Part 84 (1/2)

Slight differences only are observable in the Isthmian physique. The people are generally well-built, muscular, and of average height, although old authorities, such as Herrera, Andagoya, and Gomara, describe a tribe, whom they locate near Escoria and Quarecas, as being very tall--veritable giants. Women, as a rule, are small and of delicate proportions, but after attaining a certain age, incline to obesity. The mountain tribes are generally shorter in stature, with more pleasing features than the coast-dwellers. A notable difference between the Isthmians and the other aborigines of the Pacific States, is the short, rather flat nose, in contradistinction to the almost universal aquiline cast. In color they are of a medium bronze tint, varying according to localities, the mountain tribes being the darker. Black, straight, and very abundant coa.r.s.e hair, black or dark eyes, and excellent teeth predominate.[1006] In Costa Rica, on the Rio Frio, is the frequently spoken of but never accurately described nation--the _Guatusos_--whom somewhat mythical accounts describe as of fair complexions, with light hair and blue eyes. Likewise Albinos are spoken of by Wafer, who relates having seen people ”milk white, lighter than the colour of any Europeans, and much like that of a white horse.” Furthermore, it is said that their bodies were covered with a milk-white down, which added to the whiteness of their skin; hair and eyebrows white, and eyes oblong, with the corners pointing downwards. During daylight they were weak-sighted, restive, and lacking energy, but after sundown, their cheerfulness, activity, and eyesight returned--the latter being apparently as good as that of other people.[1007]

[Sidenote: DRESS OF THE ISTHMIANS.]

Cotton textures and the bark of a certain tree, beaten in a wet state until soft and pliant, were the materials used by the Isthmians to cover their nakedness, if, indeed, they covered it at all. Where cotton was used, as in parts of Costa Rica, the costume was simply a small strip of cloth which both men and women wound round the loins or, as on the islands in the gulf of Nicoya, the women pa.s.sed it between the legs, and fastened it to a string round the waist. These latter ornamented their scanty raiment prettily with various designs painted in colors, and also with seeds and sh.e.l.ls. Near the bay of Herradura the men wore a kind of mantle covering the whole front and back of the wearer, made of the above-mentioned bark, in the centre of which was a hole through which the head pa.s.sed. The women of this locality only wrap themselves in a piece of bark, without taking the trouble to fas.h.i.+on a mantle of it. Yet more simple was the dress of the men near Cartago; a few cotton strings wound round the foreskin of their virile member, sufficed them.[1008]

Near Panama and Darien, the caciques only wore long cotton mantles thrown over the shoulder and reaching nearly to the feet, the common people going naked, only encasing their privy parts in a kind of funnel made of gold, silver, sh.e.l.l, or bamboo, according to the wealth of the wearer, and which was held in place by a string fastened to two holes in the sides which was pa.s.sed round the waist. Women in the same localities wore cotton petticoats reaching to the knees, or, if ladies of quality, to the ankles. Near the gulf of Nicoya, women wore the long hair parted in the middle from the front to the back of the head, and plaited into two braids which hung down on either side over the ears.

The men tied the hair up in a stiff queue with a cotton band, which was at times arranged so as to rise straight over the crown of the head.

Necklaces of colored beads or of tiger's teeth were worn as ornaments.

Like many nations of the Hyperborean group, the Chorotegans of Nicoya pierced the lower lip and inserted a round piece of bone. Their arms they painted with a mixture of their own blood and charcoal. In portions of Veragua and Behetrias even the funnel or cotton strings were omitted, and the Gugures, Mandingos, and many others on the Pacific seaboard, like the people of Veragua, went entirely naked, the chiefs only wearing long mantles. All of the Isthmians were fond of ornaments; among those which deserve special notice is the nose-pendant. This was a crescent-shaped piece of gold or silver, of various sizes for different occasions, those used on holidays hanging down so as to cover the mouth, while those for ordinary use only reached the upper lip. Besides the nose-pendant were ear-rings and a number of heavy necklaces of gold, silver, tiger's teeth, colored seeds, sh.e.l.ls, and coral, according to the wealth of the wearer. Under their b.r.e.a.s.t.s the richer women also wore gold bars as a support, which were held up by strings pa.s.sed over the shoulders. _Guanines_, or figures of animals made of gold, were worn around the neck by the men on the coast of Veragua, Chiriqui, and Uraba; others again wore on their heads fillets or crowns of gold or of the claws of wild beasts, or of feathers. Thus did these naked savages decorate themselves, often to the extent of several pounds weight. Women considered it a mark of beauty to have thick legs, and to that end wore bandages round them. Another Hyperborean custom is here met with--the anointing of the body with oil--which in these tropics is extracted from the _bixa_ or seed of the _arnotto_, and over which they sprinkled down and feathers. Painting the body was everywhere practiced, and was carried to a great extent, the different colors and figures employed each having its peculiar significance.

[Sidenote: ISTHMIAN BODY-PAINTING.]

On going to war, paint was used more freely than at other times, and the greater the warrior the thicker the paint. Among the men of Cueba painting had a double object; it served as an ornament to the person, and also as a mark of distinction of rank. The chief, when he inherited or attained his t.i.tle, made choice of a certain device, which became that of all his house. Freemen were painted from the mouth downward, and on the arms and chest, while slaves were only painted or tattooed from the mouth upward. All the lords, servitors, and va.s.sals who were freemen, were painted in exactly the same manner. If the son of a chief adopted the ancestral totem, he could not afterward change it on coming into his inheritance, but if during his father's life-time he declined to use the distinctive badge of his house, he could, when he became chief, choose any new device he might fancy. A son who did not adopt his father's totem was always hateful to him during his lifetime. The natives on the northern coast of Chiriqui painted the body in wavy lines, from the shoulders to the heels; through the cartilage of the nose they stuck a porcupine-quill, and in the chin the tooth of a wild beast. The women had holes made in their cheeks through which they stuck little bunches of feathers; they also wore tiger's claws in their ears.

At San Blas, some of the men painted themselves in black streaks, and the women in red. At Porto Belo, the king was painted black and all his subjects red. The natives of Escoria tattooed breast and arms; the women of Darien across the bridge of the nose from one cheek to the other; they also blacken their teeth. Others have figures of birds, animals, or trees painted all over the body, according to fancy; their favorite colors being black, red, and yellow, which are laid on with pencils made of wood, chewed at the end till they become soft.[1009] All the Isthmians pull out the hair from every part of the body except the head, and rub themselves with herbs, which prevent its further growth. Both s.e.xes pride themselves on the length of the hair, and most of them allow it to grow to its full length and hang loose over their shoulders, but keep it cut on the forehead as low as the eyebrows. The men of Cariai and some parts of Chiriqui, bind it with fillets and wind it in rolls round the head, fastening it with a comb made of the heart of the palm-tree; others wear round their head a band made of bark or certain fibres of plants, and at festivals they often wear high caps, made from the gaudy feathers of parrots. At Tanela married women cut their hair short. It appears that head-flattening again crops out in these parts.

Las Casas states that infants had their heads placed between two pads, one in front and another behind, in order to increase the length of the head and width of the forehead.[1010]

[Sidenote: DWELLINGS ON THE ISTHMUS.]

In Costa Rica many of the natives live in small huts built of plaited rushes. In the year 1545, Diego Gutierrez, governor of Nueva Cartago, in Costa Rica, attempted to explore that territory. Arriving at the province of Suere upon a river of that name at a point some twelve leagues distant from the North Sea, he came to a village, and there occupied a house belonging to the chief of the district. The old Milanese chronicler, Girolamo Benzoni, who accompanied the expedition, describing the dwelling of the cacique, says it was shaped like an egg and was forty-five paces in length and nine in breath. The sides were of reeds and the roof of palm-leaves all interlaced and well executed.

There were but few other houses in the village and those of inferior character. Padre Zepeda, a jesuit, who in 1750 lived among the Guatusos for several months, speaking of their towns and gardens, says that when the rains commence, they construct small huts in the trees, where they live safe from the danger of floods.[1011] Unlike most other nations, the Isthmians do not build their villages in squares, but generally form long streets, keeping the houses well apart from each other, probably as a precaution against conflagrations. On many parts of the coast of Darien and on the gulf of Uraba, the villages are built in the water.

Others are on the banks of rivers, and many of them are s.p.a.cious and constructed with great skill and attention to details. The supporting posts of the roof are large bamboos or palm-trees. Three or four of these are driven into the ground at equal distances, proportioned according to the intended length of the house, and across the top is laid the ridge-pole; on each side a number of shorter posts are sunk, from which long rafters are laid to the ridge-pole; the whole is then covered with palm-leaves, both roof and sides. Other houses are plastered inside and outside with mud, and these have a flooring of open bamboo work, raised six or eight feet from the ground. The dwellings are divided into two or more rooms, having no doors to the entrances, which are reached by ladders. Sometimes the house is built without walls, in which case the roof descends to below the level of the floor, and the structure is left open at both ends, having the appearance of an elevated platform. The Savanerics and some others on the coast of Veragua build circular or pyramidal dwellings, by driving strong posts into the ground sloping toward each other, so as to unite in a point where they are strongly bound with withes or vines, across which are tied small sticks, some peeled, others with the bark on, or blackened, thereby producing a pleasing effect. The walls inside are lined with reeds beautifully interwoven. The upper portion of the structure is thatched on the outside with straw and on the apex is placed an ornament of baked clay. In the centre of the dwelling is a s.p.a.cious apartment, and round the walls are small rooms in which different families reside.[1012] Each village has a public, town, or council house, or fort, one hundred or more feet in length, constructed in the same manner as the dwellings, but with no interior part.i.tions; in the walls are loop-holes for the discharge of arrows. There is an entrance at each end, and thick doors, made of split palm-tree and bamboo strongly bound together with withes, are kept in readiness to shut out the enemy. The doors are kept in position by strong posts set in the ground behind them. In the province of Veragua they build strong wooden fences or palisades round some of the villages, to protect them from attacks of enemies and wild beasts. During the expedition of Gaspar de Espinosa in 1517, Diego de Albitez, who invaded the province of a cacique named Tabraba, some distance south-west from Panama, found the inhabitants protected by strong fortifications. Their forts are built with much skill. The ground is first enclosed by a deep trench, upon the inner bank of which trees are planted, and the interstices filled up with logs and rocks. In many parts of the country the inhabitants were found living in the tops of trees like birds, laying sticks across from one branch to another, and building their houses upon them. In 1512, Vasco Nunez de Balboa surveyed several channels at the mouth of the River Atrato in quest of gold and plunder. The surrounding country was low and marshy, but the soil sent forth immense palm-trees, in the branches of which the natives built their houses. Vasco Nunez, entering an affluent of the Rio Negro, discovered a large tree-top village, the name of whose ruler was Abieiba. The houses were divided into several apartments, each of a size sufficient to accommodate several families. They were built of wood and willows, and were so pliable and yet so strong, that the swaying to and fro of the branches, to which the elastic tenement yielded, did not in the least interfere with the safety of the occupants. Ladders, made of a single large bamboo split in two, were used in making the ascent and descent. These were drawn up at night, or in case of the invasion of an enemy. On the coast of Veragua Columbus discovered similar dwellings, and he says that he could not account for the custom, unless it was through fear of griffins which abound in that country, or of enemies, each tribe being at war with every other tribe along the coast. The true cause, however, of their taking to trees for places of residence, is to place themselves beyond the reach of sudden and violent floods, which are caused by the swelling of streams after storms in the mountains, and also in order to be out of the reach of reptiles and wild beasts in which that country abounds.[1013] Some of the Isthmians built large enclosures for the chiefs, which early contemporary writers call the king's palace. Vasco Nunez de Balboa, on his march through the province of Comagre, situated on the northern coast of Darien about thirty leagues from the gulf of Uraba, relates that he visited the dwelling or palace of the cacique Comagre, which he describes as follows: It was one hundred and fifty by eighty paces in dimension, constructed upon heavy posts, which stood within a stone wall. The upper part of the building was beautifully finished with timbers, interlaced in such a manner as to strike the beholder with amazement. The building contained various apartments--chambers, pantry, and wine-cellar. In one very large apartment were sacredly kept the remains of the king's ancestors arranged round the walls.[1014]

[Sidenote: FOOD OF THE ISTHMIANS.]

The Costa Ricans live chiefly by hunting and fis.h.i.+ng, and many of them cultivate maize, beans, and bananas; the Talamancas, especially, are agriculturists. According to Father Zepeda, and others who penetrated some distance into the country of the Guatusos, they had large fields under cultivation. Salt is seldom used by any of these tribes, and none of them ever eat dogs, as they keep them for hunting purposes. Their chief game is wild hogs and deer, but they are not very particular as to their animal diet, for they eat whatever they can catch, including reptiles. Their mode of cooking fish renders them exceedingly palatable, which is by roasting them wrapped in plantain-leaves. Bananas are usually pulled when green, and buried in sand to ripen.[1015] Many of the other Isthmians are agriculturists, and grow considerable quant.i.ties of maize, plantains, cacao, pimiento, and cocoa-nuts; their means of subsistence are further largely supplemented by game and fish.

A staple article of food among the coast tribes is turtle, of which they capture large numbers. Monkeys afford them a favorite meal, and they are especially fond of iguanas, young alligators, and their eggs. From the yucca as well as corn they make a good quality of bread. The Doraches and Guaimies of Veragua subsist mainly on wild roots and a fruit called _pixbaex_, somewhat resembling dates, which toasted, makes an agreeable and wholesome food. Most of their dishes are highly seasoned with pimiento, a kind of pepper produced by a small shrub which is very abundant on Tierra Firme. The toocan bird lives chiefly on the berry, which it discharges from the stomach almost immediately after swallowing it; the natives prefer it thus, as its bitterness is partly absorbed by the bird. It is said that the Caribs ate human flesh whenever they had an opportunity. Herrera says that some of the Isthmians purchased slaves, whom they sold to the Caribs for food, and the inhabitants of Paria supplied boys to the natives of Tubraba for the same purpose. They cooked the flesh of their enemies, and ate it seasoned with salt and _aji_ (chile).[1016] When a piece of ground is to be planted, a number of the villagers collect and cut down the brushwood on a selected spot; the seed is then scattered among the wood as it lies. In due time the grain, which is well sheltered from the sun by the branches, springs up and overtops them, and when fit for harvesting the ears are gathered.

After this, the underwood and corn-stalks are set on fire, and the ground continues to be used for agricultural purposes. In hunting deer and wild swine, dogs are used to drive them out of the dense forest; at other times they set fire to a part of the woods, and as the animals try to escape, they kill them with spears and arrows. Birds are killed with a blow-pipe. When fis.h.i.+ng they use nets made of mahoe-bark or silk-gra.s.s, and in places where rocks prevent their using a net, they catch them with their hands or shoot them with arrows. Fis.h.i.+ng by torchlight with spears is frequently practiced. The Savanerics poison pools with pounded leaves of the barbasco, and thus obtain fish without much labor. For duck-hunting they also employ the often-described trick of placing a calabash on the head, and in this manner approach the game.

The men of Cueba are celebrated for making pure white salt from sea water--an article much used in this locality. In the same province a kind of communism obtained; all provisions were delivered to the chief, who distributed to each his share. Part of the community were employed as agriculturists, and part as hunters and fishermen. At his meals the cacique was served by women, some of his princ.i.p.al men eating with him.[1017]

In their personal habits the Isthmians are cleanly; they bathe generally twice a day and sometimes oftener; but commonly at sunrise and sunset.

The interior of their dwellings has a neat appearance, and order and cleanliness prevail in all their domestic arrangements.[1018]

[Sidenote: WEAPONS OF THE ISTHMIANS.]

Bows and arrows, long spears, javelins, flint-edged clubs, and blow-pipes, are the weapons used in these parts. The bows are beautifully made, those of the Costa Ricans being about seven feet long, of a dark-colored, very hard wood, with the string of well-twisted silk-gra.s.s. Arrows are of the same wood, very long, and pointed with a porcupine-quill or fish-bone. The bows and arrows of those farther south are much shorter, and of black palm-wood, as are also their lances and javelins. The arrows are pointed with flint or fish-bone, or are hardened in the fire and barbed; the shaft is of reed having a piece of hard wood eight or ten inches in length inserted in the end. The inhabitants of Coiba and some of the tribes on the western sh.o.r.e of the gulf of Uraba, do not use bows and arrows. In this respect, so far as I have observed, they form an exception; as among the almost innumerable tribes situated between the gulf of Uraba and the Arctic Ocean I know of none others where bows and arrows are not used. These people in battle employ a long wooden sword, and wooden spears, the ends of which are hardened in the fire and tipped with bone; they also make use of slings and darts. Their javelins are thrown with much force and dexterity by means of a stick slightly grooved to hold the projectile. It is called _estorica_ and is held between the thumb and two fingers, there being a small loop on the side, near the centre, in which the forefinger is placed; the dart is cast straight from the shoulder, while the projector is retained in the hand. I have noticed a somewhat similar contrivance employed by the Aleutian Islanders.[1019] The blow-pipe which is used with much effect, is about six or seven feet long, and the darts shot from it are made of Mucaw-wood, very thin with an exceedingly sharp point, notched, so that when an object is struck it breaks off and it is almost impossible to extract the broken point; others are poisoned so that a slight wound causes death in a short time. One end is wrapped with a little cotton, until it fits the tube which is placed to the mouth and the dart blown out. It is quite effective for a distance of one hundred yards. Different varieties of poison have been described by writers and travelers. Herrera speaks of one which he says was made with certain grey roots found along the coast, which were burnt in earthen pipkins and mixed with a species of poisonous black ant; to this composition were added large spiders, some hairy caterpillars, the wings of a bat, and the head and tail of sea-fish called _tavorino_, very venomous, besides toads, the tails of snakes, and manzanillas. All these ingredients were set over a fire in an open field and well boiled in pots by a slave till they were reduced to a proper consistency. The unfortunate slave who attends to the boiling almost invariably dies from the fumes. Another poisonous composition is spoken of as having been made of fourteen different ingredients and another of twenty-four, one that kills in three days, another in five, and another later, and when one was employed it was stated that sometimes the wounded lived as many days as the poison had been made. The natives said that fire, sea water, and continency were the antidotes against the venom, others affirmed that the dung of the wounded person taken in pills or otherwise was a cure. Peter Martyr writes that the poison was made by old women skilled in the art, who were shut up for two days in a house where they boiled the ingredients; if at the expiration of the time, the women were found in good health instead of being half dead, they were punished and the ointment was thrown away. Captain Cochrane in his _Journal in Colombia_, says that they obtain the poison from a small frog called the _rana de veneno_. These frogs are kept in a hollow cane and regularly fed. When required for use, they take one and pa.s.s a pointed stick down its throat and out at one of its legs. The pain brings to the back of the toad a white froth, which is a deadly poison and in it the darts are rubbed; below the froth a yellow oily matter is found which is carefully sc.r.a.ped off, as it is also a powerful poison, but not so lasting as the first substance, which will retain its deadly properties for a year while the yellow matter looses its strength after five or six months.[1020] The javelins used by the Caribs were not made pointed but square at the end, they also have very long pikes and heavy clubs. When Bartolome Hurtado in 1516 visited the island of Caubaco he relates that the cacique presented him with a golden armor valued at one thousand castellanos. At the island of Cabo seven leagues distant, the warriors wore a thick matted armor of cotton impervious to arrows; they were armed with pikes and in their march were accompanied with drums, conchs, and fifes.[1021]

[Sidenote: WEAPONS, ARMOR, AND WARS.]

Wars arise chiefly from the jealousies and ambition of rival chieftains.

Battles are frequent and sanguinary, often lasting for many days, and are fought with tenacious courage. Throughout Darien it is customary to place sentinels at night in the highest houses of the towns, to keep watch and give warning of the approach of an enemy. At the commencement of a campaign, chiefs and captains experienced in war are nominated by the head of the tribe, to lead the men in battle and conduct the operations; they wear certain insignia, so as to be distinguished from the rest of the men, lofty plumes on the head, and a quant.i.ty of golden ornaments and jewels, besides which they are painted in a different style. All, however, adorn themselves when going to battle, with a profusion of necklaces, bracelets, and golden corselets. The men are cheered on to battle and encouraged during the fight by the blowing of large sh.e.l.ls and the beating of drums. In the province of Cueba, women accompany the men, fighting by their side and sometimes even leading the van. The action is commenced with the slings and estoricas, but they soon meet at close quarters, when the heavy wooden swords and javelins are brought into use. Certain rules and military regulations are observed whereby the brave are rewarded, and offenders against military discipline punished. n.o.bility is conferred on him who is wounded in war, and he is further rewarded with lands, with some distinguished woman, and with military command; he is deemed more ill.u.s.trious than others, and the son of such a father, following the profession of arms, may inherit all the father's honors. He who disobeys the orders of his chief in battle is deprived of his arms, struck with them, and driven from the settlement. All booty is the property of him who captured it. The prisoner is the slave of the captor; he is branded on the face and one of his front teeth knocked out. The Caribs, however, used to kill and eat their prisoners. Wafer mentions that upon some occasions, he who had killed an enemy cut off his own hair as a distinguis.h.i.+ng mark of triumph, and painted himself black, continuing so painted until the first new moon.[1022]

[Sidenote: ISTHMIAN DISHES AND IMPLEMENTS.]

The Isthmians sleep in hammocks, often beautifully made, and suspended between two trees or upright posts. Owing to the material of which they are composed they are exceedingly cool and well adapted to the climate.

Gourds, calabashes, and cocoa-nut sh.e.l.ls are employed for water-bowls and drinking-cups. Their other household utensils consist of earthen jars, flint knives, stone hatchets and boxes ingeniously made of palm-leaves, and covered with deer or other skins. Drums of different sizes, some very large, others small, are made of the hollow trunk of a tree covered at the ends with deer's hide. Those of the largest size are kept at the chief's residence or at the town-house. Hammocks are made of finely woven cloth, or more frequently of plaited gra.s.s of various colors and curiously ornamented. Wooden mortars, made from the knotty part of a tree, are used to pound yucca, from which they make their ca.s.sava. The metate or rubbing-stone is also in use among them. They have nets of different kinds for both fis.h.i.+ng and hunting. At night, as a light for their dwellings they use torches made from palm-wood dipped in oil and beeswax. The lords and princ.i.p.al men of the provinces of Darien and Uraba are reputed to have drunk from golden cups of rich and beautiful workmans.h.i.+p. Peter Martyr gives an account of golden trumpets and a great number of bells found by the Spaniards in a town situated on the River Dabaiba (Atrato). The bells were used at ceremonies and festivals, giving forth a sweet and pleasant sound; the tongues or clappers were beautifully made, of fish-bones. In another part of the country, on the gulf of Uraba, says Peter Martyr, as rendered by the ancient translator: ”They founde also a great mult.i.tude of shetes, made of the silke or cotton of the gossampine tree; likewise diuers kindes of vessels and tooles made of wood, and many of earth; also many brest plates of gold, and ouches wrought after their manner.”[1023]

They manufacture strong cords from the bark of the mahoe-tree, which is taken off in long strips, beaten with sticks, cleaned, and then twisted.

A finer description of thread is made from a species of pita, of which the leaves undergo a somewhat similar process in preparation as flax, being steeped in water for several days, then dried in the sun and afterwards beaten, producing fine silky threads, from which their hammocks and finer kinds of nets for catching small fish are made. From the same plant they make excellent baskets and matting; the materials are first dyed in different colors, prettily mixed and woven together so closely as to hold water. They are of a soft texture and exceedingly durable. The Dorachos are famed for the manufacture of pottery, water-bottles, and other household utensils, elegantly shaped and prettily painted. Cotton cloths are woven by women, and considering the rude and simple implements they work with, the fineness of texture and blending of colors present a marvel of skill and patience. The process of weaving is thus described by Wafer: ”The Women make a Roller of Wood, about three Foot long, turning easily about between two Posts. About this they place Strings of Cotton, of 3 or 4 yards long, at most, but oftner less, according to the use the Cloth is to be put to, whether for a Hammock, or to tie about their Waists, or for Gowns, or for Blankets to cover them in their Hammocks, as they lie in them in their Houses; which are all the Uses they have for Cloth: And they never weave a piece of Cotton with a design to cut it, but of a size that shall just serve for the particular use. The Threads thus coming from the Roller are the Warp; and for the Woof, they twist Cotton-yarn about a small piece of _Macaw_-wood, notch'd at each end; And taking up every other Thread of the Warp with the Fingers of one Hand, they put the Woof through with the other Hand, and receive it out on the other side: and to make the Threads of the Woof lie close in the Cloth, they strike them at every turn with a long and thin piece of _Macaw_-wood like a Ruler, which lies across between the Threads of the Warp for that purpose.”[1024]

[Sidenote: ISTHMIAN BOATS AND NAVIGATION.]