Chiriquí

“ The territory which in early days was embraced in the province of Veragua appeared in August 1851 divided into three provinces, each having a governor and legislature; namely, Chiriquí, Veragua, and Azuero. [XXV-30] This new arrangement lasted only till April 30, 1855, when the province of Azuero was suppressed. [XXV-31]
The district, or as it was called, Canton de Bocas del Toro, was organized by decree of the government of Chiriquí or Fábrega, with a jefe político at its head. ”

“ The character of the conceptions embodied in the art unite with evidences of technical skill to prove to us that American culture, as represented by the metal ornaments of Chiriqui, was not the product of a day, but of long periods of experiment and progress. ”

“ The heavy implements of stone are rarely very far beneath the surface.
OBJECTS OF ART.
From the foregoing account it is apparent that our knowledge of the art of ancient Chiriqui must for the present be derived almost entirely from the contents of the tombs. The inhabitants were skillful in the employment and the manipulation of stone, clay, gold, and copper; and the perfection of their work in these materials, taken in connection with the construction of their remarkable tombs, indicates a culture of long standing and a capacity of no mean order. ”

“ The conclusion most easily and most naturally reached is that all are probably indigenous to Chiriqui, and hence the striking deduction that the processes of modification inherent in the art are of such a nature that any animal form extensively used in decoration may give rise to any or all of the highly conventional forms of ornament. ”

“ Such bells are found in considerable numbers in the graves of Chiriqui, although I have no positive assurance that any of the examples in my possession were actually taken from graves which contained typical Chiriquian relics of other classes. The specimens now in the National Museum (Fig. 41) are in most cases, if not in all, of bronze, as determined by Mr. R. B. Riggs, of the chemical laboratory of the United States Geological Survey. All have been cast in molds. In most cases there are traces of a plating of gold. ”

“ The vessel shown in Fig. 52, a, has a somewhat rudimentary foot; another, b, a firm, wide base, which is perforated to give lightness; an hourglass-like piece is shown in c, and a long, bell shaped foot is seen in d. In no part of the world do earthen vessels exhibit such a remarkable development of legs as in Southern Central America. The tripod is the favorite support, and in Chiriqui the forms are more graceful than in the neighboring provinces. ”

“ Fig. 157. Handsome vase supported by three grotesque figures—1⁄2.
A number of large basins or caldrons, collected in Chiriqui, and fragments of vessels of extraordinary size resemble this ware in material, color, and finish. The rims of the larger pieces are upwards of an inch thick and the walls are in cases three-fourths of an inch thick. A number of large vessels of similar ware now in the National Museum were collected in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. ”

“ The Chiriquians employed clay in the construction of textile machinery, as shown by the occurrence of spindle whorls, and a number of small receptacles, probably needlecases, are constructed of that material. It was employed in the manufacture of stools, statuettes, drums, rattles, and whistles. With less cultured races, such as the Pueblo and mound builders of the north, such articles were rarely manufactured, while with the more cultured nations of Mexico and Peru a wider field was covered and the work was considerably superior. ”

“ Chiquitos, Indians of a low but lively type in Bolivia and Brazil.
Chiriqui, an archipelago and a lagoon as well as province in Costa Rica.
Chiron, a celebrated Centaur, in whose nature the animal element was subject to the human, and who was intrusted with the education of certain heroes of Greece, among others Peleus and Achilles; was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and skilled in athletics as well as music and the healing art. See Centaurs.
Chislehurst (6) , a village in Kent, 10 m. SE. of London, where Napoleon III. died in exile in 1873. ”

“ It was further observed in Pueblo art that as 172 time went on life forms were little by little introduced into its decoration and that in recent times they shared the honors equally with the primitive geometric forms. In Chiriquian art we find but meager traces of a primitive geometric system, and conclude that either the earliest art of the people did not give rise to such a system or that the graphic motives, entering gradually and steadily multiplying, supplanted the archaic forms, finally usurping nearly the entire field. ”

“ The natives of Boca del Toro are barbarous and averse to change. In Chiriquí they are brave and intelligent, their exceeding courage having obtained for them the name of Valientes or Indios Bravos from the early discoverers; they are also noted for honesty and fair dealing. The same warlike and independent spirit and fearlessness of death prevails among the nations of Veragua, Panamá, and Darien. The inhabitants of Panamá and Cueba are given to lechery, theft, and lying; with some these qualities are fashionable; others hold them to be crimes. ”

“ Mr Squier is inclined to think they are of the same stock as the Nahuas. Some striking physical peculiarities observed among them have given rise to various surmises and startling conclusions regarding their origin. Dwelling in the western part of the state are the Terrabas and the Changuenes, fierce and barbarous nations, at constant enmity with their neighbors. In the south-east and extending to the borders of Chiriquí dwell the Talamancas composed of a number of different tribes and declared by some to be allied in race with the Guatusos. ”

“ Statuettes of men and women and of a variety of anthropomorphic figures of all degrees of elaboration abound. Fig. 26 illustrates a plain, rude specimen belonging to the collection of J. B. Stearns. It was obtained by Mr. McNiel from near the south base of Mount Chiriqui. The body is solid and the surface is rough and pitted, as if from decay. In many respects it resembles the stone sculptures of the isthmus. The metal is nearly pure copper. A piece exhibiting more elaborate workmanship, illustrated by Bollaert,19 is shown in Fig. ”

“ From north to south its widest point is 120 miles in the province of Veraguas, and the narrowest less than 40 in Darien. There are mountains 7000 feet high in Darien and 11,000 feet in Chiriqui; the lowest pass, 312 feet, is that used by the Canal and Railroad. The population, outside the Zone about 340,000, includes 36,000 Indians, and a very large proportion of negroes and mixed races. The country has excellent possibilities for agriculture and cattle raising, with smaller ones for minerals. ”

“ Chirbury, in Shropshire, the Yule log at, x. 257
Chiriguanos, the, of South America, their preference for a violent death, iv. 12;
their address to the sun, vi. 143 n. 4;
why they will not eat the vicuña, viii. 140;
their belief in the transmigration of human souls into animals, viii. 286;
their practice of bleeding themselves to relieve fatigue, ix. 13;
seclusion of girls at puberty among the, x. 56
Chiriqui, volcano, v. 181
Chirol, (Sir) Valentine, on substitutes for capital punishment in China, iv. 274
Chiron, the centaur, taught Hippolytus venery, i. ”

“ The antiquarian literature of the province is extremely meager, being confined to brief sketches made by transient visitors or based for the most part upon the testimony of gold hunters and government explorers, who took but little note of the unpretentious relics of past ages. As there are few striking monuments, the attention of archæologists was not called to the history of primeval man in this region, and until recently the isthmus was supposed to have remained practically unoccupied by that group of cultured nations whose works in Peru and in Mexico excite the wonder of the world. ”

“ Chiapes, Cacique, encounter with Balboa, 1513, i. 369. Chepo, Cacique, execution of, 1515, i. 404. Cherino, D. de A., gov. of C. R., etc., 1573, ii. 430; exped. of, 1575, ii. 430-1. Chignautecs, defeat of the, 1525, i. 688-9; submission, i. 690. Chilapan, Cortés at, 1524, i. 542. Chilun, captured by Tzendales, 1712, ii. 698. Chinameca, treaty of, 1845, iii. 203-4. Chinandega, pacto de, iii. 187-90; convention of, iii. 187-8; capture, etc., of, 1845, iii. 241-2. Chiracona, Cacique, torture, etc., of, 1516, i. 429-30. Chiriquí, revolt in, 1526, i. 509; province of, organized, 1849, iii. ”

“ These Indians asked permission to take a squad of their soldiers and guard Tribollet and his men to keep them from selling any more of the soul-destroying stuff to the Chiricahuas. A beautiful commentary upon the civilization of the white man! When we reached Cajon Bonito, the woods and grass were on fire; four or five Chiricahua mules, already saddled, were wandering about without riders. Pretty soon we came upon 'Geronimo,' 'Kuthli' and three other Chiricahua warriors riding on two mules, all drunk as lords. ”

“ We marched back as rapidly as the condition of the stock and the strength of the women and children would permit. We found the country depopulated for a distance of one hundred miles from the Apache stronghold. The Chiricahuas insist that they have always lived in the Sierra Madre, and that even when the main body went on the reservation some remained behind in the mountains. Of those who now go out, there are a number who state that they have never been on the reservation. ”

“ The Chiricahuas are now on the San Carlos reservation, far removed from their stronghold, surrounded by all the available forces of the United States army and a thousand faithful Indian allies. The future of these Chiricahuas, who will henceforth disappear from the view of the world, can be fairly estimated by that of the other Apache Indians. Little over five years ago, the whole Apache race was at war with the whites; but six thousand of them were subdued by General Crook, and placed on the San Carlos reservation, since which time there have been few outbreaks, and these of short duration. ”

“ Chiricahuas, and, soon after, Nané, one of the most noted and influential of the Chiricahua chiefs, rode into camp with seventeen of his people. He has a strong face, marked with intelligence, courage, and good nature, but with an under stratum of cruelty and vindictiveness. He has received many wounds in his countless fights with the whites, and limps very perceptibly in one leg. He reported that Chiricahuas were coming in by every trail, and that all would go to the San Carlos as soon as they collected their families. ”

“ Although far from uncommon, chiru are very wary, and consequently difficult to approach. They are generally found in small parties, although occasionally in herds. They inhabit the desolate plateau of Tibet, at elevations of between 13,000 and 18,000 ft., and, like all Tibetan animals, have a firm thick coat, formed in this instance of close woolly hair of a grey fawn-colour. The most peculiar feature about the chiru is, however, its swollen, puffy nose, which is probably connected with breathing a highly rarefied atmosphere. ”

“ As, in the progress of this history, the Chirihuanos Indians will occupy a considerable space, it may not be amiss, in this place, to give an idea of their origin and customs. These Indians, according to the commonly received opinion, do not constitute a part of the numerous Quechua nation, which peopled the extensive empire of Peru at the time it was first entered by the Spaniards. Their language, their costume, and their characteristic bravery, leave room for a fixed persuasion that they belong to the nation of the Tobas, the aborigines of the provinces of Parahuay. They are not idolaters ”

“ And upon the fourteenth morning they came upon the Chiricahua stronghold. Without the scouts they could never have found it. The Indian has betrayed the Indian from first to last.
It was a little pocket, a natural fortress, high up on a commanding peak. Cairness crept forward flat along the rocks, raised his head cautiously and looked down. There in the sunrise light,—the gorgeous sunrise of the southern mountain peaks where the wind is fresh out of the universe and glitters and quivers with sparks of new life,—there was the encampment of the hostiles. ”

“ The Apache scouts passed the time agreeably enough in gambling with the Chiricahuas, whom they fleeced unmercifully, winning hundreds of dollars in gold, silver, and paper at the games of monte, conquien, tzi-chis, and mushka.
The attractive pools of the Bávispe wooed groups of white soldiers and packers, and nearly the whole strength of the Chiricahua women and children, who disported in the refreshing waters with the agility and grace of nereids and tritons. The modesty of the Apaches of both sexes, under all circumstances, is praiseworthy. ”

“ It was the fiercest of all the Apache tribes, the Chiricahuas, that had hidden itself in the fastnesses of the Sierra Madre, two hundred miles south of the boundary line. Geronimo and Juh and Chato, and other chiefs of quite as bloody fame, were with him. To capture them would be very creditable success. To fail to do so would entail dire consequences, international complications perhaps, and of a certainty the scorn and abuse of all the wise men who sat in judgment afar off. ”

“ And when Antelope is big chief then Chiquita will be the mother of many tribes, and our people will again hunt the buffalo which shall be as the needles in the pine forest, and no more shall the white man drive the noble Ute away from the paradise the Great Spirit has made for them. ”

“ In Chili and Peru, and on the table-lands of the Andes, when the stars at night seem pendent from strings, so that you seem to look round them in the pellucid atmosphere, there is the land of indigenous charqui, where moisture flies away before the drying winds, where a mule lost in a snow-drift comes forth in the spring a grinning statue of leather, couchant, disembowelled, and with his eyes picked out by the condors, but with his hide impregnable, gradually getting to look like an old and worn leathern trunk after a hard campaign. ”