Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/204

 brinton] ANTHROPOLOGIC LITER A TURE 1 75

accurate phonetic spelling, especially as the pronunciation of individuals varies, a circumstance which he curiously attributes to the indolence engendered by a tropical climate.

Both linguistically and ethnologically the original texts offered de- serve comment. They are four stories or myths with an interlinear and a free translation. They tell of how the devil Jaburd once ate up the human race ; how the good god Sibu killed the evil spirit Sdr- kura j how in ancient times men were consumed by beasts and birds ; and the adventures of a hunter in the house of the King of the Tapirs. They are delightfully fresh and primitive. The name of the highest good god is Sibu, which appears to be a derivative from st\ moon. To him, or to one of his forms, Sibu-sura, is attributed the creation of the world, and to him go the souls at death. His power of creation, like that of many demiurgic beings in American mythology, is by thought. That which Sibu thinks is by that subjective act realized in the objec- tive world. Thought itself is expressed by " that which shakes the liver" ; or " that which the liver hears " (en-bi-kuk). This notion that the liver is the seat of the intellect is also frequent elsewhere in primitive America.

The general relations of the Bribri language are fully discussed and lead to conclusions of great moment. It has no affinities with any language farther north. On the other hand, it has unquestionable and constant affinity with the other dialects of Costa Rica, including the Guatuso of Rio Frio, and with the idioms of Chiriqui, Veragua, Panama, and the northern portions of South America, notably the Cuna and Chibcha. The ethnic line of demarcation between North and South America is the Nicaraguan depression, just about the track of the proposed inter- oceanic canal. In the American Race (p. 164) I stated that this line was the mountain chain which separates Nicaragua from Costa Rica ; the union of the Guatuso with the Costa Rican stock, removes the line from the mountain crests to their northern base. In this general state- ment we do not attach importance to the small Nahuatl colonies who had advanced south of the line, nor the possible relations of the Maza- tec to the Talamancan group. These were minor historic incidents not affecting the trend of the great migrations.

The linguistic portion of the volume has an ethnographic introduc- tion in which the author discusses the former distribution of the Indian tribes in Costa Rica, their present locations and conditions, and a special ethnologic account of the Bribri. Under the first of these subjects Professor Pittier disputes Sefior Peralta's opinion of the exten- sion of the Nahua in Costa Rica. In this he may be right, as local names are not always evidence of the permanent presence of the tribes

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