110 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



coast Indians do not employ masks, their word for devil and for 

 mask is the same, " mia." 



Markham tell of the methods employed in making hammocks 

 and in weaving. " I sat down by an old lady weaving a hammock. 

 I asked how the hammock was made. She was delighted to show 

 me. Her age must have been perhaps 70 years. All during her 

 demonstration she kept up a lively conversation. The hammocks 

 are made from the inner bark of a tree; the best fiber is pulled 

 off, cut, and split into small threads of the desired size. It is then 

 dried and is quite strong. The fiber selected is sometimes cotton 

 which the natives have grown. The cotton has a pink color in its 

 natural state. In spinning, it is first taken by one woman who forms 

 the strand into a cord perhaps a half inch in diameter. It is then 

 passed on to the next woman who gives it a twist and passes it on 

 to the next, and so on down a line of perhaps 20 women until it be- 

 comes as small as required, about the size of ordinary wrapping 

 cord. The woman weaver can make a hammock in 1 day of 10 

 hours."" 



The loom on which the hammock is woven consists of nothing 

 more than a frame of poles bound together with vines. Such looms 

 are community property and several are present in every village 

 for making hammocks and the head-bands worn by the young men. 

 Baer saw a Cuna man of Sucubti, who was an albino, and his sister 

 weaving a hammock in a manner similar to that described by 

 Markham. 



Necklaces and -pendants. — In their esteem for objects of personal 

 adornment the Choco and Tule Indians are alike. They differ, 

 however, in the method employed to display their love of finery. 

 The Tule woman pierces the lower nasal septum and wears a gold 

 or brass nose-ring; the Choco men and women pierce the lobe of the 

 ear and insert wooden plugs covered with silver plate. Both tribes 

 are alike in their employment of multiple strands of necklaces, en- 

 circling bands, and pendants. With the Choco, ornamental strings 

 of beadwork also take the place of the ornamental applique mola, or 

 woman's garment, of the Tule in the decoration of the body, so that 

 the Choco men and women do not find the same need for ornamental 

 clothing as do the Tule. The latter is content with necklaces, but 

 the Choco employs multiple strings of beads about the otherwise 

 naked body as well. A little Choco child may have no other cloth- 

 ing or ornamental object about it except a few necklaces of beads or 

 teeth; a Tule child, similarly naked, is the proud possessor of a 

 nose-ring together with a necklace or two. 



A necklace, " nug nuppi " (Tule), from the San Bias coast, com- 

 posed of a large number of pinion-like aromatic seeds, was identified 

 by Paul C. Standley as common allspice (Phnenta officinalis) 



