Show INDIANS COLUMBUS FIRST MET TRACED ethnologist makes important find in bahamas washington D C who were the indians that greeted columbus at his first landing in the new worlds herbert W krieger the smith institution institutions s curator of eth cology has just completed an archeological study of the bahamas in an effort to obtain some light on this problem the discoverer of america first stepped ashore on the present san salvador or island east of the bahamas and was met by the lucadana Lu cayana simple honest and exceedingly liberal na tive five americans the bahaman abo originals rigi nals soon became extinct they left relatively little to indicate who they were mr krieger carried out excava eions in caves eaves on three islands new providence long island and andros and recovered artifacts which enable him to give at least a tentative answer to the question of the cultural relations of these peo pie thin soil on rock one reason for the scarcity of deposits is that the limestone rock is only very thinly covered with soil on most of the islands A cave is about the only place where anything is likely to be found buried among the artifacts found by mr krieger were so called celts belts of polished greenstone axes or ham mers from which the handles have disappeared the material proves that they originated in haiti and must hae hate been brought to the ba hamas either by the original mi grants or as articles of commerce this proves in any event a deft nite link with haiti no celt of carved shell or of native limestone was found the native negroes of the ba hamas mr krieger found are very superstitious regarding these celts belts they insist the articles are thun der bolts which fall from the sky bury themselves in the earth or the ocean floor and come to the sur face again after seven years these objects are highly prized because they are considered effective in warding off danger during hum hurri canes some came from west mr krieger also found seats of carved wood and thick walled in cased pottery similar artifacts ha e been found in southern florida and substantiate the statement of the indians to columbus that indians from the west came to the bahamas to hunt pigeons which are still found in great numbers the evidence is strong however that the main cultural association of the old bahamas was not with florida across the gulf stream but with the island afterward encountered by columbus in east ern cuba and northern Hi |