50 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A child's boat paddle, " kammi " (Tule), 34.4 inches in length, 

 is used by the San Bias coast children, who delight in assisting 

 their parents in propelling the boat while on a fishing expedition. 

 It is carved from a light straw-colored hard wood (Cat. No. 327619, 

 U.S.N.M.). There is no median ridge on the flattened lateral sur- 

 faces of the blade. The distal end of the blade is diamond shaped 

 with a sharply defined point. The lateral edges taper from the wide 

 distal end to the beginning of the handle (pi. 5, No. 8), which is 

 rounded in section and 38.9 cm. (15.3 in.) in length. The flattened 

 handle grip at the proximal end projects more to one side laterally 

 than to the other, fitting the hand and supplying leverage for the 

 thumb. The Choco paddles have a handle grip placed with equi- 

 distant lateral edges, thus lacking the thumb support (pi. 5, No. 8). 



Another child's boat paddle, 33.4 inches in length (Cat. No. 

 327618, U.S.N.M.), carved by the San Bias coast Indians from a 

 brown hard wood, is similar in form to the paddle just described. 

 The diamond-shaped point at the distal end of blade is more blunt 

 and the handle is proportionately shorter, but it is a true paddle 

 with the characteristic broad distal end and the thumb support on 

 the handle grip common to the San Bias paddles. It is used with- 

 out a rowlock (pi. 5, No. 9). 



A lanceolate-shaped boat paddle used by the Choco (Cat. No. 

 327621, U.S.N.M.), was collected by the Marsh-Darien expedition. 

 The paddle is carved with a machete from a light brown hard wood. 

 The surface of the blade throughout its course is more highly pol- 

 ished than are the other Panama boat paddles in the Museum; the 

 inequalities in the surface carving have been so obliterated and pol- 

 ished as to give it the appearance of having been tooled on a lathe 

 (pi. 5, No. 10). The length is 57 inches, with its greatest width 

 at the middle course of the blade. A median ridge extends from 

 the acute diamond-pointed distal end to the hand grip at the proxi- 

 mal end. The surface of the blade is ovoid in section, chamfered 

 from the median ridge to the thin lateral edges. The type of hand 

 grip, the median ridge chamfered to each of the equidistant lateral 

 edges, also the lanceolate-shaped blade, characterizes this paddle as 

 the Chucunaque River and Choco type, as contrasted with the 

 spatulate type with wide distal end with blunt diamond-shaped point 

 and hand grip with thumb support characteristic of the San Bias 

 coast. The latter type (Cat, No. 327620, U.S.N.M.) is represented 

 in the Museum collection by a paddle, " Kammi " (Tule), 57.7 inches 

 long and a handle grip 4 inches wide (pi. 5, No. 11). 



Several small paddles fashioned by the Choco from balsa wood 

 Ochroma Mmonensis (Cat. No. 327655, U.S.N.M.) are also used for 

 ceremonial purposes. 



