CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 27 



women a more South American cast of features and type of bodily 

 development than is found among the Choco men. 



The Choco Indians of the south Darien coast resemble culturally 

 the Guiana Caribs and the tribes of tropical Brazil. Measurements 

 taken by Dr. A. Hrdlicka indicate a close relationship of the Tule, 

 not with the Caribs and Arawak of the adjoining coast, but with the 

 ancient Peruvians across the mountain divide to the south. Just 

 what factors, environmental or cultural, have brought about this 

 double crossing can not be determined at this time. Culturally, the 

 Tule of the San Bias coast are superior to the Choco of the south 

 Darien slope and to the Cuna of the interior. They live in better 

 houses on islands, are free from the endemic disorders of an insect- 

 infested jungle coast ; their social solidarity is more marked ; their 

 practice of monogamous marriages, the proud preservation of their 

 tribal isolation, their ability to travel from one island to another 

 by way of water transport, all combine toward lifting their cultural 

 horizon. The Cuna and Tule Indians of the time of the early Span- 

 ish explorers probably knew something about the great culture of 

 Peru and of the Peruvians, for they stimulated the curiosity of Bal- 

 boa and of Pizarro through stories about the precious stones, the 

 gold, and the glory of ancient Peru, 6 but the civilization of the Incas 

 remained a mere rumor to them and intercourse through trade or 

 otherwise did not exist. 



Physical characteristics of Darien Indian tHbes. — A preliminary 

 survey of the physical measurements of the Choco and Cuna tribes, 

 made by John L. Baer while in Panama with the Marsh-Darien 

 Expedition, shows a marked contrast between the two tribes in re- 

 spect to stature and head form; the Choco being the taller with cor- 

 respondingly longer and narrower skulls, while the Cuna are shorter 

 in stature and have broader skulls. The average stature of the Choco 

 males measured by Baer was 156.4 cm. (60.4 in.), with a maximum of 

 166.5 cm. and a minimum of 148 cm. The average stature of the 

 Cuna adult males was 154.T cm. (59.5 in.). A similar discrepancy 

 was found in the stature of the female Cuna when compared with the 

 average stature of the female Choco. The average stature of the Cuna 

 female, 143.2 cm. (55 in.), was surpassed by the Choco female 

 stature of 145.3 cm. (56 in.). The broad head form that accompanies 

 the shorter stature of the Cuna is seen in the high cephalic index of 

 85.5 for the males, with a still higher index average of 87 for the 

 females, while the longer head form of the Choco is evidenced by an 

 index of 80.7 for the males and 80.6 for the females. It is apparent 

 from these measurements that there are two distinct physical stocks 



6 Peter Martyr : De Orbe Novo, translated from the Latin by Francis MacNutt, N. Y., 

 1912, vol. 1, pp. 220-223. 



77826—26 3 



