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



Indians called Zibuneyes, a tribe that included the inhabitants of the 

 islands off the northern and southern coasts, called the Gardens of 

 the King and Queen, who were enslaved by the other natives. 



According to La Torre ^^ the Indians of Cuba form one of the 

 natural groups of the Tainos and are generally known by the name 

 Siboneyes. They inhabit, he says, the whole island and have the same 

 customs, although in certain parts of Cuba there are backward tribes, 

 as the Guanacahibes of Cape San Antonio. The original autliority 

 for these statements is found in the Mufioz collection, and reads as 

 follows '/"' 



" Lo mismo podi-a hacerse con los indios de los Jardines del Rey e 

 de la Reina, que son muchos islotes de indios que no suelen comer sino 

 pescado solo. E estos se les dura menos trabajo, pues no estan acos- 

 tumbrados sino ii pescar. lo mismo se entiende para unos indios al 

 Cabo de Cuba, los cuales son salvajes que en ninguna cosa tratan con 

 los de la Isla, ni tienen casas, sino estiin en cueras continuo, sino es 

 cuando salen a pescar; Guanahatabeyes otros hay que se llaman 

 Cibuneyes, que los indios de la misma Isla tienen por servientes e 

 casi son ansi todos los de los jardines.'' 



Diego Velazquez, the conqueror, wrote °^ to the King of Spain in 

 1514 that there were two provinces in the western part of Cuba, 

 and that one of these was called (iuaniquanico, tlie other Guanahata- 

 bibes. The latter was situated at the westei'n extremity, where the 

 natives lived as savages, having neither houses nor farms, subsist- 

 ing on game captured in the mountains or on turtles and fishes. 

 Peter Martyr d'Anghera says that the inhabitants of the Haitian 

 Province of Guacayarima, to which these Indians are said to have 

 been allied, lived in caves and subsisted on forest fruits. 



(xomara"* mentions the fact that the inhabitants of different parts 

 of Cuba have different languages, and says that both men and 

 women wear little clothing. He thus writes of a peculiar custom 

 which they practiced in their nuptials: 



" Si p1 Novio es OacicnK^ todos los Caciques coml>i(l:iilos iliiermen eon la Novia, 

 priiuero que no el; si ijiercador, los uiei'cadores ; i si labrador, el Seuor o algun 

 Sacerdote." 



HISTORICAL 



The earliest contribution to the archeology of Cuba we owe to 

 Senor Andres Poey, who in 1855 read before the American Ethno- 

 logical Society a paper entitled " Cuban Antiquities : A Brief De- 

 scription of some Eelics Found in the Island of Cuba." Although 



^ Manual 6 Guia para los exiinipnes de los Jlacstros y JIaestras. p. 45. 



*'" Vol. i.xv. See also Fpitpi-. Naturaleza y Civiliaacion de Cnlta. vol. ii, p. 142. 



" Documcntos inMitos del Archiyo de Iiidias, vol. xi, pp. 224, 225. 



"^ Historia, chap. 51, p. 41. 



