Page:W. E. B. Du Bois - The Gift of Black Folk.pdf/48

36 the Mound Builders and in Mexican temples. Secondly, there are evidences of Negro customs among the Indians in their religious worship; in their methods of building defenses such as the mounds probably were; and particularly in customs of trade. Columbus said that he had been told of a land southwest of the Cape Verde Islands where the black folk had been trading and had used in their trade the well known African alloy of gold called guanin.

“There can be no question whatever as to the reality of the statement in regard to the presence in America of the African pombeiros previous to Columbus because the guani is a Mandingo word and the very alloy is of African origin. In 1501 a law was passed forbidding persons to sell guanin to the Indians of Hispaniola.”

Wiener thinks “The presence of Negroes with their trading masters in America before Columbus is proved by the representation of Negroes in