POLITICAL DIVISIONS

As

alreadystated,there existed in prehistoricBorin(iuen a

number

of provinces, or caciquedoms, over each of which rided a cacique, with subordinate chiefs, also called caciques,

who

were heads of families,oralliednataioH,

composed

oftheirblood kindred,andtheir slaves anddependents.

The

geographical position of

some

of these provincesis

shown

in a general way,bj'the

names

applied to

moun-

tainsonoldmaps,andthese

names

aregenerally thesameas those of caciques.

The

foremost caciques of the island of Forto Kico are

known

as

Aguebana

(Agueynaba)" the First and

Aguebana

the Second, two

«Tlieornament,asabovestated,wasusuallyofgoldand wascalledaffuariii.

''ToColumbus waslatergivenoneofthesecrowns,whichhecarried toSpain.

fWefindthesegirdlesrepeatedlymentionedinearlyaccounts,whereitissaidthattheywereso highly prized that theywere regardedasa worthy presentforColumbus. In a way,thisobjectmay becomparedw'iththewampum^oftheNorthAmericanIndians,but thereisnoreasc)n to believe thattheWest Indians regardeditasthe Iroquoisandother nationsofNorthAmericadidwampum.

Amongotherornamentswornby the Indians should be mentioned necklacesof livingfireflies,which the nativescalled cocutja,anamestillcurrentintheisland.

d Possibly thered seedsnowusedinPortoRicofornecklaces.

cTheprefix a inthenameof thiscacique, as in that ofthemountains,isoftendropped.

36 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO

RICO [eth.ann. 25 brothers

who

figureconspicuouslyin the earlyhistory of theconquest of theisland. Theirterritoryextendedalong thesoutherncoast of the island from the

Coamo,

orYauco,river to the Jacaque, orXacaque, comprising approximatelythe land

from

the bayof Guanica to the presentvillageof JnanaDiaz. Itincludednotonly the landalongthe southerncoastbutalsothemountainousarea that bearson early

maps

the names

Guebana

orXacagua. Theirprovince,following the gen- erallaw,borethe

name

of theruler.

When

Poncede

Leon

fii'stvisitedPorto Ricohe landedintheterri- tory of

Aguebana

the First,

who

received

him

hospitably, showing

him

thecountryandthedifferentriversoftheisland. Ponce,follow- ingan Indiancustom above mentioned, exchanged nameswithAgue- bana, theSpaniard givingthe

name

DofiaIneztotlienative'smother, and

Don

Francisco to his father.

Ponce

also

showed

hisesteemfor a brother of tlie cacique by giving

him

the

name

Luis de Anasco.

The

motherof

Aguebana

wasfriendlytothewhitesand gaveher son goodadvice, which he dutifullyfollowed,leading Oviedotosay that had these two lived there would have been no trouble with the Indians.

When

Poncereturned tothe islandinthefollowingyearhe foundthathisfriendAguel)anathe Firsthaddiedandhisbrotherhad inherited theofficeof cacique.

But

thecharacter ofthisl)rother

was

lesspeaceful. Possiblyhe ma}'have been exasperated bythe

wrongs

enforced

upon him

and forthisreasonresistedtheencroachmentsof theSpaniardsonhis island.

In the division of natives

Aguebana

theSecond wasgiventoChris- topher Sotomayor,

who came

toBorinquen withPonce onhissecond visit and founded a Spanish colony near Guanica. This settlement was situated in Aguebana's territory, but the colonists were soon obliged to abandon it on account of mosquitoes and

move

to the northwest coast,near

where Aguada now

stands.

At

first all went well and

Aguebana

the Second exchanged

names

with Christopher

Sotomayor

andthe former'ssister

became

the mistress, although the cacique

may

have regarded herasthe wife, of theSpaniard.

No

sooner hadthe settlementbeen

made

intheislandthantrouble began with the Indians,and as time went on the conditions became such that the latter rose against the Spaniards. Oviedo,

who

has giventlieSpanishversion of the causeswhich brought aboutthe trou- ble,blamesthenatives,andhasrecorded

some

of theworstactsof the Indians leading

up

toit,butanyonecan read betweenthe lines that thedeeds of the caciquewereretaliationsforprovocationswhich drove

him

to hostility.

Sotomayor was

informed ))Vhismistress that her lirotherwas hos- tileandintendedto kill him,burn his settlement,anddiivehis colo- nistsout of theisland. Apparently not

much

faith was putin this warning until it

was

learned, shortlyafterward, that the Indianshad sentoutinvitations toa

war

dance. Itwascustouuir\-forthe natives

FEWKEs] POLITICAL DIVISIONS 37

ill these

war

dances,called areltox^ to reveal thepurpose of the

war

and to enact scenes characteristic of such conflicts.

Knowing

^this custom,and having beentoldof theinvitation, Sotomavorsent aspy todiscover

what

wastohappen.

At

thispointappears

Juan

Gonzales, calledby Oviedoa servant {eriadoi%byothers asoldierofSotomaj'or.

Gonzales attended thearelto,disguisedand painted as an Indian, took part in it, and, having learned the intention of

Aguebana

by seeing the events enacted ⁱⁿ the ceremonial dramatization, returned toSotomayortoconfirm the report that the intention of the Indians wastokillhim.

Even

then

Sotomayor

apparentlj'wasnotwhollycon- vinced of the unfriendly intentions of thenatives,or possiblyfelthim- selfableto resist

them

if they

made

an}-hostilemove. Followed by several of hismen,he started foranIndian settlement in theneigh- borhoodof the old Indian village.

Juan

Gonzales,

who was

oneof thefollowers ofSotomayor,was overtaken

by

thehostilesand

wounded

bythem.

He

escaped death by promising

Aguebana

to

become

his slave.

But Aguebana

pursued Sotomayor and killed

him

with his macana,or

war

club.

After slaying Sctomaj'or, however,

Aguebana

repented having spared

Juan

Gonzales and returnedtokill

him

also, butthis

man

had hidden in the woods,

from

which he ultimately escaped,

making

his

way

over the

Xacagua

mountains to a ranch called Coa, where he reported to the Spaniards settled atthat place

what

had happened.

Later Gonzales went to Caparra, the old settlement of San Juan, where Poncethen was, bearing to the governor

news

of thedeath of Sotomaj'orandofthe plight of thelatter'sfollowers.

In hisaccountofthiseventOviedosays that

Juan

Gonzales thought hewas at

Utuo

(Utuado)

when

he reached theranch

Coa

(ToaAlta), butlater

remembered

that

Utuao

^"wasinhostile territory,itbeingsitu- ated in the caciquedomof Guarionex,

who

at thattime was on the

war

pathwith .3,000warriors, intending to take part with

Aguebana

theSecondinthedestruction ofSotomayor'scolonynearAguada.

The

above-recorded event prompts one to

more

than a passing interest in

Juan

Gonzales.

Who

washe^? Oviedowrites thatGonzales was veryfamiliarwith the Indian language,which^is significant,for atthetime

when

^thetragedy above mentioned occurredtheSpaniards had beeninthewesternsettlementsor, indeed,on the islandofPorto Rico,onlyaboutayQnvor two.

The

questions naturallvarise

how

and wheredidhe

become

a

"good

interpreter? "

Where

didhe learn the language? Itmightbesuggestedthat hehad picked itup in Santo

Domingo,

but there are

some

othercircumstanceswhichmaj' bemen- tioned as bearingon his nationality.

When Aguebana

the Second attemptedtokill Gonzalesbeforethedeath of Sotoma3-or, Gonzales beggedfor his life,promisingthat he would be the cacique'svassal.

aUtuaoisevidentlythesiteofthemodern townor district I'tuado.

38 THE ABORIGINES

OF

PORTO

RICO ^[eth.axs.25

It isincomprehensiblethata .Spanish soldier shouldhave spokenthus toanIndian cacique orthata

European would

have beenallowedtotake partⁱⁿan Indian(rrt'itoundetected, especiallyoneinwhichtheplan of acampaignagainstSotoma}' orwas

made

known. Could Gonzales have disguised himself with paintatthattime?

The

flightof

Juan

Gonzales over the mountains iniplies a knowl- edgeof the islandwhich an Indian might have had,and on ^{the old}

maps

^therangeof mountainswhich Gonzalesentered afterheleftthe

Xacagua

rangearecalledthe

Juan

Gonzalesor

Toa

^"mountains.

Most

of the other greatmountainchains are

named

after Indian caciques, l)utthesemountainsreceived their

name from Juan

Gonzales. Itis generallyagreedthat he

was

a Spaniard, butthat the rugged

moun-

tainsthrough which he ran,

wounded

and exhausted, after the death of Sotomayor, bear the Spanish

name

of an Indian cacique. Addi- tionalinformationregarding

Juan

Gonzales's nativityandearlycareer wouldbeinteresting.

Aguebana

theSecond was probablykilledby

Juan

Ponce,aSpanish soldier,

who

is reported to haveshotan

unknown

Indianwearinga cacique's badge,inabattlewhic!-occurredatthe

mouth

of the

Yauco

river, on the southern side of Porto Rico. There was no

way

of determining,atthetime of the deed,

who

thiscacique was,but

Ague-

banawas never heardofinsubsequenthostilitiesagainst the Spaniards.

According to Las Casas, there was ^still another cacique

named

Aguebana,

who

lived on the neighboring island of Haiti.

As

his realmwassituatedattheendof thatislandor across thestraitinimedi- atei\'oppositewestern Porto Rico,it is probablethathewasrelated to

Aguebana

of Porto Rico.

The

identity of the

two

namesimplies similarityinthelanguagesofthe

two

^islands.

After Sotomayor's deaththe settlementfoundedintheneighborhood of Culebrinas riverwas destroyed,and a

new

colony

was

startedin the caci(iuedom of

Aymamon,

a

name

stillattaching to themountains of thatterritory.

The

chief whose

name

it bore,like

Aguebana

the Second,

was

hostiletothe Spaniards, andⁱⁿan accountgiven of the event which immediately preceded the uprising against

Sotomayor we

findthis rc(!ord:

The

cacique

Aymamon

captureda boy16 years old.son ofPedroJuarez,andtied

him

toatreewhile a

game

of ball was goingon.

He

oflered the boyto the winner ofthe

game

as a prize, with permission to kill

him

in any

way

desired.

A

servant gaveinformation tothe father of his son's peril,andSalazarrushed tothe aid of theyouth andkilled300of theassembledIndians.

The

chroniclerOviedo,

who

tellsthe story, has possibly exaggeratedthe

number

slain,but that

many

werekillediswithoutdoubt.

From

that time Salazarwas regai-ded with mortal fearby all the natives,and his deed called for revenge on their part.

Such

an event would

aTonmeans"afrog," also"molher^'or "breasts,"therearetwoPorto Riean townsnamed, cpectivcly,Toa AltaandXoaBaja. Certaintliree-pointedzemis arecalledtoa(iIjySenorCambiaso.

FEWKEs] POLITICAL DIVISIONS

39

iiatiinillydrive the Indianstowar, hut tliedarkest part of thewhole stoiyisthat

we

haveonly theSpanishrecord to indicatethepurpose of

Aymamon

intying theboytothepost.

Who

^{shallprovethatthe}

caciquehadany suchdesignasthe chroniclerstates?

Notwithstandingthe slaughter of hissubjects,

Aymamon

soughtto

make

friendship with the settlers at Sotomaj'or, especialij'Salazar, and sent Indians to ask

him

to

come

to the cacique's ranch near Sotomayor, on ^the Cule))riiias river.

He

^{stated that he wished to} becomeablood brother of the Spaniard and to change

names

with Salazar,V)elievingthathe couldtherebyol)tain hisfriendship,possibly his magic. After

Aymamon

had taken the

name

great

power was

imputedto liim.and for years the

name

Salazarwas a terror

among

the Indians.

The

northeastern part of the island formed a caciquedom called Loisa,

from

an Indian chieftainess

who

received this

European name when

shewas convertedtoChristianity,shortly after the settlement of Caparra. Shewaskilledbj'Caribfrom Viequesinaraidwhichthey

made

intoherterritoriesundera chief

named

Guarabo,toavengethe death ofhisbrother, Carimar,

who

had been killedliythe Spaniards.

The

province of Yagueca, a

name now

perpetuated in the

name

Mayaguez. was the territory of the chief Ura^'oan. It apparently inchidedallthemiddlepart of the we.stern end of Porto Rico, from the

Urayoan

mountainstothe seaontheeast.

The

caciqueUrayoan, calledalsoBroyuan, issaid tohave adopteddrastic measures to dis- prove the report circulated

among

the Indians that the Europeans wereimmortal.

Having

entertained a Spaniard

named

Salcedor, he afterward caused

him

to be carried to the riverand drowned.

The

Spaniardnot

coming

to^life,the cacique

summoned

Indiansto survej' thecorpseandseethattheSpaniardwas mortallikethemselves.

The

caciquedomof Giiarionexlay inthe mountainseastofthose of

Aymamon

and ^Uraj'oan, and west of the .site of the present

town

Utuado,whichwasinhisdomain. Littleseemstoberecorded ofthis caciqueexcept thathewasof Caribextractionandthathemarshaled 3,000 warriors and destroyed the puebloofSotoma3'or.

The moun-

tains west of

Utuado

are

named

Guarionex mountains on the older maps, probably

from

theformercacique ofthisregion.

The

province over which he ruledwas apparently

known

as Utuao,a

name

which survivesinthatof the present settlementUtuado.

There

was

also a cacique

named

GuarionexinHaiti,whose

name

^is frequentlymentioned in the early history of thatisland,butwhether thePorto KicanGuai'ionexisthe

same

as the Haitian is not known.

This similarityin

names

of Haitian and Porto Rican caciques occurs frequently.

Some

caciques, asCaonabo,of

Managua,

are distinctly stated to have beenofCaribdescent. Thesefacts

show

that in

many

instances Carib leaders became rulers over portions of tiie islands