CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 35 



This is accomplished by rocking the shell tool rapidly forward 

 until the simple geometric designs, such as triangles, bisected tri- 

 angles, series of concentric circles, zigzag lines, or a series of paral- 

 lelograms are incised into the white-colored, woody shell. Occa- 

 sionally another procedure is employed (pi. 8, No. 1), where, in addi- 

 tion to the usual method just described of cutting incisions in series, 

 entire sections of the cortex are removed, leaving exposed the white- 

 colored base of shell as the design motive. This method is intrusive 

 in Darien and not characteristic of most of the native work, but is 

 practiced in Costa Rica and Nicaragua along with still another 

 method, whereb}' the outer skin, or cortex, is entirely removed and 

 the remaining shell surface then painted. 



Museum No. 327534 (pi. 1, No. 1) is a calabash spoon cut from a 

 shallow longitudinal segment of calabash decorated with a design 

 of incised zigzag lines in concentric series and in parallel. Some of 

 the similar spoons from Darien have incised lines recognizable as 

 human, animal, or bird figures. These were collected by the Marsh- 

 Darien expedition from the Tule of the San Bias coast. The spoon 

 is 33.7 cm. (13.3 in.) in length and 11.9 cm. (4.7 in.) wide. The 

 native name is " wesara " (Tule). 



Museum No. 327528 is a calabash cup 12.9 cm. (5.1 in.) in diameter, 

 decorated with an incised circle and extemporized lines at the bot- 

 tom (pi. 1, No. 2). 



Museum No. 327522 is a calabash container known to the Tule as 

 " kuguli " (pi. 1, No. 3). It is made from the truncated longi- 

 tudinal sections of two oblong calabash fruits, one somewhat smaller 

 in section than the other and telescoping into it as a lid or cover. 

 The smaller vessel is almost entirely cut off near one end; it is 11.3 

 cm. (4.4 in.) in length by 8.7 cm. (3.4 in.) in greatest diameter. 

 The larger fruit used as a telescoping lid or cover is 11.4 cm. (4.5 

 in.) in diameter. A crack at two places near the rim has been re- 

 paired by the natives by means of a cotton cord laced through two 

 round perforations made nearby. Both parts of this telescoping 

 container are ornamented with rocketed incised lines with a ser- 

 rated mussel shell in zigzag parallel lines designed to represent some 

 animal form. 



Museum No. 327526, a calabash drinking vessel 16.8 cm. (6.6 in.) in 

 greatest diameter, has the characteristic ornamental design made by 

 rocking a grooved mussel shell forward over the calabash shell while 

 it is yet soft (pi. 1, No. 4). The incised parallel concentric lines are 

 bisected so as to form triangular geometric figures. 



When brought to the Museum by the Marsh-Darien expedition 

 from the San Bias coast, Museum No. 327524, a calabash receptacle, 

 contained a quantity of coarse native rice meal that had been ground 



