life of the early Indian was not unlike that of the poorer Panamanian of the present. He wore less clothing and his women made it of cocoanut fiber instead of imported cotton cloth; instead of a steel machete he used a sort of hardwood sword called a macana,[1] and he hunted and fought with bow and spear instead of firearms. But the
SAN BLAS INDIANS IN VARIOUS COSTUMES.
bohio or thatched hut, the cayuca or dug-out canoe, the rude farming and the fishing, have scarcely changed at all. The Isthmian Indians are very skilful boatmen and fishermen. Their canoes are often seen in Colon harbor, where they come to sell their catch. These Indians belong to the Tule or San Blas tribe, that occupy and rule the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, from about forty miles east of Colon to South America. The Pacific side of this part of Panama is held by another tribe of Indians,
- ↑ An Indian chief, touching the keen blade of Balboa's sword, said, "Who can resist this macana, that can cut a man in half at one blow?"
