FEWKESi RELKilON^ 53 



Some of the True Caribs slightly diverge from the method of making bread, 

 in that they pound the meal in a mortar before sifting it, and, if it is to be kept for 

 any length of time before use, slightly smoke it. The bread thus produced is much 

 more friable, and much more easily digestible than that made by the ordinary 

 process. 



When cassava is very scarce its bulk is sometime.- increased by mixing the chopped 

 leaves of the cassava plant, or the pounded seed of the mora tree {Mora excelsa), or of 

 the greenheart tree (Neclandra rodicci), or even pounded rotten wood, with the meal. 



"The women," say.s Charlevoix, " to e.scape being en.slaved l)}^ the 

 Spaniard.s, committed suicide by drinking the poi.sonou.s juice of the 

 manioc." 



Oviedo gives an account, accompanied with figure.s, of how the West 

 Indians kindled fire with wooden sticks and with the tireboard, the lat- 

 ter being two sticks joined together; he describes also the method of 

 the rotary tire drill. The favorite wood for tire sticks was that called 

 by the Indians guasunas; the tire drill was about the size of the index 

 finger. 



KELKilOX 



A prominent writer states that the aborigines of Porto Rico were 

 wholly destitute of a religion. This is a mistake. If the word religion 

 be limited to a belief in ethical gods, in a beneficent creator and a 

 malevolent devil, the Borinqueflos had no religion, but the word should 

 not be so limited. The Antilleans certainly believed in supernatural 

 beings and had a theory of their nature and power, implying the pos- 

 session of a mythology, and they employed a well-developed system 

 of rites, ceremonies, and other procedures to influence these beings. 



It would be erroneous to suppose that the Indians called all their 

 gods devils, meaning by that term malevolent spirits, or that they had 

 any knowledge of a supreme God, the creator of the universe. All 

 their supernatural beings were thought to possess power for good or 

 ill in material ways, which the priests believed that they could control 

 for the weal or woe of the individual or the community. 



From the available historical material it ma}^ be suj)posed that the 

 ancient Antilleans believed in two great supernatural beings, called 

 zemis, that were parents of all others. These maj- be known as earth 

 goddess and sky god, or personifications of the magic power of earth 

 and sky. One was male, the other female, and from them originated 

 all minor gods, men, and animals; l)ut neither of these parents created 

 the imiverse, which was supposed always to have existed. These two 

 first parents were .symbolized by idols, made of .stone, wood, or claj', to 

 which the Indians addressed pra\'ers and in the presence of which they 

 performed rites for the well-being of the human race. 



A group of secondarv supernatitral beings, also called zemis, were 

 tutelary in nature, representing ancestors of the clans. These also 

 were symbolized by idols made of stone, wood, or like materials, but 



