FEWKESj 



CULTURE AREAS IN THE WEST INDIES 



255 



The Indians of Cuba, like those of Haiti, Porto Rico, and the 

 Bahamas, were harassed by the Carib from the Lesser Antilles, but 

 it is yet an open question whether these marauders had settled ui 

 any considerable numbers on the island at the time of the dis- 

 covery. The inhabitants of the extreme eastern end of Cuba, like the 

 Ciguayos, who occupied the region from Puerto Plata to Higuey, 

 from exposure to the inroads of the Carib had become more war- 

 like than the otlier people of Cuba, but this does not necessarily 

 mean that they were Carib, as some writers appear to believe. 

 The discovery of flattened skulls in caves near Cape Maysi, and 



their identity in this re- 

 spect with deformed Carib 

 crania from Guadeloupe, 

 does not prove identity of 

 race. According to Dr. 

 Carlos de la Torre,=^ the 

 explorations of Senor Mi- 

 guel Rodriguez-Ferrei\ 

 Valdes Dominguez, Mon- 

 tane, and himself tend to 

 confirm the opinion of 

 Eafinesque that the Caribs 

 had settled south of Bara- 

 coa. but the evidence pre- 

 sented in support of this 

 theory is not conclusive. 



The original coloniza- 

 tion and prehistoric cul- 

 ture of Cuba must com- 

 prehend three different 

 conditions of aboriginal 

 life, practically three dif- 

 ferent peoples — viz, the 

 primitive cave dwellers of the central region and western extremity 

 of the island; the fishermen living in pile dwellings in some places; 

 and the Tainans having the true Antillean stone-age culture. The 

 derivation of the last-mentioned culture from Haiti and Porto Eico 

 is reasonably certain. The connection of the coast fishermen of Cuba 

 with the shell heap and the key population of Florida was intimate, 

 but it is still undetermined which was derived from the other. 



The origin of the cave dwellers and of the rude savage race of 

 Cuba is the most difficult of all to determine. Their ancestors were 



Fii;. 69. — Stone with face from Nipe Bay (U. 

 National Museum). 



=> Manual 6 Guia para los ExSmenes de los Maestros y Maestras, Habana, 1901, p. 45. 



