Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-06
EXTINCT MONSTER
IS TRACED IN HAITI
EthnoIogist Finds MegaIonyx
Contemporary of Human
Life on Island.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


The extinct monster, megalonyx. was
contemporary Of early man in the
West Indies. ....
Definite evidence that this creature,
known only from fossils and generally
supposed to have become extinct about
the end Of the last ice age, fingered on
into the human period has Just been
brought back by Herbert w. Krieger,
Smithsonian Institution ethnologist
One Of his finds is a clay figurine
modelled by hand to represent the great
sloth. Another bit Of evidence is a
bowl handle, found by a Haitian
plantation owner, bearing the figure of
the same animal. Both figures are so
close to the reconstruction of megalonyx
by paleontologists as to leave no doubt
that the primitive artists had seen the
real animal.
Survey Upsets Tradition.
Mr.. Krieger has just completed four
month archaeological reconnaissance of
Haiti, which, according to early Span
ish accounts, had population of about
million at the time of Columbus
arrival The Smithsonian survey shows
that this figure was grossly exaggerated.
ton along the coast, the interior had
only few scattered inhabitants.
Among the legends the survey de-
stroyS Is that of people so primitive
that they had no speech. Columbus,
Krieger says, picked up an Indian in
terpreter at Ell Salvador, who was able
to translate the language Of the people
at every point touched, with the single
exception Of the Ciboney, primitive
Indian people who lived on the south
western peninsula. These had a Ian
guage which nobody could interpret to
the white men. From this grew up the
idea that they had no Language at all.
But the Ciboney were about as primi-
tive q people as could be found in the
New World. They had not advanced
to the stage of making pottery or cul-
tivating the fields, and lived chiefly
on mollusks. The Smithsonian eth
nologist found some enormous kitchen
middens 80 feet high, 40 to so feet wide,
and as long as city block. These
heaps consisted almost entirely Of mol
lusk shells piled up by the ancient
people. They contain a few crude i'm
plements.
Native Queen Vamped COnquistadores.
The principal inhabitants of the is
land, the survey shows, were members
of the Arawak tribe, the same people
who greeted Columbus at San Salvador
and of whom remnants still remain in
the Amazon and Orinoco regions. Their
greatest concentration appears to have
been in Southwestern Porto Rico and
they extended southwark as far as the
present City Of Port au Prince.
Mr.. Krteger made some excavations
at the site Of what was once a large
Arawak settlement on Goat Island, near
Port au Prince, which probably was the
residence site of the celebrated Queen
Anacaona, the Cleopatra of the New
World, who successfully "vamped' the
white men for a long time in order to
save her people from the destruction
which neighboring settlements had Suf-
fered from the cruelty of the Europeans
The early accounts of the fierceneSs
and cannibalism of the Arawaks were
grossly unjust, the survey shows. All
the evidence indicates, says Krieger
that they were peaceful farmers and
fishermen, who asked only to be let
alone. They turned on the newcomers
only when they were forced to do so
in a vain effort to save themselves.
Excavations to Continue.
The survey this Winter is the FIRST
considerable effort to dig into the pre-
history remains Of Haiti, which was the
center of much early American history,
but, the Smithsonian ethnologist re-
ports, the present inhabitants are con-
SciouS that they live over the graves
of a very ancient people. Thus, the
paraphernalia of the Voodoo priest Is
picked up largely from Arawak Village
sites and have the implication Of magic
powers, due to its association with the
vanished peoples.
The ArawakS used black stone bowls.
These are treasured by the voodoo
priests and have prominent place in
their weird ceremonies. The Indians
made tools, such as chisels, from bits
of hard, black stone finely polished
Possession of one of these is considered
a small fortune by voodoo worshiper,
since 1t can be used to predict the
future. He breaths upon it. If the
traces Of his breath vanish rapidly it
means he will have good luck for the
year. If the moisture fingers it Is
warning
Excavations by the Smithsonian party
in one cave gave a complete croSs-sec-
ton of the mammalian life Of the vicin-
ity back to the time of the earliest
human habitation. On top were bones
of recently living animals deposited by
owls, while at the bottom were bones
Of animals used for food by the first
cave jewellers.
1t is planned to extend the survey
to other islands in the West Indies and
to make more extensive excavations at
some Of the points uncovered this
Winter.