In the long term, the remnant of the Garifuna, who escaped onto the dense forested mountain ridges, on the windward coast of Yurumein, were not as lucky as their banished Garifuna brothers and sisters. Those who were banished from the land they once owned and roamed on freely. One of the disadvantages of the escape Garifuna were, they were not accustomed to losing a war, defeat was new to them, so when they fled, they ended up in small groups in different locations and those groups remained together. The groups were not large enough, to restart a functional Garifuna community as they knew it. Even when the groups grew, to a size where the structure could have been reintroduced, the remnant Garifuna, had became accustomed, to an existence without the formal structure that was a part of their old way of life. They also had a real fear of being captured. This was so, because of the lack of information about the destiny, of their captured brothers and sisters; and as such, the level of their caution grew.
Although they had to and they became adopted to isolated and small dwellings; remaining undetected and uncaptured were always their number one priority. The remnant Garifunas, were in a familiar place, that place lacked what made it home. The absence of those they knew and loved, as well as, the lack of community structure that facilitated, life as they once knew it and the restricted freedom and access to the island as they once had, made it different. The escaped Garifuna, became captive on their own island, restricted to a tiny area, where they did their best to survive, without the benefit of a community as they know it. Without any structure, a default leader and the numbers that was present in the community of Garifuna that was banished to Roatan.
Their willingness to remain undetected, did not provide much opportunity for the unification with the other small groups who were scattered, long the nearby mountain ridges. This also did not lend much opportunity, for an immediate re-establishment of a functional society as they knew it, before the death of their leaders, and the capture of their brothers and sisters.
The small number Garifunas who ended up together basically stayed with the group with whom they ended up. One thing that was sure unique to the Garifunas were: Their retreated was to the dense mountain ridge, even though they all did not become reunited and that became their dwelling place and their own instructed community.
One thing that helped me arrived to this conclusion, is that fact, the residence of Greggs, Lowmans Windward, Lauders and New Prospect the Mountain Ridges on which the remnant Garifuna retreated to, are still occupy by them today. These loactions are within close proximity to each other, but the Garifuna people, who lives in these area today, are not blood relatives. And the sense of community and the level of community interactions that is present within the villages that makes up the Kalinago Community is not present among the four traditionally Garifuna settlement.
I will endeavor to say, the remnant post banishment Garifuna, was worse than that of their banished brothers. For a very long time, the Remnant Garifuna on Yurumein, lived in fear and this was responsible for inhibiting their overall growth as a community and as a people. Even when the English did not saw the Garifuna as a threat to their existence and even when the French took controlled of St. Vincent, for the four years period that ranged from 1779 to 1783; the remnant Garifuna remained suspicious of all European and remained in hiding. They were totally unafraid of the fate, they did not know of (the fate of the captured Garifuna), but were sure they did not want to be a part of.
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