Whilst revisiting various sources on the indigenous polities or societies of the island, we came across some inconsistencies in Bernardo Vega's otherwise great Los cacicazgos de la Hispaniola. At one point he tries to concoct a theory that the island of Cayemite may have been the site where, according to indigenous legend, their ancestors first appeared on the island. However, his reasoning here assumes that Peter Martry and Morales, the cartographer of one of the most detailed maps of the island, mistook the Bajabonico for another river possibly located in the Sud of modern-day Haiti. His reasoning here is not convincing, and in fact, by the book's conclusion, Vega seems to have returned to the original proposition on the site of the early origins of Haiti. Thus, by pages 69-70, Vega seems to place Caonao, the province where the caves of Cacibajagua and Amayauna were located, near the Bajabonico River in the Dominican Republic. As Martyr's account of Indian legends of origin was based on the relation of Ramón Pané, taking a second look at Arrom's translation and proposed etymologies for (mythic) places and landscapes is necessary. Arrom, who translated Caonao (the Cahonao of Martyr) as "place where there is gold," one should look to parts of Hispaniola where gold was found in abundance.
That would suggest somewhere in the Cibao or Vega Real is a good contender. In addition, Pané apparently collected most of his information in this part of the island subject to Guarionex, a powerful cacique whose sister married Diego Colon, the indigenous translator of the Admiral. Guarionex, according to Pané, was the son of a cacique named Cacibaquel. Arrom suggests this name could mean "shelter" or "refuge" and "descendant of" the "cave" (caciba). If this cacique was the father of Guarionex, and much of Pané's recorded traditions came from this cacicazgo or its environs, then the myth of Cacibajagua as a cave of origin near Caonao (or Cahonao) likely refers to this area near the Bajabonico. According to Peter Martyr, Guarionex's domains bordered the mountains of Cibao, Cahonao, and Cazacubana. It is thus very likely that the mythical site of Cacibajagua and Amayauna were located somewhere near Cahonao, which remains to this day the name of a river or affluent of the Bajabonico west of the pueblo of Imbert.
As for another important cave of indigenous myth, the cave from which emerged the Sun and the Moon, Pané is less clear. Supposedly, the cave was located in the land of a cacique named Mautiatihuel. Arrom has suggested a possible translation for this (mythical?) cacique's name: "Son-of-the-Dawn." If so, and the sun rises in the east, one might assume this (mythical) cave was located somewhere in the east. This contradicts Moreau de Saint-Mery's unverifiable theory that the cave site of Voûte-à-Minguet in the parish of Dondon was the site in question. A more eastern location would fit the possible sites for Cacibajagua and Amayauna, too, especially if this tradition is largely derived from the cacicazgo of Guarionex or its neighbors. It may also have been important for this cave, a site of pilgrimage, to be close to the cave of origin for the island's population. According to Martyr, the site of Camoteia, where humans first settled the island of Hispaniola at Cahonao, was also a revered site to which gifts were given. Martyr adds details here not explicit in Pané, perhaps drawing from Morales and other sources. Nonetheless, it is not unfeasible for the site of Cacibajagua to have been located in the same region as the cave of Iguanaboina.
This question of Cacibajagua and Cahonao may also have some bearing on the origins of Marien, a powerful cacicazgo in the northern part of Haiti. According to archaeological findings, the probable site for Guacanagaric's capital, En Bas Saline, was likely a Chicoid site in a region (northern Haiti) where Meillacoid ceramics were usually found. If En Bas Saline began as a Chicoid settlement in an area whose immediate vicinity was devoid of Meillacoid settlements, it is possible that the early people came from the east. They may have shared in this wider mythology of origin that traced the human presence on the island to Cacibajagua and the cave site in which the Sun and Moon emerged likely somewhere in the same region. We are assuming here that ceramic styles reflected some deeper cultural orientation or identification, but Guacanagaric's cacicazgo could have brought those traditions or legends of origin to the northern part of Haiti when a Chicoid settlement emerged at En Bas Saline by the 13th century. Of course, by the time of Columbus's arrival, the people of Marien may have developed a very distinct identity and new traditions of origin. But their cacicazgo wa said to have stretched as far east as Monte Cristi and parts of Vega Real, meaning some degree of contact with the indigenous centers there was feasible.
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