traders are boarded, as soon as they anchor, by the Indians, who bring their produce on board themselves, and do not permit the captain or crew to go on shore. Their government is purely patriarchal,— the oldest and most experienced man in each settlement being accounted chief by general consent, and universally looked up to and obeyed as such. They are accustomed to the use of fire-arms, and are good marksmen, having also spears and arrows; but no knowledge of extracting the woorali or curare poison, though they have manchineel, the milky juice of which is a powerful irritant, but not strong enough to kill. Some woorali (corova) and poisoned arrows that I obtained from the Indians of the interior were procured by them from Choco, for the purpose of killing game; these little darts are blown through a long tube, called borokera, the aim being rendered steady by a little cotton of the Bombax Ceiba wrapped round one end; their deadly effect is almost instanta neous. names. It is a very singular fact that these Indians have no When one is asked "iki pe nukka" (what's your name), he invariably replies, "nukka chuli" (I have no name). They are very desirous of receiving English names, and have often asked me to give them some, which I have done, giving the names of Fox, Henderson, Brassey, Haslewood, Wilson, Anthony, Vincent, and Cullen. There are many albinos, with pure white skin, and hair, and weak eyes. The women wear diamond-shaped gold nose rings, cut at one of the angles to allow their being taken out and put in; these rings are about an ounce in weight. Their legs and arms are also adorned with glass beads, strings of coral, gold trinkets, pieces of money, and tigers' teeth They are very fond of gaudy ornaments; and presents of some trinkets, pieces of scarlet silk and cotton, pictures, and some gilt buttons which I cut off an Armenian jacket that I purchased in Constantinople in 1848, quite established me in their good graces. They have a great dread of the small-pox, which is one cause of their not allowing foreigners to mix with them. They also fear that they would take away their women; and another reason of their dislike to foreigners, is their idea that God made the country for them alone. They are timid, and would not venture to oppose even a small body of men.44 The Coast Indians live entirely on the Coast and the islands and kays off it, and do not go into the interior, while those of the interior seldom visit the Coast. The Coast Indians wear shirts and trowsers, but those of the interior usually go naked; the latter are very shy and retiring in their disposition, and keep aloof from the Granadian inhabitants in the south, very rarely visiting Chepo, Chiman, or Yavisa; their occupations are hunting, 44 Thus (says Dampier, vol. i. p. 23) we finished our journey from the South Sea to the North in twenty-three days; in which, by myaccount, we travelled 110 miles, crossing some very high mountains; but our common march was in the valleys, among deep and dangerous rivers. At our first landing in this country we were told that the Indians were our enemies; we knew the rivers to be deep; the wet season to be coming in; yet excepting those we left behind, we lost but one man, who was drowned. As I said, our first landing-place on the south coast was very disadvantageous, for we travelled at least fifty miles more than we need have done, could we have gone up Cheapo River or Santa Maria River, for at either of these places a man may pass from sea to sea in three days' time with ease; the Indiaans can do it in a day and a half, by which you may see how easy it is for a party of men to travel over. I must confess the Indians did assist us very much But if a party of 500 or 600 men or more were minded to travel from the North to the South Sea, they may do it without asking leave of the Indians; though it be much better to be friends with them." fishing, and cultivating vegetables for their own consumption; their principal settlements are on the upper branches of the Chepo, Chiman, and Congo, on the Tuquesa, Ucurganti, Jubuganti, and Chueti, branches of the Chuquanaqua, and on the Pucro and Paya. They have a very great dislike to the negroes, and generally kill any of them who have the temerity to ascend any of those rivers; in 1851 I was informed that they killed four negroes who went up the Chiman. They place great faith in the divining powers of their Priests or Leles, who advise them in all important mat ters. During my intercourse with this noble race of Indians, in my various journeys in Darien, in 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1852, I have been invariably treated by them with the greatest kindness and affection, and the most unlimited hospitality, everything in their possession having been freely and cheerfully placed at my disposal; and although I boldly and openly, at the very first, explained in detail the object of my repeated and daring trespasses into their territory, which, I verily believe, none before me, except the Buccaneers and the Scotch colony, who came in strong force, and as allies, had ever invaded without the sacrifice of his life; and showed my maps, with my projected canal route across their country, and was, therefore, known to them as the man most to be feared by them, and whose death would be to their decided interest; yet not one of them ever raised a weapon against me, and when, on one occasion, two or three of the most hot-headed urged my instant death, they were immediately silenced by the others, and even those two or three, who, I expected, would follow me into the bush and dispatch me with their arrows or cutlasses, in the depths of the forest, not only did not condescend to take this advantage of an unfriended, isolated white man, but afterwards even embraced me and made peace with me. I have made this digression, and entered at this length into a portion of my personal adventures in Darien (being desirous, in this short pamphlet, to confine myself strictly to the facts elicited in my explorations, and not to refer to the dangers and difficulties necessarily to be overcome to arrive at them) in order to urge, as loudly as my humble advocacy can, the justice and policy of dealing with this noble race, in all future transactions, in a spirit of conciliation, friendship, and frankness, with the strictest integrity and honour, and without any jealousy or unfounded apprehensions of hostility: and I may express a hope, that it will not be forgotten that, when a white man, hungry, shivering, even in that climate, from exposure, for some days, to almost unintermitted deluges of rain, and nearly naked, rushed unannounced, a strange apparition, into the Indian's hut, he was not driven away. FOREIGNERS TRADING ON THE COAST. The principal foreigners who trade on the coast, are Captains Ramon Iglesias, Abraham, Ricardo Illhes or Ellis (of Curaçao), Juan Seva (who has been twenty-six years in the trade, and never landed on the coast), Zephyrino, Richard Marks, the Captain of the Abingdon, of Baltimore, etc., etc. The Indians speak very highly of old Captain Shepherd, now of San Juan de Nicaragua, or Greytown, who once traded with them in his schooner, Mandeville; also of Captain Latham, a former trader, whose widow resides at Carthagena. A short vocabulary of the language will be found in the Appendix. VILLAGES ON THE COAST.-The principal villages on the Atlantic coast, are Carreto, Sassardi, Navagandi, Putrigandi, Cuiti, Pitgandi, Rio Monos, Playon Chico, Playon Grande, Rio Azucar, Rio Diablo, Carti and Mandinga. CARRETO has about twenty huts, thatched with palmleaves; the principal native traders here, are Bolivar, Trueno, and Smith. Trueno has been in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans, and speaks English and Spanish. None of them have any knowledge of the interior, nor did they know even the names of Moreti, Sucubti, etc., at the head of the Chuquanaqua, though so near to Carreto. They told me there is a small village a little distance inland of Carreto. I enquired for a boy named Jose Pio, who was reared by a Spaniard at Yavisa, and whom I was told I should find at Carreto; but learned that he had gone back to Yavisa. Smith spoke sharply to a young Spaniard I had brought with me from Carthagena, and seemed displeased with me for bringing him. At the mouth of the AGLASENIQUA, or CALEDONIA River, there are five huts, as I have mentioned above; and about two leagues up the river a small settlement. At Caledonia resides an old man, named Robinson; and up the river one called Juan Seva. Denis, the principal man at Sassardi, who has great influence over the Caledonia people, was the person who prevented Messrs. Gisborne and Forde from penetrating farther into the interior from the north side.45 Upon my sending a message to this man, he 45 Had not a tedious passage up the Magdelena, a protracted Session of Congress, and the necessity of waiting until the con |