a silver band or collar worn at the throat, a silver-studded leather strip binding the hair, immense silver earrings, and, most striking of all, wonderfully wrought silver pendants, often weighing several pounds, which cover the chest.

The Araucanians live under their local laws with protection from the Chilean Government. Each settlement or village has its local governor, who is usually the oldest member of the community. Over these is a district chief, and over all is the head chief or cacique of the tribe. Really important matters are settled by council or vote.

The music of the Araucanians is played on drums and pipes which accompany their ceremonial chants and dances. In their dances, they wear masks to confuse the spirits.-M. G. R.

A Guatemalan Market

It is Sunday in the picturesque town of Chichicastenango in the western Guatemalan highlands. The sun is just peeping above the hills, but it is market day and already the footpaths and trails leading to the town are filled with colorfully dressed Indians laden down with an endless variety of products. A native of the region standing on one of the trails could probably tell us the village from which each traveler has come by looking at his costume. The highland villages still have their own distinctive dress, although there is a tendency to adopt ordinary clothes, and some odd mixtures of old and new are now seen. In Chichicastenango the men wear longsleeved coats and short trousers of pure black wool, embroidered in red and purple with ancient symbols. The women wear white blouses decorated with a ring of red embroidery below the neckline, and navy blue skirts with pin stripes. The clothes of these highland Indians, all wo

ven on primitive looms, are made for the most part by the women, although in some villages the men knit, sew, and embroider parts of their own dress. Patterns as a whole are prescribed by ancient and inviolable custom.

The Indians of the Guatemalan highlands are in part descendants of the Mayas. The language many of them speak stems from the ancient Maya, and highland tribes still use the Maya calendar. Like their ancestors in pre-Conquest times, the present-day Indians live in one-room huts away from the center, and they come into town for worship or trade.

Let us join one of the Indian families which are approaching Chichicastenango on this particular Sunday and see for ourselves what a Guatemalan market is like. As they reach the market place the Indians pitch their tents on the same locations they have retained for years. Each commodity and activity has its place in the square, and rents vary according to the type of goods. By ten o'clock the market is in full swing-a busy, moving mass of color. As we wander through the market place we will probably be tempted by painted chests, glazed pottery from Antigua, blankets from Momostenango and from Chichicastenango itself, and blue and green strips of woven goods for skirts from Totonicapán. There are many stands, as well as stores around the square, with hand-woven articles made especially for tourists-gay bags, jackets, belts, and

from his swinging censer. Inside the church Indians kneel in two rows, facing each other. In the middle they place small lighted candles, and on folded cloths they lay small coins and strew flower petals, yellow for the dead and pink or white for the living. As the priest passes along the row to give his blessing, an acolyte collects the offering.

Before the day comes to a close the Indians carefully stow away their purchases and start the long trek homeward.M. G. R.

Children of the Children
of the Sun

Anyone who has wondered what became of the descendants of the Incas after the Conquest and what they are doing today

should visit the little towns in the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia.

The Spanish Conquest, which brought death to the ruling classes of the Incas and ruin to their empire, brought little change to the everyday lives of the common people living in the mountains. Many townsfolk still speak the ancient Quechua tongue and continue to work their lands, weave their clothes, and tend their flocks much as they did four hundred years ago. Flock of sheep and llamas graze on the mountainside above the town, and corn and potatoes are grown in the valley below. Sometimes the villagers, like their forebears, own the land communally, and it is handed down without benefit of written deeds from generation to generation.

In the Andean villages for centuries.

the people have chosen their own chieftain or alcalde. The men hold council meetings to decide on such matters as the time for plowing, the care of widows and orphans, and the celebration of church festivals.

It is so cold in the Andes that the people have to wear heavy woolen clothes. The women dye the wool of white sheep with bright dyes to make themselves gay skirts, blouses, and shawls. Knotted about their necks they wear flaming decorated woolen kerchiefs, and on their heads large hats. Their skirts reach their ankles and they usually wear half a dozen or more at one time. The men wear clothes of black wool embroidered with gay designs. Each has a poncho, often made of llama wool woven in bright stripes, which serves as overcoat, raincoat, and blanket. In weaving the patterns into their textiles Quechua

women follow the same designs used by their ancestors. The sun-god, the condor, the jaguar-all prominent in Incan and pre-Incan mythology-are common motifs.

In addition to textiles, Quechua Indians make excellent pottery, rawhide bridles and reins, splendid carved woodenware, ornamental leather articles, and many other products. As in the Guatemalan highlands, each village has its special product, and exchanges its surplus for the products of its neighbors on market days.

The advantages of modern civilization are slowly making their way up the mountains. The Peruvian Government, realizing the great contribution to the national life that the descendants of the Incas can make, is now trying, as the President noted in his last message (see

page 48), to bring educational opportunities and health training to all the Indians of the country.-M. G. R.

The San Blas Indians
of Panama

Whether husband or wife is boss in the United States is always a subject for debate. Such is not the case among the San Blas Indians who live on the Archipiélago de las Mulatas, better known as the San Blas Islands, just off the Atlantic coast of Panama. San Blas wives have complete authority and no husband would

venture to question it. The women of that tribe own virtually everything and the men cannot buy or sell any article without first seeking the permission of their wives. It is what sociologists call a matrilineal society. Kinship and descent are reckoned through the mother and 'the children take her emblem and belong to her community.

In other ways, too, the San Blas Indians are a very interesting people. Although theoretically Panamanian citizens, they have clung to their tribal independence through the centuries. Panama maintains an intendente or governor on the

islands, but the real authority is in the hands of the native chief and the native council or cabinet of each village.

These Indians are primarily fishers, but are also agriculturists and cultivate yams, maize, rice, and sugar cane as well as breadfruit, plaintains, bananas, oranges, limes, avocados, and mangoes on the nearby mainland. The coconut trees that grow on the islands have many and varied uses. Coconuts provide meat and drink and are used as currency for trading. The fronds are used for clothing, shelter, and hammocks, the husks and shells are used as fuel, and the oil and bark serve as medicines.

Until recently the women made all their own clothes and the men theirs. Nowadays, however, the calico skirts of the women and the shirts and trousers of the men are often purchased in Colón or from traders. The women's costumes are a blaze of many tropical shades-orange, gold, reds, yellows, blues, and greens. Their blouses or molas are made in gay designs which often represent the emblems

or totems of their families. They wear bands of beads wound tightly around their arms and ankles, and necklaces of beads, coins, and the teeth of wild animals. Huge gold disk earrings and gold nose rings complete the costume.

The homes of the San Blas Indians are thickly thatched with dried palm leaves that keep out the heaviest tropical rains. The walls are made of small bamboo poles set close together and lashed with vines. When a girl reaches marriageable age she tells her parents which boy she wishes to marry, and her father goes to the youth's home and announces that he has been chosen. The boy has a right to refuse if he so desires. If he marries the girl he is obliged to work for his father-inlaw until a daughter is born.

The San Blas Indians, says a visitor, consider themselves a superior "golden" people and have no envy of the foolish. ways of foreigners.-M. G. R.

1 See Corinne B. Feeney, "Arch-Isolationists, the San Blas Indians," National Geographic Magazine, February 1941.