to about half their leg; but no clothing was worn on the rest of the body. The wives of the caciques wore their aprons to their ankles, except at the national game of ball, when they also wore short ones.

"It is not known what formalities they used to celebrate marriages, but it appears that they took two, three, or more wives, according to their means of maintaining them, and that they abandoned some and took others at their caprice. The chiefs possessed a larger number of wives than their subjects, but one of them was generally preferred over all the others. They all lived together, it is said, without displaying jealousy or envy of the favored one. All, however, in effect, became slaves of their husbands; they dressed his hair each time he left his habitation, and they had, besides their domestic duties, charge of agricultural pursuits and worked in his fields. Those best loved were buried alive with their husbands on his decease, and if they did not voluntarily offer to accompany him to the other world, they were compelled to do so. Married men separated themselves from their wives for fifteen or twenty days before going to search for gold in the river, as they believed that otherwise their sight would not be good, and that they consequently would not be successful. They did not intermarry with relations of the first degree, from a belief that those guilty of incest died a bad death.

"Their habitations or huts were constructed upon pieces of timber or trunks of trees driven into the ground at short distances from each other, and they were either oval, round, or square, according to the disposition of the land. Upon these posts they formed the floor of cane or sticks, and the walls were likewise made of cane, bound together by filaments with the leaves and bark of the palm tree and meeting in the center like the poles of a tent. They usually had neither windows nor chimneys, and light was only admitted by a narrow doorway. But there were other huts stronger and of better proportions. From the ground to the floor, which was likewise formed on the trunks of trees driven into the earth, they left an uninclosed space which served as a patio or courtyard, and in the higher story they left air holes or windows, made of cane. The roof had a double fall and was covered with palm leaves.

"Fray Iñigo remarks that, when he wrote, the habitations in the interior of the island were of the same construction, with a slight difference that the floor was sometimes made of boards, but that the huts were built upon stakes driven into the ground.

"It is remarkable to notice how very little change has even yet taken place in this respect. I have seen hundreds of huts exactly similar to those described, even in the vicinity of towns of considerable importance. This idea of building upon poles driven into the ground is dictated by the requirements of the climate, which is everywhere exceedingly damp. The valleys and lowlands are often flooded

by the rains and the rising and overflowing of the rivers. The consequences of this are in some measure avoided by the houses being built upon posts at a certain elevation. The only wonder is that these frail constructions are not carried away by the gusts of wind. They are, however, carried away when their owners desire it, in a most easy A pole to which wheels are attached is placed underneath the building, and it is thus wheeled off to the other side of the road, or the new site selected for it. This does not apply to the mere huts of the peasants, but to the more pretentious wooden houses, which are built in the suburbs of all the towns.

manner.

"The hammock and the calabash shell formed the principal articles of furniture and cooking utensils of the aborigines; they do so of the Gibaros or white country people of to-day.

"The Indians lighted their fires by means of three sticks, two of which were tied together at one end; they then placed the point of the third against the ends of the others, and beat them together between the palms of the hands, and thus ignited them with great facility.

"Their arms were a bow and arrow and the macana, a wooden weapon in the form of a scimiter, to which they also gave the shape of an ax, and armed with stone. They were very skillful in shooting the arrow, but they did not poison their arrows as the Carib Indians did. They had canoes for fishing in the rivers, and for their sea voyages some large enough to hold 40 or 50 men; but all were hewn out of the trunks of trees. Trees of such dimensions no longer exist in Puerto Rico-three centuries and a half of wood and charcoal fires have had a disastrous effect upon the island in this respect. In many parts all the larger trees have completely disappeared, and seasons of drought are naturally experienced in consequence; yet nowhere are more beautiful or useful kinds of wood to be found than in Puerto Rico.

"Fray Iñigo says that the occupations of the Indians were as few as their necessities. They passed their days in their hammocks or squatting upon their heels on the ground, and they only moved with pleasure to dance or to eat. Their agricultural pursuits were limited to the simple cultivation of maize, sweet potatoes, and plantains, and even this work was left to the women. Fishing and hunting were the pursuits in which the men were supposed to occupy themselves. They ate many grubs and insects, and not only shellfish, but even lizards and bats, says the author, were favourite dishes.

"Their religion consisted of the superstitious worship of the Cemi, whose image they carved and painted as their imagination dictated. They placed this image everywhere, and in their huts and habitations. they set aside a dark corner to pray to it for help in their necessities. Outside the villages they had a temple where the image of the tutelar god was placed. Thither the caciques repaired with the buhitis, who

hid themselves, as previously described, behind the idol, and expressed by his mouth the will of the chief. In the religious ceremonies which they celebrated they took food to the Cemi, upon which the priests regaled themselves. They had a notion of two invisible beings-one, naturally benevolent, without prayer or supplication being necessary in order to obtain his favor-from the other they feared every misfortune, trouble, and calamity, and to him offerings and prayer were necessary to mitigate his anger. They regarded him as the enemy of mankind, from whom all evils sprang. Their religious ceremonies consisted of various humiliations, the scattering of certain powders over the head of the idol, and other superstitious practices, which were inherited from generation to generation, and thus, too, were handed down their images.

"Images of the Cemi have been found from time to time, and in quite recent years, in various parts of the island. These idols, although varying in size and in the kind of stone of which they are made, generally display similar characteristics. I have also seen some made of baked clay, which are smaller than those carved in stone. The carving on the stone is indeed truly wonderful, when it is remembered that the use of iron was unknown to them.

"Don Jose Julian Acosta, of Puerto Rico, who has republished Fray Iñigo's work, with copious notes, describes several of these antiquities in his possession, and observes that they show that at the time of the conquest the aborigines of Borinquen were in the second period of the age of stone. He remarks that the resemblance among the images of the Cemi serves to prove the unity of their religious belief, while the existence of these symbols in various and distant places now on the coast, now in the interior-show that the island was inhabited in all directions. Señor Acosta believes that the skeletons of the Indians yet exist in the grottos and caves which abound in the island, and which have not been explored.

"The Borinquens believed that the dead would rise in a land of supreme delights, where eternal spring would be enjoyed, where they would find beautiful forests filled with every kind of game and watered by rivers abounding with fish, and where they would all enjoy the blessings of life, accompanied by their wives and their relatives who had preceded them.

"When one of the chiefs or principal men fell sick, the priest-doctor, or buhiti, was called, who, after performing several superstitious ceremonies, purged himself, and observed the same diet as the sick man. If he did not strictly comply with this and other obligations, and the sick man died, the friends and relations sometimes put out the buhiti's eyes, beat him, or inflicted other punishment upon him. When the Indians saw that the sick were near their death they suffocated them, even if they were chiefs. 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 his 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.

"Every event which was attended by either joyful or melancholy circumstances was celebrated by the areito or dance, accompanied by music, singing, and intoxication. Fray Iñigo says that the areito was not exactly an amusement; it was rather a serious and important occupation. If war was declared, the areito represented the sentiments which were to lead on to vengeance. If it were desired to mitigate the anger of the Cemi, to celebrate the birth of a son, to mourn the death of a cacique or friend, there were special dances according to circumstances and the feeling by which the actors were animated. If some one was sick, they danced in order that he might recover, and the buhiti danced for the patient if he could not himself support the fatigue of doing so.

"All the dances were in imitation of some event, and although the music which governed their movements was very simple, the dances were lively and full of animation. The war dance was the most expressive of all. Every action of a complete campaign was represented in it-the departure of the warriors, their entry into the enemy's country, the precautions as to camping, ambuscades, surprises, the fury of the battle, the glory of the victory, the conveyance of the prisoners-all was set before the spectators with such ardor and enthusiasm that it appeared to be fighting in earnest. The actions, manner, and tone of voice of the performers were in keeping with each incident, and always in accord with the music and singing which accompanied the dances.

"The musical instruments were drums of various sizes, made out of the hollow trunks of trees, the macara, and the guiro, or guicharo, all made with the dried fruit of the calabash tree. These instruments may yet be said to be the national musical instruments of the island. Not only are they still used in the dances of the Gibaros, but the guiro or guicharo (the long calabash shell indented and played upon with a stick) is used in balls in society, as an accompaniment to the piano, and other modern instruments. It is even adopted by the Spanish military bands when they play the country dances. The songs of the Indians were serious and even historical, for in them were recounted the most important events of their life and their country; the genealogy of their chiefs, the dates of their death, their fortunes in war, and the victories they had acquired, good and bad seasons, etc.

"The areito was composed of a large number of persons; sometimes men only danced, on other occasions only women; at other times men and women together. They formed two rows hand in hand and were