Guao and Early Skin Whitening in Colonial Hispaniola

Whilst rereading Oviedo and Las Casas on the indigenous people of Hispaniola and the Antilles, we came across the root or plant, guao. According to Las Casas, guao was a tree in the eastern part of Hispaniola used to make a poison for arrows. Oviedo, who came to Hispaniola later than Las Casas, described in more detail how guao was a skin irritant, but did not know if it was used as a poison by the Indians. However, unlike Las Casas, he described one disturbing use of guao by Indian woman of the island. Oviedo noted that Indian woman were using guao as the base for a skin whitening paste or cream, mixing it with other ingredients so it would be less harmful to their skin. Supposedly, Indian woman of the island were "jealous" of white Spanish women and, in a desire to meet the beauty standards of the colonial society, used this guao cream to whiten their skin. Since Oviedo was already biased against indigenous peoples of the island, one wonders if he may have misunderstood something or wanted his readers to believe some Indian women would believe their natural skin color inferior to that of whites. Either way, it is quite revealing about the role of skin color and the early history of skin whitening in the Caribbean.