ISTHMIAN NATIONS.
In the northern part of Costa Rica along the head waters of the Rio Frio the Guatusos, or Pranzas, are located. Mr. Squier is inclined to think they are of the same stock as the Nahuas. Some striking physical peculiarities observed among them have given rise to various surmises and startling conclusions regarding their origin. Dwelling in the western part of the state are the Terrabas and the Changuenes, fierce and barbarous nations, at constant enmity with their neighbors. In the south-east and extending to the borders of Chiriquí dwell the Talamancas composed of a number of different tribes and declared by some to be allied in race with the Guatusos. Besides these are the Buricas, Torresques, Toxas, and others.1004 In the mountains of Chiriquí are the Valientes, so called by the Spaniards from their heroic resistance to the invaders. Many of the warlike nations who occupied the country at the time of the discovery derived their names from the caciques that governed them. The people who dwell along the shore of the Caribbean Sea, between Portobello and Urabá, and occupy the Limones, Sasardi, and Pinos islands are supposed to be a branch of the once powerful Darien nations who to the present day remain unconquered. Their province is situated on the western shore of the gulf of Urabá, and their town was originally near the mouth of the River Atrato. The town and the river as well as the province were called by the natives Darien. This town was conquered in 1510 by a little band of shipwrecked Spaniards under the Bachiller Enciso. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, Francisco Pizarro, and men of like metal were there, and this was the first successful conquest and settlement on Tierra Firme. Whence, as the conquests of the Spaniards widened, the name Darien was at length applied to the greater part of the Isthmus. Still further westward were the once powerful province of Cueva, and the site of the ancient city of Panamá, discovered in 1515 by Tello de Guzman. This was a famous fishing-station, the word Panamá signifying in the native tongue a place where many fish are taken. Along the western shore of the bay of Panamá dwelt several independent and warlike nations, those of Cutara, Paris, Escoria, besides many others who waged continual war against each other with the object of increasing their territories and adding lustre to their names.1005
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 coarse 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
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 passed 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 shells. 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 passed. The women of this locality only wrap themselves in a piece of bark, without taking the trouble to fashion 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 Panamá 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, shell, 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 passed 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, shells, and coral, according to the wealth of the wearer. Under their breasts the richer women also wore gold bars as a support, which were held up by strings passed over the shoulders. Guanines, or figures of animals made of gold, were worn around the neck by the men on the coast of Veragua, Chiriquí, and Urabá; 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.
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 title, 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 vassals 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 Chiriquí 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