NO. II MUSIC OF TULE INDIANS OF PANAMA DENSMORE 3/ 



the cocoanut trees being- most valuable. Fruit is sold to sailing ves- 

 sels that come from Panama, varying in size from little boats v^^ith 

 one mast and' two jibs to sloops and schooners. Payment is some- 

 times made in money but usually in cloth and commodities which 

 are of very inferior quality. These boats afford the only communi- 

 cation between the Tule and the outer world. There are no stores 

 in the region except a very few small stores kept by Indians or 

 Spaniards. Bananas bring only the equivalent of five or ten cents a 

 bunch and the people do not consider it worth while to sell them. 

 Cocoanuts bring the equivalent of about $12.50 per thousand. The 

 cocoanut trees in the jungle are too old to bear and it is necessary 

 for a man to clear the land and plant young trees. The men are in- 

 dustrious and are usually at work on the farms at six in the morn- 

 ing. In the busy season they work from three in the morning until 

 about five in the afternoon. 



OFFICE OF THE CHIEF 



The ofiice of chief is held for life and is not hereditary, though 

 the son of a chief may be elected in his father's place if he has the 

 requisite ability. After a chief dies, the people meet and discuss 

 a possible successor but a vote is not taken until the opinion is unani- 

 mous. Then someone says (in effect) " So-and-so is a good man, 

 let us make him chief," and all the people give their assent. It is said 

 that a dissenting vote has never been knowni. 



One of the duties of a chief is the instruction of the people in 

 ethics. It was said, " The chief holds a meeting almost every night 

 and talks. Him tell people must not quarrel nor say bad words. 

 God say people must not do such things." If they do not have a 

 good crop the chief says, " It is because you have been telling lies 

 and talking badly. You cannot have good crops if you do such 

 things." He also exhorts the people to work hard in the fields. 



Inquiry was made as to certain Tule beliefs and the reply was 

 that good people, after death, "go up in the sky, walk among gold 

 and silver flowers and along golden streets." The inquiry was then 

 discontinued. At a subsequent time the writer asked whether the 

 Tule have any belief concerning a bridge that is crossed by the 

 spirits and Igwa replied without hesitation that the spirit makes the 

 bridge himself. He said the spirit, after death, comes to a big lake, 

 he tosses a string into the air and it falls on the opposite shore of 

 the lake, becoming a bridge which he crosses. Igwa said further that 

 a man, after death, goes under the ground and there sees golden 



