The absence of any traces of carvings in other caves whose situation was better adapted for the preservation of markings, had such ever existed, and the proof that their contents afforded that most of those caves had been known to the Lucayans and used by them as burying places or otherwise, and the close proximity of Hartford cave to the sea, taken in connection with the great number of markings on its walls, led me to think that possibly this cave had been the resort of the marauding tribes whom the Lucayans gave Columbus to understand were their enemies, and who were in the habit of making war upon them; and if so, the Caribs, or whatever tribe it may have been, had left these rock markings as mementos of their various expeditions and guides to succeeding ones.
Fig. 102.—Petroglyphs in the Bahamas.
The above-mentioned petroglyphs bear a remarkable similarity to those in British Guiana figured and described below, and the authorship would seem to relate to the same group of natives, the Caribs.
GUADELOUPE.
In the Guesde collection of antiquities, described in the Smithsonian report for 1884, p. 834, Fig. 208, here reproduced as Fig. 103, is an inscribed slab found in Guadeloupe. It weighs several tons and it is impossible to remove it. In the vicinity are to be seen many other rocks bearing inscriptions, but this is the most elaborate of the group.
The inscriptions may be compared with those from Guiana presented in this work.
Fig. 103.—Petroglyph in Guadeloupe.