CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 29 



prominent, the lips medium to above medium in thickness, and the 

 lower part of the face rather short and not heavy. In all of these 

 characteristics they much resemble the Indians of the San Bias coast, 

 with whom in fact they appear to be identical. But what is even 

 more noteworthy is that in general this type appears to be close to 

 that of the Mayas of Yucatan, so close as to constitute a strong sug- 

 gestion of original identity of the two groups. The measurements 

 of eight recent Maya skulls of the United States National Museum 

 collections show the same essentials as seen in the Cuna tribes of 

 Panama, namely marked brachycephaly and low vault with a rather 

 short lower facial region." 



Albinism prevalent among Tule. — The light skin color of many of 

 the Tule Indians is striking. The hair is blond, ranging from 

 auburn and brown to white; eyes have hazel, dark blue, or dark 

 violet irises; the skin appears flushed on cheeks, and freckle-like 

 copper colored pigment spots of varying size, location, and number 

 are present on face, limbs, and body; the gums are pink. This 

 condition was first noted by Wafer in 1699. R. O. Marsh and 

 members of his expedition saw many of these white-skinned In- 

 dians in the interior of Darien and along the San Bias coast living 

 among the Tule. He aroused the interest of the scientific world 

 to a condition that appears to be not infrequent among tropical 

 Indian tribes. Koch-Gruenberg notes a similar light, almost white 

 skin color among the Yekuana in the Orinoco basin. He does not 

 ascribe this to miscegenation with Europeans, as in other respects 

 the individual possesses purely Indian features. He thinks it clearly 

 a case of hereditary poverty of pigmentation. R. G. Harris, of the 

 Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., is of the 

 opinion that these White Indians express a form of albinism which 

 has been termed imperfect or partial. " Its hereditary nature is 

 demonstrated clearly in the hundred or more matings, the history 

 of which I obtained during my residence in San Bias." The long 

 segregation of the Tule Indians suggests that the albino strain is 

 a well differentiated type. The white Indian children brought to 

 the National Museum by R. O. Marsh had brown skinned parents. 

 Similarly, white Indian parents may have either white or brown- 

 skinned partially-albinotic children. Some attempt is made by the 

 Tule at segregation of the white children on the mainland in the in- 

 terior at puberty, but mixed marriages are common. Harris enumer- 

 ates a total of 138 albinos among the San Bias coast Tule. 



Among the religious concepts recognized by the Tule is the uni- 

 versal flood myth and the former mythical presence of the God- 

 man teacher " A-oba." After the Great Flood had subsided, there 

 descended through the clouds to the top of Mount Taracuna a white 



