FEWEEsJ CULTURE AKEAS IN THE WEST INDIES 63 



which have been described and figured by Mr. De Booy in his article, 

 "Certain Archeolofrical Investigations in Trinidad, British West 

 Indies." ^* The collection made by De Booy at Mayaro and elsewhere 

 contains many more specimens than that from Erin, but they do not 

 greath' differ from those here illustrated. They indicate a people 

 in about the same cultural condition, allied to Tainan rather than 

 Carib stocks. 



Trinidad is well adapted for the home of an aboriginal people. 

 It has constant fresh water, an abundant supply of food, its moun- 

 tains and plains being well stocked with animals, the sea affording 

 an abundance of fish, moUusks, and crabs, and its soil yielding a 

 large variety of edible roots and fruits. The island lies in full view 

 of the coast of South America and was visible to the natives in- 

 habiting the Orinoco delta. On its lee side the water is shallow, 

 but landing can be made at many places in small craft. There are 

 high hills in the interior, level savannas along the coasts as well as 

 inland, and streams of fresh water that open into brackish lagoons. 



Early historical references to the Indians inhabiting Trinidad 

 date from the discovery of the island by the great Genoese. As 

 Columbus on his third voyage, in 1498, sailed with his companions 

 along the shore of the newly discovered island which he had named 

 after the Holy Trinity, writes Peter Martyr,^'" " from their ships the 

 Spaniards could see that the counti-y was inhabited and well culti- 

 A'ated ; for they saw well-ordered gardens and shady orchards, while 

 the sweet odours, exhaled by plants and trees bathed in the morning 

 dew, reached their nostrils." Following the shore somewhat farther, 

 Columbus " found a port sufficiently large to shelter his ships, though 

 no river flowed into it. * * * There was no sign of any habitation 

 in the neighbourhood of this harbour, but there were many tracks of 

 animals similar to goats, and in fact the body of one of those animals 

 * * * was found. On the morrow, a canoe was seen in the distance 

 carrying eighty men, all of whom were young, good looking, and of 

 lofty stature. Besides their bows and arrows, they were armed with 

 shields, which is not the custom among the other islanders.^' They 

 wore their hair long, parted in the middle and plastered down quite 

 in the Spanish fashion. Save for their loin-cloths of various coloured 

 cottons, they were entirely naked." Columbus naively declared that 

 he followed in this voyage the parallel of Ethiopia, but recognized 

 that the people he found in Trinidad were not Ethiopians, for the 

 " Ethiopians are black and have curly, woolly hair, while these na- 



's Amer. Anthrop., n. s., vol. xlx, no. 4, pp. 471-486. Republished in Cont. Mus. Amer. 

 Ind., vol. iv, no. 2. 



i8a De orbe Novo, vol. I, pp. I,f2-1.'!.3, 



'" The Orinoco Indians had elaborate shields. 



