CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 89 



with the body placed on its back, so that on resurrection the body 

 will face the east. 



The house of the Darien chief Comagre was considered the most 

 magnificient that the Spaniards had yet seen in the New World. In 

 one of the rooms were arranged along the walls the embalmed 

 ancestors of the chief. They consisted of the dried skin and bones 

 constituting a form of mummification effected by drying the body 

 on a cane hurdle over a slow fire fed by herbs and aromatic grasses 

 and wood. 



The question of whether the Indians of Darien practiced em- 

 balming of their dead has been discussed without much evidence 

 at hand. It is probably true that as related in old Spanish accounts 

 the dead chiefs or leading personalities of a tribe were embalmed 

 in the manner described. The practice was probably never in gen- 

 eral use. Burial customs of the Tule to-day are a form of interment. 

 The following account of this practice is given by Markham : " Up- 

 on the death of man, a trench is dug 6 feet deep, 2 feet wide, and 8 

 feet long. A peg or stout pole is placed at each end and he is placed 

 in his hammock just as as he died. A blanket is placed over him and 

 he is swung between the stakes in this trench. If he is a musician 

 his instruments are buried w T ith him, and sometimes a small cayuca. 

 This is to show the Great Spirit that he has been a great canoe man. 



" In ancient times all of the valuables, in fact, everything he 

 owned except his big cayuca, was buried with him, and this was 

 disposed of for little or nothing in order to get it out of sight of his 

 family. The Indians say they w T ish to forget their dead as soon as 

 possible. They do not wish to see a thing that belongs to a dead 

 Indian. The bows, arrows, and spears are buried with the dead 

 to assure him a livelihood when he gets to the Great Spirit. The 

 musician with his flutes of reed continues to play after reaching 

 the Great Spirit. After placing his belongings in his hammock 

 with a blanket placed over him the ropes are adjusted so that he 

 lays in a natural position. Then the dirt is placed over and around 

 him and a little mound is erected over the entire length of the grave: 

 on this is placed a calabash filled with water for him to drink. Of 

 late years there is nothing of any value buried with the dead. Burial 

 grounds are always located near rivers or small streams." 



A roof is constructed over the burial mound similar to the roofs 

 of the family houses, except that the long spike wood from the sago 

 palm is utilized. Walls and gable ends are lacking on the burial 

 huts — there is merely a roof. 



Among the Tule, the land of the hereafter is the abode of either 

 the good or of the bad spirit. The home of the good spirit is a 

 country well stocked with green turtle and big fish that swim 



