678 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



ains, were taken to Esparza aud confirmed the account ot houses, &c., 

 given by Zepeda. They showed acquaintance with certain doctrines of 

 the church, which they said had been taught them by a Padre Adam. 

 This padre turned out to be a young man, who, after attending college 

 at Leon, for some reason lied to the Eio Frio country, where he lived 

 and died, not being permitted to return to his home. The cura of Es- 

 parza and a missionary started for the mysterious valley, led by the 

 Sambos, who abandoned them as soon as they were well into the forest. 

 In 1778 the enthusiastic Fraile Lopez made his first attempt to enter 

 the country, over Orosi, but failed. He next tried by boat uj) the river, 

 but at the sight of the first raft of the Guatusos, his boatmen turned 

 and paddled their best down stream, refusing to listen to his entreaties 

 to be lauded. In 1782 he made a third attempt by way of Teuorio, but, 

 after wandering in the forest for seventy-five days, he came out on Lake 

 Nicaragua. In 1783 Tristan, bishop of Nicaragua, accompanied by 

 Lopez, made an expedition up the river. Lopez went ahead in a canoe, 

 and was attacked. Some of his men jumped overboard, and the others 

 dropped in the bottom of the boat. When the Guatusos saw the de- 

 voted friar standing with only a crucifix in his hand the shower of 

 arrows ceased and he was allowed to land. Hi« canoemen hastened to 

 rejoin the bishop, and we hear no more of the heroic Lopez, 



Finally, Col. Trinidad Salazar, of Nicaragua, informed Mr. Squier 

 that in 1849 he took two boats with soldiers up the Rio Frio. After 

 traveling for several days he was attacked from ambush, was wounded, 

 and his party repulsed. 



Our next authority, Froebel, who visited Central America after Mr. 

 Squier, gives a version of Salazar's experience, in which all were killed 

 except the colonel. He was informed that not only were no foreigners al- 

 lowed by the Guatusos to enter their country, but members of their tribe 

 who had been in captivity were killed when they returned. "They are 

 said to be of fair complexion, a statement which has caused the appel- 

 lation Indios Blancos, or Guatusos, the latter name being that of an ani- 

 mal of reddish brown color, and intended to designate the color of their 

 hair."* 



Froebel also gives the very romantic experience of a German youth 

 with these Indians — the Pocahontas story adapted. 



Mr. Squier, writing again in 18G0, says that the valley of the Rio Frio 

 " is estimated to be at least 150 miles long by from 80 to 90 broad." " Of 

 the Indians, called Guatusos, iuhabiting this district, of whom nothing 

 is positively known, the most extraordinary notions are entertained by 

 the people of the adjacent states. They are reputed to be above the 

 ordinary stature, with comparatively light complexion, and red hair; 

 and tales are told of some of their women ha^dng been seen by hunters 



* Seven Years^ Travel in Central America, by Julius Froebel. London, 1859; page 

 24. See also his Aus America, Leipzig. 



