44 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



to tradition as an arena for playing ball, having in its center a stone 

 seat of great size, supposed to have been a throne for the queen. 



The fact of the burial of Columbus in the cathedral of Santo Domingo 

 surrounds this building with an historical interest. Numerous views 

 of it are presented from different aspects and others showing the lead en 

 casket in which his mortal remains rested until the year 1795, when 

 they were transferred to the city of Havana. 



The native population of Haiti, of whom we have in this exhibit the 

 evidence of considerable cultivation, remained long of undetermined 

 affinities, although many of the words of their language, their customs, 

 and their myths were preserved by the early settlers and missionaries. 

 They were popularly supposed to be Caribs, or related to the Carib 

 stock, or connected with the Mayas or Mexicans. 



In a study of the Arawack language of Guiana, published in 1871, 1 

 brought the Haitian language, I believe for the first time, into unques 

 tionable and close connection with that important South American 

 stock, and showed at the same time that it was the same dialect which 

 prevailed throughout Cuba and the Bahamas. 1 The whole West 

 Indian Archipelago was peopled from South America exclusively, and 

 contained no tribes linguistically related to any north of the Isthmus 

 of Panama upon the continent. The definite recognition of this fact 

 in ancient native migration is of prime importance in the study of col 

 lections of aboriginal relics from these islands. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE EEPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA. 



The Eepublic of Colombia presented perhaps the most brilliant of all 

 of the displays in the strictly American portion of the Exposition. The 

 numerous magnificent specimens of native gold work and their tasteful 

 arrangement attracted the attention of all visitors. They also excited 

 the admiration of those of antiquarian taste, from their novelty as well 

 as for the perfection of their designs. The credit for the collection 

 of this unusual series as well as for their judicious arrangement rests 

 mainly with the distinguished Colombian archaeologist, Senor Ernesto 

 Restrepo. 



Senor Restrepo took advantage in connection with this Exposition, 

 and of the interest excited by the invitation to his country to partici 

 pate in it, to publish several valuable contributions to the study of the 

 ancient history of that portion of the continent. These appeared at 

 Bogota, under the following titles: Estudios sobre los Aborigenes de 

 Colombia; Yiages de Lionel Wafer al Isthmo de Darien; and Eusayo 

 Etnografico y Arqueologico de la Provincia de los Quimbayas. 



They are most creditable to the extent of his scholarship and the 

 energy with which he has pursued investigations in the library as well 



J The Arawack language of Guiana in its linguistic and ethnological relations, by 

 D. G. Brindton, M. D., in the Trauasctious of the American Philosophical Society, 

 for 1871. 



