PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



THE GUATUSO INDIANS OF COSTA EICA. 



By Don Leon Fernandez, of San Jose C. B. * 



My expedition to the country of the Guatuso Indians resulted hap- 

 pily. "We succeeded in penetrating to the very palenqnes (habitations) 

 of the Indians, who fled to the forest on our approach, having aband- 

 oned all their instruments, arms, provisions, and utensils. By follow- 

 ing the tracks of the Indians we managed to visit several of their ^a?- 

 enques, but it was not possible for us to surprise one of them. Notwith- 

 standing the ferocity and courage with which the Guatusos have been 

 credited, they made no attempt to resist or do us any harm, doubtless 

 because of our numbers, and that they took us at first for huleros (rub- 

 ber men), who are for them the creatures most abhorred, on account of 

 the depredations which have been committed, children seized and taken 

 to Nicaragua to be sold as slaves, men murdered, women violated, and 

 other cruelties committed which are hardly credible in this age. 



After many excursions, during which we scoured the borders of the 

 rivers Pataste and La Muerte, the principal affluents of the Eio Frio, 

 both navigable, we encountered a party of Nicaragua huleros, who, 

 practiced in the business, had surprised an Indian and had him tied up 

 to a tree like a beast. After some information was obtained from them, 

 through respect for SeQor I). B. A. Shiel, bishop of Costa Eica, who 

 was at the head of the expedition, they offered the Indian for use as a 

 guide in our excursions. 



Another party of our expedition succeeded, the same day that we 

 met the huleros, in surprising another Indian who was secured after 

 much difficulty and resistance. 



The two Indians were brought together in our camp, where we treated 

 them in the best manner possible. Gi\ing them clothing and various 

 presents, we made them understand, through the means of the inter- 

 preter who accompanied us, that we were not huleros {chiuti) but brothers 

 {tzaca), that we were going to do them all good and deliver them from 

 the attacks of the huleros, and concluded by asking them to take us to 

 the palenqiies [upola) where their families were, that we might give 

 them the various objects which we showed, especially the knives and 



* Translation of a portion of a letter written by Don Leon Fernandez, on November 

 24, 1882, to Dr. J. F. Bransford. -^. 



