iiU THE ABORIGINES OF POKTO RICO [eth. anx. 25 



concerning those of Porto Kico. There are in fact no extensive 

 special descriptions of the Porto Rican Indians earlier than the History 

 of Porto Rico by Inigo/' published at the close of the eighteenth 

 century, and as at that time the race had practically disappeared, the 

 chapter on the native culture in this account was compiled largely 

 from Oviedo and Las Casas. The historical method reveals many 

 customs which are incomprehensible to historians unless they are 

 familiar with the light that modern ethnolog}' sheds on the comparative 

 culture of races. 



The archeological method supplements the historical, revealing the 

 prehistoric condition of the island and the culture of tlie inhabitants 

 before written records were made by Europeans. This method deals 

 with stone implements, idols, pictographs, mortuary' objects, human 

 skeletons, and the like, including all the most enduring material evi- 

 dences of man's prehistoric presence which occur in great numbers 

 throughout the island. 



The ethnological method considei's the survivals in the bodily foi-m 

 and mental characters of the existing natives; their peculiar customs, 

 characteristic words, music, and legends, all that is included in the 

 comprehensive term folMare, the old-fashioned ways of life peculiar 

 to the island. It deals likewise with survivals of language in names 

 of places, animals, plants, and objects, including all al)original and many 

 dialectic names peculiar to the modern islanders. 



The anthropologist maj' approach his subject b}- the three methods 

 above mentioned, any one of which reveals enough material to be 

 made the basis of a special article; a knowledge of prehistoric Porto 

 Rican culture may be derived from them all. Naturally, each method 

 has its restrictions. The present population is composed of several 

 amalgamated races, and we find in folklore* at the present daj' evi- 

 dences of all these races. Archeology is perhaps the most i-eliable 

 .source of information; but even the objects found in the ground, thor- 



" Fray Inigo Abbad y Lasierra, Historia Geogr4flca, Civil y Natural de la Isia de San Juan Bautisia 

 de Puerto Rico, nueva-edici6n, anotada en la parte hist6rica y conti nuada en ]a estadistica y eeon6mica 

 por Jos6 Julian de Acosta y Oalbo, pp. i-vii, 1-508, Puerto Rico, 1866. The first edition of Ifiigo's 

 Historia was edited in 1788 by Don Antonio Villadares de Sotomayor. The work was republished in 

 1830 in San Juan, Porto Rico, by Don Pedro TomAs de C6rdova, secretary of the governor and captain- 

 general of the island, and a third edition, containing Acosta's notes, appeared in Porto Rico in 1866. 

 English translations of the portions pertaining to the aborigines are found in Report of the Census of 

 Porto Rico, 1899. See also llr F. Bedwell's consular report, 1879, and First Annual Report of Charles 

 H. Allen, governor of Porto Rico, p. 1-445, Washington, 1901. 



According to Don J. J. Acosta, Fray Inigo Abbad y Lasierra belonged to the Benedictine order and 

 wrote his Historia for the Count of FI6rida Blanea in the reign of Charles III. In the Acosta edition 

 use was made of a manuscript then owned by Don Domingo del Monte, which, as is stated in a note, 

 passed to the distinguished Cuban litterateur, lost Antonio Echeverria, by whom it was later presented 

 to the order on August 25, 1782. 



The First .\nnual Register of Porto Rico (San Juan. 1901) contains an incomplete bibliography of 

 the island. Many Spanish titles of books are translated into English. 



'> Francisco del Valle Ateles, El Campesino Puertoriquefio, sus Condiciones. Revista Puertori- 

 quena, ii and ill, 1887 and 1888. Manuel A. Alonso, Manners and Customs of the People of Porto 

 Rico, 2d ed., 2 v. M. Fernandez Juncos, Costumbres y Tradiciones, Puerto Rico, 1882. See also Col. 

 George D. Flinter, .\n Account of the Present State of the Island of Porto Rico. London, 1834: and 

 Don Pedro TomAs de C6rdova, Memorias Geogr4ficas, Hist6ricas, Econ6micas y Estadisticas de la 

 Isla de Puerto Rico, 1830. 



