CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 107 



heddles and to the spindle. With regard to the spindle Dr. Walter 

 Hough writes in the Proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum, 18 as follows: 



A spindle is a device for twisting fiber. Human fingers formed the first 

 spindle, and there are now tribes living in British Columbia, Aslaska, and 

 other parts of the world where excellent yarn and thread are produced with 

 no instrument whatever. 



The class of implements called spindles begins with a simple pointed rod 

 which acts also as a bobbin. It is the first device for covering rectilinear 

 into continuous circular motion. The stick is rolled on the thigh with the 

 palm of the hand, and the twisted fiber is then wound upon this simple shaft. 

 There were added the spindle whorl, the hook at the top of the spindle to 

 enable the operator to walk about. 



A Costa Rican spindle of this description collected by Pittier in 

 1920, now in the National Museum (Cat. No. 315135, pi. 27, No. 2), 

 fashioned from a piece of red snakewood 29.3 cm. (11.5 in.) long, 

 has a whorl carved from the tagua, or ivory nut. A ball of tree 

 cotton is attached to the thread already spun and wrapped on the 

 spindle. The spindle ends are similar and taper to a needle-like 

 point. 



Another spindle from the Tule collected by Pittier (Cat. No. 

 272597, U.S.N.M., pi. 27, No. 4) is provided with a disk whorl 

 fashioned from a Mimosa seed. 



A characteristic San Bias coast spindle, " pirpi," (Tule), is fash- 

 ioned from a piece of the hard black chonta palm wood 74 cm. 

 (29.1 in.) long. The whorl is a tortoise shell disk 6.7 cm. in diameter 

 and is fitted over a bulbous proximal end section 6.9 cm. long, and 

 has a roughly shaped unpolished surface (Cat, No. 327456, U.S.N.M., 

 pi. 27 No. 6). 



A more carefully finished spindle (Cat, No. 327457, U.S.N.M., 

 pi. 27, No. 7), is carved from a piece of brown hardwood 65.5 cm. 

 (25.7 in.) in length. The whorl is carved from the same block of 

 wood and is placed 7.5 cm. above the spindle end. Its convex sur- 

 faces form an elliptic disk with sharply defined outer margin. The 

 tapered distal end of the spindle is tipped with two annular flaring- 

 surfaces, immediately in front of each of which is an annular 

 grooved incision. 



A weaving paddle, "nakku," (Tule), made from a block of wood 

 carved from the " koippir " tree (Tule), a heavy dark brown, hard- 

 wood, 46.2 cm. (18.2 in.) in length by 15.4 cm. (6.1 in.) wide is 

 used by the Mountain Cuna, " Cunas Bravos," in smoothing the weft 

 or beating down the woof. The paddles of the Mountain Cuna, 

 like their pottery, are more crudely constructed than are those of 

 the San Bias coast tribes (Cat. No. 327514, U.S.N.M.). 



18 Vol. 60, p. 30. 

 77S2G— 26 S 



