26 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The " tame " Cuna fear their " wild " kinsmen and never dare to 

 enter their country, though " wild " Cunas Bravos occasionally visit 

 their villages. 



The Bayano and Sucubdi River Cuna tribes of the interior possess 

 in many respects a culture superior to that of the south Darien coast 

 and Tuyra River basin Choco Indians. Contact with the white 

 trader is less among the Cuna of the interior than is the case with 

 the island dwelling Tule. Their antagonism and antipathy to the 

 Spaniard, the Panamanian, and the foreigner in general is however 

 equally great. While the Choco Indians are to a great extent fisher- 

 men, the Cuna devote more time to agricultural pursuits than do 

 either of the two other Indian tribal groups; crop raising, however, 

 is carried on to a limited extent by all of the Darien Indian tribes. 

 Hunting is a minor source of food supply. Among the agricultural 

 products of southeastern Panama are cassava {Manihot esculenta), 

 sweet potatoes or yams, cacao (Theobroma cacao), cotton, tobacco, 

 bananas and plantains, pineapples {Ananas ananas), papaya 

 (Carica papaya), sugar cane, indigo, corn, rice, and many varieties 

 of fruits. 



They have domesticated animals and fowls such as pigs, turkeys, 

 chickens, and ducks, but no cows or horses. Dogs are variously em- 

 ployed as pets, as watch dogs, and on the chase after big game 

 animals such as the tapir and the peccary. 



History and tradition assign as the former habitat of the Cuna 

 tribes an area as far west as the valleys of the eastern reaches of the 

 Chagres River, also both sides of the continental divide between the 

 Canal Zone and the bay of San Miguel and the Atrato River. To- 

 day they have lost much of this territory. Epidemics of smallpox 

 and probably of influenza have further contributed to this decline 

 within recent years. The encroachments of the Spanish and Negroes 

 have also contributed to the migration of some of the so-called Cunas 

 Bravos from the upper Tuyra to the region of the Sucubdi River. 



Choco Indians. — The Choco live along the southern or Pacific 

 slope of Darien and inland northward to the mouth of the Atrato 

 River. They are a trusting and hospitable people, contrasting favor- 

 ably with the more suspicious and intractable Tule of the opposite- 

 coast. Their skin is brown, but fairer than that of the Cuna and 

 Tule or coast Towali. They are short in stature, though taller and 

 better proportioned than the Cuna and the Tule. They allow their 

 hair to grow to natural length, while some men have it bobbed at 

 the neck. Both men and women have fine white teeth, sometimes 

 dyeing them black by chewing some of the numerous wild peppers 

 {Piper, species) that grow in the forest. The men have well de- 

 veloped shoulders and chest. The bulging stomach and abdominal 

 region together with the flattened facial featured give the Choco 



