JUNE 28, 1912] 
for a safe return and that they might find the 
members of their family alive and well, and the 
fulfillment of the vow was required whether the 
prayer was granted or denied. 
The paper was illustrated by songs of the sun 
dance which had been recorded by the phonograph 
and were played on the piano. Many of these were 
ceremonial songs and known only to the man who 
sang them for the speaker. One of these men has 
died since the songs were recorded. A collection 
of old ceremonial articles used in the sun dance 
was also exhibited. 
THE 460th regular meeting of the society was 
held April 10 at 4:45 P.M. in the new National 
Museum. The speaker of the afternoon was Pro- 
fessor Pittier, who delivered an address on ‘‘ Notes 
on the Native Tribes of Panama,’’ with all of 
whom he came in contact in the course of his 
travels. ; 
There is much confusion current as to the num- 
ber of the so-called tribes and the stocks to which 
they are related. The numerous names recorded 
correspond in fact not to distinct tribes, but 
merely to villages, names of chieftains, or, in a 
general way, to what the old Spanish chroniclers 
used to design as ‘‘parcialidades.’” 
In the present time there are east of the Canal 
Zone only two distinct ‘‘nations,’’ viz., the Cunas, 
or Cuna-Cuna, to which the San Blas Indians 
belong, and the Chocoes to the south, beyond the 
Tuyra River. The line that separates these two 
stocks is at the same time the ethnological boun- 
dary between South and Central America. 
The Cunas are a very numerous and strong race, 
almost uniformly of short stature and broad 
shoulders. They are very jealous of their inde- 
pendence and shun all interference on the part of 
strangers, including the Panamanian government, 
the authority of which over them is only nominal. 
The Cunas of the northern coast, east of Nombre 
de Dios, or San Blas Indians, are far above the 
other Panamanian aborigines in their social and 
economic development; they constitute one of the 
best elements of the population included in the 
territory of the young republic, being thrifty and 
enterprising and having made of their extensive 
cocoanut palm plantations a real source of wealth. 
The remaining Cunas, known as Bayanos, Chu- 
cunacas and Payas, live in the interior and are 
less advanced, the two former groups being ac- 
kmowledged as real ‘‘Indios bravos.’’ All speak 
one language, with slight local variations, 
SCIENCE 
1€03 
The Panamanian Chocoes are but the northern- 
most branch of a numerous stock which extends 
more or less continuously along the Pacific coast of 
South America, from Punta Grachine in Darien, 
to the Ecuadorian boundary. In the Samba Val- 
ley, where Professor Pittier found them, they are 
a happy lot, usually tall and well built, scantily 
clothed and living quite near to nature. 
West of the Canal Zone, in the mountains of 
Veraguas and eastern Chiriqui, live the polygamous 
Guaymies, once under the care of the Spanish 
missionaries, but who have long since gone back to 
their own independent life and customs. They do 
not, however, avoid or repel the contact with the 
other natives, and owing to the rapid expansion of 
the neighboring populations, so-called civilized, the 
Guaymies are doomed to soon lose their charac- 
teristics and individuality as a race. Certain eth- 
nological traits, as well as their physical appear- 
ance, point to a relationship with Costa Rican 
tribes. 
In consequence of what Professor’ Pittier calls 
a ‘‘caprice of arbitration,’’? the Republic of 
Panama has acquired the northern branch of the 
Térrabas or Tirtb of Costa Rica. These dwell in 
small and rapidly dwindling numbers at the head- 
waters of the Teraria or Tilorio, the main branch 
of the Changuinola River. They have been investi- 
gated by Pittier in the course of his survey of 
Costa Rica. 
These four are the tribes represented to-day in 
Panama. The Dorasques, supposed by some to 
descend from the great Chiriqui pottery makers, 
seem to have disappeared, unless the Brunka of 
Costa Rica are really what is left of them. 
With reference to the possible affinities of the 
Panamanian tribes with the neighboring stocks, 
the speaker took absolute exception to the theory 
of the Chibchan relationship, which he was one 
of the first to advocate about twenty years ago and 
which has since received general acceptation under 
the authority of Brinton, Deniker and others. The 
pretended relationship is founded merely on lin- 
guistie analogies and on the apparently common 
origin of quite a number of words. But these 
facts can be taken as conclusive only if supported 
by anthropological common characteristics and 
also by partial community of uses and customs. 
Physically, the Cunas are strikingly distinct from 
the Guaymies and the Costa Rigan Indians, and 
both stocks offer none but general racial likeness 
with what is left of the original Chibchas. 
