491 



[Gabb. 



dividual iiffair, and looked on with great disfavor by the tribe. Matters 

 ■went on very wtllfor a few months nuder the new regime. But Birche, a 

 man of little capacitj^, at the sam3 time a coward and a tyrant, could not 

 be content with his position. He began a system of ill treatment against 

 which the people grumbled, but which they feared to resent. At first 

 both Lyon and myself tried to quiet the complaints, believing that pun- 

 ishment had been justly inflicted, and knowing that 



" No man e'er felt the halter draw 

 With just opinion of the law, 

 Or held with judgment orthodox 

 His love of justice in the stocks." 



But it soon became apparent that his majesty (they are always calhd 

 king) was abusing his power. The Indians dared not quarrel with 

 Birche, for fear of offending the government, but came to Lyon almost 

 daily with complaints. At last we decided to effect a change. Birche 

 went to Limon to draw his salary, and at the same time to comijlain of a 

 purely personal quarrel with Willie, in which he had fared worst. I ar- 

 rived there a few days later, having completed my exploration, and being 

 on my way to the Capital. On being asked for information and advice by 

 the Commandante, I told the story and urged his removal. This could 

 only be done by the minister, but he was suspended until the decision of 

 that officer could be obtained. In a few days I saw Mr. Herrera, and 

 after a conversation he decided to endorse the Commandante's action. 

 Birche was accordingly removed, Willie was given a nominal chieftain- 

 ship, and Lyon instructed to assume all responsibilities. Taus in less 

 than two years the people have, without knowing how it happened, been 

 deprived of their hereditary chiefs, and a foreigner placed over them. 

 Willie remains with the empty title of chief without even the power to 

 issue an order or punish an offender, except when ordered by Lyon. This 

 gentleman has their entire confidence and I'espect, and many of the In- 

 dians begged to have even the title taken away permanently from the 

 "royal" family. I have been thus prolix on this branch of the subject, 

 because I was an eye witness, a participator, in the latter part of the 

 events I relate. Trivial as they are, they may interest some, throwing 

 light on the manner in which one tribe after another is subdue 1. 



A strange fatality seems to hang over these Isthmian Indians. Even 

 when not brought iuto contact with the debasing influences of civilizition, 

 the tribes are visibly diminishing. Less than two centuries ago, the 

 population of Talamanca, as Costa Rica calls her southeastern province, 

 was counted by thousands, now barely 1200 souls can be found. The 

 Shelaba tribe is extinct ; the Changinas are at the point of extermination, 

 the Tiribis number but one hundred and three souls, and Lyon tells me 

 that the Cabecars of the Coen have diminished fully one-half within the 

 last seventeen years, while the decrease in the Bri-bris is hardly less 

 rapid. 



During my travels in Talamanca I collected in each district an accurate 

 A. p. S. — VOL. XIV. 3l 



