THE SAN BLAS PEOPLE 



conquistador who had journeyed across the 

 Isthmus, falling in by the way with a people 

 who had much gold. When I learned that 

 these people still existed in much the same 

 state as when those worthy senors passed 

 through; when I learned that the San Bias 

 coast, only eighty miles to the east, was still a 

 land unknown, even to the Panamanians who 

 own it, and a land over which they exercise no 

 control ; when I saw San Bias men with derby 

 hats and "middy blouses" and great golden 

 earrings sail their solid-mahogany cayucas into 

 Colon harbor; and when that story about the 

 San Bias women was told to me I simply had 

 to write. At that time, I had wanted to go, 

 look, see, but I could not. Now that I was 

 back again, equipped with a yachtlet and a 

 motion-picture outfit, I determined to verify 

 my local color. To hunt hostile Indians with 

 a camera promised entertainment and profit 

 hence this visit to Wilcox. 



"Jimmy Hyatt can fix it for you to take the 

 pictures, if anybody can," Mr. Wilcox con- 

 tinued. "He has opened up a manganese 

 mine at this end of the coast, and he is going 

 down there soon. The Indians tried to run 

 him out, but he stuck, and now he is friendly 

 8 107 



