on, in soil, and in
indigenous flora. Indeed, they have ever differed from each other
radically in their cultivated crops. At what date the union of them
occurred, and by what means it was effected, we can only guess. But it
is a reasonable assumption that the raising of the sea-floor to form the
central plain of the island was caused by one of the seismic
disturbances to which this general region of the earth's surface has
from time immemorial been subject. There are, moreover, reasons for
suspecting that this occurred at a time subsequent to the creation of
man, and indeed after both of the original islands had become inhabited.
That is because the two ends of the island appear, in Columbus's day, to
have been occupied by different races. Of the inhabitants of the western
end we know comparatively little, save that they were more warlike and
adventurous than those at the east, and several authorities have likened
them either to the Caribs or to the Mayas of Yucatan. That they were
Mayas seems, however, doubtful, since they left no traces of the high
degree of civilization which formerly prevailed among that distinguished
race in Yucatan.

The people of the eastern end of Cuba, when the island was discovered by
Columbus, were doubtless of Antillan stock, or "Tainan" as some have
called them, with possibly a slight admixture of Carib, though not
sufficient materially to affect them in any respect. They were
physically a handsome, stalwart people, of a light reddish brown color,
somewhat lighter than the North American Indians. They wore no clothing,
with the exception of the married women, who wore breech clouts, and
confined their adornments to slight necklaces and bracelets. They lived
in neatly constructed cabins of cane or bamboo and thatch, rectangular
or circular in form and generally of two or three rooms each; equipped
with furniture of cane or of handsomely carved wood. For beds, however,
they used hammocks, of woven cotton or plaited grass; the name, hammock,
being of Antillan or Carib origin. These houses were, according to early
Spanish testimony, kept scrupulously clean and neat. They were grouped
in villages, around a central square which served as a market place and
playground.

They were agriculturists, tilling the ground with considerable skill and
producing yuca, corn, beans, peanuts, squashes, peppers and various
other crops, besides fruits and tobacco. They were singularly expert
fishermen, and for