THE SAN BLAS PEOPLE 



A great trouble had come upon the San 

 Bias people, so the chief informed us. From 

 Colon had come rumors which made them 

 fear the government was about to deprive 

 them of their land, the land which their 

 fathers and their fathers' fathers had culti- 

 vated from that day when the three wise men 

 met the stranger who told them how to build 

 a canoe that would sail against the wind. 

 They were a peaceful people ; all they wanted 

 was to be left alone. Surely the world was 

 big enough to hold the white man; surely 

 there were other lands than these. He was 

 sorely distressed, was the chief, seeing much 

 trouble ahead if intruders came. Some of 

 the other chiefs had gone to interview the 

 President, in Panama City, but had returned 

 to say that the President could not, or would 

 not, help them. The chief of Cardi wished 

 our advice, and we gave it to him. We told 

 him that the white man has a way of over- 

 running the earth, but that he has laws as 

 strict and stricter than the San Bias laws, and 

 that these laws would protect the Indian as 

 well as the white man if he took advantage 

 of them. 



"Get a paper from the government," we 

 137 



