UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES m.• #.«, I i PANAMA w^ p IE I -.a. '. ±*L. (Qfx m Uu *£*£ - Willie K Friar David S. Parker Editor, English Edition Governor-President Jose T. Tunon Charles I. McGinnis Editor, Spanish Edition Lieutenant Governor Writers Eunice Richard, Frank A. Baldwin Fannie P. Hernandez, Publication Franklin Castrellon and Dolores E. Suisman Panama Canal Information Officer Official Panama Canal the Review will be appreciated. Review articles may be reprinted without further clearance. Credit tu regular mail airmail $2, single copies 50 cents. The Panama Canal Review is published twice a year. Yearly subscription: $1, Canal Company, to Panama Canal Review, Box M, Balboa Heights, C.Z. For subscription, send check or money order, made payable to the Panama Editorial Office is located in Room 100, Administration Building, Balboa Heights, C.Z. Printed at the Panama Canal Printing Plant, La Boca, C.Z. Contents Our Cover The Golden Huacas of Panama 3 Huaca fanciers will find their favor- the symbolic characters of Treasures of a forgotten ites among the warrior, rainbow, condor god, eagle people arouse the curiosity and alligator in this display of Pan- archeologists around the of ama's famous golden artifacts. world. The huacas, copied from those recov- Snoopy Speaks Spanish 8 ered from the graves of pre-Columbian loaned to The In the phonetics of the fun- Carib Indians, were Review by Neville Harte. The well nies, a Spanish-speaking dog known local archeologist also provided doesn't say "bow wow." much of the information for the article Balseria 11 from his unrivaled knowledge of the Broken legs are the name of subject—the fruit of a 26-year-long love affair with the huaca, and the country the game when the Guaymis and people of Panama, past and present. get together for this unique Harte has made replicas of 109 contest. different huacas—many from originals Bicycling on the Isthmus 15 he recovered himself—using the lost- The unicycle may be the best wax process of casting metal. answer for complete equality Because huacas are beautiful, rare, valuable, or a combination of all three, in the age of unisex. they are a major attraction for tourists the Russians 17 To Russia with and residents who visit the Panama Mu- From New York to Leningrad seum to see the originals, or jewelry and with ballet, balalaikas and antique shops to buy the reproductions. borscht. Two often asked questions about the golden huaca are who discovered the Shipping Notes 22 ancient lost-wax process and how did The style in cruising this year the Indians mine gold. The explanations is to the exotic and unusual are simple: The lost-wax process was spot. never lost and the Indians did not mine gold. When Left Was Right 25 The phrase "lost-wax process" does Driving rules were reversed not mean the technique was lost and with hardly a hitch—except rediscovered; it simply means the wax for the horses. is lost in the process. Salsipuedes 28 Gold in a relatively pure state was It was bright Everything from lizards to plentiful in stream beds. and shiny and caught the sun's rays and love potions is sold in Pan- thus the Indians' eyes. And they panned ama's legend-shrouded street. rather than mined their gold. Culinary Capers 32 Arthur L. Pollack produced the un- usual three-dimensional effect necessary History 35 to appreciate the intricate beauty of the Artwork—Carlos Mendez, page 14, 32, 34; huacas by photographing them on a Hector Sinclair, page 22; Peter Gurney, sheet of plate glass suspended 3 inches page 2.5. above a piece of red satin material. 2 Fall 1973 CLUE TO THE MYSTERIES OF A a vanished people who inhabited Panama during pre-Columbian times is found in the "golden huacas," the pre- cious artifacts which were buried with them 1,000 years ago. These people left no written history. But the objects they made—jewelry, weapons, tools and ornaments— give a clue to their great culture and the skill of their artisans. In these archeological finds lies the history of a great nation obscured by time. Many facts are known, but even had one of modern man's earliest thousands of beads, heavily embossed thev change according to the books read glimpses of this reminder of Panama's gold disks, wrist and ankle cuffs, and or experts consulted. What is a huaca? Is ancient civilization. A glimmer that earrings. a huaca a tomb and a huaco an artifact proved to be the golden treasure of a His studies during this and later ex- recovered from the tomb? Or is it the forgotten people that had been buried peditions to Code Province convinced other wav around? Were huacas orna- with their dead. Dr. Lothrop that the "civilization repre- ments, offerings to the gods, good luck The gold ornaments the natives un- sented by these finds belonged to tribes charms, battle armor, coats of arms? Is covered, along with bone fragments and practically unknown today . rich and the word itself spelled huacal or guacal pottery, made their way from hand to industrious peoples, skilled in working or huaca or guaca? It matters little. hand until they arrived in a Pan- clay, stone and metals." Here in Panama, "huacas" have come ama City antique shop, and eventually The gold artifacts uncovered in these to mean the artifacts removed from the aroused the curiousity of archeologists ancient sites and at others in the prov- graves of the Indian tribes who pros- around the world. inces of Chiriqui and Veraguas, and also pered on the rich and lovelv lands of Following the accidental discovery at Venado Beach in the Canal Zone, are the Isthmus until the Spaniards came and the verification of its importance, displayed in the Panama Museum and States to plunder, kill and drive them from an expedition, led by the famed archeo- in many museums in the United their homes. logist Samuel K. Lothrop, was sent to and Europe— a silent tribute to the mas- pinnacle site by the Peabody Museum of ter craftsmen who reached a The golden huaca has traveled a long the Harvard University. of artistry more than 1,000 years ago journey over manv lands. It was created In one of his reports, Dr. Lothrop in Panama. the hands of the skilled Caribbean by technique, tells of the complex story that began to Fashioned by a curious goldsmith who fashioned a breast orna- unfold when, while digging beneath the the gold figures portray stylized human ment for a warrior and a strand of gold top layer of pasture land, he brought to and animal forms or a combination of beads for his lady. Placed in the tomb signs of ancient habitation. One the two. There are snakes with two with other items chosen to accompanv light grave, only 12 feet by 14 feet in size, legs, men with crocodile heads, and him on his journey to another life, the than 2,000 objects. Ninety- figures with a human head and shoulders gold ornaments remained sunbright for yielded more gold. There were attached to the body of a snake, with hundreds of years. six of these were pendants set with semiprecious stones, the projecting eyes of a crab, and the Today, a replica of the golden huaca ornamental breast plates, necklaces of recurring images of the alligator and is a small part of pre-Columbian history that can be worn around the neck or on the ears. Satisfying the current craving for the unique and exotic, huacas are growing in popularity as the gift that evervone wants to own or to give. Fash- ioned into pendants, bracelets, earrings, even wedding rings—by jewelers in Pan- Elsa Fifer, a ama and other countries of Central and student assistant in the are favored as gifts South America-they General Audit Division, and cherished as souvenirs. wears a replica of an Indian headband that And the spell of the huaca is such is adorned with a that it never becomes just a piece of golden alligator. jewelrv. Alwavs its owner is aware of its inpenetrable secrets ... of the stories it would tell if it could. In the late 1920's, following floods that changed the river's course, natives traveling along the Rio Grande de Co- de, just 100 miles from the Canal Zone, The Panama Canal Review heat and the molten metal poured in, When the metal solidifies, the mold is broken away to expose the golden huaca. Many people have the idea that the lost-wax process means the process was lost and rediscovered. Rather it simply means that the wax is lost in the process. "The huaca and I are one," Harte says, but it is neither the search for, nor the finding of the golden treasures, nor the scientist's successful pursuit of knowledge, that challenges and gratifies him most. It is telling the story of the "golden huaca" of Panama to school children. In his introduction, he presents a challenge: "The mythology of these golden artifacts will test your skill and imagination. For what man living today can understand their meaning, and how many conclusions can be drawn from these golden effigies of over 1,000 years Huaca rings, earrings, ago?" The huacas that were buried in a pin, and a necklace Indian graves to accompany the dead from Neville Harte's on their journey to another life are the are modeled collection, characters in a tale Harte weaves for by Dolores Fitch, the children. The warrior, the storm of the Office of the god, the north wind, the frog, alligator Youth Advisor.