1875.] OX± [Gabb. 



it be perhaps, to help gather and to help carry home the corn. All the 

 serving is done by the men, even of the little shirts or jackets worn by 

 the women. In carrying loads, the women rival the men in power and 

 endurance. It is nothing uncommon to see a woman, with a big load on 

 her back, and her year old baby seated on top, with his little legs dang- 

 ling over the front edge of the load. Tiie little monkeys ride securely 

 there through the bush and dodge the overhanging vines and branches as 

 expertly as could be done by an old horseman. When Avorking for each 

 other the people use their own machetes and axes, as a matter of course ; 

 but when hired by a foreigner, they invariably expect to be furnished with 

 tools by their employer. 



Domestic industry is at the very lowest ebb. Manufactures can hardly 

 be said to exist. The only articles made, beyond furniture, arms &c., are 

 hammocks, net bags, cotton cloth, and pottery. All of these are coarse 

 and inferior in quality. None of the skill exhibited by the Guatemalan 

 Indians exists here. The hammocks are made of a coarse twine, derived 

 from the leaves of a species of agave, and are loosely woven in a frame? 

 with a needle. They are hardly long enough for an ordinary person to 

 lie at length in them with comfort, and are used more for seats than for 

 sleeping. They are swung between the posts of the house, near the door, 

 and at a height of from a foot to a foot and a half from the floor. Every- 

 thing is carried in net bags. They are made with a needle of bone and 

 "meshed " like our fish nets. Pome of them are very fine and they are 

 of all sizes, from three inches to two feet deep. They are suspended by 

 a string made of the same material, usually an inch wide and woven 

 openly, in the same manner as the hammocks. The material of the finer 

 and ordinary bags is the fibre of a species of aloe, or agave, much finer 

 than that used for hammocks, and naturally nearly white. It is usually 

 dyed of various colors to suit the fancy of the maker. The colors are 

 obtained from several of the native plants and are very durable. A 

 coarser kind is made of the same fibre as the hammocks. These are made 

 with larger meshes, and are used to carry plantains, corn &c., from the 

 field to the house. 



The people of Tiribi procure all their bags from the Bri-bris, and I 

 believe, their hammocks also. The Valientes, living beyond the Tiribis, 

 in the adjoining parts of the District of Chiriqui, make similar bags, but 

 much finer and more elaborately wrought. The colors in the Bri-bi'i nets 

 are always arranged in simple bands, Avhile the patterns of the Yaliente 

 nets are often complicated and exhibit considerable taste. 



Belts, breech-cloths, cloths for wrapping the bones of the dead, and 

 women's petticoats are woven of cotton. The cotton is raised with no 

 care beyond planting a feAV seeds and allowing the plants to take care of 

 themselves. They grow to the height of ten or twelve feet, and almost 

 every house has a few in its vicinity. The yellow flowers, buds, and open 

 bolls are seen all the year round, together on every tree. The women 

 collect the ripe cotton, pick it from the seeds with their fingers and spin 



