March a?, igiKi.\ 
Forest and stream 
& 4 a 
"After the Sukias are the Becockaras, who watch over 
the food, the fields and the cattle; with them all people 
consult and find wisdom for their planting, their hunt- 
ing, their going away, and their coming again. 
"Apart from all are the Singers, who commune with 
the dead, and watch over those who have been taken 
from us. When a man dies he is gone, and wants no 
more of the things which were here; and, as he wants 
them not, we in due time make a feast, eating and drink- 
ing. We do not give what he had to his sons and his 
women; in the woods there is plenty, and the fields yield 
enough; if they work they have no want of things which 
belonged to the dead. Let them work and take from 
the earth that which is fresh and good for their lives; 
but if they care not to work they arc not worthy to have. 
The people who rule tell us this is wrong; we do not 
hold it a wrong. 
"When one is dead those who are appointed to handle 
the body take it away to the woods; there, bound 
securely with cloth and with leaves, and placed in a house 
made of poles, the body remains for a year, till the sun 
rises again on the day of that life's departure; and if the 
bones are found cleaned by the wind and the rain, it is 
well; the body is freed from the flesh and can then be 
taken high in the mountains to be buried in the great 
vaults which were made in days so lbng gone past that 
none remember their making, only we know that there 
all are gathered together; but before the bones are taken 
away we dance and rejoice because now they are sate, 
and' this we do dancing, drinking and eating till all that 
belonged to the dead is consumed. Then the family take 
up the bones and go by themselves to the safe place high 
in the mountains, and when they have laid the dead in th p . 
y 
the men standing near: "Get the things for him, that, 
knowing all, he may even dance for himself if he will." 
Agreements were quickly made, and I was promised 
that in a few days the collection would be completed. 
Then the King brought out the regalia and let me take 
the things in my hand. The staff of office was of very 
hard wood, a bird's head carved at the top, the throat 
hollow and containing a ball with which a clear, rattling 
sound could be made. The crown was of feathers, a 
circle of white plumes from the eagle, with long red 
and blue tail feathers from the mackaw standing erect at 
the front, while around the base of the crown were 
iridescent feathers.' green, red, blue and yellow, cleverly 
blended together. Around his neck were hung seven 
golden eagles, identical in form with others found among 
the most ancient graves in Costa Rica. He had also a 
string of shell beads like those found in old graves, and 
called pre-Colombian. 
When I had seen the regalia, the King said he was 
obliged to leave me alone for a time, because some 
Indians had called him. 
I went to the hut where I was to live, thinking of all 
I had seen and wondering by what means more could be 
learned. I was commissioned to make a collection, and 
the idea took my fancy that the model of a dead Indian, 
and a second model of the bones prepared for the dance 
and final interment would be specimens well worth the 
effort. To prepare the model I had only some string and 
my knife, but in the tropics nature is lavish, and with the 
aid of some of the younger Indians, who appeared im- 
mensely amused at what I proposed, material was found 
in abundance. A young Indian willingly stood for a 
model, and after taking measurements carefully, I began 
obey. A cloth was brought and the mimic skull care- 
fully taken, the collar bones were thrust into the open- 
ing to hold it in place, the ribs were forced through the 
sections representing the spine, and all were laid on the 
cloth, the skull at the top; then at either side they placed 
the bones of the arms, the bits of wood representing the 
fingers and hands were placed in little piles at the base 
of the arms; the thigh bones were placed where the 
stomach would be, the legs were put in position, at the 
end of each were placed the bits of wood which repre- 
sented the bones of the feet; then the cloth was folded 
over, and the compact little package bound tightly with 
cords; leaves were brought from the forest, and the final 
binding was being put on when a tumult of wailing and 
outcry came from the women; something was shouted 
in a horrified voice, which was immediately taken tip by- 
all of the people. The men started back and looking at 
me with terror refused to proceed with the work. I was 
determined to make them, and would not allow them to 
go out of the house. Perhaps they feared me more than 
my model; at any rate, after a moment, they turned again 
to their work, and with faces perspiring and hands that 
were trembling they finished it all. I ordered them then 
to prepare a support and place the model on it as if it 
were there for a dance; this they did while the women 
shouted denunciations and cried out in fear. When all 
had been finished, two bits of wood, one hard and one 
soft, in which a fire had been kindled by friction, were 
placed under the leaves surrounding the package of 
bones, and the dead was provided with fire. A ham- 
mock was brought in which the remains could be carried; 
that was all, and then my collection was finished. The 
men hurried away, saying that never would they again 
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vault which is theirs, for each family has one, they leave 
a few things that the dead may not be in want, or be sent 
away empty handed; not that we think the things will be 
needed, but only because it has been so always; then the 
family come home again to the lowlands. 
"The dances you saw were in farewell and rejoicing, 
because those departed were safe. The first dance was 
held for a woman. You saw it. She had served the men 
well and they danced for her who had left them. The 
second dance was for a man, and his companions danced 
in his memory; you saw the singers in farewell, as at 
first, but with others joining to aid and remember. The 
young men about the singers represented the struggles 
of the life which had been and which for them would still 
be. Behind those who sang were three bearing a staff, 
and on the staff was a snake of the lowlands, a type of 
the evil which the dead were now leaving behind them 
forever; and before those who danced and sang in fare- 
well was one bearing a feather from a bird of the moun- 
tains; and dancing he was a spirit, a bird leading and 
calling on to the mountains where the dead were to rest 
and would be safe forever. 
"The last dance was for a child only; the farewell was 
the same, but the women to whom is confided the care of 
the children danced round about hand-in-hand in token of 
life and its struggles ; but not in order, they danced in and 
out among those who sang, for the child's life had been 
broken, and so was their dance. 
"This is all; it is little; only farewell to the dead. Not 
that they need it, but only that it has been so always; it 
is our custom and it is nothing more." 
Then Antonio, the King, stopped talking. Beyond the 
deep shade of his cave-like house was the intense burn- 
ing heat of the tropics; a shimmering of light over the 
green of the jungles; a wavering of intense heat over 
the grass in the clearing in front of his houses. Quietly 
the cattle and horses were feeding; scarce a breath stirred. 
Antonio the King looked over the scene a long time in 
silence, and then said, as if thinking aloud: "For the 
white men the cities, plantations, the ships; for the In- 
dians only the forests. Why will they not leave us our 
own?" 
There was much that I wanted to know beside what 
had been told, and I asked the King how the dead were 
finally buried, to which he replied: ''There is little cere- 
mony; the package of bones is placed in a hammock 
and carried to the burying ground in the mountains; the 
top of the vault is removed, and the dead laid away with 
those who had gone before them; the vault is covered, 
again, and by its side we leave a stool to sit on, a clay 
jar for chicha, a cup for drinking, a gourd, and for each 
man a bow, arrows, hunting bag and his walking staff; 
for each woman a basket. We do not think the dead 
need these things; it is only a custom." 
Would they show me the burying ground? Decidedly 
thev would not. becuse they knew the white men would 
dig' open the vaults and take the bones of their dead, 
an act they all feared, the King saying: "That is a 
curious custom of yours. Your people want our dead, 
vet never think of disturbing your own. Why do you 
this? We cannot tell, and do not hear your words ol 
excuse." ✓ 
Then I said: "Don Antonio, ask them to sell me ail 
the things they use in a dance of farewell, that I may 
make a dance for myself." 
"Without the dead? That would be foul," and the face 
of the King wore a grave, anxious look. 
"But," I urged, "one will die; let me have these things, 
for the dance is good." 
Then Antonio said: "What harm can it do?" and to 
the construction. A gourd served very well for a head; 
a young bushy tree provided a collar bone, spine and the 
ribs, which were bent into shape with my bits of string. 
A second gourd carefully cut made a good imitation of 
thighs, and jointed pieces of wood formed the legs, arms, 
feet and hands. Then the body was padded with straw 
till its appearance became really natural, and the young 
Indians said it was truly a deader. Then I told them that 
the body was my uncle Gabriel, and that I must have 
him laid out in the woods, because he was dead. The 
men objected, of course, but they yielded after a time. 
Cloth was procured, and the body wrapped snugly, and 
an outer 'covering of green leaves bound securely around 
it. The bows, arrows, staff, cup and hunting bag were 
bound together and laid on its right side; a stool was 
brought and placed at its feet, and by the left hand was 
placed a jar for chicha. Then I asked them to take up the 
model and prepare a place in the woods where it might 
stay for a year. This they positively refused; yet I 
forced them, urging, threatening and commanding. 
Then one said: "This is bad, but we finish. Take up 
your deader and come." We started at once, but warn- 
ing cries of horror and fear came from the women. The 
men stopped, but by some influence, I hardly know how. 
I made them go on. In the woods the work was soon 
done. First a little place was cleared in a thicket; then 
poles were laid on the ground, a few leaves put over them, 
and on these the model was placed. Around it slender 
poles were forced in the ground, and all bound tightly 
together, forming a cage in which a body would stay 
a long time well secured; about it the staff, bow, arrow? 
and hunting bag, the stool and the jar for chicha were 
laid as before; that was all, and seemed very little to have 
required such effort. The cage was taken up, the pieces 
carefully labeled that they might be put together again 
in New York, and the specimens were thus carried back 
to the hut in which I was living. On the way we saw 
frightened women run in the King's house, though some 
stood at a distance looking at us with wondering caution. 
In regard to the objects used in the dances the King's 
orders were being obeyed, and all the implements were 
freely brought to me, all but the wooden instrument on 
which the clicking sound was made. There was but owe 
in the tribe, which had been handed down from time 
immemorial, and no one had any idea of making an- 
other, but as dances were held without it because it 
were impossible that the instrument should be at the ser- 
vice of all, I did not consider it of such great importance. 
I was most anxious to secure a model of the bones as 
prepared for final interment, and now sat in my house 
planning how this should be done, and listening to 
frightened voices and exclamations of anger from In- 
dians in the King's house, where they had gathered to- 
gether. How long they continued 1 do not remember, 
for when evening came I went to my hammock, taking 
my pistol with ine as usual, and soon fell asleep, leaving 
my plans and the Indians till morning. 
The next day I found everything quiet again, and set to 
work preparing my skeleton model. It was not easy 
work, for material was scarce. The head was a gourd, 
branches and bits of wood formed the bones, a hollow 
stick cut in sections represented the spine, and from a 
large gourd thigh bones were made. Then all were laid 
out on the floor, each bit of wood in the place where a 
bone should have been. The effect* was so natural that 
the Indians were frightened; then they became inter- 
ested, and when I said the bones were those of my 
Uncle Gabriel, recently dead, and that I must have them 
prepared for a dance I would hold in New York, they 
looked at me in wonder, hesitated, and then prepared to 
enter. that house, which they now held had been cursed. 
Th.? women had all disappeared, and I noticed as I 
packed up my specimens that everywhere there was an 
ominous silence; perhaps ray investigations would yet 
cost me dear. In the afternoon Josecito came to say that 
he wanted me to sleep at his house. I wanted to go, but 
who would care for my specimens? No, I determined 
that I would remain, and Josecito rode slowly away. 
That evening the women came back, but there was ho 
supper for me. I passed an anxious night and yet noth- 
ing happened. In the morning I gathered my specimens 
together, intending to start for the clearings where the 
Costa Rican governor was living, but here were new 
troubles. No Indian would touch the evil things I had 
made, and it was evident they did not intend to permit me 
to take them myself. I had no thought of yielding, so 
a contest of wills was begun; yet for me the time was not 
lost, for I set to work to learn the words of their chant, 
and after getting a fragment from one or another I be- 
gan to have some idea of it all. The words were known, 
but they belonged to a language which had been lost, 
and even the singers had no idea of their meaning. 
From a drunken Indian who happened that way I finally 
got all the words together, after a rather comical ex- 
perience, in which I started a rough singing contest, 
though I cannot claim any voice except one which is at 
its best only when silent; yet it now served the purpose, 
and after a while the Indian took up the singing and 
began to chant their farewell to the dead; the words 
were repated over and over, and as he sang I set them 
down as they are here: \ 
K, ah la u ha ma ta ka bi, su na ka hi. a ya, da shang 
huan. 
This was an addition to my collection of material, 
but I was no nearer getting away with it all. The 
Indians grinned complacently, and even came to look 
at the specimens, but touch them — not for anything. 
That evening Antonio the King returned, and I thought 
my troubles were over, but I am sorry to say that 
Antonio was very drunk. I was still in his favor, and 
though now all the Indians cowered before him, I had 
nothing to fear. He neither approved or disapproved of 
my specimens, and even apologized for his condition, 
blaming it all on the Christians, as he called the white 
men, who talked so fair but would not trade till they had 
given them drink, and then when the Indians were happy 
and careless made unfair exchange and sent them home 
almost empty handed. Then he looked away to the 
woodlands with sad, drunken eyes, saying over and over: 
"I am not a King, I am not a King, or they would not 
do this." 
Antonio said he could not order the men to carry my 
things; it was theirs to do or not as they pleased. Only 
for himself he could say I might take them; that was all 
he could do. 
That night I sent the governor a letter, telling him of 
my difficulties and asking his aid, and next morning three 
soldiers and a number of mules appeared at my house, 
much to my surprise, and said that the governor had 
sent them to help me. The Indians looked on in amaze- 
ment and fear, but made no objection: then, while the 
specimens were being packed on the mules, Antonio the 
King came, saying: "I ride beside you, and Josecito 
has gone to ride on before you." 
As we went through the jungles in silence we fre- 
quently met with bands of armed Indians who, on seeing 
the King followed, but did me no harm, and presently a 
goodly company had gathered together escorting me 
on through the woods. After a time we stopped, and 
the King said: "I go no further. We are now near the 
