IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 



441 



natives of the islets of the Bahamas were called lukku lcairi, abbreviated to luhkairi, and hicayos, from lukku, man, kairi 

 an island, "men of the islands ;" and the archipelago itself was called by the first explorers "lasislasde los Lucayos," 

 " isolo delle Lncai." 29 The province in the western angle of Haiti was styled G-uacaiarima, which Peter Martyr trans- 

 lates " insulae podex ;" dropping the article, caiarima is sufficiently like the Ar. kairiiina, which signifies podex, Sp. 

 culata, and is used geographically in the same manner as the latter word. 



The word Maya frequently found in the names of places in Cuba, and Haiti, as Mayaha, Mayanabo, Mayajigua, 

 Cajimaya, Jaimayabon, is doubtless the Ar. negative ma, mdn, mara. Some writers have thought it indicative of the 

 extension of the Maya language of Yucatan over the Antilles. Priohard, Squier, Waltz, Brasseurde Bourbourg, Bas- 

 liau and other ethnologists have felt no hesitation in assigning a large portion of Cuba and Haiti to the Mayas. It is 

 true the first explorers heard in Cuba and Jamaica, vague rumors of the Yucatecau peninsula, and found wax and 

 other products brought from there. 30 This shows that there was some communication between the two races, but all 

 authorities agree that there was but one language over the whole of Cuba. The expressions which would lead to a 

 different opinion are found in Peter Martyr. He relates that in one place on the southern shore of Cuba, the inter- 

 preter whom Columbus had with him, a native of San Salvador, was at fault. But the account of the occurrence 

 given by Las Casas, indicates that the native with whom the interpreter tried to converse simply refused to talk at all. 31 

 Again, iri Martyr's account of Grijalva's voyage to Yuoatan in 151.7, he relates that this captain took witli him a 

 native to servo as an interpreter ; and to explain how this could be, he adds that this interpreter was one of the Cuban 

 natives "quorum idioma, si non idem, oonsanguineura tamen," to that of Yucatan. This is a mere fabrication, as 

 the chaplain of Grijalva on this expedition stales explicitly in the narrative of it which he wrote, that the interpreter 

 was a, native of Yucatan, who had been captured a year before. 32 



Not only is there a very great dissimilarity in sound, words, and structure, between the Arawack and Maya, but 

 the nations were also far asunder in culture. The Mayas were the most civilized on the continent, while the Arawaeks 

 possessed little besides the most primitive arts, and precisely that tribe which lived on the extremity of Cuba nearest, 

 Yucatan, the Guanataneyes, wore the most, barbarous on the island. 33 



The natives of the greater Antilles and Bahamas differed Utile iii culture. They cultivated maize, manioc, yams, 

 potatoes, corn, and cotton. The latter they wove into what scanty apparel they required. Their arms were bows 

 witli reed arrows, pointed with fish teeth or stones, stone axes, spears, and a, war club armed with sharp stones called 

 a maccma. They were asimple hearted, peaceful, contented race, "all of one language and all friends," says Colum- 

 bus ; " not given to wandering, naked, and satisfied with little," says Peter Martyr ; " a people very poor in all things." 

 says Las Casas. 



Yet they had sonic arts. Statues and masks in wood and stone were found, some of them in the opinion of Bishop 

 Las Casas, "very skilfully carved." They hammered the native gold into ornaments, and their rude sculptures on 

 the face of the rocks are still visible in parts of Cuba and Haiti. Their boats were formed of single trunks of trees 

 often of large size, and they managed them adroitly; theirhouses were of reeds covered with palm leaves, and usually 

 accommodated a large number of families ; and in their holy places, they set up rows of large stones like the ancient 

 cromlechs, one of which is still preserved in Hayti, and is known as la eercada de los Indios. 



an " Luoayos o por inrjor deeir Yuoayos" says Las Oasas, (Hiei, &m. lib- u, cap. i D ami after him Herrem But the correction which was based apparently 

 mi some supposed connection or the word with yuoa, the Haitian name of an esoulent plant, is superfluous, and Las Casus himself never employs It, nor a 

 single other writi!]'. 



311 Las Oasas. ills'. &m. ds las Indian, lib. iv. cap. •!«, MSS. Bees were native to Yucatan long before the dlsoovery, hut, not to the north Ifcmperate zone. 



« "Varlaenlm esse ldlomataln varlis Cubac provlnctls perpenderunt." (Pet. Martyr, De Rebus Oceanioie, v. 42). Las Casas says that a sailor told Columbus 

 that he saw one Indian cacique in a long white tunic who refused to speak, hut stalked silently away. {Hist. <!<■ las ha/Las, til). 1. cap. tir»). Martyr says there 

 were several. IVsehel suggests I hey were tall white flamingoes, that; scared the adventurous tar out of his wits. (Gfaaohichie dee Z&ttatiers dtr Bntdeetomffm, p. 

 258). At any rate the story gives no foundation at all for Peter Martyr's pblloglcal opinion. 



" Pet. Martyr, De Insulia Nuper Invmtti, p. 835. "Irala oonslgo Grlsalva mi I ndlo per lengua de ins que de aquella tlerra hablan llevado conslgo a, la ysla de 

 Cuba Francisco Hernandez. Las Casas /list. Ben, d<< las Indicts, lib. Ill, cap. 108, MSS. See also the chaplain's account in Terneaux Oompans, Recueil dr. 

 Pieeea rel, a la Oonqu&te de Mexique, p, -Mi. 



■ !:i Bernal Idas says the vicinity of cape San Antonio was Inhabited by the "Guanataneys que son unos Indies como salvages." He expressly adds that 

 their Clothing differed from that of the Mayas, and that the Cuban natives with him could not understand the Maya language. Historia Verdadera, cup. 11. 



AMERI. PIIILOSO. SOC. — VOL. XIV 111 



