Language of the Voiceless: Traces of Taino Language, Food, and Culture in the Americas From 1492 to the Present

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Lo que dice del lino debe querer decir cabuya, que son unas pencas como la
çábila de que se hace hilo y se puede hacer tela o lienzo dello, pero más se
asemeja al cáñamo que al lino; hay dos maneras dello, cabuya y nequén: la
cabuya es más gruesa y áspera, y el nequén más suave y delgado; ambos son
vocablos desta isla Española.
In the quote above de Las Casas places the word henequen in the Taino
linguistic context and clarifies the origin of the term as Taino by sustaining that “the
terms cabuya and nequén are both from the Indians of Hispaniola”. Furthermore, de
Las Casas makes a very important description of the Taino cultural and artisanal usage
of these items defining them as “string from which they made cloths similar to linen”.
However, it is Fernandez de Oviedo who gives the best description of the many
usages of henequen in Taino culture. In his writings Oviedo states:
que quieren, assi déla cabuya como del henequén; é aprovéchansse dello en
muchas cosas, en especial para hacer los hicos ó cuerdas de sus hamacas ó camas
en que duermen, y encabuyadlas, para que estén colgadas en el aire.
In the quote above, Oviedo makes the point that “the Taino took great advantage
of the versatility of henequén and that they used the string to tide [[is this a type, do
you mean “to tie their hammocks?]] their hammocks”. Two things are essential from
Oviedo’s quote, first the spelling with the prefix he, different from Las Casas, and
second, the way Oviedo describes the usage of henequén is similar to that of the
Wayuunaiki described above at the beginning of the description of the etymology of this
word.
Chapter XIII, page 57