PANAMA AND ITS PEOPLE—BELL. 629 
range and are the means by which much of the information of the 
race in general has been obtained. These queer yellow-brown people, 
resembling the Eskimo, should be classed as semicivilized, who, though 
retaining all their exclusive prejudices against the white man, have 
had their customs somewhat modified by their occasional contact with 
civilization. This is seen chiefly in the dress of the men, which no 
longer consists of garments made from home-grown cotton-wool and 
dyed blue with a vegetable stain, as the San Blas natives now wear, 
but, on their voyages at least, of felt hats and cotton cloth of English 
manufacture. They are wonderful sailors, and it is a remarkable 
sight indeed to see them in the early morning, before the rest of the 
world is awake, dashing into the harbor of Colon, managing their 
heavily-laden canoes or dugouts* through the surf with marvelous 
skill. A few hours after sunrise finds the San Blas men usually 
starting for home many miles down the coast to their little villages 
lining the shores of the Gulf of San Blas or dotting its coral islands. 
Here they live in entire independence and seclusion, fearing only 
the “braves” of the interior, who occasionally descend upon them. 
A few white men have from time to time sailed down their coasts. 
While the stranger is received in a friendly way when he first seeks 
permission of the chief to land, the white man is never allowed to 
remain ashore at night in any of their villages. At the time of the 
building of the railroad, American engineers sailed to San Blas and 
sought permission of the cacique to survey his country, but, being met 
with a blank refusal, were compelled to return to Colon. An inborn 
dread of strangers possesses these people, inherited, doubtless, from 
their ancestors, who suffered so cruelly from the Conquistadores, and, 
while nominally a part of the Republic, they are as independent, in 
fact, as on the day their country was first discovered. The San Blas 
people live largely on sea food and iguanas, caiman’s eggs, and 
monkeys, when obtainable, though they plant a little cassava, yucca, 
etc. They excel in the art of snaring the tortoise, taking the shell 
to the market of Colon. Their fishing nets are made from silk grass 
and mahoe bark, from which they used to make all their ropes and 
cords after stripping and beating it till soft enough to twist. The 
canoes are solid trunks of mahogany or cedar trees, and tiny ones are 
given the little children as soon as they can walk, which results in 
making these Indians literally as much at home on the water as on 
the land. At the approach of a stranger among them the women 
are hidden away immediately and never seen except when coming 
upon them unawares, and to actually obtain a photograph of any of 
them is a rare feat indeed. The San Blas men swear an oath over 
their father’s body to kill their women should their land be taken 
“ 
@The native word is “ ulo,”’ 
