Certain Similarities in Amulets from the 

 Northern Antilles 



By Theodoor de Booy 



ERHAPS few objects of West Indian manufacture extant 

 today show the clever stoneworking abilities of the primi- 

 tive inhabitants of the Antilles so clearly as do the small 

 amulets from those islands that are found in almost all 

 iBESIfei^S archeological collections. Fashioned from some of the 

 hardest stones known, the investigator often wonders by what means 

 the aboriginal artisan succeeded in shaping these objects so skilfully 

 with the primitive tools at his disposal. The finished object doubtless 

 was held in the highest veneration by its owner and guarded with 

 every precaution against breakage. 



The early historians refer frequently to zemis and to small idols, 

 which undoubtedly were the amulets under discussion. To avoid an 

 extended enumeration of the historical references to the amulets, the 

 writer can do no better than to quote from an able paper by Dr J. 

 Walter Fewkes 1 on this subject: 



The objects described in the preceding pages are supposed to be identical 

 with the small idols called zemis by early writers, who declare that the natives 

 bound them to their foreheads when they went to war. A reference to Roman 

 Pane's statement that the islanders wore zemis in this manner has already been 

 made. Peter Martyr describes certain idols used by the people of Hispaniola in 

 their worship, which were undoubtedly amulets. He says: "These images the 

 inhabitantes call zemis, whereof the leaste, made to the likeness of young devilles, 

 they bind to their foreheades when they goe to the warres against their enemies." 

 Francisco Lopez de Gomara, in describing the customs of the Indians of His- 

 paniola, says: "Atanse a la f rente idolos chiquitos quando quieren pelear." (They 

 bind little idols to their foreheads when they wish to fight.) 



From this quotation from Dr Fewkes' paper it will be seen that 

 the classification of the amulets as zemis or deities is quite permissible. 



During the last four years the Museum of the American Indian 

 in New York City has acquired for its West Indian collections four 

 amulets of a type that hitherto has not been figured in any of the 

 papers on the archeology of the Antilles. In addition, the American 

 Museum of Natural History recently acquired two amulets of the type 



1 Fewkes, J.Walter, Pre-Columbian West Indian Amulets, American Anthropologist, N.s.,vol. v, 

 no. 4, Oct.-Dec. 1903, pp. 679-691. 



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