PANAMA AND ITS PEOPLE—BELL. 635 
of their country and described coast tribes as follows: High cheek bones, short 
necks, set on high broad shoulders, though chest not deep; limbs small and 
well shaped and very muscular, with perfectly formed hands and feet. Their 
hair was long and black and neatly combed. Women wore necklaces of beads 
and nose rings. Noticed albinos among the Sasardis. Offenses against chastity 
punished severely. Indians of the interior much less civilized and he thought 
the number of them was large. Gisborne states that in 1852 the towns of 
Yavisa, Moleneca, and Chepigano were of considerable size, but were peopled, 
even then, by half-breeds entirely. He found it impossible to penetrate any 
great distance over the Rio Sabanna route where there was the densest vegeta- 
tion and where animal life abounded. 
SELFRIDGE, 1874. 
Admiral Selfridge, Lull and Collins, also other American naval officers, made 
extensive surveys in parts of Darien and in the Chepo district. Admiral 
Selfridge’s report contains many notes on the Indians, chiefly the Sasardi, 
_Sucubti, and Paya tribes. His force of men, well armed, was of sufficient size 
to minimize danger from the Indians, though the impression prevailed that a 
small force would have encountered active hostility. 
Recius, 1888. 
Reclus, a French engineer, who worked with the French naval officer, Lieu- 
tenant Wyse, gives some account of the flora and fauna of Darien in his book, 
with also much information of the Indian tribes, especially the Payas, whom 
he described as having a certain state of civilization with much cultivated 
area, tilled by the women. The men were great hunters, and in the forests and 
streams were abundant game and fish, but even at that date they were drunken 
and improvident in many ways. 
RESTREPO, 1892. 
In a prologue to Restrepo’s book, written by his father, he states that his 
son was sent into the interior of Darien by “ La Compania Minera del Darien,” 
and calls it a rich and forgotten country. Restrepo was well received by the 
chiefs he encountered, but did not visit the Atlantic coast areas himself, ap- 
parently. He relates many curious customs of the natives, one, especially, for 
which he could find no explanation; he observed among the Payas, who gave 
their children, when in fits of crying rage, chica, in which a shaving from the 
door sill had been placed. Restrepo says that the warriors of the Isthmus 
adorn their heads with leopards’ and tigers’ paws, also that they wore yellow 
and black plumed head pieces. He speaks of the cruelty of the ‘“ Guamos” 
tribe, possibly meaning Guaymies, who were far famed for this attribute, and 
in another place he says ‘“ Guanes” are considered a section of the Chibchas. 
He also observed that Isthmian Indians were distinguished from those of Co- 
lombia in the old days by the enormous size of their bows and arrows. The 
full account of Restrepo’s expedition is to be found in “ Repertorio Colom- 
biano, Bogota, Nos. 11 and 12,” under the title of ‘“‘ Un Viaje al Darien.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
1. AcosTA, JOAQUIN. Compendio historico del desecubrimiento y colonizacion 
de la Nueva Granada en el siglo decimo sexto. Paris, 1848. 
2. Restrepo, Ernesto. Estudios Sobre los aborigenes de Columbia. Bogota, 
1892. 
