260 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



As a guide, Dr. Engler secured for us the services of Teodor F. 

 Machazek, a longtime resident of the region and a surveyor well 

 acquainted with the section. Through the courtesy of Mr. G. D. 

 Munch, at that time superintendant of the Chiriqui Land Company, 

 we were the guests of the company, enjoying the facilities of their 

 spacious and comfortable guesthouse during our entire stay. We 

 owe a particular debt also to Rev. Robert W. Turner III, who gen- 

 erously gave us the use of his launch for our rather extensive survey. 

 This courtesy was essential to the success of the work since almost 

 aU travel in the region is by water. 



We are grateful to Mr. Edward G. Schumacher, artist for the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, for the line drawings in this report. 



Finally, we wish to thank Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Dunn, who ac- 

 companied us to Boca del Drago. They gave unstintingly of their 

 time and information collected regarding archeological sites during 

 a long residence in Central America while in the employ of the United 

 Fruit Co. 



HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 



Information concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of Almirante 

 Bay and the Chiriqui Lagoon is very meager. However, there can 

 be little doubt that the Indians occupying the region at the beginning 

 of the 16th century were the Guaymi, whose descendants stUl live in 

 the vicinity. 



Curiously enough, the most satisfactory descriptions are those of 

 the Columbus expedition of 1502. 



The interpreters abducted by Columbus at Puerto Lim6n, Costa 

 Rica, could speak the language of the natives as far south as the 

 Code del Norte River, an area which corresponds pretty well with 

 the hypothetical distribution of the Guaymi along this coast. Ferdi- 

 nand Columbus, who gives the most complete account, does not 

 describe the habitations of the natives encountered on Almirante Bay 

 and the Chiriqui Lagoon, but he states that somewhat farther to the 

 eastward they lived in single houses separated one from the other by 

 considerable distances. He also states that their permanent habita- 

 tions were not along the coast, but well up the rivers; an observation 

 confirmed by our archeological reconnaissance in the area. 



Oviedo, in describing the 1536 expedition of Felipe Gutierrez on the 

 north coast of Veraguas, relates that their villages normally consisted 

 of four or five large houses. This description would seem to correspond 

 with the archeological evidence at the Darkland site which we examined 

 on Almh'ante Bay. 



The scant archeological remains around Almirante Bay and the 

 Chiriqui Lagoon do not seem to bear out the rather considerable 



