The supposedly peaceful Guadelope inhabitants Columbus first encountered, the Arawaks, in fact raided weaker Siboney villages, brutally massacring the men and savagely raping the women. Boys were castrated, fattened, boiled in pots and eaten. The Arawaks kept girls captive as "breeders," providing carnal pleasure and a constant supply of babies, regarded as a delicacy. The plight of women, viewed as second-class and chattel, wasn’t much better.