38 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO [eth. axs. 25 



It is incomprehensible that a .Spanish soldier should have spoken thus 

 to an Indian cacique or that a European would have been allowed to take 

 part in an Indian (rrt'ito undetected, especially one in which the plan of 

 a campaign against Sotoma}' or was made known. Could Gonzales have 

 disguised himself with paint at that time? 



The flight of Juan Gonzales over the mountains iniplies a knowl- 

 edge of the island which an Indian might have had, and on the old 

 maps the range of mountains which Gonzales entered after he left the 

 Xacagua range are called the Juan Gonzales or Toa " mountains. Most 

 of the other great mountain chains are named after Indian caciques, 

 l)ut these mountains received their name from Juan Gonzales. It is 

 generally agreed that he was a Spaniard, but that the rugged moun- 

 tains through which he ran, wounded and exhausted, after the death 

 of Sotomayor, bear the Spanish name of an Indian cacique. Addi- 

 tional information regarding Juan Gonzales's nativity and early career 

 would be interesting. 



Aguebana the Second was probably killed by Juan Ponce, a Spanish 

 soldier, who is reported to have shot an unknown Indian wearing a 

 cacique's badge, in a battle whic!- occurred at the mouth of the Yauco 

 river, on the southern side of Porto Rico. There was no way of 

 determining, at the time of the deed, who this cacique was, but Ague- 

 bana was never heard of in subsequent hostilities against the Spaniards. 



According to Las Casas, there was still another cacique named 

 Aguebana, who lived on the neighboring island of Haiti. As his 

 realm was situated at the end of that island or across the strait inimedi- 

 atei\' opposite western Porto Rico, it is probable that he was related 

 to Aguebana of Porto Rico. The identity of the two names implies 

 similarity in the languages of the two islands. 



After Sotomayor's death the settlement founded in the neighborhood 

 of Culebrinas river was destroyed, and a new colony was started in 

 the caci(iuedom of Aymamon, a name still attaching to the mountains 

 of that territory. The chief whose name it bore, like Aguebana the 

 Second, was hostile to the Spaniards, and in an account given of the 

 event which immediately preceded the uprising against Sotomayor 

 we find this rc(!ord: The cacique Aymamon captured a boy 16 years 

 old. son of Pedro Juarez, and tied him to a tree while a game of ball 

 was going on. He oflered the boy to the winner of the game as a 

 prize, with permission to kill him in any way desired. A servant 

 gave information to the father of his son's peril, and Salazar rushed 

 to the aid of the youth and killed 300 of the assembled Indians. The 

 chronicler Oviedo, who tells the story, has possibly exaggerated the 

 number slain, but that many were killed is without doubt. From that 

 time Salazar was regai-ded with mortal fear by all the natives, and 

 his deed called for revenge on their part. Such an event would 



a Ton means "a frog," also "molher ' or "breasts," there are two Porto Riean towns named, 

 ■cpectivcly, Toa AltaandXoa Baja. Certain tliree-pointed zemis are called toa(i IjySenorCambiaso. 



