12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



a characteristic seemingly constituting this island a special 

 culture area. 



A collection of stone implements, including celts, axes, 

 and other objects, was gathered at Santa Cruz. Several 

 local collections of archeological objects were examined, 

 and the large midden at the mouth of Salt River was 

 visited. The prehistoric objects obtained on this island 

 and from St. Thomas resemble those from Porto Rico. 



Although the Carib inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles 

 are no longer of pure blood, and their language is known 

 to only a few persons in Dominica and St. Vincent, and to 

 these but imperfectly, it was found that the Negroes, who 

 form more than nine-tenths of the insular population, re- 

 tain, in modified form some traces of the material culture 

 of the Indians. Cassava is the chief food of many of the 

 people, and the method of its preparation has been little 

 changed since aboriginal times. Cocoa is ground on a 

 stone and made into cylindrical rolls in much the same 

 manner as it was prepared by the Indians in early times. 

 The basketry made in Dominica was found to be the same 

 in style and materials as is described by the early mis- 

 sionaries to the Carib ; while the Negroes of Nevis manu- 

 facture pottery of the same form and ornament and burn 

 it in much the same way as that found in the middens of 

 St. Kitts. In working their spells the obia men commonly 

 sprinkle stone objects with the blood of a goat, and the 

 common people regard petroglyphs as " jumbies," or 

 bugaboos. A great niunber of folk tales of a mixed ab- 

 original and Negro type are still recounted in the cabins 

 of the lowly, where Carib names for animals, plants, and 

 places are household words. 



On his return to Washington Dr. Fewkes undertook the 

 preparation of a report on his archeological researches in 

 the West Indies, and considerable progress therein had 

 been made by the close of the fiscal year. 



Mr. James Mooney, ethnologist, was occupied during 

 the greater part of the year with the investigation of In- 

 dian popidation, which has engaged his attention for a con- 



