4(1 THK ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO 



which they conquered. Caciques of l)f)th Haiti and Porto Rico with 

 the same names are often said to be of Carib descent. 



The attack by Guarionex on the pueblo of Sotomayor took place on 

 the night following the death of Sotomayor, and although the pueblo 

 was ably defended by Salazar, hero of the event above recorded, he 

 was forced to retire after astonishing the Indians with his feats of 

 valor. The survivors went to Caparra, the first capital of Porto Rico, 

 and there joined Ponce de Leon, the governor of the island. 



A cacique called Mabodamaca ruled a province in the eastern end of 

 the island, possibly Humacao, where a modern town of the same name 

 now stands. 



The Carib of Vieques assisted Aguehana the Second in his resist- 

 ance to the Spaniards at the battle near the mouth of the Coayuco, 

 and it is pro})al)le that Mabodamaca, who may have had Carib ances- 

 tors, invited the Carib to aid in that battle. Previous to the coming 

 of the Spaniards the Caril) had raided Porto Rico for many years, 

 and the Borinqueiios of the eastern end of the island had received a 

 greater infusion of Carib blood than the natives of the western end. 

 If Mabodamaca was a Carib chief he would naturally have enlisted his 

 kindi'ed, the Vieques Carib, against the Spaniards, as allies of his 

 friends and relatives. The whole eastern extremity of Porto Rico had 

 practically been conquered by the Carib from the Lesser Antilles, as 

 the name of the mountains on older maps implies. 



After having defeated the second Aguebana and his Carib allies at 

 the mouth of the Coayuco river, Ponce heard through spies of an 

 uprising at Humacao, where many CariV) had joined the Borinquenos. 

 As the Indians had divided into two parties Ponce sent Salazar with 

 600 men against Mabodamaca, who had separated from the others. 

 The Spaniards in this encounter killed 1.50 of the enemy, including 

 Maljodamaca. 



Two caciques named Yuhubo or Juarcbo (Guarabo) and Cacimar, 

 said to be brothers, were Carib rulers of Vieques island. The latter 

 was killed l)y the Spaniards in one of the Carib raids on Porto Rico. 

 Subsequently his friends avenged his death a few miles from the 

 present town of Carolina, at which time they also killed the famous dog 

 called Pecerrillo, which had been brought to Porto Rico from Santo 

 Domingo when Ponce sought aid from the latter island against Ague- 

 bana the Second, and which the Indians much feared. 



This account of the political divisions of prehistoric Porto Rico and 

 of historical episodes in which caciques figured does not lay claim to 

 be more than an outline sketch, for the subject has been given in 

 great detail b^- many historians, among whom may be mentioned 

 liiigo Abbad," Salvador Brau,* and Doctor Stahl.'' 



n Historia Geogriifica, Civil y Natural rtu la Isla de San Juan Bnutista de Puerto Rie<i, Puerto 

 Rico, 18GC. 

 li Puerto Uico y su Historia, Valencia, 1894. 

 cLos Indids Borinquenos, Estudios Etnogrtlficos. Puerto Rico, 1S89. 



