Excerpt from Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Vol. 1: Researches in the Uloa Valley, Honduras; Report on Explorations by the Museum, 1896-97

The inhabitants of this region are difierent in many respects from the natives of the mountainous districts in the interior. Their ethnological antecedents would be difficult to trace, but I am convinced that there is an infusion of Carib blood which in its later constitution involves a strong Negro element. The physical resemblance to the modern Carib of the coast is in some individuals very noticeable, and in many respects the disposition of these people resembles that of the Carib; their exclusiveness and aversion to dealings with strangers are marked Carib traits. Since the latter are averse to mixing with people of different blood from their own and have a strong attachment to the salt water, the present instance of departure from deep rooted customs must have been brought about by refugees or outcasts. For the rest, the racial antecedents of the people who are met with in the village communities on the banks of the Uloa River are derived from the Xicaque Indian and the Spaniard.

From La Pimienta to the mouth of the river there are twenty or thirty of these villages varying in size from half a dozen to fifty or sixty huts, often completely hidden among the trees and rarely attended with any clearing or cultivated fields. The inhabitants follow the usual occupation of doing nothing. There is abundance of fish in the river, and the forest is full of game, but they seldom take the trouble of procuring either, pre ferring to subsist on green plantains alone. In respect of industry they certainly do not take after their Carib progenitors.

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