ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS: THE CASE OF 'S AMERINDIANS

Robert A. Myers

Introduction Although Dominica has been associated with the Carib Indians through first­ hand observation since its discovery in 1493, 484 years ago, and both factual and legendary accounts of these Indians have been common (as evidenced by the attached bibliography), surprisingly little is known about the island's pre-1493 Amerindian population. In fact, little was known of the post-Columbian inhabitants until French priests lived among them during the seventeenth century, nearly 150 years after the island's discovery. Following Labat's visit in 1700, over 230 years elapsed until serious ethnographic study of the Caribs was begun by Douglas Taylor, whose work over the last 40 years remains the most extensive to date (1). In short, with few exceptions, much of the world's knowledge of Island Carib culture on Dominica over four and one-half centuries is the result of brief encounters or superficial visits and not extensive fieldwork. The state of our knowledge of the island's archeology is even more sparse. The only published article to date specifically concerned with archeologic- al aspects of the island is Clifford Evans' "The Lack of Archeology on Dominica", presented to this Congress in 1967. The purpose of my paper is to examine the views presented in that article and to add bits of information gleaned from vari­ ous sources on West Indian archeology and accounts of early European contact with the island's inhabitants. In his paper Dr. Evans offers reasons for the absence of promising archeo- logical sites on the island most steeped in lore of the Island Carib. In connec­ tion with the comprehensive Breden-Archbold Biological Survey of Dominica sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Evans enlisted the aid of 25 biologists who worked on the island at various times to be aware of any possible archeological materials. Unfortunately, he received "not one clue" from these scientists, many of whom were already familiar with the types of things which would interest an archeologist. Nor were the island's inhabitants of much help. They knew only of the present Carib Reserve and of "Indian artifacts" once on display in the Library. Comments Evans, Never had we been in any place in the world where local inhabitants making their basic living by agriculture and hence constantly observing the ground, had seen so little on or in the soil (1968:94) (2). Beginning in January 1966, Dr. Evans conducted an intensive month-long sur­ vey of the island finding so few sites that he concluded the aboriginal settlement on Dominica was indeed "sparse". Of 24 sites located, only 5 were exclusively In­ dian and 5 contained a mixture of Indian and European materials. All of the sites were along the rugged, windward coast, with 8 of the 10 on the northeastern shore. Three phases of occupation were identified: pre- (Saladoid-Barrancoid), Ara- wak, and Historical Carib. All of the sites were shallow, representing brief oc­ cupation, and the few potsherds found were in poor condition. Stone artifacts were not mentioned. Since European and Indian materials were mixed, it appears that both groups found the same location favorable. 326 ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

To explain the lack of archeological evidence, Dr. Evans resorts to the ecological limitations of the island. Dominica lacks the sheltered bays and coastal shelfs often found on other islands thus making aboriginal fishing dif­ ficult. Without any mangroves, associated shellfish, particularly the mangrove oyster, are in short supply. The leeward coast is relatively dry and lacks ade­ quate fish resources to support a permanent Indian settlement. Considering these ecological conditions and the sparse material evidence, Dr. Evans concludes that Dominica was unattractive to the Indians when compared to the larger nearby is­ lands of and . Thus the island served only as a "way- station" or temporary place of settlement. As soon as the unfavorable subsistence resources became evident, the Indians apparently moved on to the next island where prospects were better" (1968: 101). These conclusions contradict historical and popular impressions of the long-standing connection between Amerindians and Dominica by asserting that pre- Columbian occupation of the island was superficial and that post-Columbian oc­ cupation was limited and was forced by European hostility. Dr. Evans' paper raises interesting questions, foremost among them, the matter of such restricted early settlement of the island. Phrased another way, this problem can be stated, which groups, when, in how large numbers, and for how long settled Dominica, and, if in fact the island was settled over a long period as popular tradition main­ tains, why is there so little physical evidence of the settlement? In this paper I will draw fragmentary evidence from relevant historical sources and suggest a different view from the one expressed in "The Lack of Archeology on Dominica".

Historical References to Amerindians on Dominica Accounts of the Amerindian population of Dominica during the first century after discovery are sketchy at best, and, until French priests actually lived on the island in the mid-seventeenth century, refer in general only to brief stops at the island to replenish supplies of wood and water and to "trafficking" with the Indians. I will cite several references which document this early contact be­ tween Caribs and Europeans and attempt to build a case suggesting that, at least since 1493, Amerindian occupation of Dominica has been continuous. On his second voyage about five a.m. on November 3, 1493, Columbus reached Dominica with 17 ships and at least 1200 men, but, finding no suitable harbor on the windward coast, proceeded to Marie Galante which appeared to offer a more hospitable landing site (3). He sent one ship to explore the island's leeward side, however, which located a fine sheltered bay and found signs of the Indians (4). Dr. Chanca, the expedition's physician, reported the event in this way: One of the vessels, however, still remained at the first island all that day seeking a harbor, in case it should be necessary to return hither. At last, having found a good one where they saw both people and dwellings, they returned that night to the fleet, that had already put into harbor at the other island (1907:434). Unfortunately we have no idea of the number of Indians or dwellings sight­ ed, but the account does suggest that a permanent settlement existed on the west coast on or near Prince Ruperts Bay. To date we have no archeological evidence of this and the site may lie beneath Portsmouth, the island's second major town. From 1493 on, belief in Dominica's occupation by Amerindians has been strong. The Spanish Cédula of 1511, clearly includes Dominica as one of several islands inhabited by the Indians, but gives no estimate of their numbers (Jesse 1963: 27). Despite repeated contacts with Europeans, there does not seem to be ROBERT A. MYERS 327

adequate historical information to make an accurate count, or even a ballpark es­ timate, of the number of Indians on Dominica for most of the island's history, par­ ticularly during the first 150 years. Rouse remains correct in stating that "no estimates of the original population of the Carib islands have been discovered" (1948: 549) and a synthetic estimate such as Cook and Borah derived for the aborig­ inal population of Hispaniola (1971) does not seem possible for Dominica at this time. Nevertheless, it is helpful to list the available references to European contact to support the idea of continuous Indian settlement and the several crude "guestimates" which appear in the literature on the island. These will at least give some idea of impressions Europeans had of the magnitude of the island's post- 1493 settlers. 1514. The fleet of 15 ships and 1200 men of Pedro Arias from San Lucar ar­ rived at Dominica on June 3, 1514, stayed four days, and, according to Bayley, "did not see any inhabitants" (1832: 648). Citing early Spanish sources, Joseph Borome presents a different picture. Some of the troops "went into the forest where the Indians promptly showered them with poisoned arrows" (1966: 32). Throughout the century, Caribs raided Spanish settlements on islands to the north, but little information helps us to ascertain how many actually came from Dominica. For the year 1547, Southey writes, The Caribs continued to molest Española, Jamaica, the Coast of Tierre Firma, and particularly the island of San Juan, the inhabitants of which island complained, that from Trinidad, Guadalupe, Dominica, Santa Cruz, Martinico, and other islands, there sallied numbers of Caribs, who did them the great­ est injury (1827, 1: 187). Borome reports that the Archives of the Indies in Sevilla contain 130 folios concerned with these raids against Puerto Rico by Dominican Caribs from 1558 to 1580 (Borome 1966: 41). 1554. In this year six Spaniards escaped after spending a year in slavery to the Dominican Island Caribs (Borome 1966: 35). 1564. Captain Rene Laudonniere described meeting Indians in two canoes at Dominica in April. While his men took on water, they "contrary to the particular request of the Indians, went to their huts and gardens and carried away pine-ap­ ples" which caused the Indians to attack (Southey 1827, 1: 189). 1567. When a Spanish fleet was shipwrecked in a storm off the island in 1567, not a Spanish soul survived, for the Caribs killed every last one making it to shore. From the ships they took for their use the iron, nails, and slaves, and for their delight the immense treasure, which they deposited in a huge cave near the sea (Borome 1966: 33).

1568. In the spring, several English ships touched at Dominica and "traf­ ficked with the natives" (Southey 1827, 1: 192). 1580. A free negress, Luisa Navarete, escaped from the Caribs when they raided Puerto Rico after being held prisoner on Dominica for four years as a slave to one of the chiefs. She claimed that the Caribs lived in eight villages of a- bout fifty carbets each, scattered some two miles apart (Borome 1966: 35). 1590. John White, on his way to North Carolina, refers to a Carib "town": The last of April we saw Dominica, and the same night we came to an anker on the Southside thereof. The first of May in the morning many of the Sal­ vages came aboord our ships in their canowes, and traffique with us; we al­ so the same day landed and entered their towne from whence we returned the 328 ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

same day aboord without any resistance of the Salvages; or any offence done to them (Burrage 1906: 308). Accounts of English contact with the Caribs of Dominica are numerous o1 er the next two decades. 1592. John Twitt's account of Christopher Newport's voyage:... The 4 of April An. 1592 we fell in with Dominica in the West Indies: where making a stay a day or two, wee bartered with the Salvages for certaine commodi­ ties of theirs, viz. tobacco, hennes, Potato rootes, &c (Andrews 1959: 189). 1595. Robert Davies' account of Capt. Amias Preston's voyage mentions a stop at Dominica: And the 8 of May next evening, we arrived at the yland of Dominica....We staled at Dominica til the 14 of May, to refresh our men. Here the Indians came unto us in canoes made of an whole tree, in some wherof were 3 men, in some 4 or 6, and in others 12 or 14, and brought in them plantans, pinos, and potatoes, and trucked with us for hatchets, knives, and smal bead- stones. Here in refreshing our men, we found an hot bath hard joyning to a cold river side (Andrews 1959: 383). In the fall Drake and Hawking visited the island. According to Thomas Maynarde's narrative, on October 28, 1595, the fleet "came faire by the Souther- most end of Dominica.... our generalis ment to water at Gadalupe for Dominica be- inge inhabited by Indians our men straglinge som would have theyr throates cutte (Andrews 1972: 110, 90). Another version of the same voyage states that Dominica is an Island full of inhabitants of the race of the Canibals,...in it groweth great store of Tobacco: where most of our English and French men barter knives, hatchets, sawes, and such like yron toóles in trucke of Tobacco. (On Marie Galante, Drake met) a Canoa of Dominicans, to the people where of he gave a yellow wastcoate of flanell and an hankerchiefe; and they gave him such fruits as they had, and the Dominicanes rowed to Dominica againe. They cam thither to fetch some fruits which they sowe and plant in divers places of that Island, which they keepe like gardens (Andrews 1972: 228). 1596. Doctor Layfield gives a relatively lengthy description of the island and its inhavitants during the sojourn of George, the Earl of Cumberland's fleet, mentioning not only a town with 20 cottages, but also the Caribs' eagerness to learn English.' By two in the afternoone wee were some so neere aboard the shoare, that wee were met with many Canoes, manned with men wholly naked....the cause of their comming was to exchange their Tabacco, Pinos, Plantains, Potatoes, and Pepper with any trifle if it were gawdie....That night, having with much adoe found land, within a quarter of a mile of the shore, we ankored for that night onely for though there were a good watering place, and a very sweete riveret fast by us, yet his Lordship ment to way ankor the next morning, and to beare in to another watering place, wherewithall we cer­ tainly looker for a hot Bathe....The next morning wee bore in to the North­ west end of the Hand, where we found a goodly Bay able to receive a great­ er Navie then hath beene together in the memorie of this age. There his Lordship found the hote Bathe fast by the side of a very fine River. With- ROBERT A. MYERS

in three or foure yards runneth (the bath) into the River, which within a stones cast disburdeneth it selfe into the Sea. (The fleet stayed here for six days.) .. .Some speake of more easie passages in the Inland or the Hand, which make it probable that they leave those skirts and edges of their Countrie thus of purpose for a wall of defense....A Captaine or two water­ ing neere the place where his Lordship first anchored, found a leasure to rowe up a River with some guard of Pikes and Musketers, til they came to a Towne of these poore Salvages; a poore Towne it was of some twenty cottages rather than Houses, and yet there was there a King, whom they found in a wide hanging garment of rich crimson Taffetie, a Spanish Rapier in his hand, and the modell of a Lyon in shining Brasse, hinging upon his breast (Purchas 1905 (1625), 16: 44-56). Is it possible that the first anchorage referred to here was off Roseau or Layou, the site of Dominica's largest river. The second anchorage was almost def­ initely the harbor of Prince Rupert's Bay. 1601. Herrera adds little to our knowledge of Dominican Indians except to reaffirm that the island served as their stronghold, but he offers an interesting explanation of why the Caribs were no longer cannibals by this time. ...the men of Sancta Cruz, and others, had a custome to goe and hunt for men to the Hand of Saint John, for to eate, and at this day they of Domin­ ica doe it....Now they say, that within this little while, they of Dominica did eate a Fryer, and that all they which did eate his flesh, had such a fluxe,that some dyed, and that therefore they have left eating humane flesh (Purchas 1905, 14: 451-452). 1606. Captain John Smith, before establishing the colony of Jamestown, re­ ports that he "traded with the Salvages at Dominica" (1966: 42). 1607. The following winter, George Percy recounts that we anchored at Dominico,...a very faire Hand...inhabited by many Sauage Indians....these came to our ships with their Canoas, bringing us many kinds of sundy fruités as Pines, Potatoes, Plantons, Tobacco, and other fruits, and Roane Cloth abundance, which they had gotten out of certaine Spanish ships that were cast away upon that Hand. We gave them Kniues, Hatchets for exchange which they esteeme much, wee also gave them Beades, Copper Iewels which they hang through their nostrils, eares, and lips.... These people doe poyson their Arrow heads, which are made of fishes bone ...(Barbour 1969: 129-130). During the seventeenth century estimates of the size of the island's Indian population begin to appear in the literature. Armand de la Paix, perhaps using Father Raymond Breton' figures, suggests that there were four to five thousand Caribs on Dominica in 1640. However, he explains that this number is only a frac­ tion of the total number which existed earlier. It perhaps be asked why there are so few of them, especially in view of the multitude of their women. They tell you that it is on account of the Christians; for, as one of them tole Father Raymond the Spaniards twice massacred all the Savages of the island of St. Christopher; and once those of Guadeloupe, of whom there escaped only one woman and her children who ran away to the mountains and, so they say, bred there. They tried to do the same in Dominica, and managed to kill quite half of those there. Since then they have been decimated by small pox, which they call variola, and of which some died rotting, being still ignorant of any cure for this disease. 330 ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Moreover, everybody captures and carries off or kills them: Flemmings, English, Spaniards, and their Allouagues, who are their enemies (Armand de la Paix in Rennard, quoted by Taylor 1949: 384). 1606. If there were as many Caribs on the island in the 1640's as mention­ ed above, the number is several times larger than that estimated by Friar Bias, a Franciscan who spent sixteen months as a captive. "Bias thought there were not more than 1,000 savages in Dominica and the neighbouring islands" when he was res­ cued by Captain Chalons on October 22, 1606 (Southey 1827, 1: 238-239). 1607- In 1608 Francis Perkins wrote from Jamestown to a friend in England that ...we arrived at the island of Santo Domingo (i.e. Dominica, on November 29), which is in the West Indies, and we spent the whole day there trading with the savages, who came on board naked bringing us potatoes, bananas, pineapples (which are a very delicious fruit), bread they call 'casadra' made of certain roots, parrots, cocks and hens, linen, and other things which they gave us in exchange for iron hatchets, saws, knives, rosanes, little bells, and other similar trifles which they esteem very highly and are of great worth to those who take them along on similar voyages" (Bar­ bour 1969: 159). Aside from the descriptions of the French priests which are mentioned be­ low, most accounts of the Caribs during the seventeenth century concern their peri­ odic forays against the other English and French colonies, as for example, mention of the 1500 Caribs of Dominica and St. Vincent who united to attack the French at Martinique in 1635 (Bayley 1832: 649). Similarly in 1653 "an expedition of savages from Dominica surprised the English at , plundered and burnt most of the houses, and massacred the inhabitants" (Southey 1827, 1: 332). These numerous ac­ counts help us little in the present problem of establishing how many actually lived on Dominica, except to suggest repeatedly that Caribs there numbered several hundred at the very least. Father Raymond Breton, resident missionary among the Dominican Island Carib for longer than anyone else, is of little help in the num­ bers game but adds ethnographic details of archeological interest. His Carib- French dictionary published in 1665 reveals that The Caribs who had their carbet (men's house) at the foot of Soufrière on Dominica beyond d'Amichon were descended from them (the kings) (1665, McKusick and Verin trans.:1). The Caribs have only a very small clearing at the place where they live, which is a place for the carbet and some smaller houses around it. This is planned so the Europeans will not be able to know about them or capture them by surprise. It is for the same reason that the greater part of them are established on the windward side of the island, because here the waves are rough and terrain is high and it is difficult to gain access to it. Nevertheless, they are always near rivers because they would not be able to forego water either for drinking or for bathing. (279) There is a yard between the carbet and the other houses. Each one cleans the area of it in front of his own house....They take away fishbones, peels, and their refuse from the tables, and throw them far away, because such things breed chig- gats. (303) (1665: 15). When they are working high in the mountains and are not able to return the same day they say, 'I sleep in my garden' (1665: 16). ROBERT A. MYERS 331

These brief references suggest that the Caribs had a settlement on the southwestern leeward side (near Soufrière), that they traveled throughout the is­ land to tend their gardens, and that there may have been little garbage debris of interest to archeologists near their living quarters. Father Raymond Proesman, whose interest in Dominica's history has extended over the last four decades, describes Breton's main residence on Dominica as being in Itassi, today called Vielle Case, which is located on the northeast windward coast and was the site of McKusick's 1956 excavations (Proesman MS, Ch. 6, pp. 1- 37). Referring to the same time period, Jacques Bouton states only that It is not possible to state the true number of the Caribs on Martinique, because they are continually and actively visiting and passing among those of Dominica and the other islands (1640: 1). Whatever their original size, the number of Caribs living on Dominica was reduced steadily by the decades of war waged against them by the French under Du Parquet and later by the English in the second half of the seventeenth century. The Caribs, because of their periodic raids against neighboring islands were view­ ed as a menace to be "destroyed". 1683. Sir William Stapleton wrote from that Necessity compels me to go-a-hunting Indians, which is worse than hunting miquelets in Catalonia or bandits in Italy, but I judge it better to pre­ vent their design by aggression than to live in perpetual fear, which comes in the night at any hour like a thief and a robber (Great Britain. Calen­ dar of State Papers 1683, 11: 406). There is no mention of the toll which diseases may have taken of the Indi­ ans during these years, other than that given above. 1700. In January, Jean-Baptiste Labat spent seventeen days among Domini­ ca's Caribs and guessed that they numbered about 2,000, of which two-thirds were women and children ("je ne croipas que le nombre excède beaucoup celui de deux mille âmes, dont les deux tiers sont femme & enfans" (Labat 1724, 2: 103).) By then, the Caribs were concentrated only on the eastern side of the island they had once en­ tirely controlled, and nearly all Caribs on Martinique and Guadeloupe had been ex­ terminated or had died from diseases (or had moved to Dominica?). 1704. La Borde, writing in 1704, estimated that the Carib population of St. Vincent and Dominica together was 4,000 (Taylor 1949: 385). 1709. Throughout the eighteenth century, the island Amerindian population continued to shrink rapidly. John Barbot reports that in the spring of 1709, the island was "inhabited only three hundred and fifty to four hundred Indians, men and women, and some slaves run away from the neighboring French colonies" (1746: 571). 1730. In June, a French census accounted for 419 Caribs on Dominica, in­ cluding 163 men, 163 women, and 93 children (France. National Archives. Recense­ ments de la Dominique. G'498, No. 82 (1730)). About the same time, John Oldmixon, perhaps influenced by Burton's and Blome's writings of the previous century, fueled the early image of an island over­ run by savages: Though the English pretend to be lords of the Island, they never durst at­ tempt to make any Settlements upon it, the Charibbeans are so numerous.... There's none of them (the islands) so populous as Dominico (1741: 188). In fact, nothing supports this view for this period. The only published history of the island, written by Thomas Atwood in 1791, devotes four paragraphs to yyi HTHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

the Caribs, stating that of these there are not more than twenty or thirty families, who have their dwellings on the east part of the island, at a great distance from Roseau, where they are seldom seen (1791: 221). After this brief mention, the Carib population of Dominica virtually disap­ pears from accounts of the island until Frederick Ober's visit in the 1870's (Ober 1880). In my opinion, the above series of references give the strong impression that Dominica was continuously inhabited by the Caribs at least from the time of Columbus and suggest that there are a number of archeological sites which have nev­ er been located. If the early observers were correct in their estimates, there should be material evidence that from several hundred to several thousand Indians subsisted on the island for a minimum of 200 years.

Archeological Material on and from Dominica Dominica is not as devoid of archeological material as suggested in Dr. Evans' article, yet there is no evidence that artifacts have ever been as common oi Dominica as on other nearby islands. Others have remarked on the absence or scar­ city of Amerindian artifacts on Dominica. Ober writes that "St. Vincent seems to have been the ancient headquarters of the Caribs, if we may judge from the relics they have left behind, for this island is, or was, strewn with them" (1895: 306). And Douglas Taylor writing of Ober states He mentions the snake legend, and speaks of finding archeological remains in St. Vincent, but not Dominica. (I have heard of, though not seen, old stone implements and"rocks in writing" on the wooded heights between the Akayu River and the Areturi Ravine.) At the time of Ober's visits the so- called reserve was somewhat smaller than at present, but there were other Carib lands and settlements at North End (between the Pegoua and Marigot), Wesley (La Soie), , , Morne Caraibe, and Délice (Taylor 1938: 111). Contemporaries of Ober apparently had gone about the island collecting all available stone artifacts. These two gentlemen on Dominica were avid collectors o: Amerindian artifacts and exhibited substantial collections of "ancient Carib stone and shell implements" at the London Exhibition of 1886 (Adderley 1886: 128). Dr. (later Sir) H.A. Alford Nicholls displayed a total of 127 implements from the West Indies, variously described as battle axes, war clubs, picks, wedges celts, chisels, pounders, ornaments, charm stones, mullers, and shell implements. 1 majority (92) of these came from Dominica, with others coming from St. kitts (22), Barbados (9), Nevis (3), and (1). Dr. Nicholls also displayed a collection o: Carib baskets and tools associated with the preparation of cassava, and a Carib boi and arrow. Mr. W.H. Porter, a prominent planter, also displayed a collection of "ancient Carib stone implements" consisting of wedges, scrapers, battle axes, head implements, and mullers from Dominica (46), St. Kitts (3), Barbados (3), and Nevis (1) (Adderley 1886: 128). These stones, together with others found on the island and collected by Nicholls on trips to neighboring islands (see Nicholls' Diary MS), formed the col­ lection of Amerindian implements and artifacts located in the Victoria Museum in Roseau. An undated list of these in the museum enumerated a total of 262 items o- riginating from Dominica (159), St. Vincent (41), Tobago (22), Barbados (15), Nevis (13), St. Lucia (5), St. Kitts (5), the Grenadines (1), and French Guiana (1 ROBERT A. MYERS 333

Fifty-four of the 159 Dominica artifacts were listed with their place of origin on the island: Antrim Valley// (9), Boetica (1), Bois Côtelette (1), * (4), Eggleston// (4), Cashacou* (1), Fond St. Jean (1), Geneva (1), Giraudel// (2), Good Hope (1), Grand Bay (1), La Haut* (1), La Plaine (1), La Roch (2), // (1), Layou Park* (1), Long Ditton (1), Loubiere* (1), Morne Bruce* (2), Morne Daniel* (1), Morne Prosper// (6), Pt. Michel* (1), Roseau*(2), St. Aroment* (1), Scot's Head* (1), Soufrière* (2), Tarou* (1), Vielle Case (1), Wall House* (1), Wotton Waven// (1). If these were the actual locations where the stones were found, this is additional information suggesting that the Amerindians were not only located on the leeward coast (those sites marked with a *), but also scattered throughout the interior (those sites marked with a //) . When the museum collection was examined by Charles. Rotenberg and myself on August 4, 1973, this impressive collection had dwindled to only 89 specimens. Of these, 51 were from Dominica (10 from identified sites), 12 were from St. Vincent, 3 were from Nevis, and one each was from St. Kitts and St. Lucia. Twenty-one of these artifacts were displayed in a glass case; the remainder were haphazardly packed in two open cardboard boxes in a storeroom. J. Walter Fewkes described George Heye's 9,500 item archeological collec­ tion in 1911, the majority of which were "purchased for him by Rev. Thomas Hucker- by from collectors in the Lesser Antilles" (1922: 50). However, only 66 of these were from Dominica, while other islands were represented by the following numbers (1922: 49): St. Vincent 3,228 Balliceaux 49 Grenada 864 St. Kitts 19 Carriacou 583 Bequia 17 Trinidad 481 Connoun 12 Santa Lucia 414 Union 5 Tobago 200 Nevis 3 Barbados 169 Saba 1 Guadeloupe 99 On his trip to the Lesser Antilles in 1912, Fewkes spent but a "few hours" in Dominica, and was "unable to add any information to what is know of shell mounds or middens on this island." He felt that "archeological field work among them (the Caribs) would be amply repaid" (1922: 124). Fewkes found that there were "several collections on the island, the objects in which resemble those from the neighboring island of St. Vincent but he only reported on Dr. Nicholls' collection in the li­ brary museum at Roseau, "which is one of the most complete examined, and contains typical prehistoric specimens from the island. These objects were mainly stone im­ plements" the most characteristic of which were the "rubbing and grinding stones" (1922: 124). He described an ax with marginal notches resembling one found at Erin shell heap at Trinidad and three other objects outstanding for their particular features. In general, "the various objects obtained from Dominica belong to the same type as those used by an agricultural people, and probably belonged to a race antecedent to the Carib" (1922: 126). Since Fewkes visit, little has been done archeologically on the island. Dr, Evans refers briefly to Marchai McKusick's visit to Dominica at Au Park Bay (or Vielle Case, the location of Breton's Carib village of Itassi) which revealed sherds from the pre-Arawak or Saladoid-Barrancoid phase. Unfortunately, this ex­ cavation description remains in manuscript form (see McKusick 1960, and personal communication from McKusick). And Evans himself was not enthusiastic about further 334 ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

work at this site (1968). More recently isolated items have been found at this small bay, the bank of which is gradually being washed out by the ocean (see, for example, the sketch of a clay figure found in 1973 by a Dominican). In 1976, the Dominica Star report­ ed that a clay bird-shaped artifact was found, but the article did not mention the location of the site (The Star May 21, 1976, p. 1). In April 1977, The Star re­ ported the visit to Dominica of a distinguished member of the Congress: Dr. Petit-Jean came to Dominica to disprove an article stating that no Caribs or occupied the West coast of Dominica, by his discovery of artefacts (sic) and other traces of our first settlers from Scotts Head through Roseau area and beyond (The Star, April 1, 1977, pp. 2-6). It will be of great interest to hear Dr. Petitjean-Roget's account of his work in Dominica.

Clues from Maps and Place Name Change Bits of information can be gleaned from maps of this islands and from a study of name changes on Dominica compared with changes on other islands. However each of these sources offers evidence which dates back only to the mid-eighteenth century. For long years Dominica figured prominently in maps of the region for two reasons: it was "almost the exact spot in the Leeward Islands recommended by the writers of sailing directions during the next four hundred years" (Morrison 1942: 404), after 1493, and it was viewed by all as the bastion of flesh-eating Caribs. A map by Venetian Cosmographer Pere Coronelli in 1688 designated "La Dominique, ou sont les plus Grands Guerriers de l'Amérique, et Caribes Antropophages" while St. Vincent is designated simply by name and "aux Caribes" (Mitchell 1966: inside front cover). By the time English maps of the island itself appeared, the Caribs had al­ ready retreated from the leeward coast and were concentrated along the Atlantic side. The earliest individual English map of Dominica, by Thomas Jefferys in 1768. distorts the island and shows the Carabbe Indians" located in the vicinity of Vielle Case, several miles north of the present reserve. Accourding to Jefferys' more accurate map of 1775 ("Dominica from an actual survey completed in the year 1773"), the Caribs lived in an area delineated around , closely resembling the boundaries of today's reserve. This area has been the Caribs' homeland since that time, at least according to mapmakers. Studying place name change in the British as shown on map¡ from 1776 and 1960, Marjorie Wesche adds more to our understanding of the Carib oc­ cupation of Dominica. By comparing these two maps, she shows strong evidence for < stable Carib presence on the island. The Byres map of 1776 recorded 51 Amerindian names, 51 English names, and 78 French names, while the recent Directorate of Over­ seas Surveys map of 1960 recorded 92 Amerindian names, compared with St. Vincent's Amerindian names number 62 and 66 respectively. Recent field research, especially by Douglas Taylor, explains the increase in Amerindian names on the D.O.S. map. Discussing eighteenth century toponyms, she says that the "Carib names have a high percentage of duplicate names, indicating long usage" (1973: 86). Two-thirds of the names are on the windward coast, but "the fact that any Carib names at all sur­ vived along the leeward coast indicated the earlier wider distribution and certain­ ly larger population of this group." In addition, there is some evidence of Carib occupation away from the coasts: "the interior was not as empty as the lack of re- ROBERT A. MYERS 335

corded topynyms would indicate, for in addition to some Carib communities, several hundred fugitive slaves and others subsisted there..." (1973: 86).

Culinary Habits Before concluding, I would like to comment on one last aspect of Dr. Evans' article, one which seems central to his hypothesis, namely the type of food on which the Dominican Amerindians subsisted. This argument seems based on the im­ plication that the Amerindians were overwhelmingly dependent on shellfish and that without these they would never haven chosen Dominica as a site of permanent settle­ ment. The absence of mangroves, and the consequent "absence of shellfish in riv­ ers and bays, or of good fishing resources in terms of native methods of fishing made the island unattractive as a permanent place of habitation in comparison to other large nearby islands in the Lesser Antilles" (1968: 101). However, neither early descriptions of Bouton or Breton or Armand de la Paix, nor the recent descriptions of Taylor, suggest that the Caribs suffered from a lack of shellfish. Taylor states strongly that cassava "was and is" their sta­ ple (1949: 385). Inland gardens have already been mentioned. Carib cultigens were undoubtedly supplemented with crab, crayfish, turtle, lizards, manicou, and agouti. Fish were not as scarce as Dr. Evans implies, particularly given Indian mastery of both fresh and salt water fishing techniques with handlines, fish traps, poisons, and spears (see Price 1966b for a discussion of Island Carib abilities in this area).

Conclusion In summary, the main points I wish to make are: 1) There is considerable ethnohistorical evidence to suggest that Dominica was a permanent home for Amerindians from prior to 1493 up to the pres­ ent. 2) Amerindians lived along both coasts, had gardens in the interior of the island, and deposited refuse away from the settlements. 3) Evidence on the location of the settlements and the number of inhabit­ ants are imprecise. 4) There may have been Amerindian settlements under present-day towns a- long the leeward coast; and other sites which have not been identified probably exist along this coast. 5) Absence of mangroves and associated shellfish did not prevent permanent Amerindian settlement in Dominica. 6) Detailed analysis of several collections of artifacts may help to shed light on Dominica's Indian past. If Dominica is ever investigated archeologically to the extent (and inten­ sity) to which it has been studied biologically, I suspect the results will re­ veal a picture of the past which contrasts sharply with that presented in "The Lack of Archeology on Dominica". 336 ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

FOOTNOTES

(1) E. Pendleton Banks in the 1950's and Nancy Owen in the 1970's have also irade major contributions to our knowledge of the contemporary Carib population.

(2) To this, I can only suggest that perhaps Dr. Evans spoke to the wrong people. When I visited the Vielle Case site in 1973, several people expressed great in terest in the artifacts, one youngster produced two celts from his home, and a woman asked if I knew Dr. McKusick who had been there 17 years before! Others throughout the island were familiar with "thunderstones" or "thunderbolts". Possibly earlier avid collectors mentioned below were responsible for the most obvious artifacts disappearing from the countryside.

(3) According to Morison, Columbus had heard about Dominica and its cannibals from more peaceful Indians on his first voyage. In a letter to the Sovereigns, dat ed February 15—March 4, 1493, he wrote: Thus I have neither found monsters nor had report of any, except in an is­ land which is the second at the entrance to the Indies, which is inhabited by a people who are regarded in all the islands as very ferocious and who eat human flesh; they have many canoes with which they rage all the island of and pillage and take as much as they can (Morison 1963: 185).

(4) Dr. Evans makes a couple of minor factual errors in his introduction. The is­ land was sighted in the morning not the evening and Columbus himself never ac­ tually saw the settlement or spent the day searching for a good harbor, anothe ship's captain did. Because of terrain and ill-kept agreements between the French and the English, the island was a refuge for the Caribs in the eigh­ teenth century, but there is no mention of Caribs being "brought there from other islands and placed on a reservation under European surveillance" (1968: 93). In fact, no reservation even existed until June 1903 (Taylor 1949: 383). Sketch of an object found near Vielle Case, Dominica in 1973:

? possibly Proto-Arawak of about 200 A.D. ? -v F From -.— 9 l^ above: /^

front (more detailed)

front (outline)

2 3/4" x 2 1/2"

Clay figure found at Au Parke Bay From near Vielle Case, Dominica - Spring 1973 below (sketched approximately life-sized); object was originally painted. 338 ETHNOHISTORICAL VS. ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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