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In the southern area of the Caribbean Sea, north of Venezuela, lie the ABC Islands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, which constitute the Leeward Islands of the Netherlands Antilles.

In Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, on a great many places and often for a long time, paintings of a remarkable nature have been known. They are inscribed on the walls and ceilings of rock cavities, rock shelters and caves; they consist of thick lines and dots and have been inscribed with a pigment made of coloured clay or ochre. The colours are red, brown, white and gray.

The oldest mention made of these rock paintings in writing has been encountered in a hook of travels dating from the early part of last century. Since then more and more of them have been discovered. While nothing is known about their origin, on the islands themselves there is nothing else they can be compared with in design.

Most rock paintings will be found in the former abris formed by the surf along the coasts; these are the cavities and caves which have been hollowed out of the limestone cliffs when, long before they had ever been inhabited by human beings, these islands were deeper in the sea than now, while the terraces along the north coasts were still submerged. For example, the rock shelter in the Hato Plain on Curaçao, Spelonk on Bonaire, or Grot Fontein on Aruba. On the last-mentioned island, rock paintings are also found in some hollow diorite boulders.

As early as in the 19th Century it was realized that, almost certainly, these signs must have been inscribed by the aboriginal Indian inhabitants of the islands. This has been confirmed by the fact that recently also in Venezuela large numbers of rock paintings have been registered, which are undoubtedly of Indian origin and partly show a great resemblance with those found in these islands.

For some time it was believed that the caves with rock paintings had served as abodes for the Indians, but it has now been established beyond doubt that this was definitely not the case: the settlements during the ages preceding the first arrival of the Spaniards were fairly large villages in areas that were first and foremost suitable for agricultural activities and often located far away from the paintings. Besides, there are no traces of settlements in the caves nor has there ever been any mention of them. The most plausible explanation is, accordingly, that these figures have been inscribed as signs regarded as magical by the Indians, on places of particular significance to them, for instance in their religion. Even today, a certain oppressive effect is still emanating from some of these figures.

As for what the figures themselves are supposed to represent, we dispose of very few connecting points. A number of them can clearly be recognized as pictures of humans and animals, but what must have been the intention to depict precisely these beings in these places and in that way, can never again be found out. In all pans of the world rock paintings and petroglyphs, carvings in a rock wall, are found; the explanation which is most accepted is, that the pictures of animals serve to acquire a magical power over animals wanted as objects for hunting, by the very act of depicting them. This would then be a universal human characteristic, and, indeed, rock paintings from countries very far away from each other and from the most widely differing eras sometimes show remarkable similarities, while it is certain that there has not been even indirect contact.

A second interpretation of rock paintings in general emphasizes the will of the makers to represent certain fertility symbols for humans, animals, and plants. Notably, this is true of the petroglyphs in the Lesser Antilles, but on the other hand precisely in their design the latter show fairly great differences with the rock paintings from our islands. The vast majority of paintings are completely uninterruptible to us - and this is true of the local paintings as well as of those from elsewhere; they consist, namely, of purely abstract patterns. In the case of a part of them, with much inventity it is indeed possible to think of an explanation, but this will remain vague: the significance will only be meaningful to someone whom it is explained to, and the people who would have been able to give such an explanation, belonged to a culture that has disappeared entirely. Certainly it is not a case of another form of writing, as the figures are too numerous and hardly standardized, although there are indeed certain recurring motives. At best we may think of a sort of representation of a specific mythical story in symbols, the depicted details being a meaningful illustration to insiders; for us, however, it will never again be possible to be initiated in this knowledge. The only thing we can do is to compare all the known paintings with each other, including those from Venezuela, where related Indians lived, and to look for as many recognizable symbols as possible. Yet, any interpretation will necessarily remain vague. This has proved to be the case even in those instances in which data on the religion of the makers, obtained in some other way, are known.

The Postal Service of the Netherlands Antilles is issuing a series of special stamps on March 29, 1977 in the values of 25, 35 and 40 cents for the purpose of giving wider publicity to the Indians' symbols which are found in the Netherlands Antilles. Of the three rock paintings depicted the one on the 25 cent stamp is a clearly naturalistic picture of a bird. It can be found near Ceru Boonchi in Aruba. The 35 cent stamp has an abstract figure consisting of loops and spirals, in a recess in the limestone rock at the Savonet Plantation in Curaçao. The 40 cent stamp shows a figure from Onima in Bonaire, which very much resembles a tortoise, but whether this was also the maker's intention is far from certain.