The Indians of Barbados. 53 



all who had been brought to Espanola from " the Barbados " and Gigantes 

 were to be treated as natives. The mere occurrence of the name of the 

 Isla de los Barbados might be considered accidental had not Herrera 

 identified it in the geographical description of the islands appended to 

 his history, where the situation is so far correct that it cannot be mis- 

 taken. (Charles the Fifth issued his insiructions to Rodrigo de Figueroa 

 iu 1518 ; Herrera published the first part of his history in 1601 ; and 

 during that interval the island of Barbados is not lost to sight. 



" It is scarcely to be conceived that an island occupying such a 

 prominent position as Barbados should have been left undiscovered by the 

 Portuguese as it lies almost in their course to aud from Brazil. It is 

 equally improbable that it should have remained unknown to the 

 Spaniards who in the sixteenth century made frequent voyages from 

 Espanola to Trinidad and Costa Firma ; indeed the instructions of the 

 Licentiate Figueroa prove that it vxts resorted to by the Spaniards for 

 the purpose of enslaving Indians. Mr. Hughes' opinion that it must 

 have been formerly permanently inhabited by Indians, grounded upon the 

 number of Indian implements aud utensils found in different spots in the 

 island, is therefore borne out by my researches." 



Hughes and Schomburgk prove Barbados was permanently in- 

 habited by Indians. Indian implements, utensils and small " heads " 

 (probably Indian penates) are at present found nearly everywhere in 

 Barbados — and there are names all over the island, such as " Indian 

 River,'' "Indian Grounds," "Indian Caves," Six Men's Bay, "Three 

 Houses" and "Indian londs" which proved these Indians were 

 permanently settled in the Island. When it is remembered that 

 the Spaniards depopulated the Bahama Islands of their forty 

 thousand Indian inhabitants, to work the mines in Hispaniola, 

 in the short space of five years, there is nothing improbable in their 

 depopulating Barbados of its Indians. 



The next question is : Are Bearded Indians a fact ? Is Froude'a idea 

 of a " Bearded Carib " a monstrosity ? 



Though the courtesy of Mr. J. Graham Cruickshank Dr. Roth, 

 Magistrate in the Ponieroon District, British Guiana, whose knowledge of 

 the Indians is extensive, stated : " Of course there are bearded Indians in 

 South America — but one must bear in mind that depilation was and is 

 still very common. Many of the older Indians even in this district 

 (mainly Arawaks and Warraus) have something of a tuft so to speak 

 .... On the Orinoco certainly a couple of centuries ago the Otomaca 

 and Guanos grew beards. In our own colony there are records of beards 

 among the Partamonas, Akawais, and Macusis — all three of them of the 

 Carib stock. " 



In" Timehri" (June, 1917) Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill, in writing of "The 

 Tribal Relationship of the Akawois, states: " Both the insular and 



