614 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
being Yavisa, Chepigana, Pinogana, Real, and Molineca. Beside the 
Cana mine, there is gold found at the present time in the waters of 
two tributaries of the Tuyra, the Balsas, and the Marea (19), and an 
old mine was recently located by an American on a supposed Co- 
lombia trail between the sources of the Tuquesa and the Ucurganti, 
tributaries rising eastward of the Chucunaque. There is no record 
that the upper Chucunaque has been explored farther than this since 
Admiral Selfridge’s party reached the Sucubti in 1870, going in 
from the coast at Caledonia Bay. Reclus surveyed (1878) the lower 
tributaries of the Chucunaque, the Tupisa, etc., and with the other 
French engineers, Wyse and Sosa, ascended many of the navigable 
streams tributary to the Tuyra, such as the Paya and Cue, and 
from where descent into the valley of the Atrato can be made. 
Much work was also done in this section by La Charme, De Puydt, 
and Hellert. The Atlantic coast line of the department of Panama 
is the home of scattered Indians, who would, undoubtedly, still 
actively resent any invasions of their territory as they have always 
- done in the past. From Careta and Caledonia bays several attempts 
have been made to cross Darien, but the parties never penetrated 
very far into the interior, as the Indians absolutely refused to prop- 
erly guide them over trails and passes, though usually making a 
show of friendship to the white men when they were in any num- 
bers. During the early part of the eighteenth century the Scotch 
attempted to found a colony at Port Escoces, the tragic misfortunes 
of which are quaintly related by the Rev. Francis Borland (21). As 
early as 1719 Jesuit missionaries had penetrated into the heart of 
Darien only to be massacred by the Indians. This hostility con- 
tinued until 1740, when a peace was made, and priests were again 
sent out; those to the region about the north coast, by order of 
the viceroy, Don Sebastian de Eslava, and those to the south coast 
were sent from Panama. This resulted in the founding of the towns 
already mentioned in the Tuyra Valley. In 1784 there was a com- 
plete chain of forts across Darien that were well garrisoned, but 
by 1790 they were abandoned and Darien remains to a great extent 
the undisturbed domain of the Indian. But one of these forts is 
standing, that at Yavisa, which is in a ruined condition. Another 
was formerly to be seen at Viejo Real (a strategic point on an island 
in the Tuyra), but within the last fifty years or so all trace has 
been lost in the dense growth of vegetation covering it. In 1852 an 
abortive attempt was made by an English engineer, Gisborne, to 
penetrate Darien, who relied much on information obtained from 
Doctor Cullen, which he, and later also Admiral Selfridge, however, 
found to be untrustworthy. 
