KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 47 



The fertile island of St. Kitts and the neighboring Nevis were 

 found to be particularly instructive archeologically. Both have sev- 

 eral extensive middens and well-preserved pictographs, the former 

 having yielded many artifacts that illustrate the material culture 

 of its pre-Carib inhabitants. Through the courtesy of Mr. Connell 

 his large collection, which adequately illustrates the culture of St. 

 Kitts and Nevis, was placed at the disposal of Dr. Fewkes for the 

 purpose of study, and he was permitted to make drawings of the more 

 typical objects, one of the most instructive of which is a sculptured 

 torso from Nevis. 



In Barbados Dr. Fewkes examined the midden at Indian Eiver, 

 on the west coast, from which site the important Taylor archeological 

 collection was gathered. Several other middens were visited on the 

 lee coast from Bridgetown to the northern end of the island, where 

 a marly hill strewn with potsherds was observed. He also examined 

 the so-called " Indian excavations " at Freshwater Bay and others 

 at Indian Eiver, and visited several cave shelters on the island. The 

 most noteworthy of these caves are situated at Mount Gilboa and 

 in the Scotland district, St. Lucy Parish. To one of these, known 

 as the " Indian Castle," described in 1750 by the Rev. Griffith Hughes, 

 who claims to have found therein an idol and other undoubted 

 Indian objects, Dr. Fewkes devoted much attention. The gulches 

 so characteristic of Barbados were favorite resorts of the aborigines, 

 and, judging by the artifacts, furnished cave shelters for them. 

 Although uninhabited at the time of its discovery, there is evidence 

 of a considerable prehistoric aboriginal population in Barbados, 

 whose culture was influenced largely by the character of the material 

 from which their artifacts were made, most of them being fashioned 

 from shell instead of stone, a characteristic seemingly constituting 

 this island a special culture area. 



A collection of stone implements, including celts, axes, and other 

 objects, was gathered at Santa Cruz. Several local collections of 

 archeological objects were examined, and the large midden at the 

 mouth of Salt Eiver was visited. The prehistoric objects obtained 

 on this island and from St. Thomas resemble those from Porto Eico. 



Although the Carib inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles are no 

 longer of pure blood, and their language is known to only a few 

 persons in Dominica and St. Vincent, and to these but imperfectly, 

 it was found that the negroes, who form more than nine-tenths of 

 the insular population, retain in modified form some traces of the 

 material culture of the Indians. Cassava is the chief food of many 

 of the people, and the method of its preparation has been little 

 changed since aboriginal times. Cocoa is ground on a stone and 

 made into cylindrical rolls in much the same manner as it was pre- 

 pared by the Indians in early times. The basketry made in Do- 



