to their ankles except at the national game of ball,
when they also wore short ones.

The men took two, three or more wives, according to their ability to
support them. The chiefs possessed a larger number of wives than their
subjects, but one of them was generally preferred over all others. The
women, besides their domestic duties, had charge of the agricultural
pursuits and worked in the fields. Those best loved were buried alive
with their husband on his demise. The men did not intermarry with
relatives of the first degree, from a belief that such marriages
resulted in a bad death.

Their huts were similar in structure and in character to those of the
North American Indians.

The hammock was the chief article of furniture of the aborigines, and
the calabash shell their only cooking utensil.

Their arms were a bow and arrow, in the use of which they were very
skilful. They had canoes both for fishing and sea voyages. These were
hewn out of the timber of enormous trees, the like of which, owing to
fires and seasons of drouth, no longer exist upon the island. Some of
the canoes were large enough to hold forty or fifty men.

When the Indians saw that the sick were near to death they suffocated
them. Even the chiefs did not escape.

After death they opened and dried the body by fire, and buried it in a
large cave, in which were interred also some live women, the arms of the
deceased and provisions for the journey to the other world. Sticks and
branches of trees were then placed on the top, and the whole was covered
with earth, which was thus kept from the bodies of those interred.

They were accustomed to perform a national dance which was called the
areito. At the conclusion of this dance, all became intoxicated with
drinks made by the women of fruit, maize and other ingredients, and with
the smoke of tobacco which they inhaled in their nostrils.

As has been said, at the time of the conquest the name of the native
chief was Aqueynoba. He was friendly to the Spaniards at first and lived
peaceably with them for some time.

There is no doubt but that the aborigines were confiding, generous and
peaceful. But, like all savages, they were very superstitious. They
worshipped a vast quantity of idols, but believed in one superior
deity. With the exception of the Caribs, who occupied the eastern part
of the island, they were not cannibals. They were in the habit of
practicing quite a large number of domestic arts, such