1875. j 51 J [Gabb. 



to a stranger except when spoken to, and then letply in as few words as 

 l^ossible and with apparent baslifiilness. 



For ornaments, all wear necklaces. The favorite ones are made of 

 teeth, of which those of the tiger are most highly prized. Only the 

 canine teeth are used. Small strings are sometimes made of monkey, 

 coon, or other teeth, but are not much thought of. I have seen one of 

 these made of five strings of tiger teeth, gradually diminishing in size, and 

 covering the entire breast of the wearer. The women i-arely, almost never, 

 wear these. If they wear teeth, they are of some very small animal. In place 

 of them, they use great quantities of glass beads. I have seen fully three 

 pounds of beads around the neck of one old woman, and she was the envy 

 of all her friends and neighbors. Even little girls are often so loaded 

 down that the weight must ba irksome to them. Money is often worn by 

 the women. On one occasion I paid a man six dollars, all in Costa Rican 

 quarters, for his month's work. After a few days I went to his house 

 and saw the entire sum strung on his wife's neck. Shells are also some- 

 times, though rarely used. The men sometimes carry, suspended from 

 the necklace, the shell of a small species of murex, with the varices 

 ground off and a hole drilled in it to make a whistle. These are bought in 

 Terraba, and are highly prized. 



The men sometimes wear headdresses made of feathers. The most 

 highly prized are the white downy feathers from under the tail of the 

 large eagle. Others are made from chicken feathers, or are worked in 

 rows of blue, red, black, yellow, &c., from the plumage of small birds. I 

 have seen one head-dress made of the long hair from the tail of the great 

 ant-eater, in the place of feathers. The feathers are secured vertically to 

 a tape and extend laterally so as to reach from temple to temx^le, curling 

 over forward at the top, the tape being tied behind, so as to keep the hair 

 in place. 



Painting is somewhat in vogue, to assist in the adornment of the per- 

 son, but is not confined to either sex. The commonest manner is to color 

 each cheek with a square or ijarallelogram, about an inch across, either 

 solid or made up of bars. This is done with the dark reddish-brown sap 

 of a certain vine, and the pattern resists wear and tear, and water for a 

 week or more. Anatto is also used, but more rarely, and is applied in 

 bars or stripes to the face, according to the skill or taste of the artist. 

 Besides, a hideous indigo-blue stain from a fruit, is sometimes smeared 

 on the face or body, but even savage taste does not seem to approve of 

 this, since it is very unusual. 



Formerly the Tiribis tattooed small patterns on their faces or arms ; hut 

 the younger people have not kept up the custom, and the Bri-bris and 

 Cabecars say they never did it. The chiefs on great occasions wear gold 

 ornaments, similar to those now found in the Ruacas, or graves of Chiri- 

 qui. Whether these have been recovered from some of these graves, or 

 whether they have been handed down from time immemorial is not 

 known. There are but four or five in the tribe, and two of these belong 



