OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 853 



■wax (....). By the Cubans, large fishes and turtle were captured by means of the remora or 

 suck-fish {Echineis). 



Hayti was found governed by four principal caciques ; each having under him severity or eighty 

 local subordinate chiefs, who "were obliged, whensoever called upon, to assist them in their wars, 

 and till the ground." The principal chiefs spoke through an intermediate officer (as among the Fee- 

 jeeans) ; in making treaties presented a "girdle" or belt (as among our North American tribes); 

 and in travelling; were carried in " a sort of palanquine." Medicine-men are described (another point 

 in common with our North American tribes ; and as among the Hawaiians), bones of individuals were 

 kept in calabashes, and certain stones were supposed to cause "women to be delivered without pain." 

 Bows and arrows, the latter pointed with "a fish's tooth or bone," were in use (F. Columb.). 



The natives generally, are described by Columbus as "so loving, tractable, and free from covet- 

 ousness," that " there are no better people " in " the world. They love their neighbouras themselves, 

 and their conversation is the sweetest in the universe, being pleasant and always smiling. True it is, 

 both men and women go as naked as they were born ; '' yet "the king is served with great state; and 

 he is so staid, that it is a great satisfaction to see him, as it is to think what good memories these 

 people have, and how desirous they are to know everything, which moves 'em to ask many questions, 

 and to enquire into the cause and effects of every thing." In regard to religious ideas, " I could dis- 

 cover neither idolatry nor any other sect among them, tho' every one of their kings, who are very 

 many, as well in Hispaniola, as in all the other islands," has "a house apart from the town in which 

 there is nothing at all but some wooden images carved " (compare Feejeeans) : "I have taken pains 

 to find out what it is they believe, and whether they know what becomes of them after they are dead ; 

 especially I enquired of Caunabo ; " who "and the rest answered. That they go to a certain vale, 

 which every great cacique supposes to be in his country, where they affirm they find their parents, 

 and all their predecessors, and that they eat, have women, and give themselves up to pleasures and 

 pastimes."* 



* Bombax ceiba of the West Indies and neighbouring portion of Tropical America. An immense 

 tree called by the natives " ceyba " (Ovied.), and its spiny trunk scooped out for canoes, some large 

 enough according to Columbus lett. 1 to contain " seventy and eighty men, each with his oar : " — 

 "arboles que Ilevan lana " and are "muy espinosos " were seen by Columbus on Hayti, on his Second 

 voyage (Columb. lett. in soc. Hackl.) ; the " ceyba " was observed by Oviedo gen. hist. ix. 1 1 growing 

 wild ; trees of the girth of fifteen men were seen in Nicaragua by a writer (quoted by Lerius) ; and 

 according to Barcia i. 24, this was one of the first trees to engage the attention of the colonists 

 (Spreng ) : B. ceiba was observed by Jacquin am. pi. 176 on the West Indies or neighbouring main- 

 land. By Nimmo, has recently been introduced into the environs of Bombay (Graham). 



hotoma longiflora of the West Indies. A Lobeliaceous plant called by Spanish colonists 

 "rebenta cavallos " (Lindl.) ; and the " ruybaruo '' mentioned by Columbus lett. 1, — may be com- 

 pared : I. longiflora is termed " trachelium sonchi folio flore albo longissimo " by Plumier iii. pi. 353, 

 as observed on Jamaica (Pers.) ; was also observed in the West Indies by Jacquin amer. 219; is 

 known to o-row on Cuba, Hayti, and Martinique, and is "one of the most venomous of known plants," 

 bringing on "fatal hypercatharsis," and the juice applied to "the lips or eyes " producing "violent 

 burning inflammation " (Lindl.). 



Schinus molle of Western Peru. A small pinnate-leaved Terebinthaceous tree, apparently the 

 " almastifa, arbol, hoja y eh fruto es semejante al lentisco,'' seen by Columbus in the West Indies : 



S. molle together with the potato, was introduced into Mexico after the time of the Montezumas 



(Hernand. iii. 15, and Humb. iv. 9) ; was observed by myself wild and frequent along river-banks in 

 Western Peru: the bark and leaves according to Lindley are " filled with a resinous matter" that 

 "concretes into a substance resembling mastich, a white odoriferous substance" also "procured from 

 the leaves " and "used in diseases of the eye." Transported to Europe, the tree is described by Clu- 

 sius post. 94 (Spreng.), and Lamarck pi. 822. " S. aroeira," if a variety only, was doubtless brought 

 from Peru into Brazil, where it was found by Maximilian of Wied Neuwied employed by the native 

 tribes in diseases of the eye. 



Torreya taxifolia of Florida and the West Indies. A middle-sized tree of the pine tribe ; and 

 the "pinos" bearing instead of cones "frutos" that "parecen azeytunas del Axarafe de Sevilla," seen 

 by Columbus journ. Nov. 25th and 27th in the West Indies — (Humb. cosm. i.) may be compared : 

 T. taxifolia was observed by Croom, and Chapman, "along the east bank of the Apalachicola river, 



middle Florida." 



Areca oleracea of the West Indies. Called by the Caribs "aouari" (Descourt.), and probably 

 one of the "palmas de seys o de ocho maneros" seen by Columbus lett. 1 : — A. oleracea was observed 

 in the West Indies by Oviedo (Spreng.), Jacquin amer. pi. 170 (Pers.), and Descourtilz. 



Elais Occidentalis of the West Indies. Probably one of the "six or eight kinds of palm-trees " 



