aditamento de una camara foto- 
grafica, la que habria prestado 
en esa ocasion servicios invalo- 
rables. Estas fotos se pueden ob- 
tener, sin embargo, sin mucha di- 
ficultad. 
Tras el revuelo provocado por 
la prensa al trasmitir la noticia 
del hallazgo en Ocu de un mons- 
truo antediluviano, no han falta- 
do los incredulos y hasta alguna 
persona chusca y suspicaz ha 
querido ver a traves de tanto 
ruido una ingeniosa forma de 
piopaganda turistica. 
La agudeza de la ocurrencia 
mueve a sonreir con agrado por 
que en efeeto, en Ocu, la acoge- 
dora y pintoresca tierra de “los 
montunos’ 5 han abierto reciente- 
mente un buen hotel de turismo 
y la empresa, manejada cabal- 
mente por el propio Chin Carri- 
zo, mira con interes las excur- 
siones al Interior. 
En la duda, lo mejor sera ir 
y convencerse uno mismo. . . 
En materia turistica, la verdad 
es que Ocu, aparte de la fama 
de los legendarios duelos cam* 
pesinos para dirimir al machete 
las rivalidades y cuestiones de 
hombria, la gente gusta de vi- 
sitar el lugar por ser uno de los 
rincones mas tipicos de Panama. 
Herencia de espaholes y de in- 
dios, el distrito conserva carac- 
teristicas de varios siglos atras, 
caracteristicas que han perdido 
ya otras poblaciones en contacto 
mas directo con la vida moder- 
na. Con buenos atractivos natu- 
rales — rios, montanas, inscrip- 
ciones en las rocas, huertas, ca- 
ballos, cacerias, objetos, piedras 
curiosas, y el hotel a cinco horas 
de la Capital, por carreteras to- 
talmente pavimentadas, se justi- 
fica sobradamente el que funcio- 
ne alii una e&tacion de turismo 
y que exista el deseo comun de 
recibir visitantes, para estimular 
al mismo tiempo las industrias 
nativas. Y quien sabe si el des- 
cubrimiento del fosil se debio al 
deseo renovado de ofrecer curio- 
sidades a los turistas. Sabido es 
que buscando especias se encon- 
tro el Nuevo Mundo. 
LOS TUMULOS INDIGENAS 
Consignemos, para terminar, 
que cerea de Ocu existe otro lu¬ 
gar llamado “La Guaca’ 5 donde 
se dice que hay por lo menos 
veinte y cinco tumbas aborige- 
nes. Estos “entierros” parecen 
existir tambien en Majara, El 
Yerbo, Senales, Conaca, etc. 
Muy cerca de la Carretera Pan- 
americana, en el punto en que 
se aparta el camino de Ocu, se 
encuentran rodadas por la lade- 
ra de un monticulo, numerosas 
piedras labradas que han hecho 
creer que hubo alii un antiguo 
templo, muy anterior a la colo- 
nizacion espanola. La proximi- 
clad del distrito de Parita, don- 
dc el Dr. Stirling, en represen- 
tacion de la Smithsonian Insti¬ 
tution, hizo en 1943 excavacio- 
nes con notables resultados en 
materia de ceramica india, segun 
puede verse en el Museo Nacio« 
nal de Panama, indica por otra 
parte que hace dos mil ahos ya 
existia por esta region una cul- 
tura istmena, anterior, por con- 
siguiente a la Era Cristiana y a 
la civilizacion venida de Europa 
quince siglos despues. 
— 18 
hers of the expedition wished to 
leave a mark of stones which 
would make future recognition of 
the spot very easy. 
At last, under a strong wind 
burdened with rain— 6 'The Moun¬ 
tain s Revenge on The Hunters” 
—we speedily began our return. 
Fortunately the unpleasant wea¬ 
ther gave place to a radiant even¬ 
ing and we eventually arrived at 
Ocu after having effected the best 
piece of hunting of the Interior. 
EXCELLENT WITNESSES 
On arriving at Ocu we met a 
group of country-folk headed by 
the local authority and the priest 
determined to pave a street under 
the 66 joint system 99 which is po¬ 
pular among country-men. When 
informed of the finding of the 
fossil, they shared our enthusiasm 
arid regarded the presence of the 
bones as demonstrative that the 
report was authentic. 
The news of the discovery hav¬ 
ing spread rapidly within a short 
time a large crowd gathered at 
the hotel to view the bones, which 
were washed and placed on a 
table to be seen by all. 
Among the spectators were va¬ 
rious doctors who were attending 
a conference of heads of hospi¬ 
tals at Santiago de Veraguas. • 
They all examined the remains 
of that “monstrous rabbit” and 
corroborated the opinion that the 
discovery dealt with something 
very interesting. With their as¬ 
sistance the remaining bones 
• An Osteologist one of them. 
were identified. At this point the 
newspaper reporters took charge. 
GO AND CONVINCE 
YOURSELF 
It is not too much to say that 
the author of this iri\formifition 
was an honoraUw invited guest 
on the hunting expedition. It is 
regrettable that he was armed 
with a gun and not a camara 
which would have rendered more 
service on that occasion. 
Although the press has made 
known the discovery in Ocu of 
an antediluvian monster, there 
are unfortunately, persons who 
disbelieve the report, which they 
regard as tourist propaganda. If, 
however, the reader is in doubt, 
the best thing to do is to “Go 
and See for yourselff 
In tourist matters the truth is 
that apart from being famous 
for its legendary duels with the 
machette as a means of settling 
questions of honor. Ocu is one 
of the most typical corners of 
Panama. Of Spanish and Indian 
( origin ) heredity, the district 
has characteristics of past centu- 
turies, characteristics which have 
been lost by the other Panama¬ 
nian towns as a result of their 
more direct contact with modern 
life. With good natural attrac¬ 
tiveness, rivers, mountains, in - 
criptions on the rocks, orchards 
landscapes, objects made of cur¬ 
ious stones, horses, the recently 
opened hotel —at present man¬ 
aged by Chin Carrizo — and all 
within five hours ride from the 
Capital through totally well paved 
roads, Ocu fully justifies the pos¬ 
sessing of a tourist hotel and the 
19 
