Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

Table 13.2. Continued
which is close to the root, is yellow and handsome as the best possible color for painting, and under
the ground it forms a root like a big pear” (December 30, 1492 [Dunn and Kelley 1989:297]).
(3) Maize: “when the ears are tender they are eaten almost like milk” (Oviedo [1526] 1959:14–15; and
see Ortega and Guerrero 1981; Sauer 1966; Sturtevant 1961). And “it is a grain of very high yield, of the
size of the lupine, of the roundness of the chick-pea, and yields a meal ground to a very ¤ne powder;
it is ground as is wheat and yields a bread of very good taste; many chew the seeds when in need of
nourishment” (Coma quoted in Sauer 1966:55). The following excerpt from Lay¤eld ([1598] 1995)
suggests bread was produced from two races of maize present in the islands: “Además del casabe
[cassava, yuca] cuentan con el maíz, del caul se hace un pan muy ¤no, que usan mucho. Hay dos
clases de maíz, el más pequeño no se diferencia mucho del arroz; en proporción, tamaúo y gusto: éste
nunca le ví en plantación o crudo, pero lo he visto en la fuente, y al principio lo tome por arroz,
exceptuando que yo me creí que estaba un poco in®ado. Los que lo comían que sabía a arroz. La otra
clase la he visto en plantíos y es la misma o se parece mucho al grano que nosotros llamamos trigo;
crece con un tallo nudoso como una caña con grandes hojas esparcidas; crece hasta la altura de braza y
media por lo menos, y en la misma punta brota la mazorca” (my clari¤cations added in brackets).
(4) Beans: “and they have varieties of bean very different from ours . . .” (November 4, 1492 [Dunn
and Kelley 1989:133]).
(5) Peppers: “There is also much chili, which is their pepper, of a kind more valuable than [black]
pepper, and none of the people eat without it, for they ¤nd it very healthful” (January 15, 1493 [Dunn
and Kelly 1989:341]). According to De Las Casas (in Sauer 1966:57), the Taíno Indians regularly used
three types of pepper. Two of these were evidently domesticated--one with long red, ¤nger-shaped
fruit (e.g., Capsicum annuum) and the other with a smaller round, cherrylike and more pungent fruit
(perhaps [?] C. chinensis [see Pickersgill 1984]), and the third was considered wild, with a small fruit.
It seems likely that all three were potentially grown or casually tended in and around home gardens or
in more formal plots.
(6) Pineapple and other taxa cultivated in the Lesser Antilles: “and fetching from their houses great
store of Tobacco, as also a kind of bread which they fed on, called Cassavi, very white and savourie,
made of the rootes of Cassavi [cassava, manioc]” (Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations, 1585–86 [Hulme
and Whitehead 1991:53]) (and see Table 13.1 on home gardens).
(7) Tobacco use in the Greater Antilles: “The Indians of this island had a bad vice among others,
which is taking a smoke they called tobacco, to leave the senses. This herb was most precious by the
Indians, and it was planted in their orchards and farm lands for what I said; they insinuate if you take
the weed and to smoke it was not only a sane stuff, but very sacred” (Oviedo 1556, quoted in Nieves-
Rivera et al. 1995). Columbus diary: “The two Christians found along the way many people going
back and forth between their villages, men and women with a ¤rebrand of weeds in their hands to
take in the fragrant smoke to which they are accustomed” (November 6, 1492 [Dunn and Kelly
1989:139]).
(8) Cojoba (narcotic snuff): “the cohoba is a certain snuff, which they use sometimes to purge
themselves and for other uses . . . they take it with a cane about the size of an arm and a half; then
putting one side in the nose and the other in the snuff, they inhaled it and this makes them purge
greatly” (Pané 1498, quoted in Nieves-Rivera et al. 1995). The snuff was made from pulverized and
powdered seeds of the tree cojóbana (Anadenanthera peregrina) combined with crushed shell or lime.
This mixture was inhaled directly into the nostrils through tubes made of pottery or wood as part of
the important cojoba ritual (Alegría 1997; Nieves-Rivera et al. 1995). Cojóbana seeds contain an
adrenergic agent known as bufotenine, a powerful hallucinogenic drug that strongly affects the
cardiovascular and nervous systems (Dobkin de Rios 1984:120). Ritual practices also involved vomiting
induced mechanically (Alegría 1997; Kaye 2001; Olazagasti 1997), with the shaman entering into a
trance state, including for the treatment of disease or general ill state of being. Evidently such healing
rituals often began with the use of the herb called gioia (Rouse 1992:14).
(9) Cotton in the Greater Antilles: “and much cotton, which they do not plant; and there grow in the
mountains very large trees of it; and I believe they have cotton to pick in all seasons because I saw
open pods, and others opening, and ®owers, all on one tree” (November 4, 1492 [Dunn and Kelley
You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press.
Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and
injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press.