AMONG THE SAN BLAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

AMONG THE SAN BLAS.

WHERE WOMEN RULE.

INTERESTING INDIAN TRIBE.

JEALOUS OF ANCIENT FAITH AND CUSTOMS. \

Reports of the recent rescue of two American women from life among the San Bias Indians of Panama have revived interest in these famous aborigines of the Isthmus. The women, it appears, married the Indians while the latter were in the United States. Dressed in the conventional clothes of the white man, well groomed —and these Indians when abroad are most meticulous in such matters —and speaking English, the aborigines doubtless appeared thoroughly civilised. And if they represented' themselves as members of a civilised tribe, they did so in good faith. But when they reached their husbands' village these women discovered that "civilisation" is an elastic term and that conditions which an Indian deems civilised are far from fulfilling the expectations of American-women. Few American Indian tribes have figured more prominently in the news of recent years than these so-called San Bias. Yet in nearly every case the stories about them have been grossly exaggerated or utterly without foundation. Such was the announcement of the alleged discovery of a race of "White Indians" among the San Bias a few years ago. As a matter of fact, there were neither white Indians nor any discovery, the "white" being merely albinos who occur among all known Indian tribes. Unlike other tribes, however, the San Bias permit albino children to live, and regard' them with a sort of superstitious respect. From buccaneer friends and allies they learned seamanship and the English language and when, years later, Yankee whalemen appeared, the Indians proved as useful to the New Bedford, Nantucket and New London skippers as they had been to Morgan, Sharpe, Swan, Ringrose and other piratical skippers of the past. They took to whaling as the proverbial duck takes to water, and they regarded the high-hatted, frock-coated Quaker whaleship captains with so much respect and admiration that even to-day their favourite household gods are carved wooden figures with chin whiskers, high "stovepipe" hats and long-tailed coats. Don't "Want to be Civilised. Having acquired a love of ships and of visiting foreign shores, the San Bias men found sailoring exactly to their lik- j ing, and scarcely a Yankee windjammer sailed the seven seas that did not include one or more San Bias Indians in its crew. And being adepts at picking up languages, many became excellent linguists. On one occasion I heard one of my San Bias boatmen speaking French with a Martinican. "How many languages do you speak?" I asked him. He grinned. "Mebbe ten," he replied. Yet throughout all these centuries of dealing with white men of many nations and wandering over the world, the San Bias hafe maintained their tribal integrity, have retained their dialect, their faith, their ancient customs and ceremonials and have, until very recently, preserved the purity of their blood. And though they have been ever friendly with all Anglo-Saxons, they nevertheless have always had a smouldering hatred and distrust of people of Spanish blood. At the time of an incipient rebellion against Panama, one of the sub-chiefs came to me to ask my advice in the matter. "Why do you want to revolt and kill j the Panamaneans?" I inquired after he had stated his case. His reply fairly took my breath away. "Because we don't want to be civilised," he informed me. "We want to live like Americans!" Woman's suffrage has been in vogue among these Indians from time immemorial. According to San Bias law, women hold' first place in everything. Descent is by the female line and male ancestry counts for little, as is the case with many tribes. Hence the women literally rule the roost. When a man marries he becomes the virtual fclave of his wife's parents until a girl is born of the union. I knew one old Indian fully sixty years of age who worked every day for his father-in-law, for although he had half a dozen children all were boys. On the islands, where modern ideas and civilised conditions have not supplanted the truly aboriginal life and customs, the women still adhere to their picturesque, gaudy cbstumes, and still wear the heavy gold nose rings, and herein lies an interesting story and one reason for '.tho women's social status. For the nose ring, now a badge of superiority, was once a symbol of servitude and inferiority. In the olden days, before the coming of white men, these Indians—like their neighbours and distant relatives, the Caribs—were confirmed cannibals and raided other tribes for the purpose of obtaining a supply of fresh meat. At such times the women and girls of the vanquished were made captives, and as it was no small task for the captors to control a bevy of female prisoners, the warriors hit upon the plan of linking their captives together by means of cords through their noses—like so many fractious bulls. Turning the Tables. Of course, the pierced nose 3 identified the women as aliens, and hence inferior beings, once they were established in the villages of their conquerors. But leave it to the women to find a way out of any such situation. And, putting their heads—or their noses—together, the captured women soon hit upon a way. It was very simple. They spoke their own language among themselves and taught it to their daughters, but not to their sons, so that very soon the women of the community had a medium of communication which was unintelligible to the men. As a result, and owing to the fact that females always outnumber males among savage tribes, the women soon had the upper hand and ran things to suit themselves. Instead of being ashamed of their pierced noses they gloried in them, and to draw more attention to the perforations they wore heavy ornamental nose rings. Probably nowhere in the world are there men more skilful in the handling of open boats. With huge sails spread the Indians will sail their dugouts through a heavy sea and half a gale of wind, steering with one hand and holding the sheet in their toes, and for hour" after hour keeping the lee rail within an inch of the water, but never shipping a drop.

\To sail the open Caribbean Sea in one of these canoes laden with coconuts for the Colon market, and with a San Rla c boy pt t>»» ifi an experience to thrill the heart of any sailor, but fa not to be recommended as a for paople with nerves.