FEWKES] PHYSICAL FEATURES i)F PORTO RICO 21 



OLighly native as they appear, may have l)eeii the propeity of races 

 other than the prehistoric Porto Rican. 



Of the three methods of treating the subject, the archcological, 

 which is followed in the main in this report, also otters a good oppor- 

 tunit}" for original work; but data are drawn from historical and 

 ethnographical sources to give the memoir a more comprehensive 

 character, and are introduced when necessary to interpret the mean- 

 ing of archeological objects. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES OF PORTO RICO 



The culture of a people is largel}' determined by its environment. 

 The climate, fauna, flora, geology, and other phj'sical conditions are 

 important elements of this environment. Isolation, with consequent 

 freedom from attack of foes, by which pure blood is retained for a 

 considerable time, develops characteristic cultures in ditterent parts 

 of the world which vary with physiographical conditions. A brief 

 description of the physical features of Porto Rico naturally precedes, 

 therefore, a stud}- of the culture of its aboriginal inhabitants. 



Porto Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles, is situated in the 

 Tropics, between North and South America. Its greatest length from 

 east to west is a little more than 100 miles and its width about 36, the 

 area being approximately 3,600 square miles." There are no islands 

 near Porto Rico in the Atlantic ocean on the north, and the watery 

 waste of the Caribbean sea separates it from South America on the 

 south, so that access from either direction implies extensive knowledge 

 of ocean navigation. Near its eastern end begins the Lesser Antilles, 

 a chain of islands, one almost in sight of another, extending southward 

 to the mouth of the Orinoco, in Venezuela. On the west a compara- 

 tively narrow strait separates Porto Rico from Haiti, which in turn 

 lies not far from Cuba. In short, the island of Porto Rico maj- l)e said 

 to be situated midway in the chain of islands connecting Florida and 

 Venezuela. 



A chain of mountains, culminating at an altitude of about four 

 thousand feet in the Yun(jue at the* eastern end, crosses the island from 

 east to west. These mo'untains are formed in part of calcareous rock, 

 and contain many caves. On the north and south sides of the moun- 

 tainous backbone there are small parallel ranges of rounded hills, 

 skirted by low land along the coasts. The shores have a few good har- 

 bors, into which flow several rivers and lagoons that ofler favorat)le 

 places for that peculiar fluviatile culture characteristic of people like 

 those who live on the delta at the mouth of the Orinoco and around 



a W. M. Elliott, Report of the Commissioner of tlie Interior for Porto Rico to the Secretary of the 

 Interior, Washington, 1900. 



See also Manuel Ubeda y Delgado, Isla de Puerto Rico, Estudio Histurico-geogratico, Puerto 

 Rico, 1878. 



