CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 59 



bow throughout its course is straight, the bowstring lies alongside. 

 Its looped end is secured in a double-loop knot about the nock. No 

 surplus bowstring extending beyond the loop is carried for bow 

 reinforcement or as emergency supply. To string the bow it is 

 pressed vertically on the ground and at the same time bent forward. 

 While thus bent the right hand twists the string a few times to 

 render it more taut and then slips the loop over the bow horn into 

 the nock. The short projecting end of string is carefully knotted 

 to prevent the unraveling of the cotton strands. 



Another fish bow, 66 inches in length (Cat. No. 327596, U.S.N.M., 

 pi. 9, No. 2), employed by the natives of the Caledonia Bay coast, 

 was collected by the Marsh-Darien Expedition. The bow shows a 

 high polish, secured by pulling the bow across a sharp surface of 

 metal or stone and then smoothing it down with a stone or bit of 

 shell. Particles of black beeswax used in polishing still adhere to 

 the back surface. The bow is lighter and narrower in section than 

 the one just described. 



Several features not found in other bows from the San Bias coast 

 are embodied in a similar fish bow from the same area now in the 

 Museum collection (Cat. No. 327597, pi. 9, No. 1). The bowstring 

 is made from the fibrous bast, or inner bark of a tree and is attached 

 to the bow horns in a simple loop. This loop fits loosely in the 

 rounded nock at the end of the bow. The simple loop is made by 

 turning the end of the bowstring back, and with it touching the 

 body of the string for a distance of several inches, wrapping the two 

 with a fiber lacing of the same material, leaving an opening just 

 large enough to slip over the horn. To secure additional firmness 

 and to prevent slipping, the bowstring end is not placed longitudi- 

 nally against the body of the string, but is wound twice around it 

 in snake- or creeper-like fashion under the laced wrapping. 



Sometimes shorter bows are made for children. These are more 

 crudely made and quite often unpolished, so that the nodal 

 elevations of the palm wood appear at a distance of four or five 

 inches apart. The inner surface of the bow reveals a white, pithy 

 core. On one of these children's bows the bowstring is a double 

 cotton cord resembling the commercial fishing cord and attached to 

 the horns of the bow with extemporized loops. 



Arrows. — The arrows of the Darien tribes may be described as 

 consisting of a head, foreshaft, shaft, and nock. Variation in the 

 type of arrow constructed by the Choco and the Tule is not great. 

 Both tribes subsists primarily by fishing, so that fish arrows, har- 

 poon, and turtle spears constitute essential weapons. The arrow- 

 head is often made in the form of a trident with a compound head 

 consisting of from five to seven barbed prongs, fashioned invariably 

 77826—26 5 



