﻿ABORIGINES 
  OF 
  HISPANIOLA 
  KRIEGER 
  483 
  

  

  CULTURE 
  DIFFUSION 
  IN 
  THE 
  WEST 
  INDIES 
  

  

  The 
  connection 
  of 
  the 
  island 
  Arawak 
  with 
  the 
  tribes 
  of 
  Florida 
  was 
  

   essentially 
  one 
  of 
  trade 
  and 
  provisioning. 
  Transference 
  of 
  decorative 
  

   designs, 
  therefore, 
  was 
  incidental 
  to 
  trade 
  contracts. 
  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. 
  Just 
  what 
  relationship 
  existed 
  in 
  the 
  

   making 
  of 
  coonti 
  flour 
  in 
  native 
  Florida 
  and 
  of 
  cassava 
  flour 
  in 
  the 
  

   Greater 
  Antilles 
  remains 
  uncertain. 
  Methods 
  employed 
  in 
  the 
  pro- 
  

   duction 
  of 
  the 
  root 
  flour 
  are 
  similar 
  and 
  the 
  stages 
  of 
  bread 
  manu- 
  

   facture 
  are 
  somewhat 
  parallel. 
  In 
  Florida, 
  roots 
  of 
  several 
  varieties 
  

   {Zamia 
  jioridiana, 
  and 
  Smilax, 
  sp.) 
  were 
  chopped, 
  pounded, 
  and 
  

   washed. 
  Here, 
  however, 
  the 
  fact 
  must 
  be 
  recorded 
  that 
  while 
  in 
  

   Florida 
  the 
  washing 
  was 
  done 
  to 
  extract 
  the 
  desirable 
  portions 
  of 
  

   the 
  roots, 
  washing 
  of 
  the 
  cassava 
  {Manihot 
  edulis) 
  was 
  necessary 
  to 
  

   remove 
  the 
  undesirable 
  or 
  poisonous 
  portions 
  of 
  the 
  roots. 
  

  

  Doctor 
  Swanton, 
  on 
  the 
  authority 
  of 
  linguistic 
  relationship, 
  sug- 
  

   gests 
  that 
  the 
  sweet 
  potato 
  may 
  have 
  been 
  introduced 
  from 
  the 
  West 
  

   Indies. 
  It 
  is 
  probable, 
  however, 
  that 
  both 
  maize 
  and 
  sweet 
  potatoes 
  

   were 
  cultivated 
  on 
  the 
  mainland 
  of 
  both 
  North 
  America 
  and 
  South 
  

   America 
  before 
  any 
  direct 
  culture 
  or 
  tribal 
  migration 
  occurred 
  between 
  

   the 
  West 
  Indies 
  and 
  Florida. 
  Hernando 
  Fontaneda, 
  a 
  Spaniard 
  

   who 
  was 
  wrecked 
  on 
  the 
  Florida 
  coast 
  and 
  captured 
  by 
  the 
  Calusa 
  

   Indians, 
  lived 
  with 
  them 
  from 
  1552 
  to 
  1560. 
  He 
  is 
  authority 
  for 
  the 
  

   statement 
  that 
  Indians 
  from 
  Cuba 
  used 
  to 
  come 
  to 
  Florida 
  searching 
  

   for 
  the 
  mythical 
  fountain 
  of 
  youth. 
  These 
  Indians 
  came 
  in 
  such 
  

   numbers 
  that 
  the 
  chief 
  Caloosa 
  assigned 
  them 
  a 
  particular 
  village 
  in 
  

   which 
  they 
  might 
  live, 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  informing 
  them 
  their 
  quest 
  

   was 
  useless. 
  We 
  do 
  not 
  know 
  the 
  location 
  of 
  this 
  village. 
  This 
  

   account 
  of 
  a 
  village 
  of 
  Cuban 
  Arawak 
  immigrants 
  living 
  in 
  Calusa 
  

   territoiy 
  in 
  southwestern 
  Florida 
  is, 
  indeed, 
  recent 
  enough 
  to 
  be 
  

   historical, 
  although 
  the 
  migration 
  may 
  have 
  been 
  prehistoric. 
  In 
  

   general, 
  the 
  culture 
  of 
  the 
  island 
  Arawak, 
  and 
  Caribs 
  as 
  well, 
  is 
  

   South 
  American 
  in 
  origin 
  and, 
  in 
  a 
  general 
  way, 
  in 
  content, 
  while 
  

   the 
  Floridian 
  tribes, 
  including 
  the 
  Calusa, 
  were 
  influenced 
  from 
  the 
  

   north 
  far 
  more 
  than 
  they 
  ever 
  were 
  from 
  casual 
  or 
  even 
  regular 
  

   trading 
  contacts 
  with 
  the 
  Antillean 
  aborigines. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  in 
  agriculture 
  that 
  the 
  essentially 
  South 
  American 
  culture 
  

   elements 
  reappear 
  throughout 
  the 
  native 
  provinces 
  of 
  Haiti. 
  Rela- 
  

   tionship 
  of 
  the 
  historical 
  tribes 
  is 
  with 
  the 
  agricultural 
  peoples 
  of 
  the 
  

   tropical 
  lowlands 
  of 
  Venezuela 
  and 
  Guiana. 
  Antillean 
  tribes 
  had 
  

   retained 
  or 
  borrowed 
  the 
  elements 
  of 
  cassava 
  culture 
  from 
  tribes 
  of 
  

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