PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. t)79 



and others as fair and beautiful as the fairest Europeans."* While 

 Mr. Squier gave no credit to such reports, he thought that in isolation 

 their character, habits, language, religion, &c., had probably remained 

 unchanged, and would reward the successful explorer. 



Vigne, writing in 1863,t simply states that according to hearsay there 

 is a tribe of fair Indians, supposed to be descendants of Spaniards, two 

 days' boating up the Eio Frio. 



That entertaining writer, Frederick Boyle, says : " Everything con- 

 nected with this fierce race is enveloped in awful mystery, but it is 

 curious that all accounts give them an origin far from their present 

 seats. The story current in Costa Eica cannot fail to interest the Eng- 

 lishman, even if he be not converted to a belief in its truth. When Sir 

 Francis Drake retired to the Pacific shore after the sack of Esparza, 

 say they, a large body of his men mutinied in mad hopes of holding that 

 town against the Creole forces, and resting peaceably there. Drake left 

 them to their fate. But when the Spanish army assembled and the muti- 

 neers found themselves nearly surrounded, they hastily retired through 

 the forest of Merivalles."| Their intention was to reach the Mosquito 

 coast, but they were never heard of in that region, and many people 

 believed that they stopped on the Eio Frio. 



Another story given to Boyle, to account for the color of the Guatu- 

 sos, was that the Indians made a descent on Sjjanish settlements and 

 carried off thousands of women. That story was rejected. Before his 

 arrival in Nicaragua an American* filibuster and three Frenchmen had 

 tried the river. After ascending for several days they rounded a sharp 

 turn and came suddenly on an Indian who was standing on his raft 

 spearing fish. Apparently not at all disconcerted he picked up his bow 

 and drew an arrow to the head. Then for some reason dropped that arrow 

 and took another, but before he could shoot he was fired on and killed. 

 The white men not caring to encounter Indians of this resolute character 

 turned back. They described him as looking like a Comanche. 



The naturalist Belt saw five Guatuso children in Nicaragua who had 

 the common Indian features, though he thought they seemed unusually 

 intelligent. He believed the name of the tribe had nothing to do with 

 the color of their hair, but had been acquired as in other cases where 

 the name of an animal is borne.§ 



Mr. William M. Gabb, who has given the best account of the Costa 

 Eica Indians, 1 1 said he had seen several persons who had visited the 

 vaUey of the Eio Frio, but their stories were too wildly extravagant to 

 be entitled to repetition. General Guardin, President of Costa Eica, 



* Historical Magazine. Boston; vol.' IV, page 65. See also in Nouvelles Annales de 

 Voyage, 1856, torn. CLI, pp. 6-12. 



t Travels in Mexico, South America, &c., by G. T. Vigne. London, 1863 ; vol. I, 

 page 77. 



tA Bide Across a Continent, by Frederick Boyle. London, 1868; page sx of preface. 



$ The Naturalist in Nicaragua, by Thomas Belt. London, 1874 ; page 38. 



II American Philosophical Society Proceedings. Phila. ; vol. 14, page 483. 



