The theory generally accepted at first was, that at the time of the discovery two races of different origin occupied the West Indian Archipelago.  The larger Antilles with the groups of small islands to the north of them were supposed to be inhabited by a race named Guaycures, driven from the peninsula of Florida by the warlike Seminoles; the Guaycures, it is said, could easily have reached the Bahamas and traversed the short distance that separated them from Cuba in their canoes, some of which could contain 100 men, and once there they would naturally spread over the neighboring islands.  It is surmised that they occupied them at the time of the advent of the Phoenicians in this hemisphere, and Dr. Calixto Romero, in an interesting article on Lucuo, the god of the Boriquens,[89] mentions a tradition referring to the arrival of these ancient navigators, and traces some of the Boriquen religious customs to them.  The Guaycures were a peacefully disposed race, hospitable, indolent, fond of dancing and singing, by means of which they transmitted their legends from generation to generation.  They fell an easy prey to the Spaniards.  Velasquez conquered Cuba without the loss of a man.  Juan Esquivel made himself master of Jamaica with scarcely any sacrifice, and if the aborigines of the Espanola and Boriquen resisted, it was only after patiently enduring insupportable oppression for several years.

The other race which inhabited the Antilles were said to have come from the south.  They were supposed to have descended the Orinoco, spreading along the shore of the continent to the west of the river’s mouths and thence to have invaded one after the other all the lesser Antilles.  They were in a fair way of occupying the larger Antilles also when the discoveries of Columbus checked their career.

In support of the theory of the south-continental origin of the Caribs we have, in the first place, the work of Mr. Aristides Rojas on Venezuelan hieroglyphics, wherein he treats of numerous Carib characters on the rocks along the plains and rivers of that republic, marking their itinerary from east to west.  He states that the Achaguas, the aboriginals of Columbia, gave to these wanderers, on account of their ferocity, the name of Chabi-Nabi, that is, tiger-men or descendants of tigers.

In the classification of native tribes in Codazzi’s geography of Venezuela, he includes the Caribs, and describes them as “a very numerous race, enterprising and warlike, which in former times exercised great influence over the whole territory extending from Ecuador to the Antilles.  They were the tallest and most robust Indians known on the continent; they traded in slaves, and though they were cruel and ferocious in their incursions, they were not cannibals like their kinsmen of the lesser Antilles, who were so addicted to the custom of eating their prisoners that the names of cannibal and Carib had become synonymous.” [90]