86 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



wild turkey feathers stuck in patterns in the mud, as witchcraft magic to 

 hinder our progress. 



Charms mid fetishes. — A number of stone celts, " niyakkan " 

 (Tule), employed by the Title as fetishes protecting them against 

 the bad spirits are in the National Museum collections from south- 

 eastern Panama. The Tule Indians insist that these stone celts 

 fell from the sky. The oldest inhabitants do not recall ever having 

 seen any made like them. One of these stone celts (Cat. No. 327582, 

 U.S.N.M.) is broadened at the blade edge and has lateral edges 

 tapering toward the flattened blunt end of the blade. It is ovoid in 

 section with rounded lateral edges. The celt is 8.9 cm. (3.5 in.) 

 in length with a surface polished through long handling and use. 

 The stone is a light gray non-vesiculated basalt, finely grained and 

 heavy. This celt differs somewhat from the celts found in the ancient 

 graves of Chiriqui province west of the Canal Zone. Dr. W. H. 

 Holmes describes these 14 as Slaving a broader blade edge. 



Another stone celt (Cat. No. 327581, U.S.N.M.), has a wide body 

 11.5 cm. (4.5 in.) long, of uniform thickness in section above the 

 blade edge, and with slightly tapered lateral edges at blade edge 

 and at the base. The stone is a fine grained, slightly vesiculated 

 dark basalt, and highly polished. 



Still another stone celt chipped from a slab of gray basalt is i i..~; 

 cm. (5.7 in.) in length and has an oblate section. This celt is the 

 largest in the collections from Darien (Cat, No. 327580, U.S.N.M.). 



The nonemployment of the celts as implements is apparent from 

 their highly polished surfaces and smooth cutting edges. The 

 smaller celts are almost tubular in section with rounded hemispher 

 ical head and sharp, evenly edged blades (Cat. No. 327585, 

 U.S.N.M.). They are compact dark volcanic tufa that resembles 

 fine-grained slate. 



Spirit images, medicine lodge, and spirit houses. — The Choco em- 

 ploy in a ceremonial way in connection with harvest festivals, in the 

 treatment of the sick, and, as a burial offering a lodge, " ukkurwala " 

 (Tule), constructed from carved and mortised sections of balsa wood 

 {Ochroma Jimonensis). One of these structures, termed a "medicine 

 lodge ,5 by Baer, is in the United States National Museum (Cat. No. 

 327592, pi. 22) ; it measures 9 feet in length, 6 feet in height, and 

 3 feet in width. The various joists, sills, beams, flooring, and all 

 of the parts are mortised. Nails, or support pegs, shaped from the 

 black palm wood (palma chonta), are thrust by hand pressure into 

 the soft wood, thus binding securely together the more than 100 

 distinct component parts. The lodged thatched with palm leaf, 

 together w T ith a large number of carved and painted balsa wood 



14 Ancient Act of tin- rrovhice of Chiriqui. 



