“...and he [Columbus] wanted to find out what the Indians of this Espanola had told him, that there had come to it from the south and southeast, a Negro people, who brought those spear points made of a metal which they call guanin [as in Ghana, and Guinea], of which he had sent to the king and queen for assaying, and which was found that it was of 32 parts, 18 were of gold, 6 of silver, and 8 of copper." --Raccolta, Parte I, Vol. I
In the Taino culture of the Antilles, a guanín or Gua-NiN meaning "The Noble of Nobles" was a badge of honor of tribal leadership and authority, worn by the Caciques (chiefs) and by the Nitaino (Nobility class). It was a mixture of Gold and Bronze,made from flakes of gold extracted from rivers; these flakes were pounded with rocks until they melted together into a small disc which the Cacique could wear around his neck or some other part of the body. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan%C3%ADn_(Taino)
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