80 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



beads wound about the neck and crossed over the upper chest and 

 under the armpits resembles the beaded attire of the male Choco. 



A bird figure representing probably a parrot is carved from 

 the same block of wood and stands 6.5 cm. high, perched on top 

 of the human figurine's head. The color scheme is in green and 

 black with horizontal neck and breast bands. 



The armadillo, " tede," (Tule) is a small animal found in Darien 

 and throughout tropical America having the body and head covered 

 with an armor of small bony plates, like a coat of mail. The meat is 

 edible and much appreciated by the natives. It consequently sup- 

 plies a theme for the native artist, especially so as the dermal plates 

 are easily represented by transverse parallel fillets brought into low 

 relief by intervening incisions in the wood. One of these arma- 

 dillo wood carvings (Cat. No. 327624, U.S.N.M., pi. 21, No. 5) 

 is made from Ochroma limonensis^ or balsa wood, and was collected 

 by the Marsh-Darien Expedition from the San Bias coast Tule; 

 it is 45.6 cm. (17.9 in.) in length, head to tip of tail, 10.2 cm. (4 in.) 

 high, and 13 cm. (5.1 in.) wide. The incising of parallel grooves 

 transversely across the back of the body and tail is the artist's 

 melhod of indicating the characteristic dermal plates. No cor- 

 responding longitudinal incisions, marking in relief the lines of 

 the separate plates, are employed. The entire back and the tail 

 piece are painted a grayish black, the belly portion red. 



The Choco artist also employs the wood of O chroma limonensis 

 in his wood carvings of the armadillo. On the Tule armadillo carv- 

 ings the dermal plates over the entire back appear in high relief ; the 

 Choco artist achieves the same result by painting in red and black 

 the carved fillets placed transversely across the back (Cat. No. 

 327624). 



One of the larger animals inhabiting the Isthmus is the jaguar. 

 A model of this animal carved from a block of light wood, 61 cm. 

 (29 in.) long, by the Tule of the San Bias coast is now in the Na- 

 tional Museum collections. A flat unpainted pedestal crudely carved 

 with a machete from the same block of wood extends the length of 

 the figure. A realistically mottled appearance of the skin surface 

 of the jaguar is secured by applying a series of dots in black and 

 yellow paint. This color scheme is typically Chocoan and the 

 object might easily pass as such. Trade trinkets of gilded tin 

 sunk into the wood represents the jaguar's eyes (Cat. No. 327623, 

 U.S.N.M., pi. 21, No. 6). 



Bird figure carvings are numerous, but hardly represent the 

 highest skill of the Choco or Tule wood carver's are. Many of these 

 carvings are mounted on pedestals shaped from the same wood 

 block of which a bird figure carving forms a part. The carved 



