EXPEDITIOX TO SAMANA PROVINCE, DOMINICAN 



REPUBLIC 



r.v GERRIT S. MILLER, JR., 



Curator, l)i7'isi(>ji of Mamiiials, U. S. Ndtioini! Musciiiii 



AND 



HERBERT W. KRIEGER, 



Curator. Dii'isioii of Ethnology. U. S. Xatioiial Miiscion 



The northeastern portion of the island of Haiti comprising the 

 peninsula and bay of Samana with its many islets has long been known 

 as a region rich in deposits left by its pre-Columbian inhabitants. On 

 the south shore of Samana Bay, which deeply indents this coast of the 

 island. ( iabb explored some caves in 1869-1871, and found them to 

 contain very extensive kitchenmiddens. Pottery and bones collected 

 by him have been in the National Museum since 1872. Among these 

 bones were found, early in 19 16, some jaws of a rodent supposed at 

 that time to be extinct. Stimulated l)v this discovery. Dr. William L. 

 Abbott visited the caves later in the same year. He obtained material 

 of great interest and reported that large accumulations of shells, bones, 

 and pottery remained to be examined. \\' ith the chief object of work- 

 ing these deposits more carefully than had hitherto been done, the 

 writers of this article spent several months, during the winter and 

 spring of 1928, in exploring that part of the Dominican Republic 

 which includes Samana Bav and the peninsula that lies between the 

 northern shore of the Bay and the Atlantic ( )cean. The combined 

 objectives of the expedition were to recover animal bones and cultural 

 remains from shell heaps, kitchenmiddens and aboriginal habitation 

 sites, and to make general collections of the plants and vertebrates of 

 the region. From all points of view the work was satisfactory. De- 

 tailed study of the rich collections obtained cannot fail to throw new 

 light on the remarkable extinct or nearly extinct mammal fauna of 

 the island and on the history and culture of the Indians who occupied 

 the region before the arrival of the Spaniards. 



Working from the town of Santa Barbara de Samana as our base 

 we first ciossed to the caves on the uninhabited south shore of Samana 

 Bay. It was easy to reach the south shore l)y a brisk two and a half 

 hours' sail with the favorable afternoon trade wind, but the return 

 trip during the morning calms or against the trade wind was a more 

 serious undertaking. On one occasion it required 10 hours of tacking 



43 



