90 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



slowly through the water, so that they may be easily caught. Large 

 coconuts are exceedingly plentiful and the trees need not be re- 

 planted. In the forests of the land of the good spirit there grow 

 all kinds of fruit trees that require no cultivation ; there is an abun- 

 dant supply of fat wild pigs easy to kill; also of deer and of wild 

 turkey. There are no snakes in good spirit land. There are no 

 strangers in the land of the good spirit. The occupants are mostly 

 San Bias Indians who have gone there because the good spirit has 

 called them there away from the attacks of the bad spirit who causes 

 all sickness. The location of the heaven of the San Bias is at the 

 top of Mount Taracuna, one of the highest mountains of the con- 

 tinental axis, the range of the Serrania del Darien. It was also at 

 this place that the spirit Olokuppilele created the Tule Indians. 

 It is at the base of this mountain and in the vicinity of the Ser- 

 rania, west of the mouth of the Atrato River, that the Tule say their 

 ancestors lived. To this place and up in the sky the good people go 

 when they die. The spirit builds his own bridge along the way. 



BASKETRY 



In a broad sense there are a great number of loomless handicrafts 

 in flexile materials practiced by the Choco, Cuna, and Tule Indian 

 tribes of southeastern Panama. True basketry there " multiplies its 

 functions and becomes walls, floors, and roofs, the minister of in- 

 dustries and decorative arts where it is no longer receptacle nor 

 vehicle." In a well watered country with a luxurious growth of 

 forest palms, vines and creepers, and epiphytic plants, it would 

 be indeed strange were the natives of Darien not adept in the arts 

 of basketry. 



Basketry may there be classed as a domestic art, but not as the 

 exclusive task of women. Unlike the potter's art which is given 

 over entirely to women, weaving and basketry are practiced by men 

 and women. During the rainy season material that had previously 

 been gathered is worked up into its finished form, such as ropes, 

 hammocks, etc. The so-called " Panama " hats of commerce, al- 

 though sold in the shops of Panama and Colon, are not of local 

 origin. The best Panama hats come from Monte Cristi, in Ecuador. 

 The technique of the Ecuadorian hat maker is superior to that of 

 the native Panamanian. 



The material from which the true Panama hats are made is 

 obtained from the leaves of a palm-like plant growing in Central 

 and South America and known as jipijapa (C atrludovica palmata). 

 The leaves are plaited into many useful objects other than the 

 famous Panama hats. The leaves are cut while young, the stiff 



