, on the arrival of the Spaniards, was divided. It was governed by the Carib 

 Cacique Caonabo (which name signifies rain), the most fierce and powerful of the 

 chieftains, and the irreconcileable enemy of the Europeans. His favourite wife was 

 the unfortunate Anacaona, famed in the island for her beauty, her wisdom, and, as 

 recorded by all the early historians, for her kindness towards the white men. Never- 

 theless, Ovando, when governor of Santo Domingo, accused her of conspiracy, and 

 carried her in chains to the city and ignominiously hanged her in the presence of the 

 people whom she had so long and so signally befriended. The granitic ring is now 



