208 



THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO 



[eth. 



whole eastern coast of the United States. Yet these aboriginal naviga- 

 tors made this long voj^age, touching at island after island, extending 

 their excursions to places situated farther from their homes than the 

 Florida Keys are from New Yorlc. 



The natives had canoes of several kinds," which differed from one 

 another in size and mode of construction. They navigated the inland 

 waters and bays in small boats (figure 41), each of which would accom- 

 modate one or two men, but the canoes in which they went to sea were 

 often large enough to accommodate a hundred or more persons. These 

 canoes were manufactur-cd by a people ignorant of the use of iron or of 

 anv cutting instrument except of stone. The larger canoes they made 

 in the following way: They first chose a large tree and built a fire 

 about its base to kill it, leaving the tree standing, that the wood 

 might season. They then felled the tree, which thej' hollowed out 

 with coals of fire placed along the log, and by means of "hatchet or 

 wedge of a very green stone." This stone. Charlevoix ob.serves, had 



never been found on the 

 island, and the general opin- 

 ion was that it came from 

 the Amazon river. After 

 the log had been hollowed 

 out in this way ))y fire, sup- 

 plemented by stone imple- 

 ments, it was buried in moi.st 

 sand and staves were wedged 

 in between the sides in order 

 to spread them as much as the 

 elasticitv of the wood al- 



I-IG. 41. Calloc UrolU UVU-dui. " 1 . i 



lowed, i he two ends which 

 were left open were then closed with triangular pieces of wood form- 

 ing l)ow and stern. The log formed the bottom of the canoe, and 

 the sides were built up with sticks and reeds, all fastened with fibers 

 and pitched with gum to render the whole water-tight. These canoes 

 were painted with bizarre figures and ornamented with carved images. 

 In some cases thej' had awnings at one end. Thej' were propelled 

 by wooden oars (nahos) and are supposed by some to have had sails 

 made of cotton cloth. The oar is said to liave liad a crossi>iece at one 

 end and a paddle at the other. 



« Doctor Chanca states that the Borinquenos did not know how to navigate the sea. As compared 

 with the Carib they were not a maritime people, but if their ancestors came by way of the sea 

 they at least must have been intrepid navigators. Consult Dr Diego Alvarez Chanca, Letter to the 

 Corporation of Seville (translation). In this letter Chanca gives an account of Columbus's second 

 voyage and his discovery of "Burenquen," Boriquen, or Porto Rico. This letter was copied by 

 Martin Fernandez de Navarette (i. 198) from a codex in possession of the Real .\cadv'mia de la 

 Historia. written in the sixteenth century. The copy of the Chanca letter used by the author is 

 the reprint in Coll y Toste's Colon en Puerto Rico. 



