FEWKEs] ARCHKOL(X4ICAL SITES 81 



ignates as a " figure trouvee dans une sepulture Indienne." A pathway of the same 

 breadth as the ring extends from it, first, due west, and turns afterward at a right 

 angle to the north, ending at a small brook. The pathway is almost for its whole 

 extent overgrown with thick forest; I could not, therefore, ascertain the exact 

 length. No doubt can exist that this circle surrounded the Indian idol, and that 

 within it thousands of natives adored the deity in the unshajien form of the granite 

 rock. But another question remains to be solved, namely, were the inhabitants 

 whom the Spaniards met in the islam! the constructors of this ring? I think niA. 



The inclosnre above described i.-^ apparently tlie .same as that referrecl 

 to by F. A. Ober." who writes res^ardiiiy- one of the dance places in 

 Santo Domino'o as follows: 



The southwestern portion, especially where dwelt Anacaona* and Henriquillo, '' is 

 rich in what I may term surface, indications; and it is in this district, in a valley in 

 the mountains, that the remains of a large amphitheater, enclosed by great rocks, 

 are to-day seen near the spot where Caonabo was captured. This amphitheater is 

 supposed to have served as the arena for the exercise of a peculiar game of ball in 

 which the Indians indulged, somewhat similar to that to-day practiced liy the 

 Basques. 



It was probably in this dance plaza, or one of like construction, in 

 the province of Xaragna that the cacique Anacaona gave the reception 

 to Bartholomew Columbus which Herrera has described in detail. 

 When Bartholomew Columbus, with his troop of 300 men, came to 

 Xaragua, he was received by all the nobles of the province with 

 dances, songs, and other amusements. Thirty women of the roj'al 

 household, naked except as to such garments as hung from their 

 girdles, bearing green boughs in their hands, approached the Spaniard 

 with song and dance, knelt before him, and offered him what the_v 

 carried. These were followed by others, and the white visitors were 

 taken into the presence of the cacique, where there was spread a feast 

 of cassava, utias, tish, and other delicacies. On the following day the 

 Spaniards were treated to an exhibition in which two troops of the 

 Indians engaged in a mock battle, during which some of their number 

 were killed. 



The Porto li'icnn J iier/os <Ie hohi wovQ first described by Doctor Stahl, 

 who speaks of several of these inclosures in different parts of the 

 island. According to this author, these sites are formed of laminated 

 stones of different sizes, placed vertically in position, and forming 

 inclosures of rectangular form measuring 15 meters, more or less, in 

 size, the walls being .slightl}' elevated above the surface of the ground. 

 Some of these structures, on account of the want of protection, have 



o Aborigines of the West Indies, in JProcecdings of the American Antiquarian Society, p. 24, Worcester, 

 1894. See also his In the Wal^e of Coliimbu.s, Boston, 1893, and his Porto Rico and its Resources 

 New York, 1899. 



''The cacique Caonabo lived near the pueblo San Juan Managua, his wife being a sister cif Behe- 

 chio, cacique of Xaragua, whose village was at the head of the lalcc of that name. 



cThe cacique Henriquillo headed the last outbreak of the Haitians against the Spaniards and later 

 received a pueblo called Boya, north of the city of Santo Domingo, where survivors of the Indians 

 were living in 1723. 



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