iioLMES.J I.ITEKATUKE ANI> PEOPLE. 15 



series of interviews with him, and by this means much important in- 

 formation has been obtained. 



At the present time tliis district is inhabited chiefly T)y Indians and 

 natives of mixed blood, who follow grazing and agriculture to a lim- 

 ited extent, but subsist largely upon the natural products of the 

 country. These peoples are generally thought to have no knowledge 

 av trustworthy tradition of the ancient inhabitants and are said to 

 care nothing for the curious cemeteries among which they dwell, ex- 

 cept as a source of revenue. Mr. A. L. Pinart states, however, that 

 certain tribes on both sides of the continental divide have traditions 

 pointing toward the ancient grave builders as their ancestors. There 

 is jjrobably no valid reason for assigiiiiii;- tlic icniains of this region 

 to a very high antiquity. The highest stage of culture here may 

 have been either earlier or later than the period of highest civiliza- 

 tion in Mexico and South America or contemporaneous M-ith it. Tliere 

 is really no reason for supposing tliat tlie tribes ■(T-ho built these graves 

 were not in possessi.in ol' tlir rMimtry. <ir jKirtsof it. ;it the tinir i.f the 

 conquest. As to the afliiiith's .if tlic ancient nii.hlle istliniian tribes 

 with the peoples north and south of them we can learn nothing posi- 

 tive from the evidences of their art. So far as the art of pottery has 

 come within my observation, it appears to indicate a somewhat closer 

 relationship Avith the ancient Costa Rican pi '(.jih/s than with thd^^ df 

 continental South America; yet. in their burial customs, ui the hick 

 of enduring houses and temples, and in their use of gold, they were 

 like the ancient peoples of middle and southern New Granada.' 



The relics preserved in our museums would seem to indicate one 

 principal period of occupation or culture only; Imt thcn^ has been no 

 intelligent study of the contents of the soil in sections exposed in 

 modern excavations, the exclusive aim of collectors having generally 

 been to secure either gold or showy cabinet specimens. The relics 

 of very primitive periods, if such are represented, have naturally 

 l)assed unnoticed. Mr. McNiel mentions the occurrence of pottery in 

 the soil in which the graves were dug, but. regarding it as identical 

 with that contained in the graves, he neglected to preserve specimens. 



In one instance, while on a visit to Los Remedios, a pueblo near 

 the eastern frontier of Chiriqui, he observed a cultivated field about 

 which a ditch some 8 or 9 feet in depth had been dug. In walk- 

 ing through this he found a continuous exposure of broken pottery 

 and stone implements. Some large urns had been cut across ov 

 broken to conform to the slojDe of the ditch, and were exposed in 

 section. 



I R. B. White: Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland, p. 241. February. 



1884. 



