Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Fig. XII. Wooden carving in the
“Guesde Collection,” (copied from
the Smithsonian Report, 1885, fig.
204, p. 831).
270 / Appendix D.
is reproduced in Figure XII, from which it
is seen that the essential characteristics in
those from the two islands are exactly alike.
The most distinguishing feature is the circular
constrictions on the legs and arms. Figure
20 in the paper referred to, shows the high
back of the chair ornamented with scrolls
and concentric rings, but the figures of the
Jamaican examples are not sufficiently clear
to determine whether any such ornamentation
occurs on them. In Dr. Chanca’s letter,
describing part of the Second Voyage
of Columbus, is given a reference (1870,
p. 30), to the habit of the natives of Guadaloupe
(Ayay, Turuquiera) of wearing bands
on their legs: “We were enabled to distinguish
which of the women were natives, and
which were captives, by the Caribbees wearing
on each leg two bands of woven cotton,
the one fastened round the knee, and the
other round the ankle; by this means they
make the calves of their legs large, and the
above mentioned parts very small.” In Irving’s
Columbus (Vol. I, p. 199) is another
notice, quoted also by Mason, of the natives
of Santa Cruz wearing similar bands
on the arms and legs. The constrictions on
the arms and legs of the carved images are significant of this custom; while, in
the quotation from Peter Martyr, given below, mention is made of the Indians
fashioning their Zemes of wood, as well as of other material.
[44]Amulets
In 1879, Mr. C. P. O’R. de Montagnac discovered two small stone images on
some recently disturbed ground at Rennock Lodge, situated on a small plateau
at a height of about 400 feet up the Long Mountain. They were associated with
accumulations of marine shells and fragments of pottery, such as are met with
on the top of the hill at Weireka. The larger (Figure XIII) is a neatly carved representation
of a human head and neck, and is perforated behind for suspension.
It is 2 3/4 inches long and 1 5/8 inches from ear to ear; the body below the