ABSTRACT
After Columbus had established a settlement on San Domingo, one of the Greater Antilles, he reconnoitred the lesser islands. The inhabitants of these islands were not as weak and as timid as those he had previously conquered.1 The Caribs, who believed they had originally come from Guiana, were of medium height, but they were thick-set and muscular, attributes which could have made them men of great strength if they had been reinforced by their way of life and physical activities. Their thick, sturdy legs were generally well-made. They had large, dark eyes, slightly protuberant, and their faces would have been pleasing if they had not marred the work of nature by giving themselves so-called charms which could have charmed only their own people.2 Apart from their heads and their eyebrows, their bodies were completely hairless. They wore no clothes, but were none the less very chaste. It was only to protect themselves against insect bites that they painted themselves from head to foot with anatta, which gave them the appearance of boiled lobsters.
