Inclement weather forced Columbus to anchor offshore at modern Baracoa, Cuba, for a week, commencing November 27. On the 29th, sailors explored nearby villages, and, when the locals fled, investigated deserted bohíos (homes, as shown on this website’s Contact page) to find heads of men in baskets suspended from house posts. Columbus explained in the Journal that the heads must be of some family founder or venerated ancestor, rather than asserting it was evidence of cannibalism.
