28 THE ABORIGINES OF VORTO RICO [eth. ANN. 25 



it were continually raiding the adjacent coast of Porto Eico. As the 

 marauders numl)ei'ed many hundreds, and as their raids were frequent, 

 it is natural that the people of this end of the island should have devel- 

 oped more warlike habits through constant affray's with this jjersistent 

 enemy. It is probable that manj' of these Carib married Porto Rican 

 women, settled on the island, and never returned to their former home. 



On several maps of Porto Rico we find the name "Carib mountains'' 

 affixed to sierras in the east end of the island. This, like other place 

 names, such as Guai'abo, is of Carib derivation and points to Carib 

 influences. Porto Rico itself was called a Carib island by several 

 writers, and Porto Rican women whom the Carib took prisoners and 

 made slaves had children of mixed Tainan and Carib blood. The two 

 peoples were not continually hostile, for the chief of the Carib aided 

 the Borinqueiios in the battle of the Yauco river, a fact which would 

 suggest kinship. 



There is no indication in the early accounts that the Carib of Vie- 

 (jues assimilated with the western provinces, although they raided the 

 Spanish settlements there, but that the inhabitants of eastern Porto 

 Rico when discovered were partiality Carib can hardly be questioned. 



We have no definite information regarding the extent of prehistoric 

 Carib raids on Porto Rico, but we may judge of their frequency by a 

 few references to the Carib attacks after the Spaniards had made 

 settlements on the island. In 1520, according to a letter from Baltazar 

 de Castro," 5 canoes of Carib, with 150 men, landed at the mouth of 

 the Humacao, at the eastern end of the island, burned houses and 

 killed several men, Spaniards and natives. In 1529, on the 18th of 

 September, in the middle of the night, 8 great canoes of Carib entered 

 the ba}', or harbor, of San Juan, where the;/ killed 3 negroes and 

 caused great fear. In 1530 they made a descent with 500 men, in 11 

 cauoes, on the eastern end of the island, capturing and killing several 

 men and women and carrying ofl' 25 negroes, who, it is supposed, were 

 afterward eaten. 



In the i-eprisals against Vieques 15 or 16 Carib villages, each aver- 

 aging 20 houses, were burned and 300 persons were killed, 18 lai-geand 

 20 small canoes being destroyed. In 1564 the Caril) made a fierce 

 attack on the pueblo Loisa and other places on the north coast of 

 Porto Rico. 



BODILY CHARACTERISTICS 



Writers who followed 0\iedo appear to have used his account indis- 

 criminately in their descriptions of the mental and bodily character- 

 istics of the islanders of Porto Rico, Haiti, and Cuba. Among these 

 may be mentioned Inigo, Charlevoix, and perhaps Gomara. Fray 

 liiigo says that the Indians of Porto Rico were copper-colored, short 



a See luigo's Historiii, cited in footnote, p. 20. 



