Evening star., 1934-07-01
0Y SARAH BOWERMAN
rs This Country Is Able TO Produce
Novel Book on AIabama "WHite
Indians Of Da,ien. "

WHITE INDIANS OF DARIEN BY Richard
OgleSby Marsh. New York: c. P. Putnam's
Sons
4 AMI, white Indian girl from San Bias,
WI whose picture forms the frontispiece Of
this book looks as if she might be
Scandinavian happer, dressed in Indian
blanketdress, beads and feather headdress for
a masquerade When Richard Marsh, engineer,
former United States charge d'affaires at
Panama City and once partner of Gen.
Goethals came back from crossing the Isthmus
of Darien and reported finding white Indians
in the interior, he by many regarded
rival of Marco Polo in tall story telling. So
he brought some of his white Indians blond
as Norwegians, to the United States and started
an chronological investigation which has been
going ever since. Mr.. Marsh now occupying
a position in the Interior Department, is as
far as the Republic Of Panama is concerned,
an outlaw, under sentence of death for "in-
citing to murder and rebellion" The scientific
expedition which he led Darien with
a heavy death toll was sponsored by the
Smithonsion Institution. the American Museum
of Natural History, the University of Rochester
and several departments of the United States
Government. Later, when the Panama gov
ernment attempted to subjugate the Tule
Indians of Daren, Mr.. Marsh returned and
successfully led rising of the Indians to drive
out the Panama Soldiery.
Mr. Marsh'S book tells not only about these
unique Indians, but also about the whole
terrible journey across the Isthmus the route
Of which is shown end-paper maps Only
of the IA scientists and Army men
composing the expedition survived to return.
DR. Baer of the Smithsonian Institution, who
was taken sick in the unexplored interior,
was carried by his comrades and Indians in
a dugout canoe and hammock slung from
a pole to the shore of the Caribbean, where
he died He probably now knows those
hidden secrets of interior Darien, to discover
which he lost his life" The members of the
expedition were the first to learn anything
about the Indians of the interior though the
Tule or San Bias Indians, of the Caribbean
coast have been known an independent
people since they drove out the Spaniards. On
the Pacific Coast the Choas are mild and
peaceful Indians very different from the Tules.
In crossing the Isthmus acquaintance was
made with the unknown tribe of the CunaS
Braves and the first accurate map of the
Chucunaque above Yavisa was drawn But no
white Indians found and Mr.. Marsh was
much disappointed. Then at Sasardi, on the
Caribbean, the chief Ina Pagina nonchaantly
offered to bring to him some Of the white
Indians Chepu Tules. and added: You can
take all you want" Within few days the
white Indians we're at last encountered, for
in response to the chiefs message they came
in from the mountains and jungle rivers of the
surrounding country. Some were pure white,
others were midway between white and brown.
Interesting examples of Mendelian recesSives
were found, white children of brown parents,
each of whom had white Indian parent.
When Mr.. Marsh returned to Washington, "the
battle of the scientists began. He has his own
theory about the origin of the white Indians,
based on tradition among the Indians them
selves but numerous others have been ad-
vanced by both American and British scientists.
Most Washingtonians will remember both the
zlare efar1I dive knfy AForc
the Smithsonian Institution and the stay Of
Mr. Marsh and his Indians in rented house
in Chevy Chase, where they were visited by
many scientists Without regard to any con-
troversy, the general reader will find this story
of hazardous exploration and chronological dis
covery of great interest.
parks. BY Horace M Albright and Frank j.
Taylor. Illustrated by Ruth Taylor. New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
EVERYTHING the ranger knows he will tell
l. you except about himself. Now, oh,
Ranger! tells you about him" This quotation
is from the introduction by Stephen T. Mather
to the first edition of "Oh, Ranger!" 1929,
when Mr. Mather was director of the National
Park Service. Mr. Albright for nearly 10 years
superintendent of Yellowstone Park, in 1929
succeeded Mr.. Mather director of the Ma
tional Park Service from which he retired in
1893. Mr. Taylor has long been associated with
the parks in publicity work. Full of humor
and anecdote, "Oh, Ranger!" is intended for
the 1000 900 people who annually visit the
national parks and for the other millions who
have not yet enjoyed them but may do SO with
very little energy and expense. The ranger is
the sine qua non of any park experience. His
hours of work are long, his duties are many and
unstandardized. One ranger, asked what he
did all day, replied: "well show folks where
to camp, and how to keep the right road,