纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 065泰诺仪式用椅（7）（在线收听）

And there is in fact gold on our duho as well. The wide, gaping mouth, and the straining, boggling eyes of the humanoid head at the front, are emphasised by being inlaid with gold discs, and they add enormously to the frightening power of the object. It was gold like this that made the Spaniards believe that they might find in Hispaniola the treasure they'd been hoping for. But in fact gold like this is found only in the rivers, in small quantities accumulated over many generations. Like the special wood, this rare precious gold marked out the duho as an exceptional object, something able to mediate between the earthly and the supernatural worlds.

It could also mediate between living leaders. Important visitors would be ceremonially seated on duhos, and Christopher Columbus himself received this honour. But of all the futures that could have been foretold by the Taino chiefs sitting on their duhos, nothing could have matched what actually happened. The Spaniards brought with them smallpox and typhoid - and even the common cold was catastrophic to the Taino communities, who had no immunity. Those that survived were resettled by the Spanish, so kinship groups were torn apart, and then African slaves were brought in to replace the vanishing local labour-force.

其实都何上也有黄金。凳子前端类人生物大张着的嘴和鼓出的眼睛上都镶嵌着金盘，为它更添几分恐怖。正是这些黄金让西班牙人以为伊斯帕尼奥拉岛上有他们渴求的金矿。但他们的希望落空了：在多米尼加共和国，他们仅仅在河流中发现了黄金，经过几个世纪也才积累下少量。一如特殊的木材，稀有珍贵的黄金突显了都何作为沟通现实世界与灵魂世界媒介的非比寻常。

它也能成为在世的领袖们之间的沟通媒介。尊贵的访客会被邀请坐在都何上参与仪式。哥伦布便曾享受这种待遇。然而，泰诺首领们坐在都何上预言的一切都与未来的实际不相符。西班牙人带来了天花与伤寒，而对于完全不具备免疫力的泰诺人来说，就连普通的感冒都是致命的。幸存下来的人被西班牙人重新安置，亲人被活活拆散。之后，非洲黑奴被引入，以补充当地消失的劳动力。