30 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



man and woman, a light brown man and woman, and a dark brown 

 man and woman. These individuals repopulated the world and 

 were the progenitors of the several races. A-oba was white-skinned, 

 hence the white Indians enjoyed greater prestige than was accorded 

 the darker-skinned people. The coming of the European and the 

 cruelty meted out to the Tule Indians contributed to the lowering 

 of the position of A-oba's white Indian kinsmen, and may have 

 led formerly to the putting to death by infanticide or to the segre- 

 gation of white Indian children. 



A peculiarity in the albinism observed among the Tule Indians 

 is that some of the white Indians are not the ordinary standard 

 " chepus " t}rpe but have a white skin that tans ; others have white 

 skin and brown eyes and black hair. Each hereditary trait seems 

 to be a separate mutant factor. 



In summarizing his conclusions relative to the peculiar phenom- 

 enon of the unusually large numbers of albinos living among the 

 Tule of the San Bias coast, Doctor Harris says that " the San Bias 

 Indians studied, due to relatively close inbreeding, to purity of 

 blood, and to the presence of a clearly differentiated group in their 

 midst, offer unusual opportunities for the collection of valuable 

 genetic and anthropological data. 



" The partial albino Indians are the frequently reported white 

 Indians of Darien. Their appearance is obviously the expression of 

 a homozygous recessive condition, due originally to a mutation in 

 one or more genes. They can not be considered the result of pre- 

 vious miscegenation with Caucasians as they are clearly Indians, 

 not hybrids. 



" That the condition of white Indians is genetical in nature is 

 amply demonstrated by the data contained in the family histories. 

 The white Indians thus hold potentialities for race production. 



" Due to the fact that they do not reproduce themselves, on 

 account of artificial restrictions, and, since they do not occur by 

 themselves in definite geographical areas there may be some ques- 

 tion as to the desirability of calling the white Indians a race. 



" Their present large number is maintained for the most part by 

 frequent matings of related recessive-carrying browns." 



DOMESTIC AND AGRICULTURAL ARTS 



Houses. — The Tule build large houses with wattling of cane walls 

 and palm-leaf thatched roofs. Such houses are divided into com- 

 partments, each designed to shelter one family. The island dwelling 

 places are villages made up of houses of this type built close to the 

 shore and so nearly adjoining one another as to completely cover 

 the island (pi. 36, No. 1). When the need for a hut or dwelling place 



