The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes / The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 1

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

[999] Squier, in Harper's Mag., vol. xix., pp. 603-6, 613; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 171-2, 174-6; Martin's West Indies, vol. i., p. 155; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 337; Uring's Hist. Voy., pp. 223-5; Dampier's Voyages, vol. i., pp. 10, 127; Bard's Waikna, pp. 205-9, 226-9, 232-3, 299; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 108, 141-2, 146-7, 196, 201-2, 267; Crowe's Cent. Amer., p. 247; Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 306, 405; Young's Narrative, pp. 30-3, 72, 77-8, 125, 132-5; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 150-1. The natives of Honduras kept small birds which 'could talk intelligibly, and whistle and sing admirably.' Cockburn's Journey, pp. 52-3, 46, 70-2, 88-90.

[1000] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.-vi.; Cockburn's Journey, pp. 36, 45-6; Dampier's Voyages, vol. i., pp. 8-9, 86; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 142-3; Martin's Brit. Col., vol. ii., p. 413; Bard's Waikna, pp. 228-32, 239-43, 256-8, 273-4. Sivers was thought possessed of the devil, and carefully shunned, because he imitated the crowing of a cock. Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 178.

[1001] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v., dec. v., lib. i., cap. x.; Crowe's Cent. Amer., pp. 245-7; Young's Narrative, pp. 23, 26, 28, 73, 82; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 253, 260-1; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 132, 148-51; Bard's Waikna, pp. 243-4.

[1002] The dead 'are sewed up in a mat, and not laid in their grave length-ways, but upright on their feet, with their faces directly to the east.' Amer. Span. Settl., p. 46. 'Ein anderer Religionsgebrauch der alten Mosquiten war, dass sie bey dem Tode eines Hausvaters alle seine Bedienten mit ihm begruben.' Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 408. Bard's Waikna, pp. 68-73, 245-6; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 136, 143-4; Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 307-8; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 255; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 407; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v.-vi.; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 152-3.

[1003] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. viii., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Young's Narrative, pp. 78-82, 85, 87, 122, 133; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 250-2, 257-8; Bard's Waikna, pp. 245, 317, 324; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 135, 139-40, 144-5, 236; Strangeways' Mosquito Shore, p. 329; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 71; Pim and Seemann's Dottings, pp. 248-9, 279, 308-9; Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pref., pp. 13, 18; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 240, 289, 302; Crowe's Cent. Amer., pp. 49, 243.

[1004] The Guatusos 'are said to be of very fair complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of Indios blancos, or Guatusos—the latter name being that of an animal of reddish-brown colour, and intended to designate the colour of their hair.' Froebel's Cent. Amer., p. 24; Id., Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 244. Speaking of Sir Francis Drake's mutineers and their escape from Esparsa northward, he says: 'It is believed by many in Costa Rica that the white Indians of the Rio Frio, called Pranzos, or Guatusos ... are the descendants of these Englishmen.' Boyle's Ride, vol. ii., pp. 210, 27, and vol. i., pref., pp. xx-xxii. 'Talamanca contains 26 different tribes of Indians; besides which there are several neighbouring nations, as the Changuenes, divided into thirteen tribes; the Terrabas, the Torresques, Urinamas, and Cavecaras.' Juarros' Hist. Guat., p. 373; Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 413; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 407; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 331-3.

[1005] 'The indians who at present inhabit the Isthmus are scattered over Bocas del Toro, the northern portions of Veraguas, the north-eastern shores of Panama and almost the whole of Darien, and consist principally of four tribes, the Savanerics, the San Blas Indians, the Bayanos, and the Cholos.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 317. 'At the time of the conquest of Darien, the country was covered with numerous and well-peopled villages. The inhabitants belonged to the Carribbee race, divided into tribes, the principal being the Maudinghese, Chucunaquese, Dariens, Cunas, Anachacunas, &c. On the eastern shore of the Gulf of Uraba dwelt the immense but now nearly exterminated tribe of the Caimans,—only a few remnants of the persecutions of the Spaniards, having taken refuge in the Choco Mountains, where they are still found.... The Dariens, as well as the Anachacunas, have either totally disappeared or been absorbed in other tribes.' Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 91-2; Fitz-Roy, in Id., vol. xx., pp. 163-4; Roquette, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 30; Bateman, in N. Y. Century, 6th Decem., 1860; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 406; Macgregor's Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 823; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., p. ccii. See [Tribal Boundaries].

[1006] Savanerics, 'a fine athletic race.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 318. 'Tienen los cascos de la cabeça gruessos.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 138. 'The Chocós are not tall nor remarkable in appearance, but always look well conditioned.' Michler's Darien, p. 65. 'Son apersonados.' Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., fol. 56; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 77, 87; Selfridge's Darien Surveys, pp. 10, 36; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 107; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95-7; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vi; Gisborne's Darien, p. 155; Cockburn's Journey, p. 235; D'Avity, L'Amérique, tom. ii., p. 98; Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle, p. 365; Macgregor's Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 823; Fransham's World in Miniature, p. 25. 'Afirmaua Pasqual de Andagoya, auer visto algunos tan grandes, que los otros hombres eran enanos con ellos, y que tenian buenas caras, y cuerpos.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. vi.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 412; Gage's New Survey, p. 174; Darien, Defence of the Scots' Settlement, pp. 69-70; Cullen's Darien, pp. 65, 67.

[1007] Golfo Dulce. 'Modicæ sunt staturæ, bene compositis membris, moribus blandis et non invenustis.' Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329. 'It is a universal belief along the Atlantic coast, from Belize to Aspinwall, that the Frio tribe have white complexions, fair hair, and grey eyes.' Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 20, 236, and pref., pp. xxi-xxii.; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1856, tom. cli., pp. 6, 12; Id., in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 62; Wafer's New Voy., pp. 131-7.

[1008] 'El miembro generativo traen atado por el capullo, haçiéndole entrar tanto adentro, que á algunos no se les paresçe de tal arma sino la atadura, que es unos hilos de algodon allí revueltos.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 109-11, 179. See also: Cockburn's Journey, pp. 181-3, 188; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 557-9; Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 251. Referring to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, 'La gente que hallo andaua en cueros, sino eran señores, cortesanos, y mugeres.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 82, 66, 87. Urabá; 'Ex gentibus ijs mares nudos penitus, fœminas uero ab umbilico gossampina contectas multitia repererunt.' Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. i., also dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. vi., viii.; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles (Balboa), p. 9; Wafer's New Voy., pp. 37, 87, 102, plate, 132-4, 138-48, plate; Wallace, in Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. iii., p. 418; Warburton's Darien, p. 322; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 26; Andagoya, in Id., pp. 307-8, 407, 412; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., vi., and dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x.; Michler's Darien, pp. 43, 65-6, 86.