72 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO [eth. ann. 25 



tiieni in the house for perpetual reverence and memory. Such pre- 

 served heads were probably seen by the Spaniards in the houses of 

 the insular Carib and led to the circulation of distorted stories of can- 

 nit)alism. The Guarano also, according to Gumilla, preserved the 

 bones of their ancestors in their houses, the flesh first having- been 

 remo\ed bj- aquatic animals. 



The habit of preserving- skulls, bones, or other parts of the body as 

 objects of worship seems to have been universal among the West 

 Indians. It is mentioned in all older accounts of the Haitians. The 

 method of preparing and the subsequent care of the skull and other 

 bones of the dead among the Orinoco tribes, as described by Giunilla, 

 show some analogy with the customs of the ancient Antilleans. The 

 •Arawak exercised the same care as is recorded by Oviedo of Haitian 

 burials, to prevent contact with the earth. Brett," in an account of an 

 Arawak dance called a maqudiri., gives among many others the fol- 

 lowing especially instructive epi^^ode: 



The dance was given in honor of a deceased female, who had been buried in tlie 

 liouse. A broad plank lay on her grave, and on it were placed two bundles contain- 

 ing the refuse of the silk grass of which the whips were made, which had been care- 

 fully preserved. There were also two pieces of w'ood, rudely carved to resemble 

 birds, and two others which were intended to represent infants. At a signal from 

 the master of the house the dancing ceased; and all the men, arranging themselves 

 in procession, went round the house with slow and measured steps, the plank and 

 wooden images being carried before them. After this they arranged themselves near 

 the grave, and one of them chanted something in a low voice, to which the others 

 answered at intervals with four moans by w-ay of chorus. The articles carried in the 

 procession were then taken to a hole previously dug in the earth and buried there. 

 Two or three men appointed for the purpose then drew forth their long knives, and, 

 rushing in among the dancers, snatched the whips from them, cut off the lash from 

 each, and buried them with the other articles. 



Future investigation of the burial mounds of the Porto Ricans will 

 no doubt bring to light similar objects ))uried with the dead in these 

 places, but thus far, with the exception of a stone mask, nothing has 

 yet been found to parallel this custom of the Venezuelan Arawak. 



Inigo, speaking of the burial customs of certain people of his time 

 (the eighteenth century), remarks that, while the dead were commonly 

 interT-ed in the churches, those that had died of an epidemic were 

 buried at the foot of a tree on their farms, and that their bones were 

 disinterred later and carried to the church, where honors were paid to 

 them. 



Myths 



The West Indians, like all primitive peoples, had many fables and 

 traditions, some of which were reduced to song and recited in dances. 

 The Indians of Hispaiiola believed that the sun and moon came from 



tiRev. W. K. Brett, The Indian Tribes of Guiana, tlieir Custom.s and Habits, p. 15C, London, 1868. 



