FEWKESj BODILY CHARACTKKISTICS 2^> 



in stature, well propoi'tioned, with flat noses, wide nostrils, bad teeth, 

 and a skull flat in front and rear, it being pressed into shape at 

 the time of their birth, and that they had long, thick, black, coarse 

 hair. 



Charlevoix saj's:" "These islanders (Haitians) were of medium 

 height, but well shapen, their color a reddish, the face being gross 

 and hideous, their nostrils very open, the hair on the head long, but 

 absent on the rest of the body, hardly any foi'ehead, the teeth dirty 

 and black, and an indescribable fierceness of the eyes. The color of 

 the skin was partly due to a constant application of pigment and the 

 heat of the sun, to which their naked bodies were always exposed. 

 They flattened their heads b\- art, thus reducing the size of their fore- 

 head, which pleased them greatly. To do this their mothers took care 

 to hold them tightly pressed between their hands or between two little 

 boards, which, bj- degrees, flattened the head, whereby the skull hard- 

 ened in a molded shape. Their skulls were so thick that the Spanianls 

 often broke their swords in hitting them. It is easy to see that this 

 operation changed the physiognomj' entirely and contril)uted m'urh to 

 their ferocious appearance.''' 



Francisco Thamara,'' who wrote in 1556, says of the inhabitants of 

 the West Indies, "lately discovei'ed," that "the natives have a chest- 

 nut color and are of less stature than the Spaniards. Thej' have nar- 

 row foreheads, made so artificially by pressure on the sides of the 

 head, "so that the e^'es protrude. The nostrils are wide open and the 

 whites of their ej'es somewhat pronounced. The^^ have no beards, and 

 their bodies for the most part are hairless. They have straight black 

 hair, fine and well cared for, but do not have good teeth, on account of 

 the cooked bread and roots which they eat." 



No well-authenticated skulls and skeletons from prehistoric Porto 

 Rico have yet been described, and but few skeletal remains have been 

 found in the adjacent islands, Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica.'' Until mate- 

 rial of this kind is available it is not possible to form any definite 

 ideas on this subject. According to Bachiller y Morales, human bones 

 have been found by Andres Stanislas in Porto Rico, and the author 

 has been informed that human skulls and bones, exhumed from caves 



a Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, Histoire de I'Isle Espagnole ou de S. Domingue, i, ii, 

 Paris, 1730. This valuable account of the neighboring island of Espanola or Santo Domingo, now 

 Haiti, said to have been written by Pere, is one of the most important works on the eariy history and 

 the aborigines of Santo Domingo. 



l> Libra de las Costvmbres de Todas las Gentes del Mvndo y de las Indias, Tradvzido y Copilado 

 por el Bachiller Francisco Thamara Cathedatico de Cadis, p. 1-350, Antwerp, 1556. This rare book is 

 mainly a compilation from Oviedo in .American matters, dealing especially with the customs of the 

 aborigines of Espanola. It has much value, considering the probability that the author obtained 

 information at first hand from those who had lately been in the West Indies, and contains some 

 material not elsewhere mentioned. 



cSeiior Neumann mentions skulls found in the Cueva del Consejo by Hjalmarson and carried to the 

 museum of Stockholm. He mentions also the finding of others by Pinart. The author has found 

 several fragments of Indian skulls in his excavations near Utuado, but these are too incomplete for 

 description. 



