The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-27
SOME WILD PEOPLE.
Strange SavaseS Visited by a Govern
melt 0TlithOlOgiSt.
Indians Of Central America-A White
Man Regarded as a Curiosity-Their
Primitive Houses.
From the Washlneton So.

From the Washington Star.
A tribe Of wild people hitherto almost
unknown has been visited within the past
year by scientific agent Of the govern
ment, sent to Central America for the
/ purpose Of collecting rare birds. These
savages dwell IN Costa Rica, far up the
Rio Frio, or cold river They are called
the Guatusa Indians Early explorers
put on record vague descriptions Of them.
saying that they were white, with red
hair. There is no truth in that II is a
fact that they live in extraordinary com.
munal shelters. each village occupying a
single shed, which may be 100 feet long
and 30 feet wide, protecting 25O or more
individuals from the sun and tropical
rains.
Such a shed is constructed in the sim
plest possible manner. its tent roof thatch-
ed with palm and plRntain leaves. The
ridge pole is twenty feet above the
ground. The interior of this remarkabl
! dwelling is divided of into stalls, each of
which is occupied by a family Under
the dirt floor the dead are buried. by
which ingenious plan the survivors have
| their defunct relatives always with them
| Elongated hOllows, where the loosened
earth has sunk, mark the graves. The
shelters are frequented by great numbers
OF vampire bats, which suck the blood of
the savages at night.
LIGHT TOILET.
The men are naked, except for a breech-
clout made from the inner bark of a tree
| which is beaten out into a soft cloth. The
women wear nothing but a strip Of the
same material wound about the waist
and tucked in so insecurity that il is con
! fiunA1ly- opuniuar trudcnn % -
young females are quite good looking
they are all very small. The children are
| wholly nude, the babies being carried on
their mothers backs commonly, with
nothing to hold them but their grip. The
women do most of the work, such as car
rying plantains from the fields in sacks Of
| bark made with meshes like nets. The
men are jealous and follow their wives
around TO see that they do not get into
mischief
The sheds have always a sour smell,
| which comes from partly decayed plan
tains and huge bowls of a drink called
| "chiCha." This beverage is made by the
old women, whose most important occu-
patton IL Is TO chew ripe plantainS. eXpeC-
torating from time to time into recepta-
cles provided for the purpose. The
liquid thus obtained is allowed to fer
ment, thus becoming frothy prepara-
ton Of disagreeable odor Il is then
ready to drink, having sufficient per
centage of alcohol to render it fairly in
toxicating. The savages get drunk on it
| every day of their lives. They go out to
work in the morning, and returning by 10
or II a. m, give up the rest Of their time
to orgies.
A eooD-NATuRED PRoPLE.
| Apparently they never Quarrel
being the most good-natured Of wild peo-
pie. There are plenty of plantains and
| plenty of old women to do the chewing, so
that there Is never any lack of intoxi-
cants. They dip "chicha" out of the
bowls with half calahashes, which serve
for drinking cups. The beverage has
such gas-producing properties that saw.
age who has INDUCED in it excessively
looks distended almost to the point of
bursting. The hags are usually toothless,
because plantains contain an acid which
destroys the teeth. These Indians are
fond Of rubbing themselves with cacao-
butter which within the last few years
has become known to the civilized world
as toilet preparation. They make it by
boiling the cacao seeds, Swimming off the
oil which rises to the surface.
They are an agricultural people, grow
| ing cacao, from which the commercial
chocolate is made, in clearings, as well as
plaintains Having no metals they cut
away the dense tropical vegetation with
| lOuB hulIe-lh0 IuaCnGbeS OF nara WOOD.
They have few stone hatchets, which
they picked up in streams, but these i'm
plements are of prehistoric origin They
are supposed to be thunderbolts. These
| people manufacture fish lines hammoczs
and very beautiful Irvine out of tree bark
They make bowls and cups of clay Their
arrows are straight sticks of palm, six
feet long and wrapped at both ends with
Irvine to keep them from splitting, while
to one end is fastened a sharp point Of
black wood that is very hard Their bows
are of the same black wood which is an
other kind Of palm. No feathers are used
for the arrows.
SETTING TRAPS FOR GAME.
They set pitfalls with sharp sticks
stuck up in the bottom for wild hogs and
tapirs. The latter are nocturnal animals
and very difficult to capture otherwise
The saVages know how to make other
kinds OF snares, and they do some fishing
with the bow and arrow. They have
killed off nearly all of the monkeys in
their neighborhood being very fond of
their flesh. They will not eat deer, re-
garding them as sacred. The reason that
! they wear so few clothes is simply that
they have no means of obtaining more
| complete garments. The climate is so
mild that there is no need of much cloth
ing, the temperature never falling below
20 degrees. Nevertheless, they would be
glad to adopt more civilized dress for
purposes of adornment, if it were practi-
cable. Mr.. G. w. Richmond, the govern
ment ornithologist who vlsit& them,
found one old woman wearing y dilap-
| idated pair of trousers without much of
the legs left for coat.
WHITE MAN CURIOSITY,
1t took him nine days to get up the
shaggy Rio Frio with canoe and paddlers
to where these people dwell They had
only seen one other white man in many
years. Naturally they were very curious
about him. His shirt being open in front,
they rubbed his skin with their fingers to
make sure that its whiteness was not ar
tihcial. One savage pried his mouth
open gently and tried to pick filings of
gold out of his front teeth, iabbering ex-
citedly. They thought that he was dead
because he could not understand their
questions. When one of them became too
| persistent Mr. Richmond would look the
individual in the eye and begin reciting
the Declaration of Independence. This
method was very satisfactory, the Indian
addressed nodding his head at intervals
as if he understood. The buckles on the
visitors suspenders excited great aston
ishment, their use appearing unimagina-
bic.
The savages were most amiably dis
posed. They obtained from Mr. Rich
mond all of his cartridges for keepsakes