﻿458 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  192 
  9 
  

  

  peons; 
  and 
  some 
  300,000 
  of 
  them 
  are 
  compelled 
  to 
  migrate 
  to 
  the 
  

   unhealthy 
  coffee 
  regions 
  of 
  the 
  coast 
  for 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  year 
  — 
  a 
  necessity 
  

   which 
  has 
  resulted 
  in 
  heavy 
  mortality. 
  Others 
  serve 
  as 
  burden- 
  

   bearers 
  to 
  escape 
  the 
  classification 
  of 
  forced 
  labor. 
  It 
  is 
  possible 
  to 
  

   demonstrate 
  from 
  the 
  detailed 
  statistics 
  in 
  the 
  surveys 
  of 
  Velasco, 
  

   Juarros, 
  etc., 
  that 
  the 
  Central 
  American 
  Indians 
  have 
  remarkable 
  

   vitality 
  in 
  recovering 
  population 
  losses. 
  

  

  We 
  need 
  not 
  follow 
  much 
  farther 
  the 
  statistical 
  record 
  of 
  recovery 
  

   of 
  Indian 
  populations 
  from 
  the 
  lows 
  reached 
  after 
  the 
  incoming 
  of 
  

   Europeans. 
  The 
  Indian 
  survival 
  in 
  the 
  West 
  Indies 
  is 
  negligible/^ 
  

   but 
  it 
  happens 
  that 
  about 
  5,000 
  so-called 
  black 
  Caribs, 
  former 
  residents 
  

   of 
  St. 
  Vincent, 
  were 
  dumped 
  in 
  1793 
  on 
  the 
  then 
  deserted 
  island 
  of 
  

   Ruatan 
  by 
  the 
  English 
  for 
  trafficking 
  with 
  the 
  French. 
  They 
  were 
  

   strongly 
  intermixed 
  with 
  negroes, 
  and 
  to-day 
  their 
  descendants 
  might 
  

   be 
  taken 
  for 
  negroes 
  were 
  it 
  not 
  that 
  they 
  talk 
  and 
  live 
  like 
  Caribs. 
  

   This 
  people 
  now 
  number 
  about 
  30,000 
  souls; 
  and 
  their 
  villages 
  stretch 
  

   from 
  Stann 
  Creek, 
  British 
  Honduras, 
  to 
  Carib 
  Town, 
  Nicaragua. 
  

  

  Evidences 
  of 
  recovery 
  must 
  be 
  taken 
  in 
  conjunction 
  with 
  other 
  

   evidences 
  of 
  continuing 
  decrease. 
  For 
  instance, 
  the 
  Xicaque, 
  Paya, 
  

   Sumo, 
  Guatuso, 
  etc., 
  in 
  Central 
  America 
  are 
  fast 
  approaching 
  extinc- 
  

   tion, 
  and 
  the 
  same 
  holds 
  true 
  of 
  natives 
  of 
  the 
  Putumayo 
  in 
  Colombia 
  

   who 
  are 
  now 
  concentrated 
  in 
  missions. 
  Similar 
  concentrations 
  in 
  

   California, 
  Central 
  America, 
  Bolivia, 
  Paraguay, 
  and 
  Chile 
  long 
  since 
  

   led 
  to 
  complete 
  extinction 
  of 
  many 
  tribes. 
  In 
  Brazil 
  the 
  aborigines 
  

   suffered 
  heavily 
  in 
  the 
  recent 
  rubber 
  trade, 
  while 
  in 
  Tierra 
  del 
  Fuego 
  

   sheepmen 
  went 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  to 
  pat 
  a 
  bounty 
  on 
  their 
  heads. 
  It 
  seems 
  

   that 
  sporadic 
  increase 
  still 
  falls 
  short 
  of 
  restoring 
  the 
  Indian 
  popula- 
  

   tion 
  at 
  the 
  advent 
  of 
  the 
  whites. 
  But 
  another 
  matter 
  awaits 
  discus- 
  

   sion, 
  namely, 
  crests 
  of 
  population 
  in 
  pre-Columbian 
  times. 
  

  

  POPULATION 
  PEAKS 
  UNDER 
  INDIAN 
  CIVILIZATION 
  

  

  The 
  highest 
  civilization 
  of 
  the 
  New 
  World 
  was 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  Mayas, 
  

   whose 
  great 
  and 
  numerous 
  ruins 
  of 
  stone 
  and 
  mortar 
  exist 
  in 
  a 
  region 
  

   of 
  rain 
  forests 
  now 
  practically 
  uninhabited. 
  Here 
  we 
  are 
  dealing 
  with 
  

   a 
  people 
  who 
  invented 
  writing 
  and 
  mathematics 
  in 
  addition 
  to 
  archi- 
  

   tecture 
  and 
  who 
  left 
  dated 
  records 
  of 
  their 
  achievements 
  on 
  stone 
  

   monuments 
  which 
  enable 
  us 
  to 
  restore 
  the 
  chronological 
  framework 
  

   of 
  history. 
  It 
  now 
  appears 
  certain 
  that 
  the 
  Mayas 
  were 
  living 
  in 
  

   the 
  humid 
  lands 
  at 
  least 
  as 
  early 
  as 
  613 
  B. 
  C, 
  when 
  their 
  day 
  count 
  

   was 
  inaugurated.^^ 
  This 
  means 
  that 
  several 
  arid-land 
  plants, 
  includ- 
  

   ing 
  maize 
  and 
  beans, 
  had 
  already 
  been 
  adjusted 
  to 
  wet 
  conditions. 
  

  

  " 
  Culin 
  describes 
  a 
  settlement 
  in 
  eastern 
  Cuba 
  which 
  still 
  contains 
  a 
  little 
  Indian 
  blood 
  (Stewart 
  

   Culin: 
  The 
  Indians 
  of 
  Cuba, 
  Bull. 
  Univ. 
  of 
  Pennsylvania 
  Free 
  Museum 
  of 
  Sei., 
  and 
  Art, 
  vol. 
  3, 
  pp. 
  185- 
  

   226, 
  1902). 
  

  

  »H. 
  J. 
  Spinden: 
  The 
  Reduction 
  of 
  Mayan 
  Dates, 
  Papers 
  Peabody 
  Museum 
  of 
  Amer. 
  Archaeology 
  

   and 
  Ethnology, 
  Harvard 
  University, 
  Vol. 
  6, 
  No. 
  4, 
  Cambridge, 
  Mass., 
  1924. 
  

  

  