•76 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



Dutcli island has also long served as a place of refuge and a centre of political 

 intrigue for the exiles and conspirators of the neighbouring republics. Willerastad 

 is also a sort of linguistic cajoitiil, for here more than elsewhere is current the 

 so-called pajmniiento {papimieido), a curious lingua franca composed of Spanish, 

 Dutch, English, and native (Aruba and Goajira) elements. It even contains some 

 Portuguese words, the presence of which is difficult to explain, the Portuguese 

 never having navigated these waters. 



Aruba. 



Aruba, westernmost member of the group, formerly bore the name of Azua, 

 from a shrub very common in the locality. It is the best cultivated of the three 

 Dutch islands, although suffering from a want of water, which has to be husbanded 

 in cisterns or drawn from tidal wells sunk in the sands. Now seldom visited by 

 travellers, Aruba is, nevertheless, the most interesting island in the archipelago 

 fi'om the archaeological point of view. Here are found many stone and clay 

 objects, besides rock inscriptions of Indian origin. The earthenware is almost 

 invariably embellished with little figures representing frogs' or owls' heads. The 

 inscriptions, painted in various colours, but never carved, differ little from those 

 occurring in many places on the mainland.* 



The aborigines, all half-breeds, have preserved nothing of their native language 

 except certain forms of incantation and medical recipes. Till recently they 

 deposited their dead in large cone-shaped vessels, which were buried under little 

 barrows. The Spanish conquerors found in Aruba a populous city abounding in 

 the precious metals, which gave rise to the whimsical and evidently erroneous 

 etymology of the name Aruba (Oruba) : Oro hubo ! " Heie was gold ! '' At present 

 only faint traces of the precious metals can be detected in the rocks of the island. 

 According to the geologist Martin, Aruba was the last member of the Leeward 

 group to be separated from the mainland. Here are still seen some species of 

 animals which have disappeared from Buen Aire and Curaçao; such especially 

 are a species of parrokeet, a frog, and a rattlesnake. In recent times indications 

 have been observed of an upheaval of the coasts. 



* Alph. Pinart, Exploration de Curaçao et d'' Aruba. 



