LITTLE-KNOWN PARTS OF PANAMA 



657 



For every-day wear, the apparel of 

 the Cuna women consists of a short 

 skirt, red or blue, extending from the 

 hips to the knees. The upper part of 

 the body is covered with a kind of loose 

 blouse, the sleeves of which do not 

 reach the elbow. Over these two gar- 

 ments there comes a second skirt, reach- 

 ing from the waist to the ankles. 



Of course, with reference to skirts, it 

 must be understood that the word is used 

 only for convenience sake, not meaning 

 the rather complicated piece of civilized 

 woman's raiment, but a single seamless 

 piece of calico, not over four yards long, 

 and rolled around the body. 



The necks of the women are loaded 

 with necklaces made of red, white, or 

 blue beads, to which are added old Co- 

 lombian silver coins. They also wear, 

 occasionally, in their ears gold rings or 

 disks, these latter like those of the men, 

 and in their noses always another ring 

 of the same metal, which is seen even on 

 suckling baby girls, and is never re- 

 moved at death (see page 648), 



At Armila an opportunity offered it- 

 self to study the gala wearing apparel 

 of the chieftain's wife, who was evi- 

 dently the village belle. She had on 

 some sort of short "sheath skirt" of 

 white materials, and a long coat made of 

 the applique work which is a peculiar 

 product of the Cuna-Cuna handicraft. 

 Her head was covered with a bright 

 bandana handkerchief. 



Besides her ear-disk and nose-ring, 

 she wore on each arm a broad cuff at 

 the wrist and a narrower band at the 

 elbow ; her legs were incased each in 

 three tight bands, bound together by 

 three vertical strings. Through the 

 broad intervals the muscles were bulg- 

 ing abnormally, showing that the bands 

 had been placed long ago and never re- 

 moved. All these latter ornaments were 

 made of white beads sown closely to- 

 gether on a piece of strong canvas. 



There seems to be much variation as 

 to the size of the Cuna houses, but they 

 all have the naked beaten ground as floor 

 and a high gable roof. 



The two islands at Nargana are liter- 

 ally covered with large dwellings, about 

 150 feet long by 50 feet broad, the long 



ridge of the palm-covered roof being 30 

 to 40 feet from the ground (see photo, 

 page 650). Directly under this ridge 

 there is a large alley, running between 

 two ranges of high pillars, which sup- 

 port the middle part of the structure. 

 On each side other upright posts divide 

 the space into square compartments, 

 each of which is occupied apparently by 

 a separate family. There are only two 

 low doors at each end of the building, 

 and the side walls are made of sticks 

 tied together, as are all parts of the 

 building, with mountain vines. 



These houses are packed so close to- 

 gether that there is no space left be- 

 tween them. Each shelters from 16 to 

 20 families, the exact parental relations 

 of which would be an interesting demo- 

 graphic study. 



THE CHOCOES 



"Les pcuples lieurenx n'ont pos d'his- 

 toire!" While the history of the Cuna- 

 Cuna could be written, at least for the 

 post-Columbian period, by putting to- 

 gether the brief accounts of the Spanish 

 chroniclers, the quaint narratives of old 

 writers like Wafer and Dampier, and 

 oral tradition still current among the 

 people of the tribe, we know almost 

 nothing of the Chocoes They are sel- 

 dom referred to in ancient records, and 

 in modern times they have been visited 

 by only one or two travelers, who have 

 gathered but scant information. Our 

 own visit among them was a short one, 

 limited to the lower and middle part of 

 the Sambu Valley, in the Panamanian 

 section of southern Darien. 



Never in our 25 years of tropical ex- 

 perience have we met with such a sun- 

 loving, bright and trusting people, living 

 nearest to nature and ignoring the most 

 elementary wiles of so-called civiliza- 

 tion. They are several hundred in num- 

 ber and their dwellings are scattered 

 along the meandrous Sambu and its 

 main reaches, always at short distance, 

 but never near enough to each other to 

 form real villages. Like their houses, 

 their small plantations are close to the 

 river, but mostly far enough to escape 

 the eye of the casual passer-by. 



