aS Sea eee cate me =a } 3 i i ike ia i, saa M RAY Ag Wis ie et Pat pi ge ao UP. ruse hibed ane ' i i Be ‘ah i a. i } ‘ | ian ny * nt F i Ps an: 1 y ve Bath 34 ae ee hos wihte ee. h ; x . " . @ ye § if a Ae ¥0 in ie ; ay, zi Ney hf ti ; Jean Ai | | , U a alt 7 oh i H Uy ey oY i Uy v eRe ee “Teta are ey: 7, _ be Paviit: j j os } a SV a | an ! pi nit ; f Pf PI pe) vi | Welded ri NL eae Te wt yl Vee a. ay ie > pd bey 7 r} i " SMrrusoNtAN INSTITUTION "BUREAU OF AMERICAN: ETHNOLOGY | BULLETIN 106 ee | ETHNOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS © _ OF HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA — By EDUARD CONZEMIUS - SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION _). 2. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Z BULLETIN 106 ETHNOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS OF HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA By EDUARD CONZEMIUS UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1932 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. - - - - - - Price 25 cents 1 7 Ri LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, BurEAv oF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, Washington, D. C., June 2, 1931. Str: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled ““Ethnographical Survey of the Miskito and Sumu Indians of Hon- duras and Nicaragua,” by Eduard Conzemius, and to recommend thatit be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Very respectfully yours, M. W. STIRLING, Chief. Dr. C: G. ABgort, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. mn vitae Phd he a ik ost y é no vin ‘ say's Ri y* re, pits: ey | ven hy qtyk y Au AN ALVA, hast a x Ouse eth rophd. Va Hiatladl a Ps ibeldifagy ochaih Pe. aie ali ef og » 4 ’ tony a \ ; ne ie, perry ay Dal i¢ ric Ake ie. Ea \ aslo sae } ea ‘ i i% i} \f at CONTENTS Page TERE IE LION See ee Oe NO BOG BURL BTR BORO EMO SIT R | Senersl remarks on the Miskito:--2=!<:=--iseensasta2e222202808_98¢ 12 Reneral-ramarikd Om (ne oun = =< UU FI BPO LE IO BN) TO. 14 Hemnionship ot the Wiskito and Sumus==222=225iicsssie2ees2eease544 16 Hivsigie: Eersonal characteristics >> -22=22+<-=.2222222s=4 22-21 19 rE he eee eran e sO w= = RN Hn aes ein al ee ca ule f wos eS 22 Hadily ornamentation and decoration__-2---22-....2---2 221-2 --.-4.- 24 emit ioMrprOO ye W924 Saat als See Se ol ee Cae 28 ara kina ep ee ER er EE 8 ee Re ss NA ee ee 29 iene IPRS Re 8 ot oa ee ee ee 32 “AT PUTERREERUE TERE Sse She SU 2 MASE SI oA aE = en PoC pe 33 15 cS en nan Sect Se ee ee Ee ek ee 35 LDSASHERECGTH?COViAU S| CYC i ae Mee WO Sag en mF GP a ae Ean | Mae tS aay Pee Oe ee 39 BlersuCLe eeuni Glo TL crue ees es Ws ses rhs ie ol A as A A Lye eo 40 Preteen peee Ae eee NL ee Cal ee ke a 4] SUSDEDeR eral eS RR tr aan Pca We ee a 42 HE REED TSC ES CS SRY Pt Sel es ee oo Te ey CP ee ene 44 A ep eC EU NTT ee te Pd Nhe age 1 a HEE A ce A BS On 46 Miennneteimectotparictelotheys. 4. -F Mise 4 ose ee oe a oe Ds 47 Re rere Ee ees sh. ts. Soa fel A oh ie ae ee oN pa 48 ROTTER ae wh els ee os os Spm ae Pyar 4 Ae 50 CLERIESe [e 72C TPS) 7 S15 9 ga a 52 Pavsertion, snd Canoe making2..-.2. 22822204) 202 2 2 ee ee 54 Womestivabion ofianimals and birds t= s=— == - 2 2-222 t ee ee 57 J Die nn tg 2 & ER a a Mere 60 Fishing and fishing implements- - -------- a ee Ro epee SS eee 65 Hunbnpeandighting. implements... =. 222.2225 22--=-23-22--- 73 JULS: GIES SEL 5 SSeS ee oR ecg anh 02 ee eS CPC Ge Sag oa a a pra, Cai teehee VN ya ee eo 81 Cilmaryarts: Methods of food preparation! *.—.2.02....4.+-.-2.+-2-- 88 Food adjuncts: Narcotics, stimulants, excitants, ete__-__-------------- 91 MiMmerneIited DeVerages oe. 2 2a See 6 2 2 5 Oe ee ee 95 Rimmer MpaDeVCTrACeSe 222 2a 50 os oR ee 98 Government and social organization.....-..+.--.-+=--=--=--- Le Bed eae 101 ime ecrime and its punishment. o2/.-2.-..22.-22--2222222822--4-*- 102 TES 22 DLR ESE = SE Poke) 104 1B e -TPUePh FE stave ee Re See 105 SDL vy NESTS TEENS = aa a Re AN 2 a tS 107 Sifiesreeneningete elu Pee) eee eRe hee eee ee 108 Musical ancdisipnaling instruments.....-22222 22.22.5222 5 222 he el 111 Amusements: Songs, dances, story-telling, games, and sports---- -------- 113 ivgiete: \iseases and their cures 20.52 2looe2e ew ee 118 Religion: Supreme being, tribal heroes, spirits, creation of man, deluge, ITE ESS SOIT a fA Ag I Sls nO eg 126 Superstitious beliefs: Omens, charms, amulets, talismans, ete------~----- 132 Magic and sorcery: Sukya, okuli, spiritist, obeah or voodooisma--_------- 139 vi CONTENTS Page Marriage and sexual life... 22s Ue een ee ee ae 145 Children: Their birth and educationso=: 24-24-22 be 28-8 2 ee 150 Desth.ewnd MOoUrMiIng.... =.= ~.--saeee eee ee eee been oe ce eee 153 Burial customs2.<.= ~~ -~-.~ i. Gee eee eee see a ee eee 155 ihevberestter. >. ou a22- 245. s2h 5 saee pee eee eee ee se eee se a eee 158 shhewtestival of theidead.._22s2 2252S 52 see ees soe eee ee 161 Miscellaneous beliefs regarding fictitious beings said to inhabit the forest andthe water. . ==... sssse eee oe ee cope ee 165 Fables or tales dealing with beasts and birds_...---------------------- 169 FSIOBSATY 2 ==. --=------=- 352 oae = ee ee 171 Bibliography. = .-----..-===_- 45-2 aes = eee ee ee 173 [mde Se on et sb See ee ee ee ee ee ee 179 cae ea ME ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES . a, Net carrying bag made from the fiber of the pita or silk grass plant. Sumu of Rio Patuca. 6, Saddle bag made by the hispanized Sumu OT ATE Ps ee TPR, Gy STNG ee ye at Se ee ce EN A eee eee ec Net eee ea . Four cotton girdles and a piece of cotton cloth to be used in making a hunter’s bag. Sumu of Rio Bocay and Rio Waspuk___-__---__-- . Spindles and spindle whorls. Sumu of Rio Bocay and Rio Waspuk_- . Hammock made from the bast fiber of the sani tree. Miskito of Rio TRALE ee av 0) ye RE NR SS a A CI a IR Coe ie ee ep eA a Decorated calabash vessels. Sumu of upper Rio Grande___--_____- Beadwork. * Miskito andSumu’of Rio Coco_ -2-_=2 22-2222. 22222 Beadwork. Miskito and Sumu of Rio Coco__.---------_._--=.4_- Beadwork. Miskito and Sumu of Rio .Coco_________------------- Model of ‘‘pitpan,”’ a flat-bottomed canoe for river navigation. Model of ‘“‘dori,’’ a keeled canoe for sea and lagoon navigation. Sumu of LOWEL IO) HSCONGICO Saas ore 2 a. eae ee ee ge TEXT FIGURE . Carved rocks from the Kiwras Rapids (Rio Coco)_______________-- Page 50 Woah ie Ly i : iia bait PUT Mocs aa nae at t ne" weeA ent ‘ % , ers 4 Fi an \ an nie bi ans uni) ; enter isc} stil ad? vd abet art alist A a a dae boil ta Jinks eeury afi 16 wits off to andi eit eet vi uly, Me *, 0 Hera did eitisar a sal Mt atead Giles oe ne at) crest ‘oi bx ia it i o & anita al best aduot dots. nodtoo To ase’ a hase pesltyai: 4 10% {x 3d Tp iy Che j : , Vf ssl by OG YET Yo nemo a sed @ ‘7 tie fh yi ; We infest wy bi vehoth ot te uraue? vahrodiw all Dries bine 4 BTS | a a) ey ied 7d swe-edt Yo. shadhit duel ada geod Ghee i M900 ai _0cteda sts) 2B . PosG seh Us nL pik m= omen ee may i) oF oul ne Lond) off teacu hater, . eleeesy deadalay ys N, : ) (ot ea) oF Jo raed baad offal wid Rito i } . PF RS ae oso!) olf Yo cate boa -osleyht aaa hind i. ic sie blll tan ce el LD One ere er. uttolseDA. tea rasa : i Ipbold .coautv onze vis sol coageehamostoul-iak « “, "Ome Oe Lok ; ; : ¥ 1 , ; y ee) EOATTLIG HORT iS aE) RON af hie oa. Far wy we ey Lak Li 0 ETHNOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS OF HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA By Epuarp ConzEemius INTRODUCTION The Miskito and Sumu inhabit the Atlantic side of Honduras and Nicaragua, from Rio Tinto or Black River (lat. 15° 50’ N.) to Rio Punta Gorda (lat. 11° 30’ N.). While the Miskito are found chiefly along the coast the Sumu are an inland tribe and extend westward within a short distance from the settlements of the Spanish-speaking population. Together these two tribes occupy the larger part of the vast region generally known by the name of Mosquito Coast. This territory reaches from Cabo Honduras, near Trujillo, to Rio San Juan, at the Costa Rica boundary; that is, from the eleventh to the sixteenth degree north, an extension of about 550 miles by sea. From Cabo Honduras the coast runs at first in an easterly direction, then south- east as far as Cabo Gracias a Dios, whence it extends nearly due south. Columbus, who discovered the country in 1502, gave the name Costa de Orejas ‘‘Coast of the Ears” to that part situated to the west of Cabo Gracias a Dios. The southern district of the Mosquito Coast became known in those days as Cariay or Cariari, Veragua or Beragua, Castilla del Oro ‘Golden Castile.’”? These names were super- seded by the Spanish-Mexican terms Taguzgalpa and Tologalpa, which stuck practically throughout the colonial period. The -name ‘‘Mosquito Coast”? (Mosquito Territory or Mosquito Shore), employed by the English, has been taken from that of the principal Indian tribe, the Miskito, erroneously called Mosquito; the Spaniards translated it into Mosquitia and Costa de Mosquitos (Costa Mosquita). Many believe that this name has arisen from the numer- ous mosquitoes to be found in the country, while others think that the small islands off the coast, ‘‘which le as thick as mosquitoes,’? may have caused the appellation. OrocrapHy.—The shore of the Mosquito Coast is partly alluvial and partly coralline; to the south of Cabo Gracias a Dios the land is gaining on the sea, but to the north of that cape the reverse appears to be the case. 1 bo BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 In front of the coast, especially from Caratasca Lagoon to Monkey Point, or Punta Mico, are scattered numerous small islands, cays, coral reefs, shoals, and sand banks, which render navigation rather difficult. The land rises gradually from the sea. The transverse ranges, radiating from the principal chain in the interior, form a series of terraces which gradually lessen in elevation until they disappear in the low coastal region. Low hills are met with at about 100 to 150 miles inland. Small isolated hills exist at different points within a short distance from the shore, and at Punta Mico and westward of Iriona spurs of the great central chain extend to the sea. There are no active volcanoes. Earthquakes are not of frequent occurrence and they never do any damage; the heavy thunder occa- sionally conveys the impression that the earth is shaking. HyprocrapHy.—The whole of this area is well watered by numerous streams running nearly parallel to each other; they flow into the Caribbean Sea, or rather into a chain of so-called lagoons or brackish water seas, of which the largest one is that of Caratasca. These water sheets are situated parallel with the coast and are separated from the sea, as well as from each other, by low, narrow, sandy necks of land, called locally ‘‘haulovers,’’ from the custom of dragging the canoes over them. Thanks to this inland water system, canoes may proceed in smooth water, except for short intervals, from Iriona to Bluefields, thus avoiding the dangerous and unpleasant sea voyage during rough weather. : The rivers are in many parts the only means of communication. In the lower part of their course they are navigable for small sailing vessels, flat-bottomed steamboats, and motor boats. Beyond the region of the falls and rapids only small canoes and pitpans may continue, and they with great difficulty. The largest rivers of the Mosquito Coast are the following: Aguan, Tinto, Patuca, Coco (or Wanks), Grande (or Great), Escondido (or Bluefields), and San Juan. During flood times these streams rise tremendously, occasionally as much as 40 feet during a single night. The crumbling banks bring down trees which, sweeping down the rapid current, render navigation dangerous. At places where the banks are low the neighboring country isinundated. These floods disappear as rapidly as they come. Owing to the great variations in level to which these rivers are subject, traffic is stopped or impeded occasionally; during the rainy season on account of the great impetuosity of the water and during the dry season from inadequate draft. In this respect Rio San Juan is an exception, the steadiness of its flow being maintained by the two great lakes of Nicaragua which act like a reservoir, and of which it is the only outlet. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 3 The sediment, trees, logs, and the like, brought down by the rivers are deposited at their mouth at the sea, thus forming dangerous sand banks with only a few feet of water, which can be crossed in safety only by vessels of little draft. These openings into the sea, or bars, as they are called, are much safer when the streams flow first into a lagoon, instead of directly into the sea, for in that case the sediment is deposited in the lagoon. Cuimatre.—The climate of the country is tropical, but it is greatly modified by the configuration of the soil and the prevailing winds. The nights are always cool. The average temperature is about 80° F. (26° C.); the thermometer rarely registers higher than 90° F. (32° C.) or falls below 65° F. (17° C.). January is the coldest month of the year. The country is not as unhealthy as is generally supposed. The old English authors considered it fairly good, and there is no justification for the bad reputation it has now, not only among Europeans and North Americans but also among the Central Americans inhabiting the highlands of the interior or the Pacific slope. Numerous foreigners have lived in the country many years and have retained their health. Unless one is particularly susceptible to malaria or other tropical diseases, no bad effects are liable to attend a prolonged sojourn in the country, provided proper care is taken. The cool sea breeze, which blows almost constantly around the lagoons, renders the air fresh and agreeable. During eight months of the year the east trades blow nearly uninterruptedly and greatly modify the effects of the heat, so that the latter is never suffocating. The great difference from our own climate does not consist so much in the higher temperature recorded as in the absence of really cold weather, which contributes so much to the vigor and “pep” of northern people. From November to February northers may appear on the Nicara- guan coast, but they are not so dangerous to navigation as on the shore of Honduras. During a wet norther the weather is disagreeably cold, but a dry norther is pleasant and invigorating. From the middle of June to the middle of August the Nicaraguan coast is subject to squalls and sudden gusts of wind from the southeast and the south, which are a great danger to seagoing canoes. Revolving storms, commonly called hurricanes, occur occasionally on the coast, but they are never so violent and destructive as in the West Indies or around the Gulf of Mexico. RAINFALL.—One may practically speak of two dry and two wet seasons on the Mosquito Coast. But these seasons are not well defined; the change from the rainy to the dry period, or vice versa, is not as marked as in the interior of Central America or on the Pacific 4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 coast. The rainfall is enormous, especially at San Juan del Norte or Greytown. According to the records of the Nicaragua Canal Co. over 296 inches fell at the latter place in 1890, which makes it perhaps the wettest area in America. The northeast trade winds, which prevail on the Mosquito Coast, become saturated with moisture as they pass over the Caribbean Sea, which is precipitated as they meet the ranges of hills in the interior. Rarely does it rain, however, the whole day long; heavy showers, accompanied by violent winds, pour down enormous quantities of rain, after which the sun makes its appearance again. During the rainy season entire days may pass without a single drop of rain, while, on the other hand, light showers are frequent during the so-called dry season. Roughly speaking, north of Rio Patuca the verano ‘‘summer,”’ or dry season, lasts from the middle of February to the middle of May, and again from the beginning of August to the end of September. The remainder of the year is known as invierno ‘‘winter,” or rainy season. ‘The wettest and most disagreeable month of the year is October. The heavy rains pouring down during this month are known as chubascos among the Ladinos; they correspond to the temporales of the interior and to the tapayagties of the immediate Pacific coast. South of Rio Patuca the rainy season lasts from May to January, with occasional spells of fair weather in September and sometimes also in October. The heaviest rains occur in June and July and are accompanied by thunder and lightning. These thunderstorms disap- pear as quickly as they come and give way to bright sunshine. April is the driest month of the year, but it is never free from numerous light showers. VEGETABLE KINGDOM.—The difference in the rainfall between the two coasts of Central America is manifested in the contrasting aspect of the forests. Under the stimulating influence of the moist climate, which reigns practically throughout the year, the Mosquito Coast maintains an exuberant growth of vegetation and the forests never lose their brilliant evergreen foliage. On the Pacific slope, however, where long periods of drought check vegetative vigor, the forests present during the dry season an autumnal appearance, relieved by green stripes along the rivers. In the latter region may be observed the curious habit, possessed by several unrelated species, of producing flowers and fruits while the tree is entirely leafless. Immediately along the seashore the soil is sandy and there is little vegetation, but it is partly fitted for pastures owing to the annual overflow of the rivers. Beyond this coastal region extends a strip of swampy land, about 15 to 20 miles wide, which is largely unfit for cultivation and is covered with a dense and impenetrable thicket of CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 5 mangroves, reeds, and coarse grasses. Then follows the real tropical forest with very fertile soil, consisting on the surface of vegetable humus. In order to penetrate the forest the hunter has to cut his way through the tangled mass of vines and epiphytes with the aid of his machete. North of Rio Patuca the fertile areas are characterized by the existence of extensive ‘‘cohune ridges,”’ that is, places dotted with the cohune or corozo palm (Aftalea sp.). A great number of other palms are found in this region, but only two of them are cultivated and play an important part in the food supply, the coco palm and the pejivalle. Among the other tree forms characteristic of the forest may be men- tioned the following: Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra Gaertn.), mahogany (Suietenia macrophylla King), Spanish or West Indian cedar (Cedrela sp.), rosewood, rubber tree (Castilla sp.), sapodilla (Sapota zapotilia), lignum vitae or guayacan (Tecoma sp.), Santa Maria or calaba (Calophyllum brasiliense var.), and balsa or corkwood (Ochroma lagopus). Epiphytic orchids are especially numerous and rare varieties are also found. The strong withes or bejucos on the trees are used in basketry and as a tying material. From Rio Tinto to Rio Grande the dense forest is at times inter- rupted by large areas of pine ridges or savannas. ‘These are undu- lating plains covered with gravel or coarse sand, overgrown with grass, myrtaceae, oaks, nances, small fan palms and long leaf or pitch pines. This pine (Pinus tenuifolia Benth.) has its southern limit on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua, a little north of Bluefields Bluff, in latitude 12° 5’ north. Few big trees are to be found in these savan- nas; there is little underbrush, epiphytes and lanas are scarce, and the whole presents a parklike appearance. On the rich alluvial soil on both sides of the streams traversing the savannas grows a dense and luxuriant vegetation resembling the real forest. ANIMAL KINGDOM.—Zoologically the Mosquito Coast belongs to South America rather than to North America. In this sparsely inhabited region may be found a great number of species of animal life. The largest mammals are the tapir and the manatee; the latter is still an important animal of food for the Indians, but it is getting rare now. In the jungle are found such beasts of prey as the jaguar, the puma or cougar, and the ocelot; a black variety of the jaguar is occasionally met with. The howling monkey, the spider monkey, and the white- faced or capuchin monkey are found on the tree tops; the two last- named ones are, together with two species of deer and two species of peccary, the most important food animals of the Indians. Three species of anteaters, many armadillos and opossums, and 2-toed and 3-toed sloths may be met with. Among the rodents may be mentioned the agouti, paca, several species of porcupine, squirrels, 6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 and rabbits. The raccoon, the coati or pisote, the weasel, the skunk, and the kinkajou are met with in the forests and the otter exists in all the streams. Alligators and a small species of crocodile infest the rivers, lagoons, and swamps. Several varieties of river turtles or tortoises occur, while the valued hawk’s bill, the green turtle, and the loggerhead are caught in the sea. The largest lizards are the iguanas, which occur in several eatable varieties. Poisonous and harmless snakes are numerous. Man-eating sharks and sawfishes are found in the sea and in the lower course of the streams. The ‘‘john crow” or turkey buzzard is a useful scavenger. During the winter months many of the common North American birds arrive as immigrants and spend the cold season in this mild climate. Guans, curassows, mountain hens, wild ducks, and pigeons are esteemed as food. Trogons, orioles, toucans, tanagers, macaws, parrots, parra- keets, and humming birds make themselves conspicuous by their plumage or by their song. Flamingos, white egrets, and herons are found chiefly around the lagoons and swamps. The mosquitoes are the propagators of malaria, while red bugs, ticks, cockroaches, jiggers, sandflies, and screw worms are largely responsible for the prevailing skin troubles. InHABITANTS.—The humid tropical climate, combined with the jungle vegetation, have retarded settlement and the building up of a dense population. The bulk of the inhabitants of the Mosquito Coast are found along the seashore and on the lower part of the larger rivers. Besides the Miskito and Sumu, with whom the present monograph will deal, two other Indian tribes inhabit the Mosquito Coast, the Paya and Rama. The former live in Honduras between Rio Patuca and Rio Sico. Their number is estimated at about 700 and they are dying out rapidly (vide Conzemius, b). The Rama tribe, the bulk of which lives on Rama Key in Bluefields Lagoon, numbers only about 200. Its language is of Chibcha stock and is closely allied to those spoken by the aborigines of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and northern Ecuador (vide Conzemius, c). The western portion of the Mosquito Coast was formerly occupied by the Matagalpa, whose language has been extinct for nearly half a century; a dialect of it is still spoken to this day in the villages of Cacaopera and Lislique (Salvador). A number of other tribes have been reported from the country under consideration in former days, but as they have been extinct for some time it has been impossible to classify them. Some of the tribal designations applied by the early authors are merely derived from the rivers upon which the tribes lived. From Rio Tinto northward along the sea and lagoons live the so-called Black Carib or Garif. These are the descendants of the CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS % unfortunate‘ aborigines of St. Vincent, one of the Leeward Islands, whom the British Government deported in 1796 to Ruatan Island in the Bay of Honduras. They have also formed several small settle- ments at Pearl Lagoon (Nicaragua). The Garif are an offspring of the Carib Indians who inhabited the Lesser Antilles at the time of dis- covery, and already during the seventeenth century intermarried with runaway Negro slaves. They still speak the language of their ances- tors from the West Indies and have retained many original Indian customs. They appear to be increasing in number and are estimated at about 15,000, of whom 3,500 live within the boundaries of the Mosquito Coast; the remainder are found all along the Atlantic shore of Central America as far north as Stann Creek in British Honduras.! Around Bluefields, Pearl Lagoon, San Juan del Norte, and the islands Corn, San Andreas, and Providencia a large share of the inhabitants are so-called ‘‘Creoles.’”’ 'These are the descendants of the Negroes and Mulattoes brought as slaves from Jamaica by the English settlers during the eighteenth century. They intermarried with Miskito and Rama Indians and speak the English language. The Creoles practically all belong to the Moravian Church; they are thrifty and law-abiding, very polite, and respectful to strangers, and less noisy and boisterous than the West Indian Negroes who have emi- grated to the Mosquito Coast in recent years. Negroes and Mulattoes are found scattered in the country. They are chiefly of English speech and have arrived lately from Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the Bay Islands, and British Honduras. There may be found also a few “‘Patois,’”’ that is French-speaking Negroes from Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Santa Lucia, and Dominica, besides some Spanish-speaking Negroes from the interior of Central America or from the coasts of Colombia. The Negro is very strong and robust and endures with ease the moist climate of the coast, but morally he compares very unfavorably with the Creole. He is idle, servile, sensual, weak willed, and content with little; he will not resent bad treatment and injustices are soon forgotten. He loves luxury and extravagance and every species of vain, outer show attracts him. When the Mosquito Coast was still a British protectorate, that is up to 1860, a very few Ladinos, or Spanish-speaking Central Americans, could be found there. Locally they are generally called “‘Spaniards,”’ but they are largely of Indian extraction with only a very slight admixture of Spanish blood. They arrived chiefly as rubber bleeders and gold seekers, and lately as Government officials. Since the incorporation of the Mosquito Reservation into the Republic of Nicaragua (1894) their number has rapidly increased; they are particularly numerous at Bluefields and at the Pispis mining district, but may be found scattered throughout the country. The Ladinos 1 Vide E. Conzemius, Ethnographical Notes on the Black Carib (Garif). American Anthropologist, April-June, 1928, vol. 30, pp. 183-205. 8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 are somewhat quarrelsome, especially when they are under the influ- ence of intoxicating drinks, but they are very hospitable and polite to strangers. The creation of the mining and banana-raising industry has brought to the country an ever-increasing number of North Americans and Europeans. Chinese and Syrians are active as shopkeepers. History.—Columbus discovered the country in 1502, during his fourth and last voyage to the New World, when he proceeded along the Atlantic coast of Central America from Trujillo in Honduras to Nombre de Dios in Panama. In the course of the following years several attempts were made by the Spaniards to take possession of the Mosquito Coast, but the natives resisted and were able to maintain their independence. The Spaniards were chiefly in quest of loot, and as the Indians gave them much trouble, and no gold was found in their country, they centered their energies upon the Pacific coast. Later the English from Jamaica entered into friendly and commer- cial relations with the Miskito Indians, and gradually established a protectorate over the country. British traders arrived frequently on the coast, and later garrisons were introduced from Jamaica. ‘In 1786, by virtue of a treaty celebrated with Spain, Great Britain agreed to evacuate the country, and to recognize the sovereignty of the King of Spain over it. But the Spaniards were unable to maintain a foothold there, owing to the hostilities of the Indians worked up by a number of the English settlers who had refused to leave the coast. Spanish power in America was already on the decline in those days and in 1821 the States of Central America declared their independence. Gradually the English authorities from Jamaica renewed their old friendly relations with the Miskito. The son of one of the principal chiefs was crowned solemnly at Belize (British Honduras) and the protectorate was reestablished. The Mosquito Kingdom or Kingdom of Mosquitia was claimed in those days by the English to include the whole Atlantic coast of Central America from Chiriqui Lagoon (latitude 9° N.) to Cabo Honduras, that is a coast line of about 700 miles. The western limit was not well defined, but was said to be formed by the first Spanish settlements in the interior. The Corn Islands and the numerous smaller islands and keys, situated off the coast, were also under the jurisdiction of the Mosquito King. The larger islands, Providencia, Santa Catalina, and San Andreas, were administered, however, by the authorities of Nueva Granada (Colombia), although they belong geographically to the Mosquito Coast. In 1847 the claims of the British were limited to the territory between Cabo Honduras and Rio San Juan, and over this region the King, or rather his British advisers, exercised jurisdiction until 1860. The boundaries between the Mosquito Coast and the Republics of CONZEMIUS]) THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 9 Honduras and Nicaragua had never been fixed; the two last named never recognized the existence of a Mosquito nation, but their effective jurisdiction did not extend to the east of an irregular line reaching from the eighty-third to the eighty-sixth degree west of Greenwich. In those days the project of an interoceanic canal through the Isthmus of Nicaragua was occupying the principal maritime nations of Europe and the United States as well. The latter country had never viewed with favor the continual encroachments of Great Britain upon Central America. But when the English in 1848 took forceful possession of San Juan del Norte, the Atlantic terminus of the pro- jected canal, the North American Republic openly took sides with Honduras and Nicaragua. Pressure from the United States forced England to sign in 1859 and 1860 treaties with Honduras and Nica- ragua, by virtue of which the Mosquito Coast was recognized as part of the two Central American republics. The part of the country situated between Rio Hueso on the north and Rio Punta Gorda on the south and extending inland to 84° 15’ W., was, however, made into a reservation wherein the aborigines were to be allowed a certain autonomy. At the head of this reserva- tion was the King, whose title was now changed to that of ‘‘Chief”’ . (Jefe). Most of the Indians, Miskito as well as Sumu, were not living within the boundaries of this newly created territory. The govern- ment of the latter was chiefly in the hands of native English-speaking “Creoles” or Jamaican immigrants. These were strongly opposed to Nicaraguan influence. The authorities of the reservation were con- stantly at odds with those of Managua, and the sovereignty of the Republic was only nominal. In 1881 some of the arising disputes were submitted for arbitration to the Emperor of Austria. Finally in 1894 Zelaya, President of Nicaragua, forcefully took possession of the Mosquito Reservation and ousted the local authorities; the country was then incorporated in the Republic as the Departamento de Zelaya (now Departamento de Bluefields). SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION OF THE Mosauritro Coast.—Columbus sailed along the Mosquito Coast from north to south in 1502, but he appears not to have come in contact with either Miskito or Sumu. Between the years 1513 and 1529 the versatile historiographer of the Indies, Gonzalo Fernéndez de Oviedo (1478-1557), spent some time on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. His great work, which was not published completely until 1851-1855, deals, however, almost exclusively with the Nicarao and Chorotega as far as Nicaragua is concerned, and only a few vague statements refer to the ‘“‘Chontales,’”’ a general designation under which the primitive tribes of the Atlantic coast were known in those days. Benzoni, Cas- tafieda, Andagoya, Garcia Palacios, and Motolinia all personally 66787—32——2 10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 visited Nicaragua or Honduras, but the rude Atlantic tribes were entirely ignored by them, just as they were by the other celebrated chroniclers, G6mara, Herrera, and Torquemada. A few ethnographical details pertaining to the Indians of Rio Patuca (Sumu or Paya) have been left by the Franciscan missionary Espino, who remained in that region from May, 1667, until the beginning of 1668. The author of the first famous work on the buccaneers, A. O. Exquemelin (name corrupted by the English into Esquemeling and by the French into Oexmelin), who came as an engagé to the West Indies in 1666, visited the Mosquito Coast in 1671 or 1672. He had joined the buccaneers in those days and among them appears to have per- formed the functions of barber-surgeon. In this capacity he accom- panied Morgan on his famous raid on Panama in 1671. From the latter place his vessel sailed northward along the Atlantic shore of Central America, stopping at Bluefields Lagoon where the buccaneers were attacked by Sumu Indians. The vessel then stopped for some time at Cabo Gracias. EExquemelin’s work was published in Dutch in Amsterdam in 1678. It was translated in German (1679), Spanish (1681), English (1684), and French (1686). Numerous editions have appeared since in many languages, and the book forms the basis of practically all the popular accounts of the seventeenth century buccaneer captains. The translations have appeared with serious additions, omissions, and alterations, each translator having been endeavoring to present his own country in the most advantageous light. The French translations especially contain additions of other French buccaneers not mentioned in the Dutch original, while the English editions glorify particularly the sack of Panama by Morgan. Exquemelin’s work gives some very interesting accounts regarding the Miskito of Cabo Gracias a Dios. The famous English navigator, William Dampier, who was born in 1652 as the son of a Somersetshire farmer, sailed to the West Indies in his youth. From 1675 to 1678 he was active as logwood cutter in Campeche and in 1680 he joined the buccaneers. In later years Dampier became very celebrated. On board a buccaneer vessel he visited Bluefields Lagoon and the Corn Islands, which enabled him to give us a few ethnographical details regarding the aborigines (Sumu) of those parts and the Miskito of Cabo Gracias a Dios. Dampier’s great work, A New Voyage Round the World, which appeared in London in 1697, had a tremendous success and within a few years a great number of editions appeared in English, French, German, Dutch, and other languages. The Parisian buccaneer, Raveneau de Lussan, a well-educated nobleman, who joined the buccaneers at Santo Domingo in 1684, is the author of a book (Journal du Voyage, etc., Paris, 1689) on the exploits CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 11 of the French and English adventurers in the Pacific Ocean from March, 1685, to December, 1687. Being pursued by superior Spanish forces, these buccaneers abandoned their vessel in the Gulf of Fonseca and walked to the upper course of Rio Coco, down which they descended in rafts to the Miskito settlements around Cabo Gracias a Dios. The great naturalist, Sir Hans Sloane, has also left us a few details pertaining to the Miskito whom he had met in Jamaica. On the arrival of each new governor of that island the Miskito King came over to Jamaica with a number of his men, as he had a commission from the governor. Sloane had thus occasion to meet these Indians in 1688 and again in 1725. But the most detailed account of the aborigines of the Mosquito Coast, written in early days, is that of an Englishman, probably a former buccaneer, who signs merely ‘“M. W.” (The Mosqueto Indian and His Golden River). He had an intimate knowledge of the Mis- kito and also gives some details pertaining to the Sumu. Over 100 years passed until another careful observer has left us an account of the Indian tribes under consideration. Orlando W. Roberts was active as a trader on the eastern coast of Central America from the Gulf of Darien to the Bay of Honduras (1816-1823). He refers chiefly to the tribe of the Miskito. During the years 1839 to 1842 Thomas Young was living around Rio Tinto. He was deputy superintendent of the British Central America Land Co., which was endeavoring to colonize that part of the Mosquito Coast. Young had an intimate knowledge of the various tribes of Indians as they really were in those days. From June to August, 1844, a commission of three Germans (Messrs. Fellechner, Miller and Hesse) was looking over the coastal region of Honduras between Cabo Gracias a Dios and Rio Patuca in order to determine the advisability of establishing a German colony there. Another German, Julius Frébel, who was compelled to leave his native country as a result of the political events of 1848, spent some time in 1850 and 1851 around the great lake region of Nicaragua and on the upper Rio Escondido among the Ulwa Indians. For much valuable information pertaining to the Miskito and Sumu we are indebted to three Englishmen who came to the country in the following years. The most important one among them is Charles Bell, who lived in the country during his youth, from 1846 to 1862, his father being attached to the government of the ‘‘ King- dom.”’ He had a very intimate knowledge of that part of the country situated to the south of Rio Coco. Between 1863 and 1868 John Collinson, a civil engineer, made two voyages to the Mosquito Coast, being employed by Commander Pim to survey from Lake Nicaragua 12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 to Punta Gorda for a proposed railway. The naturalist H. A. Wick- ham lived in Nicaragua (Rio Escondido and Pearl Lagoon) from October, 1867, to June, 1868, in order to collect birds. His ethno- graphical notes pertaining to the Ulwa are of great interest. A few years later the French mining engineer, Paul Lévy, traveled on the Mosquito Coast to carry on researches for the Government of Nicaragua. Among the minor contributors to the ethnology of the Mosquito Coast of the nineteenth century are the following: Bovallius, the Swedish zoologist (1881-1883); K. von Girsewald (1892), who spent six months in the gold regions of Pispis; Bruno Mierisch, the government engineer of Nicaragua, who explored the gold regions between Rio Coco and Rio Grande in 1892 and 1893. In 1900 the celebrated German traveler, Dr. Karl Sapper, who is intimately acquainted with Central America, visited the Miskito and the Sumu living on and about Rio Bocay. The ethnographical specimens collected by him are in the Stuttgart Museum. A collection of ethnographical and archeological material obtained by Doctor Neuhaus around Rio Escondido about this same period is in the Museum fiir Voélkerkunde (Berlin). The German linguist, Walter Lehmann, also investigated these tribes in the course of his voyage to Central America (1907-1909), but unfortunately the ethnographical part of his studies has not yet appeared. The Honduran school- teacher, Francisco Martinez, also collected interesting ethnological data during his stay at the Sumu village Guampt on Rio Patuca (1916-17). Unfortunately his various contributions have all appeared in local newspapers and reviews of very difficult access. Finally mention must also be made of the work done by several Moravian missionaries, especially Heath, Grossmann, Reichel, Martin, Ziock, and Sieborger. The books by Schneider and Brindeau are based nearly exclusively upon the investigations of these missionaries. Since the war the work has been continued by Americans. H. J. Spinden visited Rio Coco and the coast of Nicaragua in 1917-18, and the coast of Honduras in 1923. Dr. A. H. Schultz, of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, carried on some anthropological studies on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, examining 25 Rama and 12 Sumu Indians. During the same year (1924) D. E. Harrower, of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, was collecting ethnological specimens during two months among the Miskito, Sumu, and Rama. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE MISKITO The Miskito are estimated at about 15,000, which number exceeds that of all the other Indian tribes of the Mosquito Coast combined. They are largely mixed with Negroes, for which reason the Spaniards have called them ‘“‘Zambos,”’ meaning Negro and Indian half-breed, a name which is appropriate. CONZEMLIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 13 The Miskito readily intermarry with foreigners. They assimilate all races; the children always speak the language of the mother and grow up as Miskito, whether the father be ‘Creole,’ ‘‘Ladino,”’ Carib, Negro, Sumu, Rama, Paya, North American, European, Syrian, or Chinaman. The villages between Wounta and Rio Hueso show this phenomenon to perfection. (Heath, a:50.) Consequently the pure Indian tribes, as the Sumu, Paya, and Rama, are rapidly diminishing in numbers, whereas the Miskito, owing to the influx of fresh blood, are holding their own. In spite of the fact that the Miskito have been since the seventeenth century in contact with buccaneers, British traders, and settlers, mahogany cutters, rubber bleeders, and Moravian missionaries, they have not changed considerably in their mode of life. Their tribal name appears first in the works of the piratical sea rovers, the English calling them generally ‘‘Moskite”’ and ‘‘Moskito,” and the French ““Moustique” and ‘‘Moustiquais.”’ Exquemelin (Engl. ed.: 250; French ed.: II, 264-265) calculates the number of the Miskito at about 1,500 to 1,700, including 200 Negro slaves. In those days they were divided into two subtribes having but little relation with each other. One of them lived at Cabo Gracias a Dios, the other at Moustique (=Sandy Bay?). The Indians from this latter place occasionally accompanied the buccaneer vessels, the others being less courageous on the sea. Dampier states, however, that the whole tribes comprised less than 100 men (Dampier: I, 7). Raveneau de Lussan (437-438), who writes about the same time, says that the Miskito of Cabo Gracias a Dios and lower Rio Coco were largely mixed with Negroes, while those at Sandy Bay were still pure Indians. In 1699 the Miskito occupied the seacoast from Cabo Camarén in Honduras to about 57 miles south of Brang- mans River (= Wawa River?), where the territory of the Sumu began. The coast line of their territory had an extension of about 285 miles; they had, besides, two settlements on the lower Rio Coco (M. W.: 299). From the details given by the latter author the total population of this tribe numbered close to 1,000. In 1725 the Miskito numbered about 2,000 men altogether and were ruled by three chiefs (Lade). Bell (a: 250), who lived many years in the country, esti- mated the total Indian population of that territory at about 10,000 to 15,000, of which the Miskito numbered nearly one-half. The present writer calculates the total number of this tribe at about 15,000, of which at least one-third live on both banks of Rio Coco as far up as Rio Bocay, that is, 275 to 300 miles from the sea. In the Republic of Honduras, from Rio Coco to Rio Tinto, may be found from 3,000 to 4,000 Miskito, who inhabit the seashore and lagoons as well as the lower Rio Patuca. The remainder of this tribe lives in Nicaragua, from Rio Coco to Pearl Lagoon. 14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 In spite of the distribution of the Miskito over so vast a territory, the dialectical variations of their language are comparatively insig- nificant. Five dialects have been observed by the writer (vide Conzemius, d: 59-64). A small part of the Miskito has kept aloof from admixture with the Negro; these are called Tawira “‘Heavy- haired.’”” Lehmann (c:I, 105, 107, 464) attempts to connect the ancient Chuchures of Panama with the Miskito, but this theory is barely acceptable. These Chuchures are said to have arrived in canoes from Honduras, and they settled in the neighborhood of Nom- bre de Dios. But their number gradually declined owing to disease and they finally disappeared altogether. Many corrupted English words have passed into the speech of the Miskito, while words borrowed from Spanish are much less common. In certain regions, especially on the upper Rio Coco, a large number of Sumu words have been incorporated in the language. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE SUMU Inland from the Miskito, from Rio Patuca to Rio Punta Gorda, live the more primitive Sumu, who speak a related language. They inhabit chiefly the headwaters of the Jarger rivers or the affluents thereof. Owing to close intermarriage and lack of hygienic living conditions they are rapidly diminishing in numbers, and the day of their complete disappearance or absorption by the Miskito does not seem far off. Their total number is estimated at about 3,000 to 3,500. The Sumu are split into different subtribes speaking various dia- lects which are almost mutually intelligible. These are known by the names Twahka, Ulwa, Panamaka, Bawihka, and Kukra (vide Conzemius, d: 64-73). The three first named of these subtribes number about 1,000 each, the Bawihka not more than 150, while the Kukra are practically extinct. The Twahka inhabit the northern section of the Sumu territory and are found on the rivers Patuca (Guampti), Coco (Lakus and lower Waspuk), Wawa and Kukallaya. The Panamaka live on Rio Coco (Bocay and upper Waspuk) and on Rio Prinsapolca, while 2 For the pronunciation of the Indian words the following phonetic system has been used: a, €, 7, 0, u, correspond to the sounds of these vowels in German or Spanish. ai as az in ‘‘aisle.”’ au as ow in ‘‘how.” ov as ot in “‘boil.”’ hm as ng in “‘sing.”’ x as Spanish 7 or German ch in ‘‘ach”’ or Scotch ch in ‘‘loch.”’ y is always a consonant. Nasalization of vowels is indicated by the tilde (~) as in Portuguese. All the other letters have approximately the same value as in English. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 15 the Ulwa inhabit the southern section of the territory in considera- tion, from Rio Grande to Rio Punta Gorda. The Bawihka are limited to Rio Banbana, a large northern affluent of the lower Prinsapoleca. The Miskito call them generally Sumu-sirpi “small Sumu” or by the misleading name Twahka, but among all the Sumu they are known as “Bawihka.” This latter name is not mentioned by Lehmann, the latest investigator into the languages of Central America. The Bawihka were formerly also found on the Wawa and Kukallaya, but they were expelled from these regions by the Twahka, and then settled on Rio Banbana. Most of them are living at the village Wasakin (was-sa-kii), “Rocks of the black water.”’ The Kukra formerly occupied the coast and shores of the lagoons from Rio Grande to the southern extremity of Bluefields Lagoon. They have always refused all intercourse with the Miskito and the foreigners, but occasionally communicated with the neighboring Ulwa for trading purposes. Toward the middle of the nineteenth century some rubber cutters ventured into their territory, and at Kukra Hill, northwest of Bluefields, they captured a few Indians who wore nothing but a loincloth of white tunu and a collar of shells and animal teeth. They were taken to Bluefields, but died soon afterwards. After this incursion into their country the remaining Indians went inland to the Rio Siquia, where they apparently be- came absorbed by their kindred, the Ulwa. At Pearl Lagoon may be met a few Miskito who are mixed with Kukra. Other Sumu subtribes, which are already extinct now, are the Yusku (Yosko), Prinsu, Boa, Silam, and Ku. The Yusku lived on the rivers Tuma and Bocay; they are said to have been very bad and were exterminated by the other Sumu in the course of prolonged wars. The Prinsu lived on Rio Prinsapolca, which owes its name to them. They intermarried with the Miskito and the offspring be- came known as Jufla or Tongula who formed a separate tribe speak- ing a corrupted Miskito but retained many Sumu customs. The Boa lived on the headwaters of Rio Grande, while the Silam and Ku lived along the Waspuk River. The Spanish historians of the sixteenth century included the Sumu under the general term “‘Chontal” or ‘‘Chondal,” a Mexican word which means merely “stranger,” “‘foreigner,’”’ and was applied by the Nahuatl to any primitive tribe. In later documents the Sumu are mentioned as ‘‘Caribes,” ‘‘Chatos,” ‘ Albatuinas”’ (from the Miskito Albawina) and by a number of other names. To-day the whole group is generally known by the Miskito designations “Sumu” or “Smu,’’ which have already been used by Bell and Wickham. Some writers have mentioned the whole group under the names Twahka and Ulwa, which, properly speaking, should be 16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 restricted to two subtribes thereof. Lehmann’s classification of the Sumu tribes is likewise unsatisfactory. With the word “Sumu” we have a convenient name for the whole of these various dialects; its use will avoid the sad confusion met with still in the recent litera- ture. All the male Sumu either know Miskito or Spanish (or even both), depending upon their proximity to Miskito or Ladino settlements. A few of them know a little English. Hardly any of the women are, however, able to speak a foreign tongue. Through Miskito many corrupted English words have passed into their speech, while words borrowed from Spanish are not so common. RELATIONSHIP OF THE MISKITO AND SUMU ‘The relationship of the Miskito with the Sumu has already been established from linguistic evidence (Lehmann, b: 714-720) and is reenforced by a survey of the ethnology of the two tribes. In this connection the following Sumu tradition, which points toward a common origin, will be interesting. It was recorded in 1904 at Alami-kafitban (Rio Prinsapolea) from a Sumu named Frederick, by the Rev. G. R. Heath, a Moravian missionary, who resided many years on the Mosquito Coast. The latter communicated it to Leh- mann, who published it in 1910 (b: 717-718). This version was later reproduced by Joyce (9-10) and by Alexander (185-186): At Kaunapa Hill, on the left bank of Rio Patuca, a few miles below the mouth of Rio Guampt, there is a rock bearing the sign of a human umbilical cord, and from which were born the tribal ancestors, a Great Father (Mdi-sahana ‘“‘he who begot us’’)* and a Great Mother ([twana or Itok1).4 The Miskito and the Sumu are the descendants of these two primal ancestors. The first born were the Miskito who, disobedient and headstrong, as they are still to-day, cared little for the instructions of their ancestors and ran away to the seacoast. Then the Twahka or Tawahka were born, who consider themselves to this day the nobility among the Sumu.® Then followed the Yusku, who turned to evil ways; for that reason the other tribes made war upon them and almost exterminated them. The youngest, the Ulwa, being according to the Indian custom the favorites, profited to such an extent by the instructions of the tribal ancestors that they became especially skilled in the secrets of medicine and incantation and won the name of Boa, ‘‘enchanters.”’ ® 8 Wan-bdikan in the Miskito language. 4 Yapti-misri, ‘‘Mother Scorpion,” or Yapti-tara, ‘‘Great Mother,” in the language of the Miskito. 5 In Miskito the word tawakya means, however, “‘firstborn” and the parents thus call their first child. 6 Lehmann (b: 717) says erroneously ‘‘Singers,’’ and this error is copied by Joyce (10) and Alexander (185-186). According to my own informants the Boa were a subtribe of the Sumu differing from the Ulwa. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 17 Meanwhile the Twahka lived in the bush. They were wild and unkempt; their hair fell to their knees and they were full of lice. Finally the King of the Miskito sent for them and captured them; he had them washed and altogether regenerated them, so that he won their love and obtained their support.’ The language of the Miskito is closely allied to that of the Sumu, but it also contains many foreign words. Itis very probable that the Miskito were originally a subtribe of the Sumu, and that they have become greatly modified in the course of the centuries through inter- marriage with Negroes, Europeans, and other Indian tribes. Already in 1875, at a time when the relationship of the Miskito and Sumu languages was still unknown, Ztifiiga Echenique (209) considered the Miskito as the offspring of fugitive slaves with Twahka women. Of the various Sumu subtribes still existing, the Bawihka is the one which linguistically and ethnographically presents the greatest affinity to the Miskito. The Bawihka formerly occupied the region imme- diately adjoining the coast line where the Miskito were met with by the first Europeans during the latter part of the seventeenth century. These facts induce me to believe that the hybrid tribe of the Miskito owes its origin to the intermarriage of the Bawihka with the Negroes escaped from the slave ship which was wrecked to the south of Cabo Gracias a Dios in 1641. These Africans arrived on a Portuguese slave ship captained by Lourencgo Gramalxo. The vessel had taken its black cargo on board while anchoring at the Guinea Coast, and then headed for Brazil. While on the high seas the Negroes revolted and made themselves masters of the ship. Not knowing anything about the art of naviga- tion they allowed their vessel to be carried by the trade wind and ocean currents toward the coast of Central America, where it became wrecked on the Mosquito Keys, situated a little south of Cabo Gracias a Dios. The Negroes, who were able to reach the mainland, were captured by the Indians and reduced to slavery. They were, however, allowed to intermarry with their masters, and their children grew up as free members of the tribe. (Vide Peralta, b: 57-58, 121; Exquemelin, French ed.: I], 276-277; Edwards: V, 210; M. W.: 303, 307.) Henderson (216) states, however, that these Africans proceeded from the Samba country in West Africa and that their vessel was Dutch. This is repeated by Roberts (153), Young (71-72) and De Kalb (27). The last named author further specifies that the vessel in question was wrecked in 1650 and that the Africans proceeded from Samba Island at the mouth of the Cassiri River in Senegambia. Bell (b: 3) likewise considered the vessel as Dutch and says that it was wrecked near Dakuna at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This date is, however, incorrect. 7 The addition regarding the Miskito King is of recent date. No mention is made of the other Sumu subtribes, as the Panamaka, Bawihka, or Kukra. 18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 On the other hand, Santaella Melgarejo, in a report dated Guate- mala, April 3, 1715 (Peralta, b: 78-80), states that the vessel in ques- tion was English and that it was wrecked in 1652 on the Cajones or Tiburones Keys to the east of Cabo Gracias a Dios. Fearing the Indians from the mainland, the Negroes settled at first at some keys south of the mentioned Cajones (undoubtedly the Mosquito Keys), and once friendly relations were established with the natives, they established themselves at Cabo Gracias a Dios. Again it is said that the vessel in question was Spanish and bound for Cuba (Raveneau de Lussan: 437-438; Heath, a: 51). Our source material pertaining to the origin of these slaves is there- fore very meager and contradictory. According to a report of Fray Benito Garret y Arlové, dated November 30, 1711 (Peralta, b: 57), one of these Africans, an old man named Juan Ramén, who lived in Granada (Nicaragua) related that about one-third of his countrymen were captured by the Indians and reduced to slavery. ‘The others took to the bush, whence they carried on a crude warfare with the aborigines, who were finally compelled to retreat toward the interior. About 1672 the number of these African slaves held by the Miskito was estimated at about 200; in those days they had already adopted the language and customs of the Indians (Exquemelin, Fr. ed.: II, 276-277). : As a result of the above, the Miskito from Cabo Gracias a Dios to Sandy Bay had already a large admixture of African blood toward the end of the seventeenth century. In the course of time refugee slaves from the English settlements and more recent immigration of Negroes and Mulattoes (chiefly from the West Indies) have contributed to the spreading of the African type, so that to-day Negro characteristics may be observed in almost every village. One of the subtribes of the Miskito, the Taéwira who live a short distance inland, from Sandy Bay to Wawa River, however, have refused to mingle their blood with that of the Africans. It is only in recent years that they have begun to intermarry with the mixed Miskito, especially with new- comers from Rio Coco, so that soon a Miskito of pure Indian blood will be a thing of the past. We do not know to what extent these African slaves have influenced the original language of the Miskito, for such researches would entail exhaustive comparative studies with the surrounding Indian lan- guages (Sumu, Paya, Rama), with the Creole dialects of the West Indies, and the languages of the Guinea Coast. The vowel scale is exactly the same as in the Jamaican Creole dialect; several of the peculiar phrases of everyday life are found literally translated into English in Jamaica (Heath, a: 51). We are also indebted to Mr. Heath for a Miskito migration legend which is said to have been given out as authentic by Eduardo Pereira, conzEMivs] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 19 a descendant of the Miskito royal family. (Heath, a: 49; Lehmann, b: 715-716; Joyce: 8-9.) The present writer has, however, little faith in its exactitude, and such is also the opinion of the various older Indians he consulted about it.® In former days the Miskito were called Kiribi 1° and lived on the narrow isthmus between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean, a territory which the Nicarao occupied at the arrival of the Spaniards. Late in the tenth century this country was invaded by a tribe of immigrants from the north (probably the Nicarao) and eventually, after a long struggle, the Miskito were compelled to leave their old home and retreat to the eastern shore of Lake Nicaragua. Here they resided for nearly a century, but finally, again under foreign pressure, this time exercised probably by the Sumu or Matagalpa, they migrated to the Atlantic shore. Believing that they had now found a safe home, they gave themselves the name of Dis-kitwras-nani, ‘‘they who can not be dis- lodged,”’ which was corrupted into Miskito. At the time of their migration to the Atlantic their leader was a sort of culture hero, named Wakna, whose son Lakyatara ‘‘Evening Star’’ conquered the whole coast from Honduras to Costa Rica. While Wakna was still alive disputes arose among the Miskito chiefs. A rebellion, headed by Wialandin,!! was defeated; its leader was imprisoned, and 300 of his partisans were,execut ed. PHYSIQUE: PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS GENERAL.—The Sumu differ naturally in many points in physique from the Negro-mixed Miskito, but there are also certain slight dissimilarities between them and the pure Miskito or Tawira. The latter are, as a rule, well built and of middle height, whereas the Sumu are rather thickset and low in stature. According to Schultz (67) the Sumu from Rio Prinsapolca measure from 1.427 m. to 1.68 m. with 1.5816 m. as an average.” Both tribes are sturdy, heavy muscled, proportionally broad shouldered, and have deep chests. The arms are well developed in comparison to the legs. As both of these tribes are essentially canoe men, passing most of their time in a cramped position in small boats, they lack the well-developed leg muscles of the ‘‘civilized”’ Indians of the interior. Cotor.—The Sumu are of fairer complexion than all the other Indian tribes of this part of Central America, not excluding the so-called pure Miskito or Tawira. 8 The father of Mr. Pereira was a Mexican; his mother was the daughter of a Scotchman named Haly and an Indian woman of the Miskito royal family. 9 Pereira, besides, denies having given out this version, and claims to be in possession of the correct account. 10 This name has an alluring similarity to Corobici, under which name the early Spanish historians of Central America mention an Indian tribe which lived formerly in northwestern Costa Rica to the south of Lake Nicaragua. 11 Compare waila ‘‘enemy”’ in the Miskito language. 2 The anthropological measurements by Schultz, quoted in this study, were taken on 12 Sumu from Rio Prinsapolea and 25 Rama from Rama Key, all males. 20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 SACRAL PIGMENT spoT.—The “Oriental mark’? (Mongolen-Fleck) is met with among all these tribes during early infancy. It consists of a bluish-gray spot found in the sacral region, which gradually disap- pears in adult life. The Indians pay no attention to it and most of them do not even know of its existence. CEPHALIC INDEX.—The Sumu are on the average hyperbrachy- cephalic, that is, they have exceedingly broad heads. The cephalic index, which is obtained by dividing the breadth of the head by its length and multiplying the result by 100, was found to be 89.48 according to Schultz (71-72). This high figure is surpassed by few American tribes. It may be the result of artificial deformation, since this practice was formerly current among the Sumu. MoRPHOLOGICAL FACE INDEX.—The Sumu are on the average mesoprosopic, that is, they have proportionally narrow faces; Schultz (72) found a face index of 84.82 among this tribe living on Rio Prinsa- polea, while among the Rama the figure was higher (85.20). Nose.—The nose of both Miskito and Sumu is relatively large; the profile is slightly con®ex among most of pure-blooded Indians. The nasal index is, on the average, very low among the Sumu, the range of variation extending from 66.0 to 83.3, with 73.76 as an average (Schultz: 74). This tribe is therefore mesorrhinic; the Rama, how- ever, have even a narrower nose and are classed as leptorrhinic, the index ranging from 57.6 to 75.9 with an average of 65.96, a rather unusually low figure for American Indians. Kars.—The Indians of the Mosquito Coast have relatively narrow ears, the physiognomic ear index averaging 54.09 among the Sumu; those of the Rama are still narrower with an average ear index of only 52.64 (Schultz: 75). EKyes.—The large brilliant eyes are so dark brown that they appear black to the casual observer. In both Miskito and Sumu they are horizontal, but those of their northern neighbors, the Paya, have a slight Mongoloid tilt. Lips anp cu1n.—The lips are full, but not thick, among the Sumu and the pure-blooded Miskito, while the chin is generally ‘“‘receding”’; a prominent chin occurs rarely. Hanps AND FEET.—The hands are small as compared with Whites and Negroes. In most individuals the annularis is shghtly longer than the index finger; the reverse is apparently never the case. The little finger is relatively very small and stands inside of the direction of the ulnar edge of the palm, as if it had been crowded toward the fourth finger. The smallness and position of this finger is not an inherited racial character, but the direct result of the narrow paddle 13 Boas, quoted by R. Martin (Lehrbuch der Anthropologie, Jena, 1914) found an average cephalic index in Wichita Indians (Oklahoma) of both sexes of 89.5 and one of 89.7 in male California Indians. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 21 handles.1* These conditions are not yet apparent on the hands of children. Harr.—All these Indians have an abundance of hair growth extending very low over the forehead, but it is very scarce on the other parts of the body. The hair is usually black, and very straight and coarse, but occasionally hair with very long low waves may be met with among the pure Indians. Gray and white hair occurs sometimes but not by far as frequently as among the white race. Baldness is practically unknown. Beard growth is very scarce, while chest hair is totally absent among the pure Indians. Lonceviry.—There are no reliable figures to be obtained regarding the age of the older Indians. Very few of them seem to have passed their sixtieth or seventieth birthday; still during the years 1917-1922 the writer met a number of Indians who were about 4 to 6 years old at the great eruption of the volcano Cosegiiina on the Bay of Fonseca in 1835. This catastrophe, which was accompanied by great earth- quakes, is still spoken of by these Indians as the ‘“‘Great Darkness” (M.: tihmya-tara; S.: puk-sani, puk-barak);* a thick rain of ashes poured over the coast at the time and the sun was as invisible as at night. Derrormities.—In former days deformed children were not allowed to grow up; they were either buried alive or left to starve. This accounts for the rare cases of deformities encountered among these Indians. Only the strong and healthy being allowed to grow up and produce children, there is little variety of physical and mental develop- ment. Even were such a deformed child allowed to grow up, it would not easily find a mate and would die without leaving any chil- dren behind. In civilized countries deformities are propagated, as such people will find someone to marry them if they have fortune. If an Indian has some deformed limb, either brought with itinto the world or the result of an accident, he will secrete it as much as possible from the sight of other people, as such is considered a great disgrace. It would be an insult to ask him to show it or to even refer to it.’ In case of a dispute among Indians one will immediately pick out the weak points in the personal appearance of his adversary. 14 See the illustration given by Schultz (69). 18 The abbreviations for the tribal names used in the present study are the following: M.= Miskito; S.=Sumu; T.=Twahka; P.= Panamaka; U.= Ulwa. 16 At the Sansan village on Rio Coco the writer knew a Miskito who had lost several fingers on one hand through an accident at the gold mines of Pispis; from that time on he always carried a bandage around the mutilated hand. In the same village a young boy, having lost several toes, was continually wearing a shoe on that foot, although the other foot was always bare. 22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULE. 106 CLOTHING Mern.—The loin cloth, breechcloth, or waistcloth (M.: palpura;™ T., P.: wah; U.: anv) was formerly the only article of dress worn by men on ordinary occasions. It consists of a long, narrow strip of bark cloth, 8 to 9 feet long and 12 to 15 inches wide, which is wrapped several times around the loins, while the ends are left to bang down in front and behind. Occasionally it was made from cotton, and ornamented with colored patterns. The loin cloth has now practi- cally disappeared among the Miskito, being worn only by boys, but it is still in use among the grown-up Sumu. Now all the men from both tribes own loose cotton shirts (M.: prak; S.: parak; from the English ‘‘frock’”’) and trousers (M.: tréusis, from the English; T., P.: kal-anin; U.: kalson, from the Spanish ‘‘calzén’’) with the tails generally not tucked in. They make these articles themselves from imported cloth or they obtain the finished garment by way of trade. Formerly the Sumu used a sort of shirt or poncho, consisting merely of a sheet of tree bark with a hole in the middle for the head; it was tied under each arm with a piece of fiber. This primitive garment was called kahlaw or kahlo by the Sumu; its Miskito name is unknown. When the Indian is in the open at the approach of rain he pulls his shirt off and covers it up with large Heliconia or Musa leaves in order to prevent it from getting wet. Women.—The only garment worn by the more primitive women of both tribes is a wrapper (M.: kwaluntara; T.:ipnapan; P.:ipnapani, asna-pani, amat-pani; U.: asna-pahka), a piece of cloth, 2% to 3 yards in length, which is wrapped about the hips and extends from the waist, where it is fastened by tucking in one end, down to the knees. Now- adays it is made of imported bright-colored cloth, but formerly the common tunu bark cloth was used for this purpose. The upper part of the body was entirely naked in former days, but now the women wear a sleeveless garment of imported cotton goods, which is cut very open and is known by the English name prak (= “‘frock’’) among the Miskito; the Sumu call it kahlaw (T., P.) or kahlo (U.). Little girls wear a sort of loin cloth, as do the boys, but with broad end pieces which look like small aprons in front and behind; this garment is called nika by the Miskito and tatai by the Sumu. DREss OF THE CHIEFS.—Men of rank wore, besides the loin cloth, a sleeveless cotton tunic (M.: wipal;'® S.: kifikura) which hung down to the knees; it was beautifully embroidered with the down of the muscovy duck and dyed by means of vegetable juices. A girdle, sash or belt (M.: yalasawa; S.: bamak-sitna) of the same material was tied around the waist over this sort of mantle; it was about 6 feet long and 6 inches wide. 17 This name is mentioned in 1699 under the form purproy (M. W.: 307, 308). 18 Compare the word “‘huipil’’ in Mexican-Spanish. CONZEMIUS} THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS Ze FrstIvaL press (Misxito).—M.. W. (308) gives us a description of the gala dress of the Miskito which was worn on festal occasions. Besides the loin cloth the men wore cotton bands with bright feathers attached around their wrists and above and below the knees. The body, or the face only, was painted with pinewood charcoal, over which a ‘‘varnish”’ of turpentine was applied. On the breast was a thin plate made of a Spanish dollar piece beaten out flat, the succes- sor of the gold plate met on this coast and in Costa Rica and Panama at the time of Columbus. Between the shoulders was suspended a tube made from ashin bone, with a bunch of feathers, while sea shells depended from the ears. A rod of bone or cane was worn at the pierced septum of the nose; a turtle hook, inserted in a perforation of the lower lip, supported a pendent plate of brass or shell. Nowadays the Miskito wear on feast days old coats which they have obtained from the foreign residents. The bright-colored necktie, worn sometimes without any collar, is then allowed to fall over the coat. The socks, which are not worn on ordinary occasions, are pulled over the trousers like overboots. Bright-colored handker- chiefs (afviksar) are also in great favor. FrEstIVAL pREss (Sumu).—At their festivals the Sumu of to-day paint the entire body red and black, so that it is impossible for them to recognize each other. At such an occasion their only clothing consists of a loin cloth and a headdress (sira). The latter is made from the split stem of a kind of bamboo, known locally by the Miskito name bratara, from which the bark has been taken off. The different slices are painted and then tied together with black cotton thread, and the cap thus formed is ornamented with the feathers from gaily colored birds, as parrots, macaws, and toucans, or the curly head feathers of the curassow. From this headgear depends a piece of ‘‘white tunu” or tree-bark cloth; this part of the cap is called pakna. It is painted with various designs, and hangs down the back to the hips. On the neck, wrist, and knee they wear, besides, strings of beads worked into designs; round the upper part of the arm they tie a cotton string to which small feathers have been attached. Heapgrar.—Many Indians buy hats which are known by the Spanish name ‘‘sombrero”’ (sumruru, sumuru) or the English ‘‘straw hat” (trahat, tarahat). They are little used in their daily occupations and constitute above all an article of ornament. 'To the women the hat is, however, unknown, nor is there any other sort of headgear used by them. Foorgrar.—Sandals are not known in the region under considera- tion, but they are used by the Paya. Moccasins are made occasion- ally by the Miskito, and shoes are bought in the local shops, but there are no native names for these articles. 'The women do not use any footgear at all except in the more advanced communities. 24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 Pruprery.—The sentiment of prudery is natural with these people. Few of them will submit to medical examination and on that account there are few Indians working at the gold mines of Pispis, where every applicant for work is obliged to pass such an examination. DressMAKING.—AIl the various garments were made formerly from tree bark or cotton. Raveneau de Lussan (439) states, how- ever, that the Miskito made also clothing and blankets from a grayish stuff which ‘they obtained from the bastard palm (cabbage palm ?). The clothes (M.: kwala; S.: asna) from imported cotton goods are generally made by the men. Hand sewing machines may be met with in many huts. Needles (M.: silak; T., P.: silip; U.: akusa, from the Spanish ‘“‘aguja’’) are bought in the local shops. The washing of the clothes is, however, the work of the women, who beat them at the river banks with wooden clubs (tamtam); the leaves and the fruits of a small tree (Sapindus saponaria L.; M. &. S.: sniwawa) are used as soap. BODILY ORNAMENTATION AND DECORATION Bopy PAINntiING.—Black and red paint is still applied as an orna- ment, but more frequently the object is to protect the skin from the sting of certain insects, from the rays of the tropical sun, and even the cold. Perhaps originally this was also done in order to scare the enemy at a battle, for the body was painted in a very hideous manner when an armed expedition was being organized. The paint replaces to some extent the Indian’s clothing. The black color is made use of by the men and the red by the women, just as was already the custom among the Miskito during the latter half of the seventeenth century (Exquemelin, Engl. ed.: 252). The reddish pigment, which may vary from yellow to brown, is obtained from the seeds of a shrub or small tree, called annatto (arnotto) and faroah in the British colonies of tropical America, and ‘“‘achote”’ or ‘‘achiote’”’ by the Spaniards; the Dutch in Surinam call it ‘‘orlean,”’ while the French have given it the name ‘‘rocou,” from ruku or uruku, used by certain Indian tribes of Brazil and the Guianas. Its botanical name is Biza orellana L.; the word Biza is derived from the ancient language of Haiti. The seeds are gathered as soon as the capsules split open, and put in boiling water to remove the testa, or waxy substance, surrounding them. This red waxy coloring matter is then passed through a sieve and made to coagulate with the aid of the leaves of the tiswat tree or the seeds from the ‘‘ojo de buey”’ (Mucuna sp.; M.: kwakwa; S.: wabala). It is kept in small calabashes or bottles, which may be seen depending from the rafters of the Indian hut. Before use the pigment is tempered with native vegetable oils. It is applied by CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 25 the women with the aid of small wooden sticks (M.: aulala-dusa; S.: awal-panan) across nose, cheeks, chin, and forehead, in lines, dots, and dashes; sometimes geometrical designs are made. This manner of applying the pigment is by no means hideous; the legs are occa- sionally painted to match the color of the dress. The black paint is used by the men. The Sumu obtain it chiefly from the melted gum of certain trees, as rubber (Castilla sp.), cortés, or auka (Tecoma sp.), or ‘‘tunu,” whereas the Miskito use pinewood soot (M.: alami; S.: dam). Over the latter the Miskito apply a “‘varnish”’ of turpentine (M.: auas-maka; S.: auas-ya), which habit was practiced already toward the end of the seventeenth century (M. W.: 308). The men generally smear the whole of the exposed body parts and never make use of the pretty designs obtained by the women with annatto dye.” ’ Sometimes clays are also used as pigments. In former days it was the work of the woman to paint and anoint her husband every morning previous to his departure for the chase. Now everyone does his own painting and decorating; small looking-glasses for that purpose are in every household. The latter are known by their English name among the Miskito, whereas the Sumu call them waya-tal ‘“‘to see the likeness.” Tattoo.—The embellishment of the countenance with tattoo (M.: rami; S.: tifi-pana, rami) is still common among both tribes. The incisions into the flesh were formerly made with the thorns of certain bromeliaceous plants, flint splinters, agouti claws, or fish teeth; pinewood soot was then rubbed into the wound. Nowadays the flesh is punctured with steel needles and gunpowder is applied in the incisions. The stains are as enduring as a human life. Face, arms, and breast are the body parts which are most frequently tattooed. The designs generally represent geometrical figures and resemble those engraved on calabashes and on river bowlders. At the time of Columbus (1502) a certain tribe living on the coast of Honduras, to the west of Cabo Gracias a Dios, had on arms and bodies ‘“‘figures wrought with fire,’’ representing jaguars, pumas, and castles. Pim and Seemann also state that tattooing by cautery was practiced by the Sumu of Rio Escondido. Necxuiaces.—Necklaces (M.: nana-wilkaya; T., P.: ditmak-sitnin; U.: dakat-sitnaka) of shell beads, quartz, greenstone, fish, and turtle bones, small vertebrae, snails, animal teeth, and seeds from certain plants were formerly in use. It is unknown, however, how these articles were formerly pierced without the aid of European imple- 19 According to Bell (b: 158) the male Sumu from the upper Rio Prinsapolca painted their faces black and red in stripes and diamonds. 66787—32 3 26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 ments. The Sumu also carried the nails and teeth extracted from their unhappy victims (M. W.: 305). The seeds of the “lagrima de San Pedro” (Coix lacryma-jobr L.; M.: tut ma; S.: am mink, am mak) are still in great favor. In modern times such necklaces are nearly always made from small colored glass beads (M.: lilyura; T., P.: ala; U.: tasatka) of foreign manufacture. Bead ornaments are also worn by both sexes around the wrist, at the ankle, and below the knee. On festive occasions the men also put “hatbands” of beadwork around their hats. The Sumu women seldom wear the beads worked in a pretty design, as do the men, but they put the whole “hank” around the neck, just as they buy them in the shops, fastening the ends at the back of the neck. Sometimes they wear such a large quantity of these beads as to hinder them considerably in following their daily occupation. FEATHERWORK.—Feathers from certain bright-colored birds, as parrots, toucans, macaws, curassows, etc., are made into ornaments by attaching them to a string or to a thin vine with the aid of thread from cotton or silk grass fiber. Such ornaments are comparatively rare now; they are seen chiefly at the festival of the dead. ‘The art of the “tapirage”’ (from a native name of the Guianas), or artificial means of obtaining yellow or red plumes from parrots or other birds, as is still done in South America, appears to have been known to the Sumu in former days. For this purpose they used the secretion from the skin of a common greenish-blue frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) with black stripes and spots over the whole body, including the legs, which was rubbed into the skin of the parrot, the subsequently appearing young feathers being yellowish red instead of green. PECTORAL PLATES.—M. W. (308) mentions a thin breastplate worn by the Miskito on festal occasions; it was made of a Spanish dollar piece beaten out flat. Columbus also mentions such gold ornaments which were worn around 1502 on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica and Panama. NoskE AND LIP ORNAMENTS.—The nasal septum was formerly per- forated for the reception of a rod of bone or cane, an ornament which has now entirely disappeared. Dampier (I, 32) describes and depicts a curious cone or bell shaped ornament of turtle shell worn by the Kukra males of Corn Islands in the underlip. During early child- hood the lip of the boy was pierced and the perforation kept open by means of little pegs. When arrived at the age of 14 or 15 (prob- ably at the age of puberty) the boy inserted in the opening an orna- ment of tortoise shell, the under part of which was allowed to hang down over the chin; it was worn the whole day long, but it was taken out at night. About the latter part of the seventeenth century the Miskito wore on the chin a pendent plate of brass or shell, which was supported by a turtle-shell hook inserted in the lower lip (M. W.: 308). CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS va Ear ORNAMENTS.—Formerly the ear lobes of both sexes were pierced for the reception of ear plugs (see under Deformation of body) and pendants were worn at festivals. Nowadays silver crescentic ear- rings (M.: kyama-lula, kyama-dusa, kul-dusa, baprifi; S.: tapana) and finger rings (M.: mat-dittka, mihta-diftka; S.: tinana) are very common. These articles are either bought from foreign traders or from traveling Ladino goldsmiths. Harr.—The men cut their hair short, but occasionally the elder Miskito leave a lock of hair just back of the crown. About the middle of the nineteenth century the Sumu men wore their hair long and tied it in a queue (Bell, b: 158; Collinson, b: 149-150), but now they have it cut fairly short in a straight line just above the eyebrows and as far back as the temples. The women of both tribes cut their hair off just above the eyelashes in order to prevent it from hanging over the face, but on the sides and back it is allowed to hang down freely. Upon the death of a relative they cut it off short and lay it in the grave with the deceased, a practice which formerly was also current among the men at the death of their wives. At the settlement of Cariay, which probably existed in Costa Rica and not on the Mosquito Coast, as many believe, the women wore their hair cut shortin 1502. The men, on the other hand, had it long; the fringe was cut moderately short, while the remainder of the hair was allowed to grow long and was bound up with fillets round the head in braids and rolls. Both sexes devote much attention to their hair and they anoint it frequently in order to render it softer and easier to handle. Their favorite hair oil, known by the Miskito name batana, is obtained from the seeds of the oil palm (Elaeis melanococca). The Sumu also extract the oil from the seeds of various other trees, as the saba (Guarea caoba or Carapa guianensis), the ‘‘eboe’”’ (Coumarouna oleifera), the “‘yari”’ and thesmall huiscoyol palm (Bactris horrida Oerst.); they also buy batana from their neighbors. Nowadays these hair oils are mixed with foreign hair tonics, perfumes, and vaselines, but in former days the Indians added the aromatic rootstock or fruits of certain indigenous plants. Flowers and ribbons are also tied or stuck in the hair by the females. A crude native comb was formerly made by tying together a number of small sticks which tapered to a point at each end. Now only foreign-made combs are seen. Among the Miskito the latter are known by the English word kum, whereas the Sumu have. native names (T.: bas-kus; P., U.: bas-kahna). Exquemelin (Fr. ed.: II, 268-269) states that the Miskito wife used to comb her husband’s hair every morning before the latter went out hunting and fishing. Depitation.—Although the Indians take much pride in an abun- dant growth of hair on the head, they would formerly not allow any 28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 other hair on the face, except that of the eyebrows and eyelids. The growth of beard was not liked and the hair was pulled out with the aid of two small thin sticks, between which they pinched it and plucked it out. A small stick of wood which had been partially split was also used for that purpose. Certain wood ashes were rubbed into the skin to check the growth. Now light beards and mustaches are sometimes met with. DEFORMATION OF BODY Hrap.—Head deformation (M.: lal tanta daukaya; T., P.: tun labanin; U.: tun labanaka) was until quite recently practiced by all the Sumu tribes except the Bawihka. The little child was placed in a sort of cradle (M.: kuhsafi; T.: pala; P., U.: lim), which was sus- pended by means of bast-fiber ropes attached to the roof, so that it could be swung like a hammock. A folding flap of wood or of the “bratara”’ reed at the top of the cradle was tied firmly to the crown of the head, a thick layer of cotton being applied to prevent injury. The infant was kept in sitting position and secured in the cradle in such a manner that it could not move the head at all. From time to time the bandages and the folding flap were removed in order to allow the child a little freedom. The mother suckled her baby with- out unswathing it from the board. The object was to flatten the top of the head, as the ordinary-shaped head was considered ugly. Some Indians told me that they did not lke to have such a round head asa monkey. Grossmann (b: 4) states, however, that the head was flattened in order to adapt it to the broad, flat cap which is worn at festivals. As the Sumu wear the hair hanging square cut to the eyebrows in front, the peculiar flatness of the skull may escape the casual observer. At the present time this practice has been abandoned altogether and the cradles have been replaced by hammocks. The first mention of head deformation among the Sumu appears to have been made by M. W. (304, 305, 307). A short description thereof as practiced by the Ulwa of Rio Escondido is given by Collinson (b: 149-150). The Miskito claim to have never practiced head deformation and they call the Sumu derisively Lal-tanta ‘‘Flat-head,’’ which word corre- sponds to the Spanish ‘‘Chatos’’ found in the old documents. One of the early writers claims, however, to have observed the custom among the Miskito of Sandy Bay in 1709; it is very likely that the Indians in question were Sumu slaves. 20 Estos monstruos de las cabezas chatas tienen la costumbre de entablillarles a las criaturas cuando nacen, y en creciendo les falta la faccién de la frente, sin distancia alguna del pelo de la cabeza a los de las cejas, que les hace imponderable- mente harribles (Alcedo y Herrera: p. xvui1). CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 29 TxrrtH.—Formerly the Sumu used to file or rather chip their teeth to sharp points; this was a laborious process and was performed by placing a dull knife against the back of the tooth, while the front of it was tapped with a stone implement. Ears.—In 1502, on the testimony of Columbus, certain of the coastal tribes living to the west of Cabo Gracias a Dios, whether Miskito or Paya is uncertain, distended their ears to such an extent “that they might put a hen’s egg into them.” This statement is confirmed nearly two centuries later by Exquemelin (Sp. ed.: 185; Engl. ed.: 102; French ed.: I, 294-295), who states that the Indians of Rio Xagua (Rio Aguan) on the coast of Honduras were called by the buccaneers ‘‘Great Ears” on account of their extraordinary and large ears. Dampier (I, 32) also mentions a curious manner of ear deformation current among the Kukra of Corn Islands during the latter half of the seventeenth century. Both sexes from these islands had their ear lobes pierced during childhood; ‘‘by continually stretch- ing with great pegs the opening became as large as a milled five-shilling piece.” They wore therein round, smooth pieces of wood, ‘‘so that their ears seemed to be all wood with a little skin about them.” Lrees.—From the days of early infancy the Sumu females tie a narrow piece of cotton cloth firmly above the ankle and again below the knee. These bands, if ever removed, are immediately replaced by others. As a result of this custom the parts of the legs thus con- stricted are very thin, being hardly thicker than the actual bone, whereas the muscles of the calf bulge out to an abnormal degree. This custom, which was observed already by Dampier (I, 32) among the Kukra of the Corn Islands during the latter half of the seventeenth century, is also current among many Carib tribes of South America. Similar bands are occasionally worn by the females at the wrist and below the elbow, but here they serve merely the purpose of orna- mentation. Various.—Circumcision is said to have been practiced in former days by some of the Sumu tribes, but the writer was unable to obtain any details regarding that custom. Until quite recently the face of the young Sumu was also scarified. DWELLINGS Vittaces.—The villages (M.: tawan, from the English ‘‘town”’; S.: asav) are constructed generally along the waterways, as the sea, lagoons, or rivers, which form the principal means of communication. The Miskito of the lower Rio Coco and of certain parts of the Nicara- gua coast have some large villages with from 100 to 500 inhabitants, but the Sumu settlements consist of only two to six huts and count from 6 to 25 inhabitants. On account of the danger from floods the inland villages are often perched upon high banks of the stream. 30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 Before starting with the construction of a house the Indians cut down all the bush and clear the ground around the site. All the big trees which are liable to endanger the house in case of storms are felled. Refuse is thrown into the water; pigs, dogs, and vultures act to some extent as scavengers. Crude brooms are made from various low shrubs or from the fan-shaped leaves of several species of Acanthor- hiza palms. Typr or HOUSES.—Both tribes construct rectangular dwellings (M.: utla; S.: 0, w), which are generally rounded on the short sides in the shape of a semicircle; in recent years the regular oblong form has become more common. Among the Miskito of Honduras the elliptical and the circular type are also found. BUILDING MATERIAL.—No remains of stone houses have been dis- covered in this area. The dwellings of these primitive tribes are built of perishable material. They consist of four hardwood posts (M.: playa; 8.: kal, rahni) supporting a sharply sloping, well-thatched palm-leaf roof (M.: bahna; S.: tun). The eaves of the latter reach to within 4 feet from the ground, so that one has to stoop in order to get into the interior. In the primitive Sumu hut there were also one or more central posts (M.: masa; S.: tun rahni) which were generally elaborately carved. The posts are generally of ironwood (Dialiwm sp.), sapodilla (Sapota zapotilla Coville) or cortés (Tecoma chrysantha DC.). Several varieties of palms, as the cohune (Attalea cohune), skomphra, col de gallo or suita (Calyptrogyne sarapiquensis), and cafia danta (Geonoma sp.) furnish the leaves for thatching. The latter work is made very carefully and a well-made roof lasts from 6 to 10 years without needing any repair. No nails are employed in the construction of the hut, the various parts being held together with strong lianas. Artic.—Most houses are provided with a sort of cockloft, or rude attic, which is immediately under the roof. It is called tint by both tribes, perhaps after the English “‘tent.’’ It is formed by laying split bamboo across the beams, about 7 feet from the ground. Ascent to it is made by means of a tree-ladder (M.: mina-mafika, yaman- manka; S.: kalana), consisting of a tree trunk wherein notches have been cut. Food is stored in the attic; it is also used as a sleeping apartment. FirepLace.—The fire is made on the leveled mud floor, which is often raised a little to avoid dampness. The hearth (M.: pauta- wihta; T.: kuh-nanati; P.: koh-pani; U.: kuh-suruka) is formed by three logs which are placed so as to form a ‘‘Y”’; they do not quite touch each other, however, but there is a free space between them, where the fire is made. These three logs (M.: pauta yuntk; S.: kuh-karan, koh suru) support the cooking vessels; as the projecting ends burn gradually away, these logs have to be pushed forward coNnzEMIvs] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS - 31 from time to time. There is no chimney in the Indian hut, the smoke (M.: kyasma; 8.: wayao) being allowed to escape through the roof, which consequently presents a dark brown color. This arrange- ment has the advantage of driving away the mosquitoes. MopeErRN Huts.—In regions where the Indians have had much intercourse with foreigners they have improved their dwellings by the addition of side walls and by a floor of split bamboo or wood; the latter is elevated generally about 3 feet above the ground. The fireplace has then to be transferred to a small adjoining hut. In certain parts near the sea all the dwellings are erected on stilts, as the land is covered with water during the larger part of the rainy season. In the interior the side walls (M.: wtla klar; T.: u dakna; P., U.: o itikna) consist of a wattlework of split bamboo. The Miskito living near the seaside make use of the stem of the papta palm or the leafstalk of the siliko palm, set up vertically in the form of a stockade. This material seldom reaches as high as the roof; it is held in place by horizontally placed poles to which it is loosely tied. The coastal Miskito also employ a curious wickerwork of the split stem of the papta palm for house sides. Mud walls may occasionally be found and have been introduced by Ladinos or by the Black Carib. Cattle and pigs are kept out of the interior by inserting several sticks crosswise in the doorway (M.: wtla-hila; S.: u-pas, o-pas), or, in the case of an open shed, by building a rudimentary fence around the whole. In the more modern huts there is also a door and several windows, made of a framework of sticks, bamboo, and the like. The Indian dwelling of to-day is generally divided into two compart- ments of unequal size, the larger serving as living room and kitchen, while the smaller is used as dormitory. CoMMUNAL HousES.—Formerly long communal or multiple family houses (palenques) were used by these tribes. Now only the individ- ual family type is met with, which may, however, also be occupied by one or two married children with their respective families. The old communal houses were divided into as many compartments as there were families. Girsewald (22) gives a short description of such a Sumu dwelling from the Waspuk River; it measured 80 feet in length and 40 feet in width and was inhabited by a dozen families. Smaller multiple family houses appear to have been used in former days by the Miskito likewise; M. W. (301) states that Sandy Bay, the most important of their villages in those days (1699), consisted of twelve straggling houses with about 400 inhabitants. Formerly, when the various Indian tribes were continually engaged in wars, this arrangement facilitated the defense of their villages. 32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 HOUSEHOLD FURNISHINGS BrEps AND TABLES.—The primitive Indian bed, which has practi- cally disappeared, consisted merely of a layer of tree bark, Heliconia leaves, or deer skin, spread on the ground; it is known among the Miskito by the name puhlak taya “balsa tree bark,” while the Sumu callit takal (T., P.) and lim (U.). Nowadays stages of split bamboo serve indiscriminately as beds and tables. These structures (M.: krikri; 8.: kirikiri) are raised about 3 feet from the ground and are supported by four strong posts. Instead of sheets of bamboo the whole may be covered with wild cane sticks. Sheets of pounded tree bark serve as blankets and as bed sheets (M.: nina-pala, munta-pala; T., P.: daf-rina; U.: dati-paknak); in Honduras the Miskito also use mats (tnasi) made from a rush growing around the swamps and lagoons. Pillows (M.: tilar, corrupted from the English; S.: tunana) are stuffed with cotton or the fiber surrounding the seeds of the silk cotton and of the balsa trees. The Miskito living at the mouth of Rio Patuca slice the upper part of the stem of the small ‘‘palmetto”’ palm, which grows in the neighborhood, and use the thin flakes to stuff pillows and mattresses. The mosquito nets, called pabulo by both tribes, are made of opaque cotton sheeting of foreign manufacture, so that each bed forms practi- cally a separate compartment. Hammocks.—While at home, hammocks (M.: silmika; S.: wah) are seldom used during the night, and then only by unmarried boys and girls. They are, however, carried along on long journeys. Dur- ing the day the men dream away much time in the hammocks, but the women use them rarely. They may be made of cotton, tree bark, or Bromelia fibers. Crap.Les.—In former days cradles (M.: kuhsati; T., P.: pala; U.: lim) were used by the Sumu in connection with the habit of flatten- ing the heads of babies. (See under Deformation of body.) Since this practice has gone out of use cradles have disappeared entirely and small hammocks are now used for the children. The dried claws of crabs and other objects were tied to the cradle, making a strange rattling noise at each movement. Stoots.—Low wooden stools (M.: sulati; T., P.: sina; U.: panba) with three or four legs and a flat or concave surface, hewn from solid blocks of wood, are used by the women, unless they sit directly on the ground. They may be square or oblong and suggest the stone metates found in the ancient sites. They range in size from diminutive forms used as toys by the children to benches of over 3 feet in length. When a stranger arrives at the Indian hut one of these seats or a hammock will immediately be offered to him. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 33 Cuests.—Wooden chests or trunks, known by their English names, are used to store clothing and valuables. They may be of foreign manufacture or made locally from the Spanish cedar (Cedrela sp.). ILLUMINATION.—Pine-wood torches are used for illuminating pur- poses. In certain regions where the pitch pine (Pinus tenuifolia Benth.) is absent or scarce the Indians make rude candles by sur- rounding a cotton thread with beeswax or with the gum of certain trees, as the rubber tree (Castilla sp.) or the locust tree (Hymenaea courbaril L.). Small baskets, filled with big tropical fireflies, are also used occasionally as lanterns by children. Various.—The products of the plantation are generally thrown on the floor or put on the tables or in the attic. Little shelves are sus- pended from the rafters in order to keep cooked food, meat, or fruits free from the numerous creeping and crawling insects which infest the dwellings. Under the roof are seen the various tools, the fishing and hunting implements; they are stuck in the thatch or held in crude racks. From the rafters depend bags of pine-wood soot, bottles with red pigment, and hair oils or small pispis gourds (Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.) contain- ing shot. DOMESTIC UTENSILS FIrREMAKING.—Fire was produced formerly by the ‘twirling”’ method. A notch was made in a piece of wild cane and a hard-wood stick placed in the cavity. This stick was held perpendicularly and twirled rapidly round and round until fire was produced. Cotton was used as tinder. A very curious method practiced by the Sumu or Paya of Rio Patuca has been described by the Franciscan mission- ary Fernando de Espino.”! Steel and flint were introduced in early days for kindling fire, but have now been replaced practically everywhere by matches of foreign manufacture. Fire FANS.—In order to accelerate the flame a dozen feathers from large birds, generally the guan (Penelope cristata) are tied together in the shape of a fan (M.: kusu-taya; S.: uhlawa). Tones.—Among the Miskito of Pearl Lagoon bamboo tongs or tweezers may occasionally be seen, to pull roasted plantains, cassava 21 Ha criado Dios en lo mas retirado de la montafia un bejuco muy largo, sin, mudos, a manera de ramas de mimbre; cogen esta y cortanla en trozos pequenos de a palmo; pénenlas al humo, y en estando bien secas, cuando han menester fuego, cogen una, y con las dos palmas de las manos la estrujan como al molinillo para hacer chocolate, y cuando ellos ven que esté de cierto temple, soplan una punta o extremidad y por la otra parte sale fuego, y se enciende como mecha de escopeta, porque el en si es estoposo por de dentro. De otro modo sacan fuego, que es el comin de los indios, estregando un palo con otro (Serrano y Sanz: 367-368) 34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 or other food out of the hot ashes. This tool has also been observed among the Ulwa of Rio Escondido (Wickham, c: 200) and it is very common among the Rama and the Guatuso. The two last-named tribes, however, make these tongs from a small species of palm, the ‘“‘cafa danta”’ or ‘ahtak,’’? which they call, like the tool itself, by the names kiskis (Rama) and kaskas (Guatuso).” Morrars.—Large wooden mortars (M.: unu, no) are found among the Miskito to pound grains and fruits with the aid of a hard wooden pestle (M.: unu mihta). The latter is generally single headed and tapers gradually toward the handle end; the double-headed type, which is practically cylinder shaped, is also found occasionally. This mortar has a wide distribution in South America, Africa and Oceania. It was found among the Miskito toward the end of the seventeenth century and is mentioned in those days side by side with the metate (M. W.: 307, 308). Merates.—The Sumu do not know the wooden mortar, but they employ the metate or mealing stone (M.: walpa-akbaya; T., P.: ki-watak; U.: ki-tiknaka) for grinding maize and cacao and for pound- ing fruits and berries. The common metate, which may be found in almost every household, is a flat-topped, natural river bowlder, with a rounded waterworn pebble serving as muller or “‘mano” (M.: walpa mihta; S.: ki mak). CooxkING VESSELS.—Light tripod iron pots (M.: dikwa; S.: suba, yasama suba) are now found in every household, and have replaced the earthen vessels (M.: sumi; S.: suba, saw suba) for cooking purposes. In order to remove the hot pot from the fire the Indians use short wooden sticks with a hook at one extremity, which they put round the ears of the pot; it is known by the following names: M.: tifikrus, pinkrus; T.: iskrusta; P.: pan-alni; U.: pan-alka. WATER CONTAINERS.—Large calabashes with a small round hole cut in the apex, just large enough io insert a finger, are the common water canteens (M.: kahmuntara; T., P.: sulun; U.: taman). This is the “ooat’? of the Creoles. Sometimes a corncob is inserted in the opening as a stopper. Segments of the large species of bamboo are also used to haul water in certain regions. They are made from a section of bamboo stem, so that a nodal septum serves as bottom, while the stem is cut off immediately in front of the next occurring nodal septum. Fermented beverages are stored in large earthen vessels (M.: sumi; S.: suba, sau suba); wooden casks of foreign manufacture and homemade troughs are also employed for this purpose. 22 The Cuna and Chocé Indians of Panama use a similar tool consisting also of a double-bent sliver from the stem of a small palm, while the Ona and Yamana of Tierra del Fuego use a split tree branch for pincers. (Vide E. Nordenskidld, Comparative Ethicographical Studies, vol. 8, Géteborg, 1930, pp. 65-67.) CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS So. DisuEs.—Calabashes (M.: kahmi; S.: sutak) take the place of plates, cups and glasses in the Indian houses; they are made from the fruit of the calabash tree, which is cut in two equal halves, and the soft watery pulp with the seeds removed. The thin, hard, woody shell is not fragile and lasts a long time. By piercing such a calabash with small holes a strainer or collander (M.: lili; T., P.: ilihna; U.: dilana) is obtained; this is the ‘‘chachi’’ of the Creoles. Large cups without handles, and basins are bought in the local shops; they are known by the name mak. Square, round, or oval-shaped wooden bowls are made by the Indians of mahogany or other woods; they are known by their English names. These bowls are thick and clumsy and shaped like shallow basins; occasionally they are provided with very short, stout legs. VARIOUS KITCHEN UTENSILS.—Flat withe baskets (M.: usnuf, uslun; S.: uslun, wah-taina, sidan), hanging under the roof in the smoke of the fire contain large wooden spoons (M.: kustara, from the Spanish “cuchara”’; S.: pan-yamna), called “pat sticks” by the Creoles, small single-headed wooden pestles or wabul sticks (M.: tuskaya; T., P.: pan-tirina; U.: pan-ruknaka), cacao stirring sticks or ‘‘swizzle sticks’’ (M.: purbaya; S.: pan-korona, pan-poronaka). These various utensils are made from Spanish cedar, mahogany, sapodilla, or rosewood. Iron graters are seen occasionally. The Sumu have a native name (pdn-alna) for this implement, while the Miskito call it by its English name. The rough leaves of a small tree (Curatella americana L.) and of a vine (Davilla kuntha St. Hil.) are employed instead of sandpaper for polishing purposes. Both these plants belong to the Dilleniateae and are called ‘“‘raspa-guacal,’’ “‘hoja-chigiie’’ or ‘‘chumico”’ by the Ladinos; among the Miskito, Sumu, and Creoles they are known by the name yahal. TOOLS Before the discovery of America these Indians had few utensils and implements of stone; such articles were chiefly of wood, clay, shell, bone, etc. It would be nearer the truth to say that the Miskito and Sumu were living in the wood age instead of the stone age. Stone objects are, of course, the ones which have been preserved mostly. Fish teeth, snail and tortoise shells, quartz, flint, pebbles, and the like were used as scraping implements. Knives of bamboo are still used to sever the navel string of newborn babies. Macuete.—The machete (M., T., P.: ispara, from the Spanish ‘““espada”’; U.: maset), a heavy cutlasslike knife of about 2 feet in length, is.the vade mecum of these Indians. It is their faithful 36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 companion at work and on voyage, and the main tool in house, garden, field, and bush. The Indian uses it to dig postholes for his house, to cut down small trees, shrubs, lianas, grass, or weeds. With the machete he cuts down the underbrush when making a plantation and clears the latter from time to time of weeds and young bush. With the machete he also defends himself against wild animals, snakes, and the like, and, if necessary, against his own kind, which is often more dangerous than the wild beasts of the forest. Formerly all the machetes used on the Mosquito Coast were imported from England, but in later years they were brought from the United States and from Germany. Axrs.—The Indians are very good at plyimg the ax (M.: asa, from the Spanish ‘‘hacha”’;8.: ki, kidak), asmany of them have been working at the mahogany camps. The export of this valuable wood has been going on with various long interruptions for over two centuries. Even the women handle the ax fairly well, and cut up small tree stems to be used as firewood. The rectangular-shaped so-called American felling axes or Canada wedge axes are preferred by these Indians; in shape they resemble somewhat the tuba fish, and for that reason the Miskito call them twb’asa. STONE AXES.—Single or double bladed stone axes or celts (M.: alwani mahbra, imyula mahbra; 8.: alwana suma, lit.: “thunder egg” or “lightning egg’’) have been unearthed in various parts of the country. They are grooved or ungrooved, and were firmly fixed in the thick part of a stone-cut wooden handle, or the handle was merely tied firmly to the ax with the aid of a withe passing around the groove. Some of these celts were provided with a short handle cut of the same solid rock. Dampier (I, 85) mentions some good grooved axes among the Indians of Rio Escondido (Kukra-Sumu), which were ‘‘flat and sharp at both ends,” and were 10 inches long, 4 inches broad, and 3 inches thick in the middle. Two simple stone axes from the Mosquito Coast have been depicted by Bovallius (II, 299, figs. 81, 82). Three fine monolithic axes from the Bluefields region have been described and illustrated by Saville (b: 34-36, fig. 15). The blade of these axes is of a form foreign to Central America, resembling certain axes from the Lesser Antilles and northern South America. In these three specimens the rounded handle, which has a length of 12 to 12% inches, is slightly curved. They are respectively in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (a), the Peabody Museum of Harvard University (b), and the United States National Museum (c). The first one of them (a) was acquired in 1924 in Nicaragua by Mr. D. E. Harrower. The blade is comparatively longer than in the other axes of this type and the handle is elaborately finished, being decorated with three series of longitudinal grooves. The second ax (b) is carved from a CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 24 heavy, compact, brownish-green stone with decorations somewhat similar to the preceding one, but the handle has, besides, three trans- verse oval decorations over the section adjacent to the blade. The third specimen was collected by Mr. J. O. Thomas of Bluefields. It is plain and made of indurated volcanic tufa. The two last-mentioned axes (b and c) have already been described and pictured in a previous publication by Saville (a: 10-11, pl. v, Nos. 5 and 4). Another beautiful ax, perhaps of the same type, with blade and handle carved of one piece of heavy, compact, light-colored rock, was un- earthed at Bluefields in 1849 and is now in the Museum of the Moravian Mission at Herrnhut in Saxony.” A beautifully shaped double-bladed stone ax was obtained by Boyle in 1866 on the upper Rio Escondido and pictured by him (b: II, 144, fig. 1); it is now in the British Museum. It is apparently of volcanic stone and is 17% inches long and 12% inches wide across the blades. The end of the flat handle is perforated. The illustration has been copied by Bancroft (IV, 59, fig. 3) and by Joyce (18, pl. 1, fig. 1). Saville (a: 11-12, pl. v1, fig. 1) describes and illustrates this ax together with two other double-bladed specimens from the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, which are fashioned from an igneous rock, possibly diorite. These two were obtained from a Miskito chief by Mr. J. O. Thomas of Bluefields and are now in the United States National Museum. The largest one of them (Saville, a: 12, pl. v1, fig. 5) is 10% inches long and 6% inches across the blades; the handle is rounded and has a conical end. The other specimen (pl. v1, fig. 2) is only 8% inches in length and 7% inches wide across the blades. Like that illustrated by Boyle, it is perforated through the end of the flat handle. Other stone axes from the Mosquito Coast are in the collec- tion of Doctor Heuhaus in the Museum fir Vélkerkunde in Berlin (Lehmann, b: 715). The modern Indians do not know that these stone axes are artificial and that they are the work of their forefathers. They believe them to be ‘‘thunder-bolts,’’ as do also the Creoles and Negroes; the same idea is also entertained by the Ladinos, who call these celts ‘‘ piedra de raya.”’ Itis very probable that these antique axes were also used as defensive weapons in former days, and perhaps also for ceremonial uses. Apzres.—Adzes are now very common and are used for the making of canoes and other objects of wood; they are used in similar manner as those of our joiners and carpenters. This tool is probably of post- Columbian origin, although the Sumu have a native name (parin) for it; the Miskito call it ats from the English name. Stone adzes have never been found on the Mosquito Coast, although they are frequently #3 Cf. Frederick Starr in Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographie, Leiden, vol. v, 1892, pp. 58-59. 38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULL. 106 met with in certain parts of South America. The ordinary stone ax may also have been utilized as an adze by merely shifting the handle fixation from a vertical to a horizontal plane. Hoxr.—In many huts a hoe can be found nowadays; it is used on the fields and in clearing away the grass and weeds growing in front of the dwellings. The hoe is of recent introduction and is known by its English name (w). Knire.—Large knives (M.: skiro, kisuro, from the Spanish ““cuchillo”’; S.: kohbil) now form part of every household. SUGAR MILL.—A primitive sugar mill (M.: traviko; T., P.: tusnak tHihnin; U.: tusnak panka) is employed by these Indians to squeeze the juice out of sugarcane. A stout post is buried partly in the ground, so that it will reach about 3 or 4 feet above the surface. Close to its upper extremity a wooden slab is mortised in and wedged tight. Just above this slab, which looks like a small platform, there is a hole in the post, where a stout bar (M.: mihta; S.: tiv) fits loosely. One of the women lays a piece of cane on this “‘platform,”’ her husband inserts the pole in the hole and presses downward, crushing the cane, whereupon the juice flows into a receptacle placed on the ground. The woman slips the cane forward until every part of it is crushed, and finally twists it like a rope to wring out all the juice. This mill is common in the regions bordering on the Caribbean Sea. Several mills of this type, found in South America and on the Isthmus of Panama, have been figured by Nordenskidld.* It is well known that sugarcane was introduced into the New World by the Spaniards; still tnis type of mill is never met with among the whites. On the other hand, the negroes of eastern Central America and the Bush negroes of Guiana use it commonly, more so than the Indians themselves. According to the prominent African specialists Seligman and Lindblom, sugar mills of this type are not met with in the Dark Continent. Neither are they known from Melanesia. Nordenskiéld *° believes, therefore, that this implement has been invented by American Indians in post-Columbian days, when they had become acquainted with sugarcane. In view of the fact that this sugar mill is more common among the negroes than among the Indians, I am inclined to believe that it is a post-Columbian invention made in America (probably in the West Indies) by negro slaves, who were largely employed on the sugar estates. Even to this day it is not met with among the Sumu of the interior, who crush the canes in primitive wooden roller mills turned by handspikes (cf. Wickham, b: 216; c: 206). 24 Comparative Ethnographical Studies, vol. vim, Géteborg, 1930, pp. 80-84, figs. 39-43. 3 Ubi supra, p. 83. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 39 DIVISION OF LABOR Domestic worK.—Such domestic industries as spinning, weaving, and the manufacture of pottery, bark cloth, and bead ornaments are female occupations. Tailoring is, however, frequently in the hands of the men, some of whom even make the clothes for their wives. The preparation of food is strictly reserved to the women, the men never condescending to do any cooking, except while away from home. The barbecuing of the chase is, however, the work of the men. Firtps.—The husband prepares a patch of the forest for the making of a plantation, by cutting down the trees and cleaning the ground by burning; but the care of the field, that is the planting, weeding, and reaping of the crop, is left to the women. OTHER OUTSIDE OccUPATIONS.—The manufacture of fishing and hunting implements, and of canoes and accessories thereto, are man’s work. The women fish with the hook, but all other methods of fishing are reserved to the men. The latter fell trees for firewood and cut them into convenient lengths to haul, but the females have to fetch and split it. The woman goes to the waterside to bring the game which her husband has killed and brought in his canoe, but she never accompanies him on the actual hunt, being unacquainted with the handling of hunting weapons. Loap carryInc.—The carrying of heavy loads is usually left to the women. For this purpose they use a carrying strap, known by the local Spanish name ‘“‘bombador” or ‘‘bambador.”’ The latter consists of a narrow strip of bark cloth, both extremities of which are attached to the burden. The load is first lifted on the back with the assistance of another person and then the pack strap is put around the forehead. The male Indians do not carry anything in this manner, but they secure the package to the back with the aid of shoulder straps, as do the Ladinos. The Spanish-speaking women, however, carry loads generally upon the head, as is the case with the negroes of both sexes. When very tired the Indians give a sort of whistle to catch their breath (M.: wittka puhbaya; T. & P.: wittka urupdanin; U.: witika urupdanaka, lit.: ‘to blow the breath’’). Day LABOR worK.—In former days many young Miskito, living to the west of Cabo Gracias a Dios, went annually to British Hon- duras to work there in the mahogany or logwood camps. They left about May and returned in November or December. During this time the settlements on the coast were practically without male inhabitants, except for the boys and old men. The women then had to subsist on fish, crabs, oysters, cockles, the eggs of alligators, turtles, and iguanas, and vegetable food. Now all these Indians easily find work in their own country, either in the mahogany camps or in the 40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 gold mines; or they work as paddlers on the rivers, which are practically the only means of communication. The Sumu, on the other hand, are more timid and less enterprising. They are unwilling to leave their wives and children for a length of time in order to work for the benefit of the white men. Besides, even to this day, their wants are few, and they can easily do without practically any article of foreign manufacture. Formerly, however, many of them were active as rubber bleeders, but owing to East Indian competition, the export of that commodity from the Mosquito Coast has stopped altogether. TRADE AND BARTER INTERCHANGE OF comMMoDITIES.—Among such rude hunting and fishing tribes as the Miskito and Sumu only a very restricted trade can have existed in former days. The rivers, lagoons, and the sea were practically the only means of communication, and this is still the case. The interchange of commodities was generally effected by barter. The Miskito appear to have also employed beads of sea shells as money, while the Sumu of the interior used cacao beans for the same purpose.”® Weare told by M. W. (304) that these two tribes, which were continually in a state of hostility, observed a truce on appointed days; they then met on an island in the lower Rio Coco for the purpose of trading, These Indians live under an almost perfect equality, and there are no rich or poor among them. They do not strive to accumulate wealth, and the great unwearied exertion, found among our civilized societies, is unknown among them. FORMER ARTICLES OF BARTER.—The Miskito used to evaporate salt from the water of the sea and lagoons and collect pretty sea shells suitable for beads. These commodities were exchanged with the Sumu for pottery, cotton goods, hammocks, bark cloth, and rough canoes. During the latter part of the seventeenth century, and for many years following, the Miskito undertook daring sea voyages as far south as Chiriqui Lagoon in Panama, and occasionally even beyond that region. These expeditions were, however, not organized with peaceful trading in view, but for the purpose of stealing cacao from the Spanish settlers at Rio Matina (Costa Rica), and capturing Indians to be sold to the English traders of Jamaica. PRESENT-DAY COMMODITIES.—Nowadays the Indian’s wants from the outside world are many. The Miskito, who are less primitive than their neighbors, were already in commercial relations with 20 According to G. N. Collins (see Safford in Smithsonian Report for 1916, p. 421) this use still persists in the Mexican State of Chiapas. cONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 41 the English freebooters of Jamaica during the latter part of the seventeenth century. The most important of the foreign-made articles, which are now considered indispensable to the bulk of the Indians, are the following: Salt, machetes, axes, knives, adzes, hoes, light 3-legged iron cooking pots, fishhooks, triangular files, shotguns with ammunition (powder, shot, percussion caps), cotton goods of various patterns (calico, gingham, salampores, drilling, blue dun- garee), bright-colored handkerchiefs, ribbons, thread, needles, beads, combs, small looking-glasses, jew’s-harps, clay pipes, tobacco, etc. In order to obtain these commodities the Indians will work for a short time as day laborers, or sell some forest or agricultural products. Very little value is placed upon labor performed at home, and certain homemade articles, which have taken a considerable time to prepare, are often bartered for a mere trifle. METAL WORKING Gold ornaments appear to have been known in pre-Columbian days and were used for ceremonial purposes and for personal decora- tion. Breastplates of wrought gold were already observed by Co- lumbus in 1502 at Cariay, but this locality must be placed in the territory of Costa Rica and not on the Mosquito Coast, as has been done by various historians. About 1699 silver breastplates, either bought from the Europeans or hammered by themselves out of silver coins, formed part of the gala dress of the Miskito (M. W.:308); they may have been emblems or insignia of authority. Ornaments of gold were probably introduced among the Miskito and Sumu by way of trade from the Pacific side of Nicaragua or from the Talamanca region of Costa Rica, where they were common. They were probably the work of the Chiriqui goldsmiths, who had attained a high degree of skill in the making of low-grade gold objects. But they must have existed very sparingly on the Mosquito Coast, for in recent days none has been discovered in the country. Figurines and amulets of the precious metal are said to have been discovered in the Pispis mining district, around Cucra Hill, on the Rio Wawa, and at El Dorado (Honduras), but these reports need confirmation. The rude tribes of the Mosquito Coast did not know the art of working gold, copper, bronze, or any other metal; this art was known, however, to the Indians of Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, and other regions of America in pre-Columbian days. Placer mining is carried on in many parts of the country by whites, negroes, and Ladinos, but not by the Indians. There is no reliable record of the Miskito and Sumu knowing how to wash gold from the sands of the numerous aurif- erous streams before the arrival of the Europeans. Even to-day 66787—32——4 42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 this is done by them in isolated cases only; they use a round, low bow! or batea, in which they place some of the auriferous sand together with some water. Then, whirling the batea rapidly, a feathery stream of mingled sand and water flows constantly over the edge. When the sand is nearly all exhausted, the bow] is filled again, and this process is repeated a number of times. Finally a little deposit of grains of gold will be found at the bottom. These Indians have no name in their own language for either gold or silver, but they call these precious metals “yellow money” and ‘“‘white money” respectively. Their word for money (M. and T.: lala; P. and U.: ihwan) might have designated gold originally, or perhaps metal in general. Still, there is a native name for iron or steel (M. and T.: stlak; P. and U.: yasama). Cheap bracelets, earrings, and finger rings of foreign origin are now very common among both tribes. The iron and steel objects, which are now in universal use on the coast, have not been cast or forged locally, but have been obtained in trade. Harpoons are made from our common triangular files with the aid of another file. This process is very slow and tedious. The iron points or ‘‘heads”’ for arrows and spears are generally made from old cask hoops or from other scrap iron. STONEWORK Metatrs.—Stonework is practically limited to the manufacture of crude metates or maize grinders (M.: walpa-akbaya; T., P.: ki-watak; U.: ki-tiknaka) which are used for grinding maize, cacao, or other grains or fruits. They are merely plane slabs of a tufflike rock with a slightly concave grinding surface, on which the grains are crushed with the aid of a handle or metlapil (M.: walpa-mihta; S.: ki-mak). These crude metates are made with the aid of a hard blackish stone chisel (M.: kwa-siksa;” T., P.: pransa, paransa; U.: ki-tisna). ANTIGUALES.—Elaborate metates, cylindrical bowls and mortars of a hard granitelike material are occasionally found on the Mosquito Coast. Isolated specimens of these articles are met with, but as a rule they are found in deposits from miniature size, perhaps chil- dren’s toys, to giant sizes for ceremonial purposes. These objects exist in all stages of manufacture, but the finished product is now very scarce, having either been taken away or broken. Such old sites or “‘antiguales,” as they are known locally, are especially numerous in Honduras between the rivers Plitano and Paulaya; they are found generally onsome elevated spot within a 27 At Ciudad Antigua, in the Nicaraguan department of Nueva Segovia, I heard this tool called ‘‘cuabul’’ (=kwa-bul) by the Spanish-speaking inhabitants. In the Miskito language siksa means ‘‘black,’’ while bul is ‘‘mottled’”’ or ‘‘speckled.”’ CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 43 short distance from a small creek. A picture of one of these sites is given by Spinden (536). Occasionally these antiguales are surrounded by low walls, perhaps remains of former fortifications; others again were apparently defended by ditches and perhaps by palisades also. ANCIENT METATES.—The metates found in these deposits are sup- ported by three long, well-centered legs, which are generally covered with geometric designs; in front there is a bird or animal head (eagle, turtle, alligator, or jaguar). The Indians occasionally dig them up to be used in their households. Some fine specimens have been broken by man or by falling trees. Giant metates, which may reach over 6 feet in length, are still found, but the sculptured head has generally been removed from them. They remind us of the wooden stools still found in the Indian dwellings and it is very likely that they were used as ceremonial seats. In the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, there is a metate from the Mosquito Coast (Hodge: 56). Several large specimens from an important site dis- covered near Cucra Hill (to the south of Pearl Lagoon) about 30 years ago upon clearing the land for making banana plantations are in the American Museum of Natural History. The Peabody Museum of Harvard University also owns a few metates from the vicinity of Bluefields. ANCIENT BowLs.—Cylindrical bowls with three short legs and made from a very hard granitelike rock are also found in the above-men- tioned old sites, but they are less common than the metates. Two knobs near the rim, carved into bird or animal heads, serve as handles. These bowls or vases are ornamented with geometric motives, of which the most common is the incised guilloche, or rope pattern, of either curvilinear or angular construction. The first description, accompanied with wlustrations, of these ‘“‘sranite vases’? from the Mosquito Coast is given by Pownall (318-324, pl. xxv1), who figures three of these objects. Two of these belonged to Lord Hillsborough. One of these latter (No. 1) is very small and has an animal head on one side. The larger one (No. 2) is more interesting; it is about 12 to 15 inches in diameter and 10 inches in height, with plain legs. There are two rows of diamond- shaped ornaments on the body of the vessel; the two handles take the form of a head and a tail, but the head is partly broken off. The third vessel (No. 3) is about 10 to 12 inches in diameter and height, but at the top it is somewhat narrower; it has carved legs and two head ornaments and is perhaps the best specimen in good condition found in the country. The bowls No. 2 and No. 3 have been reproduced by Humboldt (I, p. 238, and II, pl. 39) and by Dupaix (I, div. II, 27-28, and II, suppl. pl. VII, No. 1). The illustration of No. 3 has been copied also by Bancroft (IV, 26). 44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 Pownall (319) refers to another of these bowls in the British Museum, which belonged to a collection brought from Jamaica by Sir Hans Sloane. This is perhaps the one depicted by Joyce (p. 74, pl. vi, fig. 1) which resembles No. 3 described above. In 1921 the writer found a number of these vessels, but all badly broken up, on the right bank of Rio Paulaya. Some of them were not detached from the quarry out of which they were formed. It is, however, not known from what site the marble was quarried. Bowls of similar material and technique have also been met with in the Bay Islands .and in the valley of Rio Ulua. A large specimen is in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (Hodge: 56). STATUES OR CARVED PILLARS.—At certain old sites may be found some high slabs of stone which were originally placed upright, re- minding one of our tombstones. Nearly all of them have now tum- bled down. Occasionally some greatly obliterated geometric designs, or spirals, may be found on them.” Spinden (539) pictures a stela or stone pillar on Rio Tocomacho (Honduras) which is 8 feet in height and nearly a foot square. It is covered on all sides with pictographic designs, chiefly spirals and scrolls; on one of the four faces there is a grotesque figure with a reptilelike creature on its head. Such stone pillars may also be found in other parts of the Mosquito Coast, but they are not com- mon. Large stone statues, attaining as great a height as 12 feet, are, however, the outstanding feature of the archeology of the Pacific half of Nicaragua, especially of the great lake region. Le Baron (217-222) describes and depicts some stone ruins from the left bank of Rio Prinsapolea, about 134 miles above its mouth. They consist of three monoliths, about 8 feet high, forming a tri- angle; the ground between them was paved with stones. These monoliths had fallen to the ground and were broken; on some of the faces there were rude carvings, greatly obliterated. CARVED ROCKS Pictographs may be found on the rocks in the bed of nearly all the larger streams, generally at the rapids and falls. They must have been made many centuries ago, for they are considerably waterworn, and often may be followed easier with the finger than with the naked | eye. Many of these carved rocks are visible during the dry season only and are completely under water during the rainy months, owing to the rise of the rivers. (Fig. 1.) WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.—Such carved rocks have been observed by the present writer at different places on the Rio Coco (at Wirapani, 28 The modern Indians have no traditions concerning these ruins found in their territory, and ascribe them to the evil spirits. cCONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 45 Waspuk, Kiwras, above Raiti, at Kunkun mawan and at Tawit); they are known to exist also in the rivers Platano, Patuca, Wawa, Prinsapolea, Tuma, Punta Gorda, Indio, and Maiz. They appear to be particularly numerous on the Siquia and Mico, which two streams together form the Rio Escondido or Bluefields River (Boyle, b: I, 296-299; Pim and Seemann: 401; Wickham, b: 243, 245; Belt: 52— 53). Some extravagant stories of great statues carved in human and animal shape and hewn out of a solid cliff on the upper Rio Mico have been circulating on the coast, but it appears that these giant statues are merely rude carvings on the rocks similar to the ones found in other parts of the country. Carved 5 rocks are found in many rivers C te emptying into the Caribbean Sea, Ck 3S a and a good account of those met with in South America has been given by Koch-Griinberg.” The geographical names Gualpulban (M.: walpa-ulbanv), Quiulna (T., P.: ki-ulna) and Quiultan (U.: ki-ultafvi), which are found scattered in various parts of the Mosquito Coast, may furnish a clue to the presence of such picto- graphs in the neighborhood. These ty) various names mean “written rock ”’ G or “painted rock” and correspond to FIGURE 1.—Carved rocks from the Kirwas > 5 . Rapids (Rio Coco) the Spanish “‘piedra pintada.”’ Motirs.—The carvings consist chiefly of very curious figures, which it is often difficult to identify. Sometimes they represent human figures, but the greater part of them appear to be animal designs: jaguars, alligators, monkeys, frogs, tortoises and serpents. Occa- sionally geometric figures, as spirals and scrolls, are depicted, but floral designs are conspicuous by their absence.. Sapper (a: 275) pictures some carved rocks from various parts of Rio Coco: Valpa tilpan (=Wirapani), Kiulna (=Kunkun mawan) and Davuit (=Tawit). A photograph of a large bowlder with carved figures from Rio Platano is given by Spinden (537). Artists.—We do not know who were the authors of this work. The Miskito are by all means out of the question, for they are com- paratively new immigrants into the regions where pictographs are to be found. They ascribe them to the Sumu, who formerly occupied most of the territory in question. But the latter Indians are unani- mous in declaring that this work was done by the evil spirits (walasa) at a time when the rocks were still soft. 29 Siidamerikanische Felszeichnungen. Berlin, 1907. 46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 Writinc.—The carvings on one of the bowlders at the Kiwras Rapids on Rio Coco are said to resemble somewhat the characters of the Latin alphabet. Wickham (b: 245) heard of some ‘‘writing”’ on rocks of Rio Mico, which he considered—quite erroneously of course— inscriptions in Latin made by the early Jesuit missionaries. Neither Miskito nor Sumu appear to have possessed the art of writing as did their western neighbors, the Nicarao and Chorotega. According to Oviedo the two latter tribes had books of parchment made from deer skins. Picture writing was also practiced, and is still, by the Cuna Indians of Panama, as has recently been ascertained by Norden- skidld.*° RUBBER COLLECTING In former days the Indians used to collect rubber from a wild- growing tree (Castilla sp.), which is found nearly all over the country. This industry started about 1860, first on Rio San Juan, and gradually spread to the remainder of the Mosquito Coast. The Indians sold their rubber to the local merchants, who generally made large advances to them. About 1912 and 1913, when the export of rubber ceased, owing to the low price caused by the large production of plantation rubber in the British and Dutch East Indies, many Indians found themselves heavily in debt to the merchants. The rubber collectors or “‘huleros”’ first made a rude ladder out of the lianas that hang from the trees; this was done by tying short pieces of wood across them with the aid of smaller lianas. Later iron spurs were introduced and attached to the feet to climb the trees. With the machete they then scored the bark with cuts having the shape of the letter V, the point being downward. Such cuts were made all the way up the trunk, at a distance of about 3 feet from each other; they extended nearly round the tree, but the latter was on no account to be completely girdled. At the bottom of these series of cuts a spout was inserted to conduct the latex juice into buckets or other containers. In about half an hour all the whitish milk had run out of the tree. Afterwards the latex was strained and caused to coagulate by the addition of an alkaline decoction made from the juice of the chajmol vine (Ipomoea bona-nox L.; M.: tatako; T. and P.: tutuk; U.: ulupuy) or from that of a liana (Calonyction speciosum); this was combined with the latex in the proportion of 1 pint to 2 gallons. To prevent putrefaction coagulation must be effected within about 24 hours after the collection of the milk. The resulting mass was then made into round flat cakes, which were exported under the name ‘‘sheet rubber”’ 39 Picture , Writings and Other Documents. Comparative Ethnographical Studies, vol. 7, part 1 (1928) and part 2 (1930). CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 47 (Spanish “‘torta” or ‘“plancha”’). The milk, adhering to the cuts made into the bark, blackened upon exposure to the sun and air; it was left to coagulate there, and then wrapped up in bundles separate from the other rubber. This was shipped mostly to New York, where it was known as “‘scrap rubber” or “picket rubber”? (Spanish “burucha,” the ‘‘sernamby” of the Brazilians). In later years the spot at the foot of the rubber tree was cleared and the milky juice was allowed to drop to the ground, taking its own time to coagulate. After a couple of weeks, when it was sufficiently dry, it was rolled up and made into bundles varying from 50 to 200 pounds in weight. This is the “strip rubber”’ of commerce (Spanish “‘tira”’ or “‘cuera’’). When this industry started in 1860 large rubber trees from 4 to 5 feet in diameter were not uncommon. ‘These yielded, when first cut, about 20 gallons of milk, each gallon of which furnished 2 pounds of rubber. After an ordinary bleeding the tree soon recuperates, and may be tapped again the following year. Unscrupulous collectors merely felled the tree in order to facilitate the work. By this per- nicious method large trees have been made to yield over a quintal of rubber, but gradually all the big trees were killed and even specimens measuring 3 feet in diameter became rare. Many huleros then adul- terated the rubber with the latex derived from the tunu tree; the resulting mixture being less elastic, and consequently of inferior quality, the product from the Mosquito Coast yielded a lower price than that from other regions of Central America. Previous to 1860 rubber was collected in thick circular cakes, which were used only to make black paint from the melted gum. MANUFACTURE OF BARK CLOTH In the northern part of the Mosquito Coast a coarse brownish cloth is pounded from the inner bark of a tree closely related to the rubber tree (Castilla sp.). The cloth, as the tree itself, is known throughout the country by the Miskito name tunu,*! while the Twahka and Panamaka call the tree tikam, and the finished product amat.** The tree does not grow in the region inhabited by the Ulwa, and these Indians use the bark of the rubber tree (tas) for the manufacture of bark cloth, which they call tas-biana ‘‘pounded rubber.” UsEs OF BARK cLoTH.—Nowadays bark cloth is made almost exclusively into “sheets” or “blankets” for the bed, and into loin cloths (M.: palpura; T., P.: wah-uto; U.: ani). In former days it furnished the clothing for rich and poor, although the gala dress, of men of rank at least, appears to have been of cotton. 31 This name is already found by M. W. (807, 308) in the form tono. 32 Amail or quauhamatl is the Mexican name for a species of fig, the bark of which was made into paper and clothing. 48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 PREPARATION OF TUNU CLOTH.—The tunu tree is cut down and deprived of its bark; the latter is then soaked in water for a-few days, after which the sticky gum or milk adhering to it is scraped off. The bark is then dried in the sun and kept in the hut until the women find time to pound it into cloth. In this state it is called kusni by the Miskito, Twahka, and Panamaka, and kuska by the Ulwa. As it becomes hard and shrinks considerably, it has to be submerged in the neighboring stream for a short time before the pounding of it begins. The latter operation is performed on a small log* (M.: tun-dusa; S.:lafilan) with the aid of a wooden mallet having the shape of a short thick club, into which longitudinal ridges have been made at the head part. This mallet is known by the names kahka and para, after the two small species of palm, from the stem of which it is made.** The Miskito living around Brus Lagoon and on the lower Rio Patuca also make use of the stem of a small fan-leafed palm which grows in that region and is known to Indians and foreigners by the name “palmetto.’’ The bark extends gradually upon being pounded, and it becomes soft and flexible. After being washed and dried, it is ready for use, and has a brownish color. In Oceania the same process is employed and a similarly shaped mallet is used to manufacture the bark cloth, known by the name “tapa,’”’ but the tree of those regions is a species of Morus. WHITE BARK cLOoTH.—A similar cloth, but almost white in color and of superior quality, is obtained by the same process from the inner bark of a species of Ficus (S.: yakuta, yakanta) and likewise from the rubber tree (Castilla sp.). But in both cases the manufacture of the cloth is more laborious. The cloth from these two trees is known locally as “white tunu”’ (M.: tunu pihni; S.: yakanta, tas-banna); it is used by the sorcerer in connection with incantations. For this purpose the sukya marks it with designs in black and red obtained with the aid of clay, charcoal, or vegetable juices. Raveneau de Lussan (439) mentions the manufacture by the Miskito of clothing and covers from the “‘bastard palm”’; the present writer ignores what kind of tree is meant thereby, as no part of any palm is utilized nowadays for such a purpose. CERAMICS Pottery making is rapidly becoming a lost art among the Sumu, owing to the introduction of iron and cheap tinware, while it is entirely unknown to the Miskito of the present day. The Sumu from Rio Bocay have attained some skill in making earthernware of different 88 According to Exquemelin (Engl. edit.: 251) the Miskito were pounding their bark cloth upon stones around 1671. 84T¢t is not uncommon that the plant, which furnishes the material, gives also the name of the tool. ~— —————— CONZEMIUB] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 49 shapes and sizes for hauling water, storing food and intoxicants, and for cooking purposes.* Pottery oBsects.—The various kinds of pottery vessels used for cooking and for storing liquids are known by the general name sumi among the Miskito, and suba or san suba among the Sumu. Some of the large jars used in fermenting intoxicants reach 4 feet in height. Griddles are unknown to the Miskito; they are called liwa (T., P.) and lawa (U.). Jugs or water jars are known as putisa (M.) and sutpanak (S.); a small bowl, which is seen chiefly at the festivals, is called wikra (M.), sumai (T., P.) or wikara (U.). Most of these vessels, especially the larger ones, are slightly pointed at the base, so that they have to be placed in a cavity of the mud floor, or they are propped with stones to keep them upright. The fruit of the calabash tree served as an early model for the pottery vessels, and several types recall the shape of that fruit. Tobacco pipes (M.: twako mina; S.: aka pan, aka pana) are also made to the present day, while pottery whistles have been found in the old burial grounds. Mo.upine.—The making of the pottery is exclusively the work of the women. Potter’s clay (M.: slaubla; S.: saw), noted for its good quality, may be hauled by the Indians from a great distance. The material is broken out of the ground with the aid of a strong, pointed stick. After being cleaned of all foreign particles it is mashed with the hands and mixed with water.* The clay is molded by hand, for the potter’s wheel, like any other kind of wheel, was unknown in America in pre-Columbian days. Smaller vessels are shaped directly out of a lump of clay placed on a heavy wooden board upon which a large bijagua leaf has been placed; this leaf is continually turned round in the process of shaping. In case a larger vessel is manufactured, the bottom portion is like- wise shaped directly out of a lump of clay, and the walls are built up, not of one continuous coil, but of several, each succeeding one adding to the height of the pot. Old broken pottery vessels clearly show the coils by which they were built up. When the desired height has been reached, the upper edge is neatly trimmed with the aid of the fragment of a calabash shell, wherein an indentation has been made, corresponding to the contour the vessel is toreceive. When the latter is partly dried, it is polished with the aid of a smooth pebble. Firine.—After having been allowed to dry slowly in the shade for several days the ware is placed in a fire made on the ground in 85 The present-day Miskito rely entirely on the more convenient and durable iron cooking pots for cooking purposes, but they still obtain, by way of trade from their Sumu neighbors, large clay vessels for the storing of mishla. 86 Wickham (c: 207) mentions the Ulwa of Rio Escondido tempering the clay by mixture with a proportion of ashes from the bark of a certain forest tree, collected and burned for the purpose. 50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 the neighborhood of the hut, where it is left to burn slowly, until all the wood and coals have been consumed. Neither paint, glaze, nor plastic ornamentation is applied nowadays. ANCIENT POTTERY VESSELS.—The pottery objects found in many parts of the Mosquito Coast, chiefly in old burial grounds, indicate a much greater skill in this art than that possessed by the present- day inhabitants of the country. Most of such ware is unpainted, but fine plastic ornamentation was applied to the knob handles and occasionally to the legs also. The designs represent chiefly heads of jaguars, alligators, turtles, and birds. Fragments of tripod vessels with legs modified into animal legs may also be found; sometimes these legs are hollow and contain clay balls as rattlers. In the shell mounds or kitchen middens near the sea fragments of pottery vessels with figurine handles have been discovered. A geometric motive, which is often found on old pottery vessels and on stonework, is the incised guilloche or rope pattern, which may have a curvilinear or an angular construction. ANCIENT CLAY MASKS.—From the interior of the Mosquito Coast, probably the Sumu territory, the discovery of human heads, busts or entire figures, made of clay, has been reported. The material used for this purpose is said to have been mixed occasionally with gold dust. These objects are supposed to be the likenesses of chiefs or other prominent persons who had been buried at the spots where these finds were made. A number of these ‘‘masks’’ were brought to England from the interior of the Mosquito Coast about the year 1775, and eight of them have been described and depicted by Rogers (107). As these masks have their backs concaved in a cylindrical form, they were probably parts of sepulchral urns. COTTON TEXTILES CULTIVATION OF coTton.—The art of weaving has not been mastered by the young generation, but cotton (Gossypium sp.; M.: wahmuk; S.: wahmak) is still cultivated in a desultory way. The bushes, which attain a height of from 8 to 12 feet, may be found in the neighborhood of almost every hut; they flower the whole year round, and at any time buds and open bolls may be found on the same plant. A FEMALE OCCUPATION.—Dyeing and spinning cotton and weaving it into cloth is exclusively woman’s work. Exquemelin (Fr. edit.: IT, 269), who wrote during the second half of the seventeenth century, states that the women only spin the cotton and that the men do the weaving. Typres or FABRIcs.—The elder Sumu women still weave cotton into loin cloths (M.: palpura; T. and P.: déih; U.: anc), girdles or epuely) ory Jeddn jo nung peziuedsry oy Aq epeul Svqo[ppes ‘q ‘vonqeg ory Jo nung, “queyd ssvas YTS 10 vyId oy] Jo Joqy oY} Wo opeUI Seq SUIALIvd YN ‘D q D | SividZ 901 NILaqIna ADSOIONHL]A NVYOIMAWY SO Nvayuna BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 106 PLATE 2 deities pA page ARR STA RAS SS vEsUUGNNAET apagasLsAN eubasses ter Paiates SST ert aagaaeg set yeRN NR ays ete Se CRENSGERS Tihs Ss Sa Ryytatuags tps 252 eUAaA PRET RANI MSs iota BRS Tse SS Sree. i j i | i i it V4 <2: 5 RATS Rees Seeereeats p Sterementensssantie FOUR COTTON GIRDLES AND A PIECE OF COTTON CLOTH TO BE USED IN MAKING A HUNTER'’'S BAG Sumu of Rio Bocay and Rio Waspuk. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 106 PLATE 3 hp hin Audible Mal ed hls 10g E | i E | Pye SPINDLES AND SPINDLE WHORLS Sumu of Rio Bocay and Rio Waspuk. 106 PLATE 4 BULLETIN BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY HAMMOCK MADE FROM THE BAST FIBER OF THE SANI TREE Miskito of Rio Platano. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 51 sashes (M.: yaiasawa; S.: bamaksitna), hammocks (M.: silmika; S.: wah), and into shot bags or hunter’s bags (M. and S.: malipuk). The long sleeveless garment, called wipal by the Miskito and kifttkura by the Sumu, is not made any longer. All these cotton textiles, although coarse in texture, are soft to the touch. They are of excel- lent quality and the patterns are alwaysinwoven. Sometimes a fringe of the white down of the muscovy duck extends all round the selvage. According to Exquemelin (Engl. edit.: 251) bed sheets were also made of cotton in former days by the Miskito. SprnpLE.—The spindle (M.: blakat; S.: malkat, malakat)*" consists of a shank made from the hard wood of the pejivalle palm. It measures from 1 to 1% feet in length and tapers to a point on both ends. The whorl or fly is inserted at about 2 inches from the lower extremity, and the whole presents the appearance of a gigantic top. The whorl is usually made of a rare, very hard and heavy marblelike rock, which occurs in different colors and is called kupa by the Indians. Turtle or tortoise shell, manatee bone, clay seeds, and even heavy wood are also employed occasionally for this purpose. The shape of the whorl varies considerably; most commonly it is of conical form. The largest diameter varies from 1 to 1% inches, and the height from three-quarters of an inch to 1 inch. Sprinninc.—A very curious method is used to spin (M.: blakaya, bitikaya; T. and P.: wdinin, wdinini; U.: t&ihnaka). A cotton thread, drawn by the left hand of the operator from a pile which she is holding in her lap, is attached to the spindle a little above the whorl. The spindle is placed in a calabash and is made to revolve very rapidly by means of the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. With each twirling movement the spindle is kept in rotation for about half a minute by the momentum of the whorl, during which time the operator is continually drawing out cotton thread, which is then wound on the spindle. This process is repeated until the spindle is full. Weavine.—The cotton thread is woven (M.: lukaya; T.: kilnin; P.: anini; U.: dahnaka) on a horizontal loom (M.: slabin; S.: slabin, silamba) of most simple construction and similar to the one shown on the Mexican Codices, and still used by the Maya and other Central American tribes. It consists of a cloth beam and a yarn beam, which are connected to each other by the warp. The yarn beam is attached to a house post, about 6 feet from the ground, while the cloth beam is attached round the back of the weaver by a thick cord, enabling her to tighten the warp at will by merely leaning backward. The completed material is rolled up at the lower end. Looms of similar technique are also found in South America and Oceania. 37 Cf. Mexican malacatl. 52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 OTHER HANDICRAFTS Bark FIBERS.—From various trees known locally as ‘“‘mahoe”’ or “majagua”’ (M. and S.: sani, wahpi, wahmatis, téilu) the Indians obtain strong bark fiber (M.: sanz; S.: wahso). The best fiber from these trees is pulled off, split, cut into many threads of the desired size and made into ropes and cordage, hammocks (M.: silmika; S.: wah), matates or carrying bags (M.: kia; T., P.: wili; U.: walt). These articles are colored with native bark dyes. The carrying bags are of various sizes and consist of coiled work without foundation; they are furnished with a head strap woven of one piece with the bag. Bast fiber is also the common tying material of the Indians, and a supply thereof may always be found in the huts. It is also used as pack straps, which are put around the forehead and support the load carried on tke back. PiTa FIBER.—Pita or silk-grass fiber (M.: kara; 8.: awa) is employed for similar uses as bast fiber, and the articles made from it are practically indestructible. It is also made into fishlines, fish nets, and bowstrings, and used to repair shoes. Its extraction is very laborious. The pulpy covering surrounding the fibers is removed by scraping the surface of the leaf on a flat board with the aid of a machete or heavy iron knife. The fibers, which are thereby exposed, are then loosened and easily pulled from their bed by rubbing them crosswise of the leaf with the leaf pressed down upon the flat board. They are then washed to remove any adhesive pulp, dried, and rolled on the thigh into twine. Baskerry.—Basketry is not highly developed, although in such a well-watered country as the Mosquito Coast there is no lack of palms, vines, creepers, and epiphytic plants which may be used in basketwork. Certain vines are used in tying material, especially in the construction of the dwellings. The carrying bag of bark fiber or pita fiber takes to a large extent the place of baskets. From wart withes is made a round basket (M. and S.: uslun, usnutr), which is used to store calabashes and other small kitchen utensils. Other types made by the Sumu are called by these Indians wah-tdina and sidan. A large waterproof basket, known locally by the name pataki, is obtained in trade from the Black Carib; it is made from siwa withes. LEATHER WoRK.—The art of tanning has apparently been learned from the whites. The bark of numerous indigenous trees is used by the Indians for tanning purposes. Leather is used nowadays for drumheads, masquerade dresses, sandals, moccasins, crude saddles, and belts. RUBBER INDUSTRY.—Some of the Indians ee learned the process of hardening the milk of the rubber tree (Castilla sp.) by treating CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 53 it with sulphur. They apply & thin coat of the milk on cloth for the making of waterproof traveling bags, hunter’s bags, and ponchos or raincoats. This industry is, however, chiefly in the hands of the Ladinos. Woop carvinc.—Wooden stools (M.: sulati; T., P.: sini; U-: panba), carved with the machete and the adze from a solid block of wood, are in universal use. In olden times these stools had three well-centered, elaborately decorated legs and a beautiful bird or animal head, reminding much of the metates which are occasionally found in the ancient sites. Formerly a sort of walking stick or scepter of hard wood, sur- mounted by a carved human head, was an insignium of office and authority, but this custom has been introduced apparently by the English or Spanish, as there is no native name for it. Similar sticks now belong to the outfit of the Miskito sukya. The central house post of the old-fashioned Sumu hut was also elaborately carved. The art was also practiced on various wooden domestic implements, as for instance the large wooden spoons (M.: kustara; 'T., P.: pan-yamna; U.: kusaro) and the cradles (M.: kuhsaii; T., P.: pala; U.: lim). Wood carvings generally represent animal or human heads, or geometric figures, rarely floral designs. At the festivals of the dead celebrated by the Miskito headdresses carved into animal or human heads are sometimes worn. ENGRAVED CALABASHES.—The common calabashes (M.: kahmi, kami; S.: sutak) of the Miskito and Sumu are often engraved with simple geometric designs, such as triangles, circles, zigzag lines, paral- lelograms, which recall those used in tattooing, on pottery vessels and painted tunu cloth, or the ones found on the large river bowlders. According to the Indians, however, these are merely impromptu inventions and serve no other purpose but that of identifying their calabashes. An elaborately carved and painted calabash, obtained from a Sumu chief of Rio Bocay, has been described and depicted by Sapper (f, 206-210). BrapworK.—The women of both tribes are very clever in making pretty bead ornaments of various colors to be worn around neck, wrist, below the knee, and above the ankle; the men also occasionally use them as watch fobs and as hatbands. The designs are chiefly animal, especially of snakes. Two patterns of beadwork have been pictured by Sapper (a, 274), one representing paddle handles, the other the skin of the rikaya salamander. The Indians utilize small glass beads (M.: lilyura; T., P.: ala; U.: tasafika), which they obtain from the foreign traders. The colors preferred are green, blue, black, and white, while red, brown, and yellow are only sparingly used. Fellechner (137), however, states that the blue beads are not liked by the Miskito and that the red and yellow ones are preferred by 54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 them. White thread and small needles (M.: silak; T., P.: salip; U.: akusa, from Spanish ‘‘aguja’’) of foreign manufacture are em- ployed to string the beads. NAVIGATION AND CANOE MAKING Travel is effected chiefly by canoe, for there are hardly any roads in the country outside of the hunting trails; the numerous navigable rivers intersecting the country form, together with the lagoons and the sea, the means of communication. The Miskito inhabiting the immediate seashore from Cabo Gracias a Dios on southward are excellent seamen; they were already noted for their courage on the sea by the buccaneers (Raveneau de Lussan: 440). The Miskito living to the north of that settlement, however, navigate the lagoons and rivers, and rarely venture on the sea. The Indians living inland, on the other hand, are afraid of the sea and of the large lagoons, but they are perfectly at home in the bush, and they are very expert in navigating the river boats through the dangerous falls and rapids. / Bripcres.—The liana bridges, which are met with in other parts of Central America, are unknown on the Mosquito Coast. The Miskito and Sumu occasionally make a crude bridge over a narrow creek by felling a tree across it. Canoes are used everywhere for the crossing of the streams. Typrs oF caNnors.—Two sorts of dugout canoes are used on the Mosquito Coast. The ‘‘dori,’”’ or keeled canoe, is used to navigate the sea and lagoons, while the ‘‘pitpan,”’ or flat-bottomed canoe, is em- ployed on the rivers. The sea canoes are fast sailors, but somewhat “cranky.” All these boats are hollowed out by means of the adze; the largest specimens, cut out of the solid tree, without any addition, may reach up to 5 feet beam and 40 feet in length. Pirpan.—The “pitpan”’ is a long narrow boat with flat bottom, drawing but little water; it is therefore particularly fitted to navigate the shallow creeks of the interior which abound in rapids and falls. It glides noiselessly over the water and is easily steered, but it is very cranky and the slightest motion renders it liable to upset. It is therefore of no use on the sea. ‘The pitpan has a square projecting bow and stern, like a small platform, large enough for a person to stand on. A hole is made in the bow through which a pole is thrust perpendicularly in the ground, to moor at river banks or at shoals. The pitpan is very thick bottomed, and for that reason may sustain very rough handling in hauling it over the rocks at rapids and falls. The name ‘‘pitpan,’’? which is in general use among the English- speaking population of eastern Central America, is taken from the Miskito word pitban, which means plaited. It is claimed by some ‘opuely ong Jeddn jo numsg S1]ASS3AA HSVEV1VD GaALVyoOosAd sae at ’ ASOTONHISA NVOIMAWV AO nvsayns BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY . + eh i idle oes t £ Be # if tn wae Eos » - eS ema ei a = Sb 3 Se e + H aie Hon Hf ad - ¥ 3 Fa & = EF ake a o i-~ tw rt ve! . t * 4s Pee OA OOO en PES Na t r “ SS = ¥ » Ee “on™ etre ® < p o> Bx Se el ¥, $,% eed « & , os a er 2 Fo & ¥ 3 vin Bm ee »- ¢ t t oe th a os. | oan a a ae om: ee “gee vA es “Seypee al ge BEADWORK BULLETIN 106 PLATE 6 $e. ° Miskito and Sumu of Rio Coco. Sree ars a - ae eae inl em es. ers Ram Oe A merh ln Dp: ed ior ee nvabates4 na) Fn erty ak oe: or) ie PREECE tee Ot ae nah a sche 8c Sek antl ft eenaeeee ose 4 BEADWORK Miskito and Sumu of Rio Coco. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 106 PLATE 8 Ce Ho ty aad, 1 ihe at iatt hei ty pee it 4/4 my i ar Ss . “Saeed SINS * "s Sa Fel goes pars « a r a ~ z ¢ r a > * > > > . > e > > vv Ch Vase Abad bakak rR BEADWORK Miskito and Sumu of Rio Coco ‘OpIpuodsy OLY JOMOT JO nung NOILVSIAVN NOOOSV] GNV VAS YO4 SAONVD G3a71g3ay V..'IN¥Oqd,, JO TSGOW ‘YS3MO7 :NOILVDIAVN YSAIYM YOsA FONVD GAWOLLOSG-LVI4 Vi. NVdLId,, JO TAGOW ‘YaddNM BULLETIN 106 PLATE 10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY HARPOONS MADE FROM TRIANGULAR FILES Miskito. cONZEMIUS} THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 55 that in former days the Miskito made rude canoes of plaited withes and made them waterproof by smearing a thin layer of clay over them. The Ladinos have corrupted the name into ‘‘pipante.”? The Miskito of the upper Rio Coco, who know no other boat but the pitpan, apply the name dori or duri nowadays to a keeled or unkeeled canoe, but among their kindred living near the sea this word is restricted to the former type. In all Sumu dialects both types are called kurin. Batrau.—A large form of pitpan, known by the French name ‘“‘bateau,’’ is generally used to transport cargo on the rivers of the Mosquito Coast. It is made by enlarging an ordinary pitpan. The latter is cut lengthwise in two halves of equal size; boards are then inserted, and the two parts are joined again. The sides are also raised. Such bateaux are generally manned by six paddlers and take about 5,000 pounds of freight. On some of the larger rivers there are oper- ating some bateaux measuring up to 60 feet in length, 4 to 6 feet in width, and taking up to 100 Spanish quintals (say, 4,600 kg., or 10,145 English pounds) of merchandise. These are manned by from 10 to 12 Indians. A small cabin or “‘carroza’”’ for the passengers is made immediately in front of the captain’s seat, who steers the boat from the stern with the aid of a gigantic paddle. Such a cabin may be made of canvas cloth or merely of bamboo and large leaves; it affords protection from rain and sunshine. MAKING OF A puGouT.—The manner of cutting trees and hollowing them out in former days was evidently that practiced in other parts of the New World before the arrival of the Spaniards. A ring was made with the stone ax through the bark and base of the tree, thus causing it to dry. Then fire was applied, and the wood was cut away as it charred. This process was repeated until finally the tree was felled. The hollowing out of the stem was also effected by alter- nately applying fire and the stone ax. Water was always kept at hand in order to quench the fire so as not to waste more wood than was necessary. The width of a dugout is enlarged after it has been filled with water during a number of days; it may then easily be stretched and widened by inserting sticks. In former days rough dugout canoes used to be furnished by some of the Sumu tribes as a sort of tribute to the King of the Miskito. TREES USED IN CANOE MAKING.—Following is a list of the various trees which are made into canoes by the Indians under consideration: Mahogany (M. and S.: yulu; Swietenia macrophylla King) is the tree most commonly used, as it is very abundant on the Mosquito Coast; canoes from this wood are very durable, but rather heavy, and they are often attacked by boring worms. Cedar (M.: yalam, wiftkur; S.: suhun, wittkur; Cedrela sp.). Canoes hollowed out from this tree are very light and comparatively du- 56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 rable; the wood splits easily, but it has the advantage of not being subject to the attack of worms. The guanacaste tree (M. and S.: tuburus; Enterolobium write agit Griseb.) is the one preferred by the Black Carib for the making of canoes; they allow the tree to ‘‘season”’ on the ground for a few months before starting to hollow it out. The wood is as light as cedar. From the silk cotton tree (M.: sisin; 8.: panya, paniki; Ceiba pen- tandra Gaertn.) very large dugouts may be made, but its light, whitish wood is not durable. Owing to certain superstitions regard- ing this tree, it is rarely used in boat making. (See Religion, etc.) Saba (M.: swa; S.: saba; Carapa guianensis Aubl. or Guarea caoba C. DC.). The wood from this tree can scarcely be distinguished from mahogany in color and general appearance, but it is less durable. Santa Maria (M. and S.: krasa; Calophyllum brasiliense var.) is sel- dom used, and it is suitable only for small canoes, as the tree does not attain such a great size as the aforementioned varieties. The wood is very durable, but it is rather heavy. Emery (Vochysia hondurensis Sprague) is occasionally made into dugouts in the southern section of the Mosquito Coast. The wood resembles that of the silk cotton, but it is more lasting. It has, however, the disadvantage of soon becoming water-logged; besides, it rots immediately where a nail has been driven in. The banak or cebo tree (M. and S.: banak; Virola merendonis ?) is a large tree which is also occasionally made into canoes. CANOE PoLES.—Canoes are propelled by long poles or by paddles. The poles (M.: kahra, kahara; T.: kaha pan; P.: kaha pana, kurit pana; U.: pan sav) are used in shallow water with rapid current and hard bottom. In a small ‘‘cranky”’ pitpan this method of travel is not agreeable, especially to a newcomer; each time the boatmen, who stand up at the bow, push with their poles, the canoe begins to lurch as if it was going to upset. The captain sits at the stern and steers with a paddle. Pappies.—The paddles (M.: kwahi; T. and P.: kawi; U.: wihna) are broad bladed and made generally of mahogany or cedar. They measure from 4 to 5 feet in length and are often roughly polished. Larger paddles are also used, especially by the steersman, for the propelling of the bateaux. At its upper extremity the paddle termi- nates into an enlargement or ‘‘ear’”’ (M.: kyama; S.: tapani, tapaka), which serves as grip to one hand, while the other hand grasps the paddle about 2 feet farther down. The paddles are moved vertically along the gunwale of the boat, the blade forcing back the water with main strength applied and very quick strokes. Saris.—In former days the Miskito are known to have employed sails (M.: kwaltara; T., P.: asna ments U.: asna nohka *) of native 88 These names literally mean ‘‘large cloth.” CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 57 cotton, but this manner of facilitating navigation may have been of European introduction. To-day the Indians make sails from can- vas or other imported cloth, and employ them on the sea, lagoons, and the larger rivers. Rarts.—In descending the rivers the Indians also make use of rafts (M.: puhlak; T., P.: pala, dana; U.: lim). They are made by tying a number of balsa stems or other light wood together with the aid of lianas orvegetable fibers. For lack of other light woods at hand, banana stems are sometimes used for this purpose, but these soon become water-logged. The stems are generally half submerged, but on large balsa rafts the natives descend from the interior with heavy cargoes of merchandise or livestock. SKILL AND ENDURANCE OF THE INDIAN BOATMEN.—Both Miskito and Sumu are remarkable for their skill and endurance as boatmen. They work in a rhythm, and at each thrust all the paddles lightly strike the gunwale of the canoe together. From time to time, at a sign of the bowman, all the paddles are lashed simultaneously with the flat part of the blade upon the surface of the water. The river Indians of the interior are very skillful in the management of the canoes through the falls and rapids of the streams. When proceeding upstream the boat is generally hauled through a side chan- nel, or overland with the’aid of strong withes or lianas ®® which are fastened to the hole in the bow. But a greater danger consists in ‘shooting’ ’ the rapids, the canoe rushing with great speed down the crooked channel oversown with projecting rocks. One Indian stands in the bow with a pole balanced in the middle, with which he touches the rocks scattered in the river, in order to guide the dashing pitpan and ward it off from these dangers. Every one is silent and watchful except for the short, sharp words of direction from the bowman to the captain, who is at the stern and assists with the timely stroke of the paddle. If the canoe gets swamped, the Indians jump overboard and, hanging on to it with one hand, they bail out the water with the aid of a calabash. DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS AND BIRDS INDIGENOUS ANIMALS.—Many indigenous animals are tamed to keep as pets. Of these the most frequently seen are the capuchin or white-faced monkey (Cebus sp.), the spider monkey (Afeles sp.), the howling monkey (Alouatia sp., syn. Mycetes sp.), paca (Cunculus 39 Many trees are covered with such parasitic vines or lianas which climb up the stem to the branches, from which they hang freely down like ropes in sizes from very thin ones to others measuring up to 2 and even 3 inches in diameter. They are stronger than string or rope and resist the influence of the climate much better. 66787—32——_5 58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 sp.), agouti (Dasyprocta sp.), deer (Odocoileus sp. and Mazama sp.), squash or coati (Nasua narica), and raccoon (Procyon lotor). Wickham (b: 163; c: 200) even saw a tame otter among the Ulwa of Rio Escondido. The Indian women have great patience in taming young animals and they will suckle them as they would their own children. These animals are generally caught while still very young. INDIGENOUS BIRDS.—The domestic turkey is now found in almost every hut. Among the other native birds which are usually tamed by the Indians are the following: curassow (Craz sp.), guan (Penelope sp.), mountain hen (Tinamus sp.), muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), macaw (Ara sp.), parrot (Chrysotis sp.), parrakeet (Conurus sp.), toucan (Ramphastos sp. and Pteroglossus sp.). The birds are taken out of the nest while still young, but old birds are occasionally tamed. When slightly wounded or when shot with a blunt arrow they are carried home and kept for a few days without any food. After that they become generally very docile and are ready to eat the food given to them. NATIVE BEES.—Various species of the native stingless bees are occasionally found in a semidomesticated state around the Indian huts. About a dozen species are found in the country, all belonging to the family of the Meliponidae. The largest of them is about the size of the European bee. The honey cells are circular and the honey is yellow and slightly acidulous in taste; it does not crystallize when kept for some time, as is the case with that of the European bee. It is slightly laxative and is generally diluted with water, either fresh or after having been allowed to ferment. Previous to the introduction of sugar-cane, honey was used to sweeten food. The wax, which is light brown in color, is used as ‘‘cement’’ in the making of arrows, spears, and other implements; in certain regions it is also used for lighting purposes. The Indians also collect the honey from the bee nests in the forests and store it in large bamboo joints. DOoMESTIC ANIMALS OF FOREIGN ORIGIN.—The most common domes- tic animals are the dog, pig, cattle, and fowl, while the horse, cat, goat, and sheep are rarely seen. All these animals are of foreign origin and have been introduced from the interior of Honduras and Nicaragua. Among the Indians they are known almost invariably by their Spanish or English name.*® When the Indian family travels all the livestock is taken along. Cattie.—Cows (M.: bip, from the English “‘beef’’; S.: toro, from the Spanish toro ‘‘bull’”’) are owned by many Indians, especially those living in the savannas. They feed on the coarse grass, there being no artificial pastures made by the Indians. The cows are rarely 40 The Ulwa, however, call the cow and the horse by the native names they apply to deer (sana) and tapir (pamka), as do a number of other tribes in Central and South America. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 59 milked, their owners being unwilling to ‘‘rob”’ the calf, but the meat is esteemed. Horsrs.—Horses (M.: aras, from the English ‘‘horse’’) are not common, while mules and donkeys are conspicuous by their absence. The horse is sometimes used as a riding animal by the savanna Indians, but loads are transported either by canoe or on man’s back. The Indians ride bareback and use a sort of bridle consisting of a rope made from bark fiber, which is tied loosely round the lower jaw, leaving two ends for reins. When swimming the- horse in deep water, the rider gets off its back, at the upside in case of a running stream, and swims beside the animal, holding on by its mane. As soon as the horse touches bottom he gets on again. The manner employed in breaking a young horse is very simple. One man leads it with a rope into the water, to a depth of 3 or 4 feet. Then another man quickly jumps upon its back, whereupon the frightened animal begins to buck and skit. After a while it is completely exhausted and docile. Pias.—Pigs (M. and T.: kwirku, from the Spanish ‘‘puerco’’; P. and U.: kusi, from the local Spanish ‘‘cuche’’) were already found occasionally among the Miskito at the end of the seventeenth century (M. W.: 310). Pork is rarely eaten by the Indians, and fattened hogs are sold to the foreigners and Ladinos. Little care is given to these animals; they are left to roam around and find a large part of their food themselves. At night they are kept in a pen adjoining the dwelling, or they are brought inside and tied to a post on account of the various felines preying upon them. Fowu.—The domestic fowl (M.: kalila, from the Spanish ‘‘gallina’’) is found in every house. Itis esteemed chiefly on account of the crow- ing power of the cock, which serves as a clock at night. The Miskito had already some fowls at the end of the seventeenth century (M. W.: 310). Among the Sumu this bird is called sakara and katarama; these appear to be onomatopeic names, and similar terms are met with in other parts of Central and South America. Does.—In every Indian dwelling there roam about some sneaky, repulsive curs, ready to steal if they are left unwatched for an instant. They are kept as pets, as watch dogs, but above all, for the chase. Good hunting dogs, especially such as are trained to hunt the jaguar or the puma, are very highly valued. The Indians feed them but little, fearing that they will lose all interest in hunting. The dogs are therefore very lean and the bones of the long, thin body generally appear distinctly beneath the skin. They roam about the house during the night and make their lair at the foot of that of their masters; they are responsible for the bloodthirsty fleas which abound in the Indian dwellings. 60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 According to Belt (204) the Sumu living on the upper Rio Grande used to come periodically to the Spanish settlements in order to obtain dogs. They would barter a gun or a large iron pot for a single dog, if it was of the right color. Some Ladinos around Olama had even in those days commenced to rear dogs to supply the demand. These Indians had a special liking for black ones, and did not value those of any other color so much. Lehmann (c: I, 405) states that the Miskito formerly buried a red dog (pduan) with a dead person, in order to serve the latter on his voyage to the underworld. How- ever, the writer has never observed that either Sumu or Miskito have a preference for a certain color. There is no record of the former existence on the Mosquito Coast of the ‘‘xulo”’ (xolotl) or barkless dog, which was tamed in the Pacific region of Nicaragua at the time of the conquest. ‘The native names of the common dog (M.: yul; S.: sul, sulu, solo) bear a close affinity to that Nahuatl word. Allen has identified the barkless dog in question with the raccoon, which is, however, called suksuk by both Miskito and Sumu. AGRICULTURE Agriculture is not as highly developed on the Mosquito Coast as in the remainder of Honduras and Nicaragua; it furnishes, neverthe- less, the principal means of subsistence. PREPARING THE PLANTATION.—In order to make their plantation (M.: insla; S.: yeamak) the Indians cut down a patch of the forest, gen- erally on the bank of a navigable stream. The rough work, that is the felling of the trees and the clearing of the ground, is essentially man’s work. The large hardwood trees are usually left standing, but all the other giants of the forest are cut down. This work takes place at the beginning of the dry season, about February or March. Toward the beginning of May fire is set to the tangled mass. When the ground has thus been prepared by the men, the women take charge of the future plantation, the planting and cutting down of the grass and weeds being their occupation. Sometimes the man and wife do the planting together. The harvesting is the work of the females. The ax, machete, and “‘barreta”’ or pointed digging stick are the only agricultural implements. The great heat and moisture with the comparatively uniform temperature all the year round enable a constant succession of vegetation, and trees may bear fruit at all seasons. The soil is in general very fertile, but large areas of the country are covered with savannas with sandy and gravelly soil, which is entirely unfit for cultivation and produces only scanty grass, pines, oaks, and various species of scrubby plants. The Indians from this part of the country are therefore compelled to make their planta- cONZEMIUs} THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 61 tions on the edge of the rivers, often at a considerable distance from their villages. INFLUENCE OF CULTIVATION UPON THE FOREST.—The bush, which springs up again from the seeds of the forest trees germinating in the ground, is cut down from time to time. After two or three crops have been obtained from the plantation, a variety of weedy-looking shrubs and grass begins to get a hold upon the land. The plantation is then abandoned, as the Indian does not consider it worth while to undertake the great amount of labor needed to keep the ground clear. He prefers to prepare a new plantation (M.: insla disan; S.: yamak wisam) by cutting down another patch of the virgin forest, where he is sure of a better crop. The brushwood springing up in the abandoned plantation (M.: insla prata; S.: yamak ba), bemg not interfered with any longer, gradually chokes off the grass and weeds. As a number of the larger hardwood trees had been left standing in the first place, such an abandoned plantation will, after 15 or 20 years, not differ essentially from the surrounding primeval forest. It may then be cut again for the making of anew plantation. As the country is sparsely inhabited, the Indians will always find virgin forest within close distance from their home; besides, many of them are seminomadic and change their village sites from time to time. Were they to make their planta- tions for a long-continued period on the same spot, cutting down the brushwood again and again, a great change would gradually take place. The soil not containing any more seeds of forest trees, grass and a scrubby vegetation would in time spring up. This may be observed around certain villages, where by this manner the forest has been beaten back, inch by inch, gradually but surely. BANANAS AND PLANTAINS.—It is noteworthy that the most impor- tant food plant of the Sumu and of the Miskito living toward the inte- rior, the banana (M.: siksa; S.: wakisa, pasa, iakini), is not indigenous to America. It was apparently brought by the Spaniards from the Canary Islands during the early part of the discovery, first to Santo Domingo (Haiti), and from there to the mainland. According to the testimony of the buccaneers of the latter part of the seventeenth century, bananas and plantains were already cultivated in those days by the Miskito of Cabo Gracias a Dios. Raveneau de Lussan (429) saw in 1688 many bananas on the banks of Rio Coco, and states that they had been planted by the Albaoiiins (= Sumu) and by the river currents. He also found this plant cultivated by the Mulattoes living around Cabo Gracias a Dios (488). Dampier (1, 9-10) mentions plantains among the Miskito, but he does not say anything about bananas. Exquemelin (English edit.: 114, 251), on the other hand, who visited the coast in 1671 and 1672, saw bananas, plantains, and 62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 ‘“‘racoven” 4! among this same tribe as well as among the Kukra of the Corn Islands. M. W. (302, 310) also refers to bananas and plan- tains among the plants cultivated by the Miskito. There is a great variety of bananas and plantains grown by these Indians, but by far the most common is the so-called ‘“‘Gros Michel”’ (also Jamaica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, or Bluefields), known to the Ladinos as ‘‘patriota”’ or “‘blanco”’; this is the only variety entering largely into world trade. The Chinese or dwarf banana (Musa chinensis syn. M. humilis and M. cavendishiz), which is the one grown in the Canary Islands for the European market, is also grown a little; this is the only species suitable for cultivation in the temperate zone and in the higher altitudes of the tropics. It is cultivated in Florida and in southern Louisiana, where it is called ‘“‘horse banana.” Various varieties of the plantain (M.: plato, from the Spanish ‘‘plé- tano”’; S.: waki; Musa paradisiaca normalis) are also grown by both tribes. There are some native names for certain of the local varieties of the plantain and banana. Cassava.—Sweet cassava (Manihot palmata Muell. or M. aipr Pohl; M.: yauhra; 8.: malai, maley) is the staple food of the coastal Miskito; it is also cultivated by those living inland, and by the Sumu. This food plant was mentioned by Raveneau de Lussan (438), Exquemelin (Engl. ed.: 251), and M. W. (310). The bitter cassava (Manihot utilissima Pohl) is unknown to either Miskito or Sumu, but is largely cultivated in two different varieties by the Black Carib (Garif) and the Paya of Honduras, who eliminate the deadly hydrocyanic acid contained therein by ingenious methods. Eppors or TANIAS.—This plant, which is known locally among the English-speaking population by the Jamaican name ‘‘coco”’ (Xantho- soma sagittifolium Schott; M.: duswa; S.: wilis), is also cultivated for its eatable tubers. It is of similar appearance and habits as the taro (Colocasia sp.), the staple food of the Pacific Islands. SwrEETPoTaTors.—There are several varieties of the sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas Poir.; M.: tawa; S.: pai). This food plant has been met with by several authors of the seventeenth century among the Miskito of Cabo Gracias a Dios (Exquemelin, Engl. edit.: 251; Dampier: I, 9; M. W.: 310). It was also cultivated by the aborig- ines of the Corn Islands in those days (Exquemelin, Engl. edit.: 114). Yams.—Several varieties of yams (Dioscorea sp.) are cultivated; they are of African origin and the Indians have no native name for 41 This name is probably deformed from pacoba, bacove, bakaoeba, or bacoven, names given to the banana in Brazil and in the Guianas. These words derive from pako or pakoba ‘“‘banana”’ of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic stock. In the Spanish edition of Exquemelin’s work (p. 453) the word is, in fact, spelled ‘‘ba- coves.”’ Cf. also Van Panhuys, Observations on the Name Bacove, Twenty-first International Congress of Americanists. Gdéteborg, 1925. cCONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 63 them. There is, however, a semiwild growing variety of a purplish color, which is called wsi by the Miskito and Sumu; this is probably the one mentioned by Dampier (I, 9) and M. W. (310). OTHER VEGETABLES.—Pumpkins and squashes (Cucurbita pepo L.; M.: zwa; S.: atv) are also grown to some extent, while the chayote or chocho (Sechium edule Sw.; M. and S.: mukula) and the tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) are cultivated in a desultory way. The latter plant appears to be indigenous, but there is no native name for it. Maize.—Maize or Indian corn (Zea mays L.; M.: aya; S.: am, ama), which forms the staple food practically all over Central America, is sparsely cultivated by the Miskito; however, it was already observed among them during the latter part of the seventeenth century by Raveneau de Lussan (438) and by M. W. (308, 310). This food plant is more esteemed by the Sumu, especially by the Twahka and Ulwa, who grow an inferior quality of inbred maize. Itis stored by hanging it under the roof over the smoke in order to prevent molding. Beans.—The red or black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), which rank as a staple food in large areas of northern and western Central America, are grown to a very small extent by either Miskito or Sumu. The red variety is the one usually found; it is somewhat smaller than the red kidney bean of the United States. Both tribes have a native name (M.: snek, snik; S.: sinak) for the plant; as these designations are also applied to a wild-growing vine, bearing small beanlike fruits, it is very probable that beans have been introduced only in recent times. In fact, this food plant is not mentioned by any one of the seventeenth century authors. Rice.—Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is rarely cultivated and has been introduced recently; it is known by its English or Spanish name. The grain is heavy and rounded, and it differs considerably from the native wild rice of tropical America (Zizania sp.), with long, narrow, dark grain. PEJIVALLE PALM.—The pejivalle or pijibay palm (Guwilielma utilis Oerst.; M. and S.: supa) is cultivated for its edible fruit all over the Mosquito Coast, usually around the Indian huts. The Central American name for this plant appears to have been taken from the Arawak language of Haiti. The palm is probably of South American origin and is extensively cultivated in the tropical part of that conti- nent. It is there known by a great variety of names, of which the following are the best known: Gachipdez, cachipaes or cachipay (Colombia), chonta*? (Ecuador), piritu, prijao (Venezuela), pupunha (Brazil), paripu, paripi and peach palm (Guianas). # From the Quichua chontartirru or chontaduro. 64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 On the Atlantic slope of Central America this palm is grown as far north as Rio Tinto in Honduras, but on the Pacific side its northern limit is formed by Lake Nicaragua. It is found only in the cultivated state; the palms found occasionally in deserted regions indicate former village sites. A wild variety, bearing inedible small fruits, is found on the Mosquito Coast to the south of Bluefields; it is there known as ‘‘nejivalle de monte” or “wild supa.” Coconut pALM.—The coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.), called kuku by both tribes, is found in a semiwild state all along the seashore; some of the inland Indians have also planted a few trees. This palm is not mentioned by the buccaneers who visited the Mosquito Cogst, as Exquemelin, Dampier, and Raveneau de Lussan; it was met, however, by M. W. (310). The Indians make little use of the coconut, except that they drink the water and eat the tender kernel of the young nut; very few of them extract the oil from it, as do the Creoles and Black Caribs. | SUGARCANE.—Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.; M.: kayu, from the Spanish ‘‘cafia’’; S.: tisnak) was brought by the Span- iards during the early part of the sixteenth century to the New World, first to the West Indies and later to the mainland.** The various buccaneer authors do not say anything of its occurrence among the Miskito. The first mention of this plant on the Mosquito Coast is found by M. W. (810), who states that the Miskito King Jeremy had some in his plantation, but in those days (1699) the Indians did not yet know how to make sugar from the juice. Nowadays they drink the juice of this plant, after having allowed it to ferment; they also boil it into sirup and brown sugar. Cacao.—Although an indigenous tree, cacao (Theobroma cacao L.; M. and S.: kakaw) is cultivated only by the Ulwa, but in former days it was also grown by the Miskito (M. W.: 308, 310). The Indians also collect the pods from the various varieties of cacao trees which grow wild in shady parts of the forest. Cacao pataste or “‘werbra cacao”’ (Theobroma bicolor Humb. and Bonpl.; M.: uran; S.: kuru) is cultivated, however, in the neighbor- hood of the huts. Cactus.—Sloane (a: p. Lxxvur) reports that the Miskito culti- vated the Opuntia cactus for the breeding of the cochineal insect; this must be a mistake, however, for that industry was limited to the Indian tribes of the Pacific slope and of the interior, particularly in Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras. Fruit trens.—The most common of the indigenous fruit trees, outside of the ones enumerated above, are the following: Pineapples 48 Herndn Cortés, the great conquistador of Mexico, introduced the plant from Haiti into Honduras (Trujillo) as early as 1526. conzemrus] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 65 (Ananas sativus; M.: pihto; S.: masa, masahti),“ papaws or papayas (Carica papaya L.; M.: twas, tawas; S.: ulmak, ulumak), avocados or alligator pears (Persea gratissima Gaertn.; M.: sikya; S.: sikya, sarifz), soursops (Anona muricata L.; M.: dwarsap; S.: sapot), guavas (Psidiwm guajava L.; M.: sikra; S.: burimak), cashews (Ana- cardium occidentale L.; M. and S.: kasau), and watermelons (Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.; M. and S.: rayapisa). Spanish plums (Spondias purpurea L.), although apparently indigenous, are rarely found, and their Indian name ploms comes from the English language. The most important fruit trees of foreign origin are: Citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, sweet limes, sour limes, shaddocks, grapefruits, citrons), mangoes (Mangifera indica L.), breadfruits (Artocarpus communis syn. incisa), tamarinds (Tamarindus indica L.), and rose apples (Hugenia jambos L.). GarpEens.—Around their houses many Indians cultivate also a few fruit trees and other plants. The calabash tree (Crescentia cujete L.; M.: kahmi; S.: sutak) is very common in these gardens; it is esteemed for the very useful kitchen receptacles obtained from its fruit. A few bushes of cotton (Gossypium peruvianum Cavy.; M.: wahmuk; S.: wahmak), chile peppers (Capsicum sp.; M.: kuma; 8.: anmak, aimak) and annatto (Biza orellana L.; M.: aulala, tmarin; S.: awal) are found near every lodge. A number of flowers are also cultivated, as the African marigolds, purple and white four-o’clocks, and the crimson hibiscus. FISHING AND FISHING IMPLEMENTS A very large share of the food supply of these primitive Indians is obtained from the sea, the lagoons, and the rivers. Fishing is there- fore an occupation wherein both tribes have attained an unusual degree of skill. The main implements used for this purpose are harpoons, fishhooks, nets, and bows and arrows. JAVELIN.—The javelin or throwing spear (M.: wdéisku; S.: suksuk) is used in the sea, lagoons, and larger rivers. It consists of a wooden staff, from 8 to 9 feet in length, in the front end of which a sharp barbed steel head has been inserted. The staff is of strong, slender, light wood, generally of a tree called ‘‘magaleta” (M.: sihnak, sinak; S.: sina); the Ulwa, however, use for this purpose the wood of a tree called by them pan-kuba, which is said to be superior to the above- mentioned species. The loosely fitting steel point is from 4 to 5 inches long and is made of an old file, wherein several series of double 4 The old authors, Exquemelin (Engl. edit.: 251), Dampier (I, 9), and M. W. (308, 310), met this fruit among the Miskito during the latter part of the seven- teenth century; in those days it was also cultivated by the aborigines of the Corn Islands (Exquemelin, Engl. edit.: 114). 66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 barbs have been made with the aid of another file. Previous to the introduction of iron and steel the Indians made their spear points of pointed and barbed pieces of bamboo. A cord about 50 feet in length is attached to the point, while the other end of it is wound round along reel of light wood, which acts as a “bob” or float, and is stuck at the distal end of the staff. These Indians call the float kunkun, which name is also applied by the Sumu to the balsa tree (Ochroma lagopus Sw.), from which it is usually made. Sometimes the red cedar (Cedrela sp.) or the roots of the ‘‘bobwood”’ tree (Anona palustris) are employed for this purpose by the Miskito. The javelin is used only for the larger fishes, such as the carplike snook (M. and S.: mopi) and the salmonlike tarpon (M. and S.: tapam, tahpam) which are frequently met with in the larger rivers. Two men generally work together when fishing with this imple- ment. The one in the bow of the boat signals his companion how to steer by motioning with the hand. They glide noiselessly over the water, and when within reach of a fish, that is, about 60 feet distant from it, the bowman stands up with the spear in his right hand and aims and throws at a single fish, which he may be unable to see through the thickness of water. The only thing visible is the fish’s ‘‘wake,”’ that is, the ripple produced on the surface of the water as he swims lazily along. By that the Indian guesses the species of the fish as well as the depth at which he swims under water. It may be 2 feet. The spear is thrown in such a manner that it strikes the water almost vertically; the Indians seldom miss, for they have practiced this sport from early childhood. Upon striking the fish, the cord unwinds; harpoon and reel become detached from the staff, but they are attached to each other by the cord. The reel acts like a float and points out the whereabouts of the prize; with its aid the latter is secured. When the fish is tired, it is drawn near the canoe, killed with a stick, and hauled in. Then the staff, which is also of floatable wood, is likewise caught. At the beginning of the rainy season the Miskito also practice this sport at night, especially in the lagoons. At such places where the fresh water comes in contact with the sea water it blazes as the fish swims along, thus indicating the latter’s presence. On dark nights the fish is also speared with the aid of a pitch-pine torch which is held by a third man in the boat. The glare of the torch attracts the fish and enables the bowman to spy his prey, which is immediately transfixed by the harpoon. This sport of fishing with a torch is practiced chiefly in November and December. The Sumu seldom employ this fishing implement as it is of little use in the small rocky streams where the bulk of this tribe lives. On the other hand, many Creoles and Ladinos living on the coast have learned from the Indians how to handle it. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 67 MANATEE SPEARING.—A similar spear, but with a point having not more than 2 inches in length and provided with only one or two barbs, is used to catch the manatee or sea cow (Trichechus sp.). The staff and float are identical as in the fish spear, but the line is thicker and stronger, for the manatee is a large and powerful animal. Dampier (I, 35-36) gives an account of the method practiced by the Miskito to secure this large mammal; it is still done so in our days. The Indians go after the manatee during the early morning when it grazes on the banks of the rivers and lagoons. The canoe is sometimes covered with branches or bushes, giving the appearance of a floating tree or island. When speared, the manatee makes off at a great speed, followed by the Indians, who can ascertain the direction which it takes from the float rippling the surface of the water. They manage to seize the latter and tie the distal end of the line to the bow of the boat. Gradually they advance toward the animal, hauling in the cord as they proceed. But the victim, seeing or hearing the craft, makes away a second time, dragging behind it the canoe with the Indians, at no little risk to the latter. Sometimes a second harpoon is driven into it. Finally the manatee is totally exhausted; the Indians then approach and kill it with their machetes or with sticks and then haul it into their small craft. As the manatee may weigh from 500 to 600 pounds, this is no easy matter. Both Indians get in the water and, holding-onto the sides of their boat, they tilt it over so as to swamp it, whereupon they push it under their prize. Then the water is quickly bailed out of the canoe with the aid of a large calabash and the craft gradually rises. When all the water has been bailed out both men get in again and triumphantly paddle home. TURTLE SPEARING.—The harpoon (silak) used for spearing turtle is not provided with a float, but it has a cord measuring up to 30 fathoms in length, the distal end of which is attached to the bow of the boat. The shaft or staff is of pejivalle wood, or of some wild species of palm, known by the Miskito names apo and rdiwa; the cord is tied firmly to it, for it does not float. This staff is from 2 to 3 inches thick and tapers gradually to a point at the rear end. An iron or steel point is inserted in the other extremity and an iron band is fitted around, in order to prevent the wood from splitting upon striking the turtle, for the harpoon is thown with great force. The point or head, locally called ‘‘peg”’ (silak), is triangular in section; it is single barbed at each one of the three lateral edges. Its length is only from 1% to 2 inches, which fact enables it to get a good hold on the hard carapace of the turtle and at the same time not enter far enough to kill it. The Indians endeavor to approach either behind or directly in front of the turtle, as it does not see well straight ahead. When it comes to the surface to breathe, which takes place at inter- vals of about 20 minutes, the spear is thrown into the air in such a 68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULLs 106 manner as to fall vertically onto and thus pierce the tough shell of the turtle. If thrown obliquely it would glance off the smooth carapace. Upon being struck the turtle disappears in the water, dragging the long line with the boat along, but after a while it becomes exhausted by its struggle. The boat is swamped and placed under the turtle to haul it in, for the latter may weigh up to several hundred pounds. By shoving the canoe from one side to the other the Indians throw out enough water to allow it to float, while the remainder is bailed out with a calabash. After the extraction of the harpoon heed, the wound is stopped with cloth; otherwise the turtle may die. These animals are also harpooned at night, their presence being indicated by the line of phosphorescent light they produce in the water. A smaller implement is employed for young sea turtles and for the different smaller varieties met with in the rivers. TurTLE NETS.—The Miskito of Tasbapauni (Pearl Lagoon) also employ large turtle nets, from 50 to 100 fathoms in length and from 6 to 8 feet in width, made of imported twine. These nets have been introduced into the country by the fishermen from the Cayman Islands and the Bay Islands. These turtle nets have very large meshes; they are anchored at the bottom and floated with buoys placed along the margin. Wooden turtle decoys are also attached to them in order to attract the prize, which becomes entangled therein and is then easily caught. Sometimes turtles die in the nets, being unable to rise to the surface to breathe. OTHER METHODS OF CATCHING TURTLES.—Sea turtles are also caught at night by the Indians, when they come to the shore to dig a hole in the sand to deposit their eggs therein. They then carefully cover up the hole again, and occasionally even deposit some leaves or drift- wood on the spot, so as to prevent detection. The Indians are very clever in discovering the eggs, being guided by indications on the surface sand. They poke suspected places with pointed sticks and by the moist particles adhering to the latter they immediately per- ceive when an egg has been pierced. Upon withdrawing the stick they examine and smell it, and having come to a satisfactory conclu- sion they turn up the sand. The Indian will also run after the turtle, overhaul it, and turn it on its back so as to render it helpless. The green sea turtle (M.: wl, ih; S8.: wilt) is considered a great delicacy while the loggerhead and the hawk’s-bill are also eaten. The latter species furnishes the valuable shell. Turtles are penned in stockades or ‘“‘crawls,’’** made by driving heavy mangrove posts in the shallow sea water, until needed for food. Several species of tortoises, of which the largest is the bocatora (M.: kuswa *; S.: kowa, kuwa) are also greatly esteemed as food. 45 From the Spanish corral, ‘‘cattle pen.”’ 46M. W. (312) gives this name in the form cushwaw. coNnzEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 69 They are caught with the hook or by diving after them; some Indians will also catch the sea turtles in this manner and bring them up in their hands, but this feat is attended with danger, from bites and sharp coral. The bocatora tortoise is speckled black and yellow and is found in the larger rivers only. It lays about 20 round eggs in the sand, silt, or even in stiff earth; the eggs are inclosed in a rough calcareous parchment and are considered a great delicacy. Lancrs.—Two varieties of long spears, with fixed points, are employed for striking fish. They are not thrown, but kept in the hand while striking. These implements are found chiefly among the river Indians, Miskito as well as Sumu. The thin, strong staff, which may be from 10 to 15 feet in length, is made from the stem of a tree called by the Ladinos ‘‘cacao” (M.: sakalpihni; S.: babasnak). Of these two implements the more common one (M.: sihnak; S.: suksuk) has a harpoonlike point, similar to that of the javelin or throwing spear. The other one (M. and 8.: daka) is provided with a pointed piece of thick wire or some other metal, which looks like a nail; for that reason it is called ‘“‘clavo”’ by the Ladinos, who also use it in fishing. FisHHooks.—Fishing with the hook (M.: kyul; T., P.: kuyul; U.: simin) is done chiefly by the women, children, and old men. The line is made of silk-grass fiber (Bromelia sp.) and is dyed black with vegetable juices, so as to render it less conspicuous. The hooks are of foreign manufacture but in former days crooked bones were used for the purpose. The Indians bait them with worms, spiders, grass- hoppers, or fruits (guavas, wild figs). At certain times of the year when the fruits of the wild fig or of other trees growing along the edge of the river begin to drop, the Indians fish without any bait at all. They flick and cast their long line about, lashing the surface of the water, and letting it sink, presently raising it with a peculiar movement of the wrist. This noise is regarded by the fish as resulting from the dropping of overhanging fruits and they will greedily snap after them and then be caught by the hook. FisHiInG NETs.—A small fishing net (M.: iis, tan; T.: wilino; P.: dua; U.: yano), made of silk-grass fiber, is used by both Miskito and Sumu. With its aid they close the mouth of narrow creeks, in order to catch the fish trying to enter the main river. Wickham (b: 238; c: 203) already mentions the use of drag nets among the Ulwa of Rio Escondido; the Indians employed it in low water in the pools scattered among the bowlders or rocks in the rapids and falls. The cast net and the seine have also been introduced recently among the Miskito. The former especially is becoming popular. Having the folded net in his hand, the Indian throws it like a lasso upon the water in such a manner that by a single cast it becomes suspended almost to its whole width, surprising and catching the 70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 fish on that spot; the presence of the latter is indicated to him from certain movements on the surface of the water. Lead balls or small round pebbles are attached to the edges of the net in order to keep it down in the water. Bow AND ARROow.—Several river fishes, especially the short, deep, bluish-purple, perchlike species, which is known locally by the Miskito name tuba (S.: pahwa, pahawa, pdi), are generally killed with bow and arrow. (See Hunting and Fighting Implements.) Two allied fishes, the moga (M. and S.: moba) and the guapote (M.: sahsin; S.: musa), are also killed in this manner. The fishermen will sit entire hours at the waterside, keeping up continually a low, plaintive whistling, which is said to entice the fish within arrow shot. This requires great patience, a quality of which the Indian is not lacking, especially when it comes to hunting and fishing. The point of the arrow is held sometimes a foot deep in the water. At the approach of a fish the arrow goes off quick as lightning, and it rarely misses the mark. On account of its feather- light shaft it returns again to the surface and the fish is easily seized. This exercise is extremely difficult, as the true position of the fish is not the one in which it appears to sight, but it varies with the dis- tance of the fish, with the latter’s depth in the water, and upon the reflection of the light. In case the fisherman misses the arrow will return to the surface with the same degree as it had been shot down. Fisu ‘‘porsonina.’’—Fish are also caught by ‘‘poisoning”’ the water of small creeks. For this purpose the Indians utilize several vines, especially Sertania inebrians (M.: basala; T., P.: wana; U.: wahnari); in Central America all of these varieties are known by the Quichua name ‘‘barbasco”’ or the Aztec ‘‘amol”’ (amolli). The vine is crushed with flat stones or wooden clubs, in order to release the poisonous milky juice. At a narrow part the creek has been barred by a sort of weir or fence made of sticks, stones, or branches in the form of an angle with the point in the middle of the stream. At some distance above this spot the crushed plant is thrown in the water, and the poisonous juice will spread and stupefy all the fish in the neighbor- hood. The latter then float on the surface and are carried down the stream, but they are intercepted by the weir, where they are caught by the Indians standing in the water and thrown on land. Larger fishes, which are not entirely powerless, are easily harpooned in this condition. By this method enormous quantities of fish may be obtained in a short time. The smaller fishes are allowed to float away and recover in the unadulterated water below. The juice of the “barbasco”’ is also poisonous to man, but it does not affect the taste of fish killed or stupefied with it, This manner of fishing is widespread in both Americas. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS él DYNAMITING FisH.—Fish are also caught by exploding dynamite in the deeper holes and eddies of the rivers. This is practiced chiefly by the Indians living around the mining districts, where they can easily obtain sticks of dynamite. Several severe accidents have resulted among the Indians by this manner of fishing. Fisu pots.—Fish pots (pispat) of cylindrical shape are also made by the Indians nowadays of split bamboo. They are of recent intro- duction and there is no native name for them. At one extremity this implement has a funnel-shaped opening. The apex of the funnel points toward the center of the trap, so that the fish can easily enter it, but is unable to get out again. OTHER METHODS OF FISHING.—A very peculiar method of fishing is sometimes employed in order to catch certain species which have the habit of leaping out of the water when they believe themselves persecuted by other fishes. The Indians paddle slowly along the bank of the river, rocking the boat as violently as they can, at the same time making much noise by beating the bank with their paddles. The fish, leaping in terror out of the water, will fall in the canoe, and are killed immediately, so as to prevent them from escaping by another leap. This method was observed by Ferdinand Columbus in 1502 on the Atlantic coast of Panama; the natives used to catch in that way a small fish described as ‘‘pilchard.’”? The canoe was provided with a screen erected longitudinally from bow to stern. The terror- ized fish, upon leaping out of the water, struck against the screen and fell into the bottom of the canoe. It happens not infrequently that, while rowing over shoals of fish after the breeding season, the stroke of the paddles may cause the fish to jump out of the water and land in the canoe. The common mullet, an excellent food fish, resembling the herring, which is found © in large shoals in the lagoons and larger rivers, is easily caught during still, dark nights, by paddling noiselessly along and then suddenly striking the side of the boat violently with the paddle. A gigantic species of mullet, called kuhkale by the Indians, likewise has the habit of jumping out of the water on hearing any sudden noise. This fish does not take the bait and readily jumps out of a net. During the dry season fish are easily caught in the old river beds or lagoons, which may be found all along the larger rivers, for all these streams are changing their course constantly. During the rainy season the water from the main river flows in these lagoons, but in summer the reverse is the case. These old river beds are then the favorite fishing grounds of women and children. They dam up a shallow portion thereof and then bail out the water in order to seize the fishes caught therein. Should a cold rain occur during low water the temperature of these water sheets will be reduced considerably, relatively speaking, and many fishes die from exposure to the cold. 72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 At night torchlights are used to attract the fish and induce them to rise to the surface, where they are killed by a stroke with the machete; the latter weapon is also used to chop the “‘sleeping”’ fishes, which are easily detected with the torches. Along the river banks and among the rocks the Indians also ‘‘feel”’ for certain fishes and for crustacea. CATCHING ALLIGATORS.—The tail part of young alligators and croc- odiles is also occasionally eaten. These ugly reptiles are caught with the aid of large hooks. Young (61) gives the following account of the manner practiced by the Sumu to catch these repulsive creatures but, needless to say, this applies only to young specimens: “A Sumu Indian, when he sees an alligator near the banks of the river, will boldly swim under water, carrying a native-manufactured rope with a noose in it, until he reaches the creature; he will then dexterously affix the noose to its leg; his companions at the same moment, having hold of the other end of the rope, pull it vigorously, and the alligator is speedily drawn out and despatched.” CRUSTACEA AND MOLLUSKS.—Lobsters, crabs, and mollusks (conchs, large whelks, mussels, oysters) are also gathered by the women, and form an important item of food. In the larger lagoons two kinds of edible oysters are common; the smaller one, or mangrove oyster, attaches itself to the roots of the mangrove tree, while the larger one occurs in banks in certain parts of the lagoons. A small bivalve mollusk, known locally as ‘“‘cockle” (M. and S.: ahi), appears to have played in former days an enormous role in the food supply. A number of refuse heaps, up to 20 feet in height, consisting of cockle shells intermingled with fragments of domestic utensils of stone, bone, or pottery, have been discovered on the western shore of Bluefields Lagoon. Two of such tumuli were exam- ined by the writer on Cucra Point in 1921. They consisted nearly exclusively of the above-mentioned small cockle shell, which mollusk is found in the shallow water of the lagoon. Oyster shells were rare, although extensive oyster banks exist also in certain parts of the Bluefields Lagoon. These shell mounds (shell heaps, kitchen middens, kitchen débris), called also by the Danish word kjgkkenm¢dding, indi- cate undoubtedly old dwelling sites; from their great size it is evident that long periods of time must have been required for their accumu- lation. A number of them were also found at the site of Bluefields and likewise a little to the north; they have been carried away to ‘‘metal” the streets of that town. See also Bell (a: 260; b: 18), Wickham (b: 251-252), and Spinden (532-533). FisHINGc cHARMS.—Certain charms are said to be very efficacious at fishing. Stones found in the stomach of fishes are highly valued, as their possessor will have good luck in catching that particular species of fish. Heads and spines from the larger species are also CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 43 kept in the hut for that purpose. When the Indians catch the palo- meta fish (M. and S.: trisw), they return to the water with the bones and throw them in the same spot, believing that by so doing they will always be favored with good luck when fishing for palometa. In case a woman enciente eats this fish, however, it will not bite any more during that season. HUNTING AND FIGHTING IMPLEMENTS Weapons naturally play a great role among primitive people, for they are used to defend themselves against the wild animals of the forest as well as against their own kind, which is even more dangerous than the beasts of the jungle. Nowadays they are not used any longer in warfare, for the various tribes are at peace, but they still furnish the Indians with the means of procuring a large share of their food supply. DEFENSIVE WEAPONS.-—Defensive weapons have gone out of exist- ence since intertribal wars have ceased, but in former days the Miskito employed round shields (kabaika) of light wood or of tapir hide. Armors of plaited reed are also reported; they were covered with jaguar skin and ornamented with feathers. The northern Miskito used a breastplate of twisted cotton like that of the Mexicans (Bancroft: I, 723). Bitoweun.—The blowpipe or blowgun is said to be still found among the Ulwa of Rio Escondido, but the present writer was unable to obtain any details pertaining to that arm. Lehmann (ec: I, 503), however, gives the name makar (compare Bribri mdkol) for the blow- gun among the Ulwa of Rio Murra, a northern affluent of Rio Escondido. According to Bell (b: 232) the Indian children had little blowguns to blow little balls of black wax through, in order to kill wasps, butterflies, and small house lizards. They were made from a reed, called brasirpi, the joints of which are about 1% feet in length. The use of the blowgun as a hunting and fighting implement would necessarily point to an acquaintance with arrow poison. In fact, Benito Garret y Arlovi in a report from the year 1711 (Peralta, b: 59) states that some of the Miskito used arrow poison. Bancroft (I, 722-723) says that these Indians employed the juice of the man- chineel tree (Hippomane mancinella L.) to poison arrows and darts, but he fails to indicate the source of his information. It is well known that the Chocé and Tule (Cuna, San Blas) Indians of Panama, like the Caribs of the Lesser Antilles, poisoned their arrows in former days by dipping them in the milky juice of that tree. I have not seen the tree in question on the Mosquito Coast, nor learned its native name; Ziock (69, 237), however, calls it liwakumya in the Miskito 66787—32—_6 74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 108 language, and gives this name also as that of an island among the Mosquito Keys. The secretions from an indigenous pale greenish-blue frog (Den- drobates tinctorius) may also have been used as an arrow poison, as is done by several tribes of Colombia. LANCES AND SPEARS.—Lances and spears, tipped with fishbones or with flint, were formerly used for hunting and fighting, but to-day they are employed exclusively in fishing. (See Fishing and Fishing Implements.) Ferdinand Columbus mentions these weapons and says that they were made of palm wood, black as coal and hard as horn, and pointed with the bones of fishes. The javelin or throwing spear is evidently the weapon mentioned in old Spanish documents under the name of ‘vara para tirar.’”’ According to Exquemelin (Engl. edit.: 114) lances of a fathom and a half in length and tipped with a crocodile tooth were one of the principal arms of the aborigines of the Corn Islands. Sitines.—Small slings (M.: prduprdukya) for throwing stones are sometimes employed to kill birds. Cxiuss.—Wooden clubs (M.: dyara prukaya; T.: di bdunin; U.: di- bdunaka) jagged with alligator teeth constituted a dangerous weapon in former days, but they disappeared many years ago. Bow AND ARROW.—Bow and arrow appear to have been the prin- cipal weapon of the tribes under consideration; still they are said to have been unknown to the natives of the Corn Islands, who apparently belonged to the Kukra, a subtribe of the Sumu (Exquemelin, Engl. edit.: 114). It is known, however, that the Kukra living on the shores of Bluefields Lagoon possessed arrows, and a description thereof has been left to us by the same author, Exquemelin, whose vessel anchored at that lagoon in 1671. One morning several women slaves from this buccaneer vessel were attacked by a group of Indians and pierced by a great number of arrows. The latter were made of palm wood, 8 feet in length (5 to 6 feet according to the French edition), round in section and of the thickness of a thumb. They were tipped with sharp points of flint which were tied firmly into the arrow together with a wooden hook, so that the arrow point presented a harpoonlike appearance; the other extremity ended in a point. Other arrows had at the distal end a small wooden box, 1 foot long, filled with round pebbles, evidently in order to increase the power of the arrow. The Indians had been careful enough to put some leaves in this box in order to reduce the noise produced by the pebbles upon shooting the arrow off. Some of these arrows were painted red (Exquemelin, Engl. edit.: 247-248; Span. edit.: 446; French edit.: II, 257-258). © conzemrva) THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS ® There is no record of these Indians affixing feathers to their arrows, nor is there any other method known among them to guide their direction. Nowadays the Miskito do not make use of bow and arrow, except for fishing. ‘The elder Sumu still prefer these arms for hunting, as they do not make any noise and do not scare the game in the neigh- borhood as is the case with firearms. The lower end of the arrow is seized with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, while the left hand is placed upon the bow and serves to direct the arrow and help in spanning the bow also. Bow.—The bow (M.: pantamafka; T., P.: las; U.: sibat oka “arrow house’’) is made of the hard wood of the pejivalle palm or of the cortes (Tecoma chrysantha DC.). It is roughly polished and flattened, with a rectangular or oblong cross section. It is widest in the center (about 1 inch) and becomes gradually narrower toward both extremities. It is of uniform thickness—that is, about a quar- ter of an inch—while the length varies from 4 to 5 feet. The bow- string (M.: pantamafika awa; T., P.: las wahm; U.: sibati wahka), which is made of silk-grass fiber, is fastened to the tips at both extremities of the bow and is always kept rigid. ARROWS IN GENERAL.—The arrow (M.: trisba; S.: sibavi, sikarna), like the bow, is made of the wood of the pejivalle palm. It is always round in section and of nearly uniform thickness; at the front end, however, it is gradually tapering and terminates in a point. The other extremity is inserted into a shaft of wild cane and firmly held in place with the aid of silk-grass fiber. In the distal end of the hollow shaft small pieces of wood are inserted, and then likewise some thread is wound round tightly in order to avoid splitting or any other damage liable to be caused. by friction against the bow- string. Native beeswax (M.: blas; S.: balas) is applied to the string; it acts as a cement and protects the latter from sun and rain, which would cause it to become slack. The wild cane (M.: yahurus; S.: dapa), which is to be used for arrow shafts, is cut immediately after flowering—that is, about August or September. The upper part or flower stalk only is employed. It is first placed in the fire for a few minutes in order to render it more pliable and facilitate the straightening of it. The Indians carefully test the straightness and balance of the reed by looking along it while held at arm’s length. After this operation the cane is left to dry and harden in the sun. The reeds are then tied in bundles and kept under the house rafters, over the smoke of the fire, until needed; this makes them immune from boring insects and worms. FISHING ARROWS.—There are various sorts of arrows. The sim- plest one, called slauni by the Miskito and Creoles and sikarna by the Sumu (pan subaf in the dialect of Rio Patuca), which is only 76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 used for fishing, consists merely of a shaft of wild cane into which a sharply pointed foreshaft of pejivalle wood, hardened in the fire, has been inserted and firmly tied as stated above. The latter is smoothed with the aid of a machete or large knife, which tools are used after the manner of a carpenter’s plane. This kind of arrow is the largest one found on the Mosquito Coast, and it may reach 6 feet in length. Occasionally it is jagged on either side into more or less definite barbs. The arrow does not sink, owing to the feather- light shaft, which will always rise to the surface. On the Mosquito Coast the use of this arrow has also spread to some of the Creoles and Ladinos. Huntina Arrows.—The hunting arrow (M.: trisha; S.: siban) measures only 5 feet in length, as the shaft of wild cane is consider- ably shorter than in the one used for fishing. Unlike the latter, the hardwood foreshaft is not pointed, but a piece of iron or steel made from barrel hoops or other scrap iron is inserted in front. The latter is lanceolate in shape and has sharp edges. As the art of melting metal is unknown to these Indians, they make these arrow points with the aid of files. According to Exquemelin (Engl. edit.: 251), the Miskito in 1671 used iron points or alligator teeth to tip their arrows. Flint, obsidian, turtle shell, sharp fishbone, and shark teeth * were also used for this purpose in former days. Barbed arrows and trident or composite arrow heads are now unknown. Brrp arrows.—For birds and small animals the Indians make use of small arrows with blunt knobs of hardwood or beeswax, called uru by the Miskito and wbo or ubur by the Sumu. With these arrows they seldom kill, but merely stun the game, so that they can capture it alive. They are also used in the houses to scare away dogs, pigs, and fowls without being compelled to get up from the seat. Quivrers.—Quivers (M.: trisha taya ‘“‘arrow skin’’) were apparently of ceremonial use only, and they were employed to carry the arrows during the festivals. They were made of red deerskin, as is indi- cated by their Sumu name (T.: sana untak; P.: sana onitak; U.: sana okatak). At the present time quivers have disappeared entirely, and the arrows are always carried in the hand by the hunter. Firearms.—The buccaneers of the latter half of the seventeenth century apparently introduced firearms among the Miskito.*® In 47'The Rama still employ shark teeth to tip their hunting arrows, and they claim that a wound caused with such an arm will almost invariably be fatal. 48 It is possible that firearms were already introduced among the Miskito at an earlier period, during the years 1630 to 1641, when the two islands of Provi- dencia and Santa Catalina, situated off the Mosquito Coast, and now belonging to Colombia, were colonized by English Puritans. The latter opened friendly and commercial relations with the Miskito, who were living chiefly around Cabo Gracias a Dios and Sandy Bay in those days. In 1633 a certain Capt. Sussex CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS (ar recent times this arm has also spread to the Sumu. The Indians use muzzle-loading shotguns, called raks or rakbus by the Miskito and arakbus or arakbas by the Sumu. These names are evidently of European origin and are taken from the English ‘“‘harquebus”’ or the French ‘‘arquebuse,”’ or perhaps the Spanish ‘‘arcabuz.’? Powder is known by its English name (pditar), but shot, which is generally kept in the small pispis bottle gourd (Lagenaria lagenaria), is spoken of by the Indians as the ‘‘eggs of the shotgun’? (M.: raks mabra; S.: arakbus suma). Double-barreled guns (M.: raks sutki; S.: arak- bus sutki, that is, “‘twin guns’’) are also occasionally met with. THE CHASE SKILL IN HUNTING.—Game is very abundant in this sparsely inhabited part of Central America. The Indian is an excellent hunter; the keenness of his senses is marvelous and nothing escapes his eyes. Every sound is noticed and understood, and the distance and the direction whence any noise proceeds is estimated with surprising accuracy. ‘The Indian has a marvelous instinct which permits him to discover with great ease the footprints of animals and then deter- mine the species to which they belong. He pursues the game through the thicket with the sagacity of the bloodhound. A MALE OCCUPATION.—The wife never accompanies her husband on the actual hunt, where she would be in his way, for she does not learn to handle any arms. When a number of men organize a hunting party, expected to last more than a day, they may be accompanied by the members of their family. Arrived at a place said to be rich in game, they erect temporary sheds, wherefrom they undertake smaller expeditions in different directions. The hunters start out early in the morning, and before nightfall they rejoin the women and children, who have been left behind at the provisional ranch. The best time for hunting is in the morning before 9 o’clock and in the evening after Camock, a member of that Puritan colony, appears to have founded a settle- ment at Cabo Gracias a Dios. Having gained the confidence of the Indians, the son of one of their most important chiefs was taken to England, where he remained two years, a certain Colonel Morris remaining as hostage among the Indians. Some of these Indians went occasionally to Providencia, where they learned English and were instructed in the Christian religion (Sloan, a: pp. Lxxvi— Lxxvu; Bridges: II, 138-139). In 1641 this Puritan colony, which by that time had found it more profitable to take up privateering than to pursue the peaceable occupation of farming, was stamped out by a Spanish expedition; the settlers then left for other regions, chiefly to the Bahama Islands. According to Exquemelin (French edit.: II, 277), who wrote in 1678, the first buccaneers, a French vessel, anchored at Cabo Gracias a Dios 60 years previ- ously—that is, about 1618—and entered into friendly relations with the Indians; the buccaneers would seem, therefore, to have been the first Europeans with whom the Miskito became friendly. 78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 4 o’clock; that is when the animals and birds are feeding. During the remainder of the day the forest is quiet, and most of the birds roost in the dense treetops. TRAVEL TO THE HUNTING GROUND.—Travel is effected chiefly by small pitpans, for the Indians are canoe men by necessity, the rivers being their roads. They leave their boat at a certain spot, the parting point of a trail leading to a good hunting ground, that is, a region abundant in fruit trees. To a stranger such hunting trails are barely perceptible; here and there marks on trees made with the machete and broken twigs indicate the direction. The Indians always travel in single file, even when there is a broad road, or when they traverse open country. In marching they always glance at the sun and they observe the direction the clouds are moving, that is from northeast to southwest on the Mosquito Coast. Intuitively they keep in their mind a mental picture of the direction they came from. They walk along, silent and watchful, and at times stand still to listen. StTaLKinGc.—The Indian is an expert stalker, but not a true sports- man; he rarely shoots at the game while it is in motion, except in the midst of a flock of flying birds. He therefore rarely misses the mark, but is not necessarily a good marksman. Owing to his scarce clothing he moves about the forest without making any noise. His color also appears to a certain degree to assimilate with the forest. IMITATING THE CALL OF THE GAME.—The Indian huntsman imitates the call of animals and birds, in order to call them within arrow or gun shot. Bone whistles (M.: kyaki wasbaya; S.: malka kufi) are used to lure the agouti (Dasyprocta sp.) under certain trees at the time when the latter drop their fruits. This trick is especially successful during the pairing season of certain animals. The Indian is thoroughly acquainted with the habits of the game. Hountine pocs.—A lot of skinny, mangy dogs, esteemed for their skill in stirring up the game, are found in the Indian villages. With the aid of large dogs trained for the purpose, the jaguar is cornered and the puma is driven up a tree, where it may easily be shot by the hunter. When the Indian ascends a stream he keeps close to the river bank and lets his dog range the woods. The latter, upon scaring up some game, will give tongue immediately and endeavor to drive it to the water. This is the common way of hunting the paca which lives at the river bank and plunges into the water when pursued. This rodent also enters hollow trees and burrows in the ground and is then difficult to secure. Its meat is delicious and is appreciated by the average foreigner. Before leaving for the chase the dog’s snout is rubbed with certain herbs, so that the game shall not be able to smell it. This procedure is also supposed to clear the scent of the dog and sharpen his per- ceptions. An infusion from a small parasitic plant, called in Spanish CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 79 ‘“‘lengua de venado”’ (deer’s tongue), is administered by the Sumu to the hunting dogs when they wish to get a deer. Hunting wEApons.—Muzzle-loading shotguns (M.: raks, rakbus; S.: arakbus, arakbas) are now used on the chase by all the Miskito, but bow and arrow (see Hunting and Fighting Implements) are still employed by the Sumu for that purpose. The arrow is not discharged at an object more than 75 feet away, but it has the advantage of not scaring the other game in the neighborhood, as does the discharge of a gun. Upon meeting a drove of peccaries, the hunters surround it, and each one of them will attempt to shoot several arrows before the scared game have found an outlet to escape. Three or four arrows are generally taken along by each man, as the wild cane shaft generally breaks during the struggle of the wounded animal; the larger game may even break the hardwood foreshaft or the iron head of the arrow. Snares, traps, and slings are seldom used to-day. The Kukra are said to have been expert in capturing big game by making a deep hole in the neighborhood of fruit trees. It was carefully camouflaged with the aid of branches and leaves, and a small trail was cut to lead the victims to it. Drrr.—Nocturnal animals, especially the two small species of deer found in the country (Qdocoileus sp. and Mazama sp.), are hunted occasionally with the aid of torches. Toward the close of the dry season the savanna is also fired and drives are organized to hunt deer or other animals, which are driven in a corner, where they are easily secured. Deer, agouti, and birds are the chief game found in the savannas and along the coast. Prccary.—The white-lipped peccary (TZayassu sp.) is highly esteemed as meat; it travels in large droves, which may be heard from some distance. Occasionally it charges the hunter and forces him up a tree; some bushmen claim, however, that all one needs to do in such circumstance is to step behind a large tree, whereupon the animals keep on rushing forward without attempting to turn. The smaller collared peccary (Pecari angulatus) has a dorsal gland which Europeans regarded as the navel in former days; this gland has to be cut off immediately after death, otherwise the flesh can hardly be eaten. The weight of these beasts may range from 50 to 100 pounds. The peccaries, like most of the other edible animals, are supposed to have an owner, who keeps them shut up at times, and does not release them unless the sukya practices certain rites of incantation and makes a small offering. OTHER MAMMALS.—Among the other game animals the most esteemed are two species of monkey, the spider monkey (Afeles sp.) and the capuchin monkey (Cebus sp.). The tapir (Tapirella bairdw syn. Hlasmognathus bairdit) is considered a special delicacy in certain regions of the Mosquito Coast: in other districts its flesh is said to be 80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 coarse and unhealthy and even is taboo. The Miskito call it tilba, which name is already mentioned at the end of the seventeenth century in the form tilbu (M. W.: 311). Lizarps.—The largest lizard is the green iguana (Iguana tubercu- lata) which is generally shot while feeding on the river banks or in the branches of some overhanging tree. Sometimes it tries to escape by dashing into the water, where the Indians attempt to catch it by diving after it. It is sometimes kept alive by the Indians until required for food. For this purpose they break the thighs and arm- bones, and put the backbone out of joint; or else they twist the legs and tie the front ones over the back and the hind ones over the tail by their own sinews. The poor animal is thus unable to run away. The eggs of the iguana are also highly esteemed. Brrps.—Various species of guans (Penelope, Ortalis, Pipile *), the yellow-crested black curassows (Crazx sp.), mountain hens (Zina- mus sp.), quails (Ortyx sp.), partridges (Odontophorus sp.), pigeons (Colomba sp.), and wild ducks (Cairina moschata) are esteemed as game birds. RETURN FROM THE CHASE.—After the chase the game is carried on the back to the canoe. When a large animal, as a peccary, has been killed each fore and hind foot are tied together with the aid of withes. The Indian, putting his arms through the loops thus formed, with the beast’s head downward, carries it on the back, as if shouldering a knapsack. M. W. (305) tells us that the Ulwa first drew out the finger and toe nails of their unhappy victims, while the latter were still alive, and knocked out their teeth with stones. Then they roasted them over a framework of green sticks. They considered this food the best of all. Cannibalism was, however, probably a ceremonial custom, a ritual of vengeance. The body of the enemy was mutilated and cut to pieces, in order to destroy him entirely. The hair, teeth, and nails were extracted and carried as necklaces, as particularly magical virtues were attributed to these body parts. To eat an enemy was indeed considered the most profound of all insults, for by such an act he would be destroyed, not only for this world, but also for the hereafter. PRESERVING MEAT AND FisH.—After a successful chase the meat which is to be preserved for some time is placed on a low stage or framework (M.: trin; S.: pala, lim) of green sticks, and slowly barbecued by the action of a fire lighted underneath, assisted by the rays of the tropical sun. No salt is added to it. From time to time it is turned. This fire is kept up for several days, after which the meat becomes nearly as dry as our smoked beef. 55 Noticias estadisticas del Reino de Guatemala, Guatemala, vol. mu, No. 32, Oct. 10, 1867. 66¢8/— 32-5 90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 Fish may also be preserved by drying it in the sun, after having cleaned it and rubbed salt into the scraped flanks. VEGETABLE FOoD.—Vegetables, such as cassava, sweet potatoes, tania, yams, green bananas, and plantains, are either’boiled in water or (occasionally in coconut milk) with meat or fish, or they are roasted in the hot ashes. Cassava prepared by the last-named process is called bulbul by the Miskito. The fruit of the pejivalle palm is also boiled in water, after which the skin is easily removed. Inferior varieties of this fruit are gen- erally mashed and consumed in the shape of a beverage, either soured or fermented. A sort of bread (M.: tani; S.: dipis) is also made. Dry maize is ground on the metate with the addition of a little water. It is then wrapped in large bijagua leaves after the manner of the “tamales” of the Ladinos. A few days later when this mass has turned sour it is baked in the embers. The Sumu also bake it occasionally, immediately after grinding the maize, without allowing it to turn sour; it is then known to them by the name pa (from the Spanish ‘“‘pan’’). The Ulwa make this bread generally from unripe maize. The pith or ‘‘cabbage”’ of various palms (Attalea, Chamaedorea, Euterpe, Iriartea, Oreodoxa) may be eaten either pickled or cooked; it is slightly bitter in taste. The pith and the small acid fruits of the pingwing or pifiuela (Bromelia pinguin L.; M.: ahsi; S.: ahsi, wakart) are also esteemed. In times of scarcity the tender young bamboo shoots are also cooked and eaten. The leaves of a small wild-growing plant, called cucumber or calaloo (Phytolacca decandra L.), are occasionally eaten as ‘‘spinach”’ by the Indians, who have taken this habit from the Creoles and Negroes. The common name “‘calaloo” for this plant savors of African origin; the Miskito call it tba pata “‘tapir food.’”’ Indians and Ladinos use the leaves sometimes as soap, hence the local Spanish name ‘‘jaboncillo.”’ Witp rruits.—The Indians also collect the fruits of a number of wild-growing trees, of which the following are the most important for food: Hog plums (Spondias lutea L.; M.: pahara; S.: walak), nances or nancitos (Byrsonima crassifolia H. B. K.; M. and S.: krabo, karabo), zapotes or mammee apples (Lucuma mammosa Gaertn.; M.: kurz; S.: sipul), sapodillas or naseberries (Sapota zapotilla Coville; M.: rban; S.: iban, sabakan), guapinol or locust tree (Hymenaea courbaril L.; .: ldéua, laka; S.: tipi), several species of dwarf guavas (Psidium sp.; .kru; 8.: kuru, arayan), breadnut tree (Helicostylis ojoche K. Sch.; . and S.: pisba, tisha), monkey apple (Moquilea platypus Hemsl.; .: puramdira; S.: lasat), beach or sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera L.; and §.: waham), icaco or coco plum (Chrysobalanus icaco L.; . and S.: tawa) and several species of granadillas or fruits of passion tet ot ae CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 91 flowers (Passiflora sp.; M.: drap, tutbufi; S.: wahlulufi, sufisun, wahamtar2). Ensitace.—A sort of ensilage is occasionally made by the Miskito of various foodstuffs, as green bananas or plantains and pejivalles, and by the Sumu of boiled maize. Such food is known by the name bisbaya; it may be kept for six months, or even longer. Green bananas or plantains are peeled and buried in the ground upon a layer of large bijagua leaves and then covered up with another layer of leaves and earth. The Indians claim that no worm will get into the food when the work has been done carefully. The whole is not uncovered until required for food. The fruit retains its natural whitish color, but will turn black immediately upon exposure to the air. Bisbaya is consumed either in the shape of a beverage, after being boiled with water, or it is baked between leaves into a sort of bread (M.: bisbaya tanka; S.: bisbaya pafini). * The fruit of the pejivalle palm, which has been stored in this manner, is always taken in the shape of a drink. It is boiled again, when taken out of the soil, mashed, strained, and mixed with wabul. The Sumu rarely make use of this manner of preserving food, except for maize. The latter is steeped in lye of wood ashes to remove the outer skin, and then buried for a few months. After being taken out of the ground it is preserved in baskets over the smoke until needed as food. These various kinds of bisbaya all have a very offensive odor, which may be smelled from a great distance. Another manner of ensiling is practiced more frequently by the Sumu. Maize or bananas from which the skin has been removed are placed in running water until they partially ferment, and are then dried in the sun. For this purpose they are made into large leaf parcels and deposited in the neighboring creek. This sort of food (M. and S8.: kwakwa, tahra, tulis) has also a somewhat disa- greeable odor. f FOOD ADJUNCTS: NARCOTICS, STIMULANTS, EXCITANTS, ETC. Topacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).—The sukya uses tobacco as a narcotic in order to throw himself into a condition of wild ecstasy; during such an abnormal conditon he is supposed to enter into rela- tions with the spirits. He also blows tobacco smoke over the sick persons in order to purify them. 56 Bell (b: 27) states that the Creoles of Bluefields made plantains into ‘‘foofoo,”’ that is, cut up, put into large baskets, and buried in the earth until partially rotten, then dried in the sun and made into flour. The name “‘foofoo,’’ corrupted by the Miskito into pupu, is now applied to green bananas or plantains which have been cooked, mashed, and formed into the shape of tamales. 92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 108 Still, it is not certain that tobacco was known to these two tribes in pre-Columbian days.’ Their names for the plant (M.: twako; S.: aka) point toward its introduction by the Europeans. The Indian tribes living on the Pacific side of Nicaragua at the time of the dis- covery knew tobacco, however, and they smoked it in the form of cigars. Our name’‘‘tobacco”’ comes from the word tabaco, which the Indians of Haiti applied to a sort of pipe. This instrument consisted of a small wooden tube, shaped like a Y; the two points of it were inserted into the nose, while the other extremity was held in the smoke of burning tobacco, and thus the fumes were inhaled. At the present time the plant is not cultivated by the Indians under consideration. Leaf tobacco is imported from the United States, and this foreign product is preferred to the one raised in Cen- tral America. Among the Sumu smoking is confined principally to the men, but this practice is common enough among Miskito women and children. The leaf is smoked chiefly in pipes (M.: twako mina; S.: aka pan, aka pana), which are made locally of clay, wood, or maize cobs; imported clay pipes are also bought in the shops. According to Wickham (c: 206), the Ulwa of Rio Escondido do not smoke the pipe, but use the leaf rolled roughly in cigar form made on European models. Very few chew tobacco, while the habit of snuffing is entirely unknown. Among the females the pipe is frequently passed round, each one of the women present taking a few puffs and then passing the pipe to her neighbor. A supply of tobacco is a readily accepted currency for the acquisition of food in the more primitive parts of the country. For small favors the traveler is also expected to give one or more tobacco leaves in exchange. CAYENNE OR RED PEPPER.— Various species of very pungent, small red peppers (M.: kuma; S.: anmak, aimak), growing in a semiwild state on perennial shrubs (Capsicum frutescens L. and C. baccatum L.), are used with food as a stimulant and as an excitant. They were found in the Miskito kitchen during the times of Dampier (I, 9). The Miskito usually prepare a ‘‘sauce”’ (M.: kuma laya; 8.: aimak wasni, aftimak waska) with these peppers, which they mash and then add some lime juice and salt. They store it in bottles and pour a small quantity of the liquid on their food while eating. The Sumu, on the other hand, grind the red peppers on the metate together with coarse salt. Upon serving the meal the women place a little of this mixture on a large leaf, and every one seasons his own food. These peppers may also replace salt entirely. The large ‘‘sweet’”’ chilies (Capsicum annuum L.), which grow on annual plants, are also occa- sionally planted and eaten as a vegetable. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 93 Satt.—There is no record of the Indians obtaining salt from the natural salt incrustations found occasionally in the country, and which are visited by certain wild animals. The Miskito living near the seaside occasionally get salt by boiling the water of the sea or the adjacent brackish lagoons. At the height of the dry season the lagoons are said to be even richer in salt in certain parts than the sea itself. The water is boiled in big iron pots until evaporated, and the salt remains at the bottom in the form of a cake. ‘The Sumu living a short distance inland from Rio Prinsapolea and Brangman’s Bluff employed in former days a very primitive and laborious method, which is described as follows by M. W. (302): “They make a great fire close to the seaside, which when it has well burned the sticks asunder, they make them singly, and dip the brand in the sea, snatching it out again, not too soon, nor too late; for, by the first, the drops of salt water which remain boiling on the coal would be quite consumed through too much heat, the coal not being sufficiently quenched, and, by the latter mismanagement, would be quite extinguished, and want heat to turn those drops of water into corns of salt, which, as fast as made, they slightly wipe off with their hand into a leaf, then put that brand’s end into the fire again, and take out the fresh ones successively, that in half an hour’s time a man makes about a pound of grey salt.” In practically all the Central American languages the names for salt and sea are identical. The Miskito have, however, no native name for salt and call it by the Spanish word sal, while their term for sea is kabo.” The Sumu call both sea and salt kwma, which latter name the Miskito apply to red peppers or chilies. SUBSTITUTE FOR SALT.—The Sumu of the interior make a substitute for salt from the ashes of the midrib of certain palms, in particular the pacaya or mountain-cabbage palm (Chamaedorea sp.; M.: salina; S.: tapal) and a smaller, spiny species, known by the Indian name kahka. The ashes are collected in a vessel with hot water, in order to dissolve their contained salts. After removing all impurities, the solution is evaporated in a large earthen vessel by boiling it down over a slow fire, whereby a whitish crystalline matter becomes depos- ited, which furnishes a good substitute for salt. This method was observed by the Franciscan missionary Fernando de Espino in 1667 57 Cabo is the Spanish name for ‘“‘cape,’’ and the phrase “‘ El Cabo” is used for short for the settlement Cabo Gracias a Dios situated at the mouth of Rio Coco. On the strength of this it has been claimed by some that the Miskito were origi- nally an inland tribe, who had no knowledge of the sea, and that they first saw it when they emigrated from the interior down the Rio Coco to El Cabo, adopting therefore this latter name to designate that great water sheet. This explanation is of course unsatisfactory. 94 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 or 1668 among the Indians (Sumu or Paya) living around Rio Guampt in Honduras.* VANILLA.—Sloane (a: p. LXXvim1) gives an account of the method practiced by the Miskito in curing vanilla (Vanilla planifolia; M. and S.: diti ba&inia). The present-day writer has not observed that the Indians make any use of the pods, except in flavoring a drink prepared from cacao and maize. Annattro.—Annatto (M.: dilala, tmarif; S.: awal) is cultivated chiefly for the face pigments furnished by the red coloring matter surrounding the seeds; it is not used as a condiment, except in isolated cases, where this habit has been introduced by the Ladinos. Cooxine o1ts.—The kernels contained in the seeds of various palms are made into oil, which is occasionally used in the kitchen. The most important one is that extracted from coconuts. The nut is grated and then boiled, the oil being skimmed off as it rises to the top. The seeds of the corozo (Aittalea sp.), hone or oil palm (Elaeis melanococca Gaertn.), huiscoyol (Bactris horrida Oerst.), and the kahka palm are also opened occasionally to extract oil from the kernel. Cooking oil is also furnished by the red fruits of a forest tree (M.: yari; S.: yara), and by a small shrub called wari-klua by the Miskito. SWEETENING FOOD AND DRINK.—Previous to the introduction of sugar-cane the Indians had to rely upon ripe bananas or plantains and wild honey to sweeten certain food beverages. Now sugar-cane juice is boiled into sirup or brown sugar. As soon as the juice has been squeezed out it is poured into a large pot on the fire; as the heating progresses a scum arises which is skimmed off with the aid of a calabash shell pierced with holes and attached to a long stick. When sufficiently thick the brown liquid is poured into bottles and kept until needed. For the making of sugar the juice has to be boiled somewhat longer; finally it is poured into wooden molds where it crystallizes. Various.—The round berries of the allspice tree (Pimenta offici- nalis), which grows wild in the forest, are gathered, dried in the sun, and used to flavor certain beverages. Black pepper and cinnamon have also been introduced into the native kitchen; both of these commodities are bought in the local shops. The chewing of coca, which was a current habit among the Nicarao of the Pacific coast of Nicaragua at the time of the conquest, appears to have been unknown on the Mosquito Coast. 58 ““Ffacen sal de unos Arboles que hay. en aquellas montafias, a manera de coyol o coco; rajan este drbol, hazendo astillas, quemanlo, hacen ceniza, hacen de ella legia; esta en una olla grande la echan, sola la legia sin la ceniza, y a fuego manso la van calentando hasta que se convierta en sal; es muy blanca, pero no tan fuerte como la que usamos.”’ (Serrano y Sanz: 368.) CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 95 The eating of earth (M.: tasba; S.: sdu), clay (M.: sldubla; S.: sdu), sand (M.: duya; 8.: kduhmak), and charcoal (M.: kwasko, tmasko; S.: kusmak) is very common among women and children. NONFERMENTED BEVERAGES DRINKING WATER.—The whole country is well watered and the Indians obtain their drinking water from the running streams on the banks of which their settlements are generally situated. Wells are also dug by those living near the sea. WATER LIANAS.—Several varieties of water lianas, varying in size from 3 to 5 inches, can be found throughout the forest. When the stem is merely cut through only a few drops of water will issue; the vine must then be severed immediately about 2 or 3 feet farther down, whereupon a continual stream of water will flow, quite sufficient to quench the thirst of a person. The Indian holds the severed part of the stem in a vertical position, allowing the sap to run directly into the mouth. The vine must be cut above first, otherwise the sap will ascend so rapidly that hardly any will be obtained. Honry.—The Indians are very fond of the honey (M.: nasma; S.: amak) from the various species of wild, stingless bees which make their nests in hollow trees. The entrance to the nest is easily ascertained by watching the little bees flying about. The Indians either climb or fell the tree in order to get possession of the honey. The latter is always taken as a beverage, after being mixed with water, but even in its natural state it is not viscid, but almost as fluid as water. It has a subacid, highly fragrant taste. The Indians, while away from home, may make a meal of the contents of such a beenest, but the average foreigner does not care much for it, and finds it greatly inferior to that of the European domesticated bee. The natives collect in bamboo joints what they are unable to consume immediately to take home to their family. Mitx.—The consumption of cow’s milk is not general. When I inquired the reason from some Sumu of the upper Rio Waspuk they answered that they are not the descendants of cows, to drink their milk. BANANAS AND PLANTAINS.—A great variety of nourishing drinks of vegetable origin are prepared by the Indians under consideration. Bananas are consumed largely in the shape of a pop, known locally by the name ‘‘wabul.’’ The bananas for this purpose are used gen- erally in the green state, before their contained starch has turned into sugar. They are peeled and cooked in an iron pot. Then the water is poured off and the bananas are thoroughly mashed in the same pot with the aid of a short wooden stick. During this process cold water is added little by little, and the whole is well stirred. No salt 96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULE. 106 is added. Wabul is served generally between the meals; if a stranger arrives at an Indian village the women will immediately prepare some of this beverage for him. Rarely do they offer any to a white man unknown to them, as uneducated foreigners have at times refused with disdain the wabul offered to them. The drink is always served in calabashes, which are the drinking vessels of the Indians. Ripe bananas and plantains are also used occasionally in making wabul, but green plantains are too tough and hard to mash. If, instead of cold water, cow’s milk or coconut milk is added to the fruit, the flavor is greatly improved, and the beverage is appreciated by the average foreigner. The Sumu living on Rio Patuca are very fond of a beverage made from ripe bananas, which are cooked, mashed, and then allowed to remain for a day or two in a large earthen vessel, until this mass has turned sour. In case the bananas have been only half cooked the drink will be light yellow in color, and it is then known as pihbra (pi or pih, abbreviated from pihni ‘‘white’’). If, on the other hand, the fruits are well cooked the resultant drink will turn dark red, and is then called wakisa pduni ‘red bananas.’”’ The Miskito name for either one of these two beverages is pdéunlaya ‘‘red drink.” Or paLM.—The fruits of the indigenous ‘‘hone”’ or oil palm (Elaeis melanococca Gaertn.), called ohov% or uhufi by the Indians, are boiled in order to liberate the red pulp surrounding the seeds. This pulp is then passed through a calabash pierced with holes like a collander and mixed with wabul. This is a most agreeable and nourishing drink, which is prepared only by the Miskito, for the oil palm does not grow inland in the region inhabited by the Sumu. It is the same palm from the seeds of which the Miskito prepare the well-known hair oil, called batana on the Mosquito Coast. The drink has been praised by Raveneau de Lussan ®® (438-439) and by M. W. (808), but neither of these two authors mentions it being consumed except together with wabul, as is the case with the Miskito of the lower Rio Coco at least. This beverage appears to be mentioned by Exquemelin (Engl. edit.: 251) under the name achioc. Maize.—A number of nourishing drinks are prepared from maize. One of the most common is the one called ‘‘pinol” by the Ladinos (M.: ayutika; 8.: am bokol, am tok). The grain is toasted over a char- coal fire until it begins to ‘‘pop’’; it is then ground on the metate and kept until needed. For use it is mixed with clear water and sweetened with sirup made from sugarcane, or with wild honey. The drink is cooling and refreshing, but as the maize is not finely ground, the dry particles occasion a tickling sensation in the throat. On the upper Rio Coco and on Rio Bocay the Indians are very fond of another beverage (M.: wasplu; S.: wasbol) prepared from maize. The dry grains are ground and cooked afterwards; a small 5° This author calls it hoon. cONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 97 quantity of sprouted maize is then added, which imparts a slightly sweetish taste to the drink. It is consumed either fresh or after having been allowed to turn sour. Atol (M.: aya-makala; S.: kurt, am-tunun-ba, ama-tunani-ba) is a very refreshing beverage which the average foreigner will appreciate. The young or green grains are cut off from the cob with a knife, after which they are passed through a sieve, and the drink is ready. It has great favor among the Ulwa especially. A similar beverage, but inferior in quality, is prepared from old maize; it is called ulavw by Miskito and Sumu. If the latter drink is allowed to turn sour it is known as aya swahni (M) ‘‘sour maize” and dipis (S). Pozol (M.: pusul; S.: sda) is also consumed occasionally, and has apparently been introduced by the Ladinos. This drink is made from the ‘‘masa”’ or paste prepared by treating maize with lye and grinding it upon the metate. It is generally taken unsweetened. Cacao.—An excellent food drink is prepared from cacao by the Sumu, especially by the Ulwa subtribe. The beans are roasted slightly over a charcoal fire and the outer integument is removed. They are then ground upon the metate together with a large quantity of toasted maize. For use about two teaspoonfuls of the powder and a little sirup are added to a calabash of water and the mixture is agitated for a few moments with the ‘‘molinillo.” The resulting drink much resembles the chocolate of the Ladinos in consistency and taste, but it is of somewhat gritty character, due to the presence of the ground maize. Sometimes the drink is adulterated with the parched and ground kernels contained in the seeds of the scomphra palm, the pejivalle palm, or the zapote; it may also be flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. M. W. (308) observed this beverage among the Miskito and states that in those days it was sweetened with ripe plantains and wild honey. BuNYA OR SOURED DRINKS.—These Indians are very fond of consuming vegetables in the shape of a beverage after they have been allowed to turn sour. This is especially the case with cassava, tania, sweetpotatoes, yams, and pejivalles. After being boiled in water, these foodstuffs are mashed; the resulting paste is then wrapped up carefully in large waterproof leaves, tied with rough withes or vege- table fibers, and attached to the rafters of the hut. Bijagua leaves are generally used for this purpose, as they are tougher and not as liable to split as banana or plantain leaves. Such food is known to the Mis- kito as bunya, and to the Sumu as tapa’; the Miskito of the interior, however, employ the Sumu name when the ingredients are not cassava. The Sumu also prepare maize in this manner; they cook it and then grind it upon a stone, so that it has the consistency of a thick paste. Such soured food is always taken along ona journey. If the Indian wants to quench his thirst or hunger he stops at a running stream, 98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 places a handful of the thick paste in a calabash, and mixes it thor- oughly with water. In the case of maize or pejivalles the thick skin is first squeezed out with the hands and thrown away. INTOXICATING BEVERAGES Bacchanalian orgies play an important part in the semireligious carousals and in the social life of the two tribes under consideration. Fortunately for themselves the Indians seldom have the means to buy spirits at the rum shops and their homemade drinks consume too much of their provisions to be indulged in frequently. Distittinc.—The Indians do not appear to have known how to distill, but before the arrival of the Europeans they knew how to get drunk on a number of fermented beverages. Aguardiente or rum (M.: tahpla; S.: tapalni, tapalka, lit.: ‘“‘bitter’’) may be obtained by the Indians in the local shops. In Honduras and Nicaragua the man- ufacture of this spirit is a government monopoly, which is farmed out to contractors, generally political supporters of the party in power. There are many private illegal stills in the less accessible parts of these republics, which are operated chiefly by Ladinos. Levy (b: 300) states that the Ulwa of Rio Escondido distill an alcoholic liquor from cassava with the aid of an inform earthen still; the latter probably corresponds to the one depicted by Belt (233) from the neighborhood of Santo Domingo (Chontales) at the headwaters of Rio Escondido. I have met a similar simple apparatus among the Paya of Honduras. In these two cases, however, it served for the distilling of sugar-cane juice or brown sugar. Belt (233-234) describes such a ‘‘sly grog”’ manufactory as follows: ‘‘It consisted of two of the common earthen- ware pots of the country, one on the top of the other, the top one hav- ing had the bottom taken out and luted to the lower one with clay. This was put on a fire with the fermented liquor. The spirit con- densed against the flat bottom of a tin dish that covered the top vessel, and into which cold water was poured, and fell in drops on to a board, that conducted it into a long wooden tube, from which it dropped directly into bottles.”’ FERMENTED DRINKS.—A great number of fermented drinks are pre- pared by these Indians. They are known locally by the general name mishla (M.: misla; S.: wasak); distinctive names are, however, given 6 This name (michela, mishlaw, mushelaw) appears to have been formerly re- stricted by the Miskito of Cabo Gracias a Dios to a beverage prepared from ripe bananas or plantains, either boiled or roasted (Exquemelin, French ed.: II, 268; Dampier: I, 314; M. W.: 307). Lionel Wafer (A new Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of Panama, London, 1699, pp. 154-155) gives the name mislaw for an unfermented beverage prepared from ripe plantains. None of these seventeenth century authors mention the use of cassava for this purpose, although they list it among the food plants of the Miskito. CONZEMIUS] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 99 to the beverages made from maize. They are all prepared on iden- tical lines, the ingredients only differing in each case. These various drinks are stored in large earthenware vessels or in casks of foreign manufacture; the Miskito of the seventeenth century also used canoes for this purpose, as do the Paya of to-day (Dampier: I, 10). (a) Cassava.—Among the Miskito and some of the Sumu the most important of these beverages is the one made from sweet cassava (Manihot palmata Muell.); its preparation does not differ essentially from that of kava or kawa among the Polynesians. The root is first peeled and cooked, then mashed or merely cut in small pieces, and finally thrown into a cask or a large earthenware vessel (M.: sumi; S.: suba, sau suba). Hot water is added and the whole is then covered with large leaves, the heat causing it to ferment. A small quantity of the root is chewed by the women, until thoroughly saturated with saliva, and then spat out again in the vessel in order to activate fer- mentation. The latter process may also be accelerated by the addi- tion of sugar-cane juice and even by drum beating. From time to time the mass is stirred and skimmed with the aid of a paddle-shaped thin stick, for it effervesces like must. Fermentation will be complete in two or three days. The beverage looks much like buttermilk, but it is sourish in taste. Its toxic power is not very great, but the Indian consumes such a large quantity that he finally falls down on the ground, completely drunk. (b) OTHER VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.—The above receipt may also be used with sweetpotatoes, yams, tania, or eddoe, and the fruits of the pejivalle plam and the breadnut tree. The fruits of the cashew and other trees, as bananas and plantains, are merely bruised, with the addition of water, allowing the juice to take its own time to ferment. The most potent drink is the one prepared from roasted pineapples, which has been mentioned already during the second half of the seventeenth century by Dampier (I, 10) and M. W. (308). Sugar-cane juice may be added to these various beverages in order to augment their potency. Pure fermented sugar-cane juice is extensively consumed in certain regions, especially by the Indians living on Rio Patuca. The juice is merely squeezed out with the aid of a simple hand mill, and fermen- tation may be assisted by adding to the liquid a small quantity of a leguminous vine (M.: snek, snik; S.: sinak), which bears small bean- like pods. (c) Maize.—Among the Sumu maize (Zea mays L.) takes the place of cassava as the chief ingredient for the favorite alcoholic drink. The Sumu and the Miskito of the interior make a number of bever- ages from this grain. The most potent of them is called puput by the Twahka and Panamaka and sili by the Ulwa, but it is unknown to the Miskito; it is reserved for the great festivals, such as the sau 100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 106 and the asafi-lauwana. Dry maize is ground on the metate, wrapped in large leaves after the manner of the ‘‘tamales”’ of the Ladinos, and thus cooked in boiling water. It is then kept for weeks or months over the smoke of the fire, whereby it becomes covered with a grayish mold, which accounts for its name (puput ‘‘gray’’).°* A few days previous to the celebration of the feast the mass is taken out of the leaves, crumbled and cooked with a small quantity of water; it is then poured in a hole made in the ground over which a provisional shed has been erected. A thick layer of bijagua leaves or of balsa bark prevents the beverage from coming in contact with the ground. In two or three days fermentation will be completed and then the drink is ready for the palate. Before being served this potent liquor is strained and mixed with water. Another intoxicating drink (T., P.: mahkrus; U.: labapi tuhdey) is made as follows: Either dry or green maize is ground on the stone, wrapped in leaves and boiled in water. Afterwards when this mass has cooled off a little, it is chewed by the women, and then left to ferment. From sprouted Indian corn a similar drink (M.: aya urwan; T.: am uus; P.: ama wus; U.: am patafi) is prepared, but it is not chewed nor wrapped in leaves. Among these Indians the latter drink is also sometimes known by the general Spanish name chicha (sitsa). (d) Patm winze.—Occasionally the sap from various species of palms, as the coyol (Acrocomia vinifera Oerst.) and the cohune or corozo (Attalea cohune),is left to ferment. The tree is felled and a concavity is cut into the stem, just below the crown of leaves. In about half an hour’s time the sap will be found collecting in the hole, scarcely any of it running out at the butt, where the palm has been cut off. The sap may be taken fresh, but it is generally allowed to ferment, which process will be completed in two or three days. This ‘“‘wine’’ is of a clear yellowish color. (e) OTHER FERMENTED DRINKS.—Exquemelin (Engl. ed.: 251) gives the name achioc to the most common fermented beverage of the Miskito of the seventeenth century, which he describes as follows: “It was made from a palm seed, bruised, and afterwards steeped or infused in hot water, till it be settled at the bottom. This liquor being strained had a very pleasant taste, and is very nourishing.”’ The seeds referred to are probably those of the oil palm from which a nonfermented drink is prepared to-day. (See Nonfermented Beverages. ) Levy (b: 300) states that the Ulwa of Rio Escondido also pre- pared fermented beverages from the tender annatto seeds and from se Crévaux (Voyage dans |’ Amérique du Sud, Paris, 1883, pp. 405-406) gives the receipt for a maize drink from the Guianas which is prepared on identical lines, conzeMtus] THE MISKITO AND SUMU INDIANS 101 the pulp surrounding the wild cacao (Theobroma bicolor ?). This same writer (b: 308) likewise mentions a drink made from coconuts; it was sweetened by the addition of ripe plantains or wild honey. GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION There is no trace of any division in clans or exogamic kinship groups. The tribal organization of these primitive tribes was essen- tially along democratic lines. . In former days the Miskito do not appear to have been ruled by a supreme chief, except during war time, when a commander was chosen by an assembly of the old men, in order to direct the military operations (M. W.: 307). The choice fell generally upon a warrior celebrated for his prowess. According to Exquemelin (French edit.: II, 264) preference was given to an Indian who had accompanied the buccaneers, but with the restoration of peace his authority ceased. In the legends of the Miskito there are records of individuals seizing the powers of government by violence. The insignia peculiar to a chieftainship seemed to consist of a wooden scepter and of a metal breastplate depending from the neck. The powers of the numerous priest-doctors (sukya) were also very great, but it is not known just how much they intervened in governmental affairs. It appears, however, that occasionally the temporal and spiritual heads were both centered in the same person. Hereditary chiefs did not rule the Mosquito Coast until after the establishment of British influence. One of these chiefs, a Miskito, was later raised to the rank of king; he became a tool in the hands of his foreign protectors, with whose aid his nominal authority was extended over the larger part of the coast.