Pittier: A Change in Sex-Ratio 
409 
Males and females to each 1,000 of population, 
Tirub 
Brbrig ko Ski eae 
Males. Females. 
eee 202 326 
Children 348 124 
|General 550 450 
{Adults 288 369 
;Children 206 137 
|General 494 506 
Tribe or part of tribe. 
Females to each 100 males. 
Males to each 100 females. 
Adults. 
PET UL ree ee athe Sea eanete ieee 161 
Bribri (Mountain)................. 128 
Bribrit (Plain) pe no pci) fess 129 
Bribri (General). .55.0.2.45.85 6 3 4- | 128 
Children. Adults. Children. 
36 62 262 
78 78 128 
52 78 191 
67 78 150 
The known history of the Tirub shows 
that during the seventeenth century, 
they constituted a powerful nation, 
which extended its sway over all the 
neighboring tribes. They made frequent 
raids on these, plundering, killing the 
men, carrying away women and children. 
The fact that at that time and as long 
as they were able to maintain their 
supremacy, they were essentially exoga- 
mous, and also polygamous, should 
perhaps not be overlooked when study- 
ing the probable causes of their decad- 
ence. The existence at one time of 
both conditions is proved not only by» 
repeated documentary mention of the 
abduction of females of all ages, but 
also by tradition and actual occurrence. 
The Térraba Indians still speak of a 
time when each man was allowed 
several wives, and also of the punish- 
ment inflicted by the friars when the 
monogamic rule imposed by them was 
infringed. On the other hand, during 
my residence in Térraba, one of the 
former Tirub colonies in the Diquis 
Valley, I became acquainted with several 
natives who had taken their wives from 
among the Bribri and Cabécara of the 
northernslope. Asked about the reason 
why they had gone so far to find their 
matrimonial mates, one of these men 
tried to explain that such wives were 
more ‘‘recatadas,”’ 7.e., modest or shy, 
than those of his own surroundings, 
but others referred to the fact that such 
was the practice among their forebears 
and that this was encouraged by the 
missionaries. 
Notwithstanding all the evidences of 
the practice of exogamy before the 
advent of the Spaniards, I must not 
omit to mention that there are also 
vague indications of the tribe having 
been at one time organized in two clans 
between which marriages took place 
exclusively, as will be explained in 
connection with the Bribri. 
The decadence of the Tirub started 
with their subjection by the Spaniards 
at the beginning of the eighteenth 
century. The persuasion of the mis- 
sionaries and the fear of a bloody re- 
pression put an end to the inroads on 
their neighbors and to the practice of 
exogamy. A considerable part of the 
tribe was led away to the several colonies 
founded by the friars in other parts of 
the country and no small number were 
driven to the Spanish settlements to 
become the slaves of their conquerors. 
Worse still, smallpox, pulmonary and 
catarrhal infections, almost always fatal 
among them, and other imported dis- 
eases took a heavy toll among the once 
strong and warlike nation. 
Heretofore, they had roamed freely 
over mountains and vales, spending the 
dry season fishing and hunting in the 
extensive plains along the coast and 
retiring with the accumulated pro- 
visions for the rainy winters in the 
sheltered fastnesses of their hinterland. 
In the plains were also their extensive 
plantations, built up for each family by 
the common work of the community 
with the accompaniment of eating and 
drinking revelries, as is still the custom 
