ADMINISTRATIVE REPOET 17 



These are vase-shaped, subterranean receptacles, averag- 

 ing 6 feet in depth and 4 feet in maximum diameter, gen- 

 erally constricted to about 2 feet at the neck, and with the 

 opening level with the surface of the ground. Although 

 these cacimbas are generally ascribed to the Indians, they 

 are thought b}' some to be of Spanish origin, and are con- 

 nected by others with buccaneers, pirates, and slavers. 

 They are built of masonry or cut in the solid rock; the 

 sides are often plastered and the bottoms commonly cov- 

 ered with a layer of tar. On the ground near the openings 

 there is generally a level, circular space, with raised pe- 

 riphery. The whole appearance supports the theory that 

 these structures wer"e used in the manufacture of tuiijen- 

 tiue or tar, the circular area being the oven and the 

 cacimba the receptacle for the product. 



Doctor Fewkes found that the Pineros, or natives of the 

 island, employ many aboriginal terms for animals, plants, 

 and places, and in some instances two Indian words are 

 used for the same object. An acknowledged descendant 

 of a Cuban Indian explained this linguistic duality by 

 saying that the Indians of the eastern end of the Isle of 

 Pines spoke a dialect different from those of the western 

 end, and that when those from Camaguey, who were 

 Tainan and of eastern Cuban origin, came to the Isle of 

 Pines at the instance of the Spanish authorities they 

 brought with them a nomenclature ditferent from that 

 then in use on that island. 



Several old Spanish structures of masonry, the dates of 

 which are unknown, were also examined in the neighbor- 

 hood of Santa Fe, Isle of Pines. The roof of a cave at 

 Punta de Este, the southeastern angle of the island, bears 

 aboriginal pictographs of the sun and other objects, sug- 

 gesting that it is comparable with the cave in Haiti, in 

 which, according to Indian legend, the sim and the moon 

 originated, and from which the i*aces of man emerged. 



Doctor Fewkes has now collected sufficient material in 

 Cuba to indicate that its western end, including the Isle 

 of Pines, was once inhabited by a cave-dwelling people, 



94615°— 18 2 



