128 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Anions the Choco Indians it is the women who perform the harvest 

 and other ceremonial dances. They sing an accompaniment the 

 while they dance in single file around some centrally placed cere- 

 monial object, such as a decorated wooden lodge on which are 

 painted a number of spirit images (pi. 34). Each woman places 

 her right hand on the woman immediately in front of her, forming 

 an unbroken encircling chain. 



SUMMARY 



Tribal boundaries. — There are two distinct aboriginal ethnic 

 stocks occupying southeastern Panama — the Choco and the Cuna 

 or Tule. The former inhabit the southern or Pacific slope of the 

 isthmian divide, while the Cuna and the related Tule share the 

 mountainous interior, the northern or Caribbean slope, and the 

 island-studded San Bias coast. The Tule are separated from the 

 linguistically related Indian tribes dwelling to the west and north, 

 the Coiba, Talamanca, and Guaymie, by the beaten path of the 

 old " Gold Road " and the Canal Zone. The Choco are likewise 

 hemmed in on the southwest by the Pacific; consequently the only 

 remaining corridors of migration and culture diffusion are the 

 great northward flowing rivers of South America, such as the Rio 

 Atrato, the San Juan, and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. Geo- 

 graphical factors, then, indicate that the origin and former habitat 

 of the two aboriginal ethnic stocks of Darien must have been in 

 South America, although the mountainous interior of southeastern 

 Panama together with stretches of low-lying jungle land tended to 

 separate the migration routes of entry and to prevent the com- 

 mingling of the two stocks. The Choco Indians of the southern or 

 Pacific slope, and the Tule of the northern or Caribbean slope of 

 Darien, differ markedly in language, physical characters, and cul- 

 ture traits. 



The Cuna and related Tule are shorter in stature, have a broader 

 head, and, according to Doctor Hrdlicka, resemble in detail of 

 physical characteristics the Maya of Yucatan and the ancient Peru- 

 vians. 



Comparison of culture traits. — Linguistically the Cuna Tribes, 

 including the Tule, are related to the Chibcha of Colombia rather 

 than to the Quechua-speaking Peruvians. Possessing a marginal 

 and less intense culture than that of the ancient high culture cen- 

 ters, they show an increasingly large number of those traits and 

 arts that reach their highest development in the Chibchan culture 

 area centering about Bogota, Colombia. The Tule with the related 

 Cuna are an Andean people. They occupy permanent multiple 

 family houses of cane and thatch with wattled walls of upright 



