the occasional forays by water of the fierce Caribs of
the south, or by the wild hurricane.
T h e old chroniclers declare that Puerto Rico when
| discovered ” had x,000,000 people under one cacique.
T h e y were of the same race as those of Haiti,
and their ways and habits were not materially different.
It is apparently here, however, that the Ara-
waks had been longest established and had reached
the highest development. T h e relics of “ celts,
stone implements and weapons, ornaments, masks,
and collars, though the discovery of such is scanty
y et, show a somewhat greater variety, a higher
finish, and more perceptible significance. One peculiar
to the island is the polished collar of stone,
shaped like a horse-collar and nearly as large, sometimes
weighing sixty-five pounds or more. I t is
believed to have been somehow connected with the
simple religious faith of the people. One tradition
is that it was carefully wrought in the owner’s lifetime
to be placed over his head in his final resting-
place, to prevent the evil one from snatching him
away. 1 , . , .
There are many evidences in relics and in the early
records that the religious perceptions of the Arawaks
were much like those of other primitive people.
T h e y deified the forces of nature and had a dread
of unseen beings. Some of their rude images represented
household or tribal gods,— their lares and
penates or teraphim,— and they had a vague conception
of one mighty D e ity whose voice was in the
thunder and whose presence gave power to the
storm, and of a continuation of life beyond the grave.
This crude form of faith, radical in the human race,
characterised most of the scattered tribes of the
¡Western world before the light of the East reached
its shores.
The island of Borinquen, as the native people
I called what is now Puerto Rico, had stayed the tide
i of Carib invasion and conquest, though it had not
[prevented repeated attacks which reached to Haiti
[and even spread terror among the Bahamas. But the
[caribs had taken full possession of the long chain of
[the Lesser Antilles and established themselves
¡among the Virgins. T h e y were a different breed
[from the gentle and unresisting Arawaks— fierce,
¡aggressive, unyielding, pitiless to their enemies and
¡their victims, but hospitable and generous to kins-
Imen and friends. T h e y were taller and of a lighter
' complexion,— sometimes described as olive, or as
yellow, to distinguish it from the coppery red,— had
finer hair, of a gleaming black, and were accustomed
to paint their bodies and make their faces hideous
■with rings around the eyes and streaks upon the
cheeks. Their apparel consisted chiefly of necklaces
pf bone and teeth, and girdles of shells and coloured
Stones, variegated with feathers.
E When the Spaniards first encountered the Carib
fvarriors, they were horrified by evidences of cannibalism.
T h e y found bones about the huts and
pamps, and skulls apparently used for drinking
vessels or domestic utensils, and they even reported
seeing human limbs hanging up as butchers’ supplies.
Some have doubted whether these gruesome
scenes meant more than the sacrifice of the captives