424 



MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



Eound the whole periphery of the island numerous fluvial valleys are disposed 

 at rio-ht ans-les with the coast. Some of these streams are over 60 miles lono; and 

 several on the north slope take the name of " Rio Grande," being both considerably 

 larger and more copious than those flowing southwards. 



Inhabitants. 



Having no inaccessible places of retreat in the mountains, the aborigines, not- 

 withstanding their numbers, rapidly disappeared after the conquest. According 

 to the early chroniciers they numbered nearly a million, all subjects of a single 

 cacique. They are supposed to have been of the same race as the Haitians, and 

 arms or ornaments are often turned up by the plough attesting the originality of 



Fig-. 204.— PuEETO K.ICO. 

 Scale 1 : 2,250,000. 



65°30 



Depths. 



to .50 

 Fathoms. 



50 to .500 

 Fathoms. 



500 to 1,(kX) 

 Fathoms. 



I.OOO Fatlioms 

 and upwards. 



60 Miles. 



their culture. They consist of heavy collars of syenite or other massive stones, and 

 are found only in Puerto E-ico and some of the neighbouring Lesser Antilles, 

 though objects of a somewhat similar character have also been picked up in the 

 territories of the Mexican Huaxtecs and Totonacs. Some of them, weighing as 

 much as 65 pounds, are of perfectly regular form, but without any embellishment, 

 while others terminate in a more or less decorated plaque. Their use is unknown, 

 though some archaeologists have compared them to the cangnc worn as a punish- 

 ment by culprits in China. 



As in the other Antilles the aborigines were replaced by the black race on the 

 plantations. Caparra, the first settlement in the island, was founded in 1509 by 



