FEWKES] RELIGION 1 i 



These mounds are graves of eaciques or other dignitaries, a faet iiidi- 

 eating that the burial customs of the Borinqueiios approaehed more 

 closely those of the Saliva than of any other of the Orinoco tribes, of 

 which Gumilla describes a number differing in many respects from 

 one another. 



The Guarano, commonly callt>d the Warraus, who live on the many 

 islands of the delta of the Orinoco, according to Gumilla place their 

 dead in the water and allow fishes ((/uacaritos) to strip the corpse of 

 the flesh and soft parts; the skull and other bones are then preserved 

 in a decorated basket, which is hung from the roof of the house. 

 Considering the relationship between the prehistoric peoples of the 

 West Indies and the Orinoco tribes, this custom among the Guarano 

 is highly significant. The mortuary' customs of the Indians of the 

 Orinoco vary greatly, and probably the same statement is applicable 

 to the customs of the different West Indian islands. There is no evi- 

 dence that the Porto Ricans treated the dead in the way just described, 

 which is a custom characteristic of the Guarano. But throughout 

 the West Indies, as among the tribes of the Orinoco, especial care 

 seems to have been taken to presei've the skeletons of the deceased. 

 There is evidence that the Carib of the Lesser Antilles sometimes 

 placed their dead in earthen jars, as recorded by im Thurn in speak- 

 ing of a small island called Ballineux that was used as a cemetery. 

 The Jamaicans placed their dead in caves or sometimes interred the 

 bones, deposited in urns. In the caves the bones were not buried hut 

 simply laid out on the cave floor. That the Jamaica Indians did the 

 same is recorded by Sir Hans Sloane." '"I have seen in the woods,"' 

 says this writer, "many of their bones in caves, which some people 

 think were of such as had voluntarily inclosed or immuned themselves, 

 in order to be starved to death." He refers to a man who saw, in the 

 3'ear 1677, "a cave in which lay human bones, all in order, also pots 

 and urns wherein were bones of men and children.'" These pots were 

 large and oval and of a dirty reddish color. "On the upper part of 

 the rim or ledge there stood out an ear, on which were made some 

 lines." The negroes had removed most of these pots to boil their 

 meat in. "The dead," writes Charlevoix, " were treated by the use 

 of Are, but were not interred until thev were thought thoroughly 

 emptied and dried by the fire." 



According to Gumilla the Orinoco Carib inter the bodies of the 

 dead with bow, arrows, wooden clubs, shield, and other arms on one 

 side of the corpse and one of the wives on the other. "When this act 

 has taken place in their moi'tuary ceremonies the son of the cacique 

 inherits his father's position and his wives. At the beginning of the 

 year the}' exhume the dead, place the remains in a basket, and hang 



nSir Hans Sloane. A Voyage to the Islands of Madeira, Barbadoes, Xieves. St. Christopher's, and 

 Jamaica. 2 vols., London, ]725. 



