404 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, T\TEST INDIES. 



wood, ironwood, matogany, satinwood, pines, and oaks. All the tropical fruit 

 trees have been introduced on the plantations, and the jainbosa, imported from 

 Jamaica in 1791, has almost become a nuisance, growing wild in dense thickets. 



Like Cuba, Haiti possesses no venomous snakes ; but the cacata, a species of 

 spider, is much dreaded by the natives. The rivers and lakes are peopled by two 

 species of saurians, and clouds of aquatic birds hover over Altavela, Beata, 

 Gonave, and the other coast islands, all rich in guano and phosphate of lime. 



Inhabitants. 



At the arrival of the Spaniards the jDojDulation was probably as dense as at 

 present. Columbus estimated it at nearly a million ; but Las Casas calculated 

 that as many as three millions had fallen victims to the greedy and ferocious 

 conquerors. 



The island had long been occupied by peoples of various origin ; it had its 

 historic and prehistoric times, its myths and legends referring to an epoch of vast 

 antiquity. To those remote ages belonged the greenish stone hatchets which 

 are picked up here and there, and which the black medicine-men use in their 

 magic rites. The aborigines claimed to have sprung from the soil, and celebrated 

 the origin of the world in certain caves, several of which are still shown, especially 

 in the western districts. According to the negroes of the north-west the first 

 man appeared quite suddenly, accompanied by the sun and moon, at the entrance 

 of a cave near Dondon, and here the natives formerly came to oifer sacrifices to 

 the divinities of heaven and earth. The figures of turtles, frogs, scorpions, 

 crocodiles, and other animals carved by the primitive artists on the surface of 

 the rocks in this cave have already become encrusted with calcareous concretions. 

 Rudely-carved stones have also been discovered in the mountains of the Cibao 

 range and in other places. 



Nearly all the aborigines, the western Cebuneys akin to the Cubans and the 

 Arawaks of the centre and east, spoke dialects of a common language, and 

 resembled each other in their usages. They probably belonged to the same stock, 

 and occasionally combined to resist their common Carib enemies, who frequently 

 landed on the east coast, killing and eating the men, and keeping the women as 

 wives or slaves. jMost of the Haitians were of small stature, and their skin was 

 scarcely darker than that of the Spaniards themselves. They were a peaceful 

 race, and war seldom broke out between the five kingdoms, the names and limits 

 of which have been preserved by the chroniclers. 



Columbus speaks of these communities in terms which have been seldom 

 applied to other men. " They love their neighbours as themselves ; their speech, 

 always kindly and soft, was accompanied by smiles." Yet the very person who 

 gave them this high praise began their enslavement by stratagem and violence. 

 His associates and successors surpassed him in cruelty, amusing themselves by 

 setting their bloodhounds loose against the unhappy natives, who were often torn 

 to pieces by these ferocious beasts. In vain they revolted, for the war led only 



