the purpose of that pursuit they constructed fine
canoes, of the hollowed boles of large trees, but unlike the Caribs they
do not seem to have resorted to navigation for any other purpose. They
also hunted game on the land, solely for food, but their hunting was
much restricted, since there were no large animals of any kind on the
island. Their manufactures were confined to primitive cotton weaving,
wood carving, basketry, pottery--of a pretty good quality of decorated
ware--and various stoneware implements.

In disposition and manners they were friendly, hospitable, courteous,
and confiding. Despite their nudity they had the unconscious modesty of
nature, and their morals were superior to those of most primitive
peoples. The tradition that venereal diseases prevailed among them and
were thus first made known to European peoples through their having been
acquired from the natives by Columbus's men, seems to be quite void of
foundation; indubitable proof exists of the prevalence of those diseases
in both Europe and Asia at an earlier date than Columbus's time. They
practised but recognized domestic, social and civic equality of the
sexes. They were almost universal tobacco smokers, and it was from them
that the use of that plant was first learned. They were pleasure loving,
much given to dancing, to games of ball, and to swimming.

Their form of government was patriarchal, though there seem to have been
chiefs of some sort over whole villages or even districts. The laws
were, however, mild and humane. In religion they presented a striking
and most grateful contrast to the Toltecs, Aztecs and other peoples of
the continent, having none of the human sacrifices and atrocious
tortures that disfigured their worship. They believed in a Supreme Being
and a future and immortal life. They had a form of worship in which the
use of idols as symbols, and the smoking of tobacco, largely figured.
They had a regularly constituted priest-hood, the members of which they
credited with powers of divination and of healing. There were none of
the revolting practises and superstitions, however, which have been
common to many primitive peoples. They were not warlike, and had no
military organization, but they certainly were not cowards, as some of
the early Spanish conquistadors had cause to know.

They had, it is obvious, nothing which could survive them as a memorial
of their existence. Their architecture, if so it may be called, was most