no. i columbus's landfall — wolper 25 



the island to the S" there was a king who had a great deal of gold. 

 They said that the people at the northwest nsed to come to attack 

 them ; and there was land at the south and southwest, but they indi- 

 cated that they did not want to go to the south. Columbus then 

 resolved to wait until the following afternoon and go southwest. 

 Columbus explored all that day and then wrote : 



This island is very big and very level, and the trees very green, and many 

 bodies of water, and a very big lake in the middle, but no mountain, and the 

 whole of it so green that it is a pleasure to gaze upon . . . 



On the morning of October 13, Columbus had noticed the structure 

 of their foreheads and heads. 37 Documenting his description, skulls 

 found in caves and village sites indicate artificial flattening (fig. 6), 

 typical of the West Indies in prehistoric times. This deformity 

 was also found in parts of northern South America. 38 



The dugouts Columbus saw could have been brought in or could 

 have been made there from madeira 39 (Swietenia mahagoni (L.) 

 Jaca), which grows in the interior and south of the island. Indian 

 descendants relate stories about making these dugouts by burning 

 the center and scraping it from the bark with shells or anything they 

 could find. 



It has been suggested that some Indians of the Caribbean area may 

 have also used rafts for transportation (Rouse, 1960). Not too long 

 ago rafts were commonly built and used on Guanahani-San Salvador. 

 These were made from the large gumelemi (Bursera simarubaV also 

 called the West Indian birch, and if the tree is cut when first green 

 it is scooped out easily. When it is dry, it is extremely lightweight for 

 carrying and yet is strong. Three or four tree trunks are fastened 

 together with a cordage of mahot, sisal, or fiber from the fig tree 

 (Ficus caricaV which makes a raft for fishing and is used with a 

 long pole. 



37 Prof. W. K. Brooks, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (Nov. If 

 had written: "[about the] study of bones of the Lucayans found in caves in the 

 Bahamas. These relics indicate a heavy, muscular people with sloping eyes 

 and protuberant square jaws, very round skulls, but artificially flattened on the 

 forehead ... a result singularly confirming Columbus's description of broader 

 heads than he had seen." 



38 The cranial deformations were identified by Dr. T. Dale Stewart, Director, 

 Museum of National History, Smithsonian Institution. 



39 Identified by Dr. David D. Keck, Director, New York Botanical Gardens 

 in 1958, who noted, "We are pleased to have this sample of bark, which is the 

 only mahogany bark now on file in our collections. 1 sample of Sivictcnia 

 mahagoni (L.) Jaca." 



