CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 19 



until compelled to retire inland before the superior arms of the 

 Spaniards. The village of the Indians became the first seat of 

 Spanish power on the Caribbean coast of Darien. Captives taken in 

 the battle with Cemaco were compelled to gather gold and to work 

 in the fields. Plentiful supplies of gold and cotton were found 

 stored in the village, and the adjacent fields were found to furnish 

 ample provision. Along the river banks, secreted in caves were 

 found many gold ornaments. This settlement of the Spanish near 

 the Gulf of Darien was grafted upon the old Indian village, even 

 the houses of the natives being occupied by the conquerors. The 

 name given to this first white settlement was Santa Maria de la 

 Antigua del Darien. 



After various encounters with native caciques, Balboa, who by 

 1512 had become governor of the new colony, was forced to admit 

 that " thirty caciques have already been slain in the attempted paci- 

 fication of this country, and now that I am obliged to penetrate 

 still farther in search of food, I must kill all who fall into my 

 hands; otherwise, our colony can not exist while waiting relief." 



Many of the caciques have given their names to the territory over 

 which they ruled, and the older writers have invariably referred 

 to a district in terms of the name of the ruling chief. Thus were 

 coined such tribe names as Comagre, Chepo, and others along with 

 such true Indian tribal terms as Darien, Coiba, and Uraba. 



A study of the language of the San Bias coast Towali or Tule 

 was recently made by John P. Harrington, of the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology. In the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 5 he 

 makes the following linguistic classification: 



The Tule Indians, also known as the Cunas, Coinogres, and San Blasenos, 

 live along the Cai'ibbean coast of Panama, from Murru (San Bias Point) to 

 Armila (Port Obaldia), a distance of 120 miles. They still have their own 

 tribal government from Kwibgandi to Cacardia, a strip of coast 30 miles in 

 length. They formerly held the coast from the region of Eskarban (Port 

 Escribanos), 15 miles west of San Bias Point, to include the delta region of 

 the Rio Atrato. The tribe also holds the San Bias range, which parallels 

 the coast at a distance varying from 5 to 20 miles, from San Bias Point to 

 the region about Taracuna Mountain, including portions of the Pacific slope 

 of the range. The linguistically related Coiba held the isthmus to the west, 

 including Panama. The linguistic stock to the south was the Choco Indians, 

 who now inhabit much of the Savana, Chucunaque and Tuira River drainages. 



There are two outstanding aboriginal ethnic groups in south- 

 eastern Panama : The Choco, also known as Chocoi, Chokoe, or 

 Sambu-Choco living on the southern or Pacific slope ; and the Cuna* 

 variously -termed Mountain Cuna, Paya, Cunas Bravos, etc., in- 

 habiting the region of the upper Chucunaque and its tributaries, 

 the central uplands and mountain ranges, and the Towali of the 



5 Vol. 77, No. 2. 



