166 ISLAND CULTURE AREA OF AMERICA [eth. ann. 34 



Plate 87, ^1, is a pestle or grinder of unusual form and use. while 

 5 is a crescentic stone gorget perforated midway in its length. 

 C and I> are two views of a clay object with a resemblance to a 

 human head. The remaining figures, E^ F, G, H, are made of stone, 

 but their use is unlvnown. 



The few objects from Nevis in the Connell and other collections 

 are exceptionally fine, and certain of them so closely resemble those 

 found in St. Kitts that we may suppose the prehistoric people of 

 this island and those of St. Kitts, only a few miles away, were iden- 

 tical in odture. The indications are that there was a considerable 

 population on this island in prehistoric times. 



ST. CROIX 



A few pieces of pottery from St. Croix belong to the Porto Eican 

 area, and a few stone collars ami three-pointed stones characteristic 

 of prehistoric Borinquen have been found on this island. The objects 

 from this island are almost identical with those from the otlier 

 Danish Islands, San Juan and St. Thomas. Separated by a wide, 

 deep channel from the St. Kitts group and geologically different 

 from other Danish Islands, St. Croix shows recent volcanic action. 

 The rock formation of the two ends of St. Croix are geologically a 

 bluish slate, the area between being of a calcareous formation.^^ 



St. Croix is called Ay- Ay in several of the early accounts of the 

 island and is considered Carib, but tlie stone implements found in 

 its territory are so like those of Porto Eico and the typical forms 

 so different from the St. Vincent and St. Kitts area that it is con- 

 sidered a member of the Borinquen group, and not as belonging to 

 the Lesser Antilles, culturally speaking. 



Several private collections made on this island were examined by 

 the author, who himself gathered about 100 specimens of petaloid 

 celts. In the collection of the governor of the Danish West Indies at 

 St. Thomas there are a number of preliistoric objects from St. Croix. 

 It appears that the prehistoric population of St. Croix was fairly 

 large, judging from the number of known mounds and middens. 

 Early historical accounts of tiie island would lead me to suspect that 

 it was smaller than the archeological evidence indicates. 



The inhabitants of St. Croix were valiant, as was evident to Co- 

 lumbus, who had an encounter on his second voyage with the aborigi- 

 nes, in which one of his crew was mortally wounded by a poisoned 

 arrow.'* Tlie place where this encounter occurred was probably 



13 Pop geology seo Quin. The Building of an Island. New York, 1907. 



" The arrows of the natives were apparently tipped with shai-p sticks or teeth, not 

 with stone points. 



