MUSIC OF THE TULE INDIANS OF PANAMA 



By FRANCES DENS^IORE 



(With Five Plates) 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Introduction i 



Tule music and musicians i 



Vocal music 4 



Instrumental music 7 



Treatment of the sick ii 



Wedding customs 20 



Turtle catching 26 



Miscellaneous songs 29 



Notes on Tule customs 35 



INTRODUCTION 



A remarkable opportunity for the study of primitive music was 

 recently afforded by the presence of eight Tule Indians in Washing- 

 ton. These Indians were from the Isthmus of Darien in Panama 

 and were brought to the United States by i\Ir. R. O. Marsh. The 

 five adults in the group were of normal Indian color and the three 

 children were fair, being examples of the " white Indians," whose 

 occurrence among the Tule has caused the tribe to be known by 

 that name. The Tule live on islands near the coast of the Caribbean 

 Sea from San Bias Point to Armila, a distance of 120 miles. They 

 also hold the San Bias Range of mountains on the mainland. 



This study was done entirely with the adult members of the group 

 during portions of November and December, 1924, and was made 

 possible by the courtesy of Mr. Marsh. The work was under 

 the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



TULE MUSIC AND MUSICIANS 



The most important persons in a Tule village are the chief, the 

 doctors, and the " official musicians." A chief may be also a doctor 

 but the musicians seldom act in other than their own capacity. 

 Each village has four such musicians, two of whom are known as 

 the " chief musicians," and the other two as " assistant musicians." 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 77, No. 11 



