212 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO [eth. ANN. 25 



other caciques, in order to resist tlie Europeans, said to them that all 

 defense would l)e useless unless they endeavored to propitiate the 

 Spaniard's "•god." " I know their god," he said, " who is more power- 

 ful than any other god. I know how to gain his power, and will 

 teach you." He immediately brought them a basket full of gold 

 objects and, showing it to the caciques, said: "There is the Spaniard's 

 god. Let us celebrate a fete in his honor that he may look favorably 

 on us." Immediately he smoked around the basket; then they sang 

 and danced until the}' fell, drunken and exhausted with fatigue. On 

 the next day Hatuey assembled the caciques at sunrise and said to 

 them: ""I have reflected very much over the attairs of which I spoke 

 to 3'Ou, and my mind is still unsatisfled; all considered, I do not think 

 we shall be safe so long as the Spanish god remains in our midst. 

 Wherever the Spaniards go they seek their god, and it is useless to 

 hide it, for the}' have marvelous ways to And it; if you swallow it, 

 they will disembowel you for it; the bottom of the sea is the onlj^ 

 place where they will not go to get it. When we have no more gold 

 they will leave us alone, for this is the only thing whicli makes them 

 leave their homes." 



The suggestion was thought to i»e an a(hninil)le one. and they threw 

 into the sea all the gold they possessed. 



Baskktkv AM) Textiles 



There are frequent references in early writings to the basket ware 

 of the Antilleans, and there is every probability, judging from these 

 statements, that their baskets were of fine quality. Baskets called 

 hai'at< were emploj'ed for many household purposes, as for straining 

 the juice of the manioc in the manufacture of vassava; coverings for 

 hammocks were made of basket ware, and ofierings of cakes and bread 

 were carried to the gods in baskets, which were laid on the top of a 

 table of the same material. 



The islanders used several kinds of plaitings in the ))asket work, 

 which was said by the older writers to have been of great beauty and 

 so ciosel}' interw^oven with leav.es that it was water-tight." These 

 havus wei'e sometimes of spherical form and made in pairs to be 

 attached to the ends of a stick which the Indians carried on their 

 shoulders in such a way that the l>askets balanced each other.'' 



Skulls of the dead were sometimes inclosed in basket wai-e. In a 

 village not far from the ill-fated settlement of Navidad, in searching 

 for the remains of the settlers, Columbus found, according to Doctor 

 Chanca, a human skull wrapped in a basket, showing the existence 



n A double woven basket with.leaves between the two parts was used to hold liquids. 



iOviedo gives a figure ,.i an Indian carrying baskets in this-way, which is still practiced in Porto 



